Well the final episode blog of 2007, let's make it memorable. So much to discuss, so many things to question. Just where to begin?First stop, the flashbac... forwards. Unfortunately the reveal was lost on me after spoilers were so horrific online, even though I tried not to look I heard about it. It seemed a bit obvious too though, a very placid Jack who's turned into his father. I got the impression the message here was "you don't know how lucky you are to be on the Island until you leave", though I thought that was a little dumb as some of them desperately want to escape, like Juliet. At any rate, I was interested by all the info learned, especially the supposed dead person - just who is it then presuming its someone we know? And is the "him" Kate's with Sawyer d'ya reckon?
Moving on, my favorite element to the finale was the Naomi thing. I loved that communication with Penny, TV gold, the chill when she says "I'm not on a boat, who's Naomi?!" - brilliant. But how'd Charlie get her frequency (as she put it), or how was she on comms at the exact moment? And who the hell IS Naomi then? Does she work for Penny's father? Is she government black ops?Next, the deaths, and surprising to see that only one Losties actually died considering. I thought it was interesting that the Losties are now the majority, and the Others are the ones living in fear (reinforced by Bonnie saying about Charlie, "but he's one of them!" - nice continuity thing). Best way to go out? Gotta be Pryce getting by Hurley in a DHARMA van - who saw that one coming? A close second being Sayid's scissor choke.
It was weird how Ben was quite happy to reveal the truth to Alex? Had she thought her mother died giving birth to her? Liked Ben's reasoning for keeping Karl away though, "I didn't want you to get pregnant... I overreacted". Another thing that bugged me was the radio tower. Rousseau said the Others controlled it in Season 1, yet then says "oh I've never been there since I did my signal 16 years ago, oh and its completely abandoned" - bit of a goof there? Furthermore, Locke bugging me by killing Naomi, no he can't kill Cooper or Jack, he doesn't "have murder in him", yet he has no trouble throwing a machete into a woman's back for absolutely no reason in cold blood. I know many are in the love Locke camp, but seriously when is someone gonna give him the smack in the face he deserves with all his destiny claptrap.
Finally, to poor Charlie and psycho Mikhail. It was typical that Charlie started to become a decent character again with a good flashback last week, and then completely gets the chop. But what a way to go huh? It was quite poignant how he could have locked the room on the other side with Des, yet knew it was the only way to save Claire by him dying. That whole five min scene with Penny and stuff I just thought was brilliant. Even psycho Mikhail, who had better be dead this time otherwise I'll get very annoyed - the man has more lives than Jack Bauer!
So are they rescued? Not likely when there's three more Seasons. Who are Naomi's people? How are they "bad"? Will their evil presence ally the Others with the Losties? Will Penny find them? Will the Monster (assuming its those apparitions) now actually kill Locke cause he failed his "work to be done"? Will we be able to wait eight whole months with no interluding easter eggs for all these answers?Until then, I'll be on Lostpedia making it an even better Lost resource. Hope to see you on there for your Lost fixes! If not, enjoy your time away and lives of normality while you can, as your world will be rocked once again no doubt in 2008.
I feel terrible, I watched this episode 22 - 5 times and 23 - six times. I don't know what to do with myself... It has completely broken my inside.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a brilliant way to come to a close with half of the series now done, and to do it with a future flash...awsome However, i feel that us fans should have seen this coming though ...It wasnt OBVIOUS, but seeing as the producers have said from the start that the losties getting rescued wouldnt neccesarily mean the end of the show. idk, Not an EASY call to predict but still i felt i should have seen that coming.
ReplyDeleteBut now all we know, is that at Kate and Jack are off the island and are MAYBE the only ones that got off. I think its definitely fair to say (while looking at it from the future flash standpoint) that there are def still losties on the island, who knows how many...but all the different situiations going on right at the moment of jack communicating with "the ship" will be interesting to see unfold. (Desmond escaping the looking glass, Hurley and crew back at the camp, Locke storming away after nearly gunning down jack)
And I know some people get annoyed with Locke for preaching destiny and being 'one' with the island and all that, but face it, the guy is rarely EVER wrong. Now, we have a jack in the future, and hes a suicidal, pill-popping drunken liability. so Jack (and the losties) should have known to listen to Locke by this time around. and I KNOW, they are stranded and it obviously sounds crazy to Jack and the other losties to NOT get off island, but GOD, listen him. whatever though, gotta carry on the storyline and they did it pretty well.
But seriously, who the hell is on the ship? It would be logical to assume it would be DHARMA. but would it also be logical to assume that it could be HANSO foundation? I mean, they supplied the moolah so the DHARMA iniative could exist. But guess who else does business with Hanso? Widmore industries and Paik Automotive(Sun's dads corp)..So who the hell knows...but what i do know, is that it seems clear that DHARMA does still indeed exist, or else Jakob or someone else is controlling the DHARMA "supply drops" what, every 6 months? Oh and i found it funny how Ben was actually telling the truth about Naomi and her "boat" Why didnt anyone think to listen to him? THAT was a joke ha. But i do feel that we dont know enough about Ben to understand any of his motives. Not to say that Ben and the others havnt been doing some sketchy shit on the island, but i think Ben in the last episode was actually looking out for everyone when it came down to it rather then trying to snake his way out of things like he normally does.. Plus, The others have always preached that "they arnt the bad ones" Again, not to say that they havnt done anything bad to the losties, but when the islands secrecy becomes a factor, i think Ben will proove to have good intentions...who knows.. maybe we will find out that he is the one in the coffin? wouldnt that be nuts? it would make sense seeing as nobody was there for the funeral or whatever. Plus, how Jack claims that it was neither a friend or family member. And if that was Ben in the coffin, it would clearly answer as to why Jack was so pissed about his death, seeing as Ben would probably be Jacks best bet to get back to the island. Producers have confirmed future Ben episodes in season 4, so that should be interesting. Just my coffin theory...but what is for sure, is that this person in the casket is very significant. And what did jack mean in the future when he told kate, "Im sick of lieing"?
Anyways, I cannot wait for this show to resume. As for future flashes, i bet we will see more...but i definitely dont think it will take the place of flashbacks. I think these future flashes are shown now so that we will eventually see how they change the future...There is still so much more to tell in the past and the present.i.e, a few topics im most anxious to learn about are The Monster, Jakob, The Temple, The Statue, Penny and Des, and of course, one of my biggest questions, What happend to Michael and Walt...? We will sooooon only begin to find out...but unfortunatly not soon enough....
I loved the final...
ReplyDeleteIt was unexpected and simply brilliant
I'm so thrilled, confused and excited
Thanks so much for this show
You didnt give this episode the credit it deserved! Very mean at times. I loved this epiosde, and i assume you did too... So why such a negative review?
ReplyDeleteYou mean me? I did like it, and I didn't rip it to shreds at all - you should have seen my 3x03 review if you think this one was negative... (I dunno if its posted on here)
ReplyDeleteGood thoughts, but i have a couple of issues with this review
ReplyDeleteMikhail - to me, whether we like it or not Lost is part parody, look at episodes like Dave and Expose. Mikhail fits into this mold perfectly the quintessential "horror movie bad guy" who's not very imposing (look at how many times he's been overpowered) but like a cockroach just won't die. Let's hope he's back.
Locke - I don't understand why people think it's out of character for him to kill Naomi. Because he couldn't kill his own father? Even though Cooper is the lowest of the low he IS his father. Plus, i know this sounds kitsch but he probably had pleny of distinct other-worldly pressures staying his murderous hand with Cooper. He obviously didn't with Naomi. And i think when he "failed" he realized that threatening to kill Jack was no way to "prove" to him that rescue was a bad idea. Perhaps he just realized the best way to get jack to "learn" was to get it to unfold. This is one of the ways Locke loves to play the "game" after all. You know?
Flashforward - I think people assume that all Jack is going through is psychological ailments throughout the episode. PTSD, and perhaps survivor's remorse if not everyone was "rescued" as he was. Toss in a little dramatic irony with both paralells and references to his father and there you have it. Or even that it could wind up being he did something underhanded to save himself and/or Kate and as it was a crime against his nature it tears him up. He did say they can't keep lieing. But i also think the island physically and spiritually hurts people (Ben) just as it heals (Locke & maybe Mikhail). Perhaps the lasting effect of the island's wrath is slowly squeezing the life ot of Jack and that ails him as well, he is unable to 'fix' anything least of all himself. Also, he and others were forced to enage in a special form acculteration/survival equivocation that only this particular island can provide, the Us Vs. Them, Destiny vs. Freewill, etc. dynamic is so much more amplified there. Plus there is likely something besides a metaphorical reason why Jack flies back and forth over the Pacific. Don't you think?
I just love the fact that it seems the game isn't about the simple inevitability of "rescue" anymore. It's much wider, deeper and more pervasive than that.
Or even that it could wind up being he did something underhanded to save himself and/or Kate and as it was a crime against his nature it tears him up. He did say they can't keep lieing.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think that's very likely the case. Kate is bothered by it, too, but she's gotten some kind of nice trade-off that makes her more willing to stick with the status quo. She's (perhaps) no longer on the run, not to mention she's driving a Volvo and living on the Westside with someone - Sawyer? It certainly sounded like she was referencing someone they both knew well.
I just love the fact that it seems the game isn't about the simple inevitability of "rescue" anymore. It's much wider, deeper and more pervasive than that.
I agree completely. Good point.
I agree with all previous posters. Phenomenal episode for the season finale. I do have a question. Unless, I'm mistaken, Jack referenced his father twice in the flash forwards. Once, he told the Chief of Surgery, Dr. Hamill (James Lesure of "Las Vegas" fame - the second character to appear on Lost from that show. Naomi being the other...) something to the effect of "go ask my father. If I'm not less drunk than him... (I don't remember the rest.)" And then also, when he was attempting to pick up a new prescription of oxycodone, he had a new prescription form signed by his father. I'm not sure if this is correct or not. But if so, what does that mean and has something changed? I may have misunderstood, but I thought that was what happened. I would love a clarification...
ReplyDeleteSpotted an interesting faux pas in the episode - when the beach camp start trecking towards the radio tower the sea is on their right. Next scene they continue walking but the sea is now on their left....
ReplyDeletei think naomi is part of the original darmha iniciative. at the end of season two when desmond turns the key a liqht flashes in a boat and they say we found him. i think is the same boat as naomi and for some reason lost the signal of the island, and want to erase everything that happend, probably thats why ben tries to protect the island
ReplyDeleteThe reference to Jacks father shows us it has gone back in time (also note the 2 time hero quote)... It also means that jack is unable to say anything (or any of the others) or people will think they are crazy. They may be living a lie... but Kate knows there is no other way or they will be put in an insane home.... MUCH LIKE THE GUY WITH HURLEY in season 1/2 in the mental home, who keeps repeating the number.... No one seen or though about that?
ReplyDeleteWell... the reference to Jacks father means that they have gone back in time... this explains why jack is going crazy (as well as desperation to get back) and tells you why kate wants things to be kept hush hush, as if Jack mentions it or anyone for that matter, everyone will just think they are crazy (p.s remeber the 2 time hero quote?) and.... HERE IS THE BIG NEWS... they will end up in a crazy home LIKE... wait for it... THE CRAZY GUY WITH HURLEY SEASON ONE WHO REPEATS THE NUMBERS OVER AND OVER!!!!.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone considered that the "him" Kate has to get back to so urgently is her son (and not Sawyer)? Maybe there are more pregnant women on the island then they are telling us about...
ReplyDeleteIs anyone else extremely sad about no lost experience this summer? Its gonna be hard for me for the first time ever to have nothing lost except repeats (i starded watching season 1 mid season 2). TLE keeps die hard fans interested all summer. Its gonna be hard.
ReplyDeleteDarmah is coming baby!! I think their saviors are the very people that once wanted to control the island. I think Naomi was sent to find the island again due to the big magnetic disturbance that somehow let the island show itself. I believe that the season 4 ep.1 will end with someone finding out about the nature of their "saviors".
ReplyDeleteI think more flash fowards are a definite but i dont think they will replace flashbacks. I loved that idea because a lot of people were complaining that the flashbacks were getting played out (i was not one of these people) all of those folks got a early christmas presant. I believe that sawyer was the "him" kate speaks of and that the "tired of lying" is a deal jack had to make to get himself and a select few others off the island with help from the new Darmah.
My coffin theory... Locke. Why he would make a deal to get off is the one hole in my plan but I think he ends up off the island and dies, jack realizes that he was the last chance for getting back and breaks down and cries. Locke dosen't have anyone that would care enough to come to a funeral since all his life he has been used, hurt, and generally screwed over by everyone he comes in contact with. Jack is no family member with him, and certainly not a friend. Plus correct me if im wrong but did the scene of the coffin and locke killing naomi line up near eachother?
The rumors are already spilling in and i heard from a guy who knows a guy who knows another guy who scrubs JJ Abrams toilet that the premier of numero 4 centers around a character we know but haven't seen a lot of screen time with... Richard anyone?
i just watched the episode again and i noticed that when jack calls kate at the end, it sounds like a man or boy that picks up the phone. i started thinking that maybe her pregnancy scare that she was talking about with sawyer actually happened...and this flash forward is waaaay more in the future than we are all thinking. or, obviously its the "he" of the "he will be wondering where i am" who answered the phone.
ReplyDeleteNice Lost fan site. The filters at work don't block it, but they do block the other good Lost fan sites. Good podcast also. I was looking at the updated Hanso Foundation site and found the hidden link with movie just like everyone else, but I think I uncovered something more. The entire website is built in Flash, and their is a "hit area" in a circular pattern in the middle of the page. You can detect the "hit area" by listening for the alternate audio feedback you hear when mousing over the second humanity word. By tracing the "hit Area" I uncovered the following hidden message:
ReplyDelete"Harsh light of inquiry in shadow. It is this shadow Dr. Thomas Werver Mittelwerk costs many their happiness. Some few have, I assure you now as I did then, that the work intended to bring birth to a dying land and this moment. The Hanso Foundation enters transparency and oversight will be our guiding principles. Response to feedback, our greatest strength, tap into just that – our humanity. Much thanks to the timeless efforts of my movement set against the dark entity and freed from Consortium. We at The, can support. "
It may be something, it may be nothing, but the "Hit Area" is not a perfect circle and is not something that would be put in at random. The Flash Developer must select the hit area very precisely.
It was completly ridiculous. Charly could hold his breath and was trained for olympic swimming
ReplyDeleteSo it can well be possible that his death might be apparent. He could swim out to the surface. He's such a big and key character that everyone loves that it cannot be dead. He shows more than another the human condition (he's at the same time fragile, stuborn, sweet, loyal, impulsive, weak and strong) and he experiences the path and difficult tests that everyone must overcome in order to be rescued from...... ourselves
eDid anyone notice how much younger Jack looked in the flash forward? His beard was much darker than his beard was on the island. Also, Kate looked really different, too. Don't know why.
ReplyDeleteWell, sorry Charlie lover, but that was charlie's destin... get over it ...plus hes a baby snatcher and a garden mugger anyway
ReplyDeleteStillovelocke, I heard from a guy, that knows a guy, who is best friends with Damon L's cousin's boyfriend and HE said that it was going to be Danielle Rousseau with the flashbacks on the 4 premier
ReplyDeleteIs anyone aware of any spinoff websites? There appear to be sites for Jack and Kate's licence plate numbers from "Through The Looking Glass".
ReplyDeleteThere are sites for 2SAQ321.com (Jack) and 4QKD695.com (Kate) which appear cryptic in nature.
yo...
ReplyDeletei thought all the subjects you talked about where excacly what i would of wrote.
kool
omg guys FEBUARY thats after christmas, CHRISTMAS! any way about the finale well not as on edge as the other 2 finales but this 1 made u think more and has locke got a lot of lives or something, also id like to say that i hope walt returns aswell as micheal and please please make their a storyline were locke returns back to our camp i mean im worried for him :( now im not crazy but i really want echo back, and i think it could happen because echo wasnt really that normal and its not like hes in the middle of scotland he is on the island so echo back in 2008. comment as much as you want bye and all u lost guys email me at cunningham_06@hotmail.co.uk
ReplyDeleteCharlie was lying about being a trained swimmer so Jack would let him go. In the beginning of the series, he told Jack that he would go out to save Joanna, but that "I don't swim". He also drowned in desmond's vision trying to save claire because he couldn't.
ReplyDeleteI am expecting something more . . . . . Easter eggs or no I have a feeling that THis fall is going to be a pretty interesting one ! ! !
ReplyDelete"Locke storming away after nearly gunning down jack"
ReplyDeleteHe didn't storm away - it was more like slinking away after Jack disappointed him so.
Also - at the end, Kate says: "This is not gonna change..." - another (perhaps lame) clue for me that this is an alternate timeline. That and Jack's beard not being gray at all as it should have been after leaving the island. No suicidal drug addict I've ever heard of takes the time to color a scruffy beard. This was an alternate "future".
I am a bit confused whether the flashforward meant that they used naomis ship to get off the island or whether the flashforward was the consequence of doing such that could still be avoided. The main reason I say this is because the general idea is that before the island, everyone had a pretty sorry excuse for a life. Now i find it disconcerting to see Jack, still miserable. He is the protagonist! Shoudlnt he have a happy ending, nothing good for the most selfless of the losties? For this reason, i think the flashforward was more of a glimpse into what what woudl have been had they actually gotten on to the boat. BUt instead, desmond will warn them, and they wont get off the island at this moment, thus saving jack's fate. What do you guys think?
ReplyDeleteI agree that the flash forward is "what would have happened." One of my theories is that somehow Locke was able to see a vision of a "possible" future, just like Desmond. I think it may have had something to do with Locke's encounter with Walt in the mass grave site.
ReplyDeleteLocke was able to see that they were obviously not supposed to get off the island, and he was so convinced that he had no problem killing Naiomi. Walt, or maybe a different vision, had to have told Locke that Naiomi wasn't who she sais she is.
We all saw that was true when Penny was on the monitor in the looking glass and confirmed it wasn't her boat. So we know that Naiomi is NOT who she says she is, and consequentially, in my opinion, the ship is not going to "rescue" them.
I think Ben was telling the truth. The ship is there for the island and it is a threat. That is why Jacob said "Help me" to Locke. Jacob is somehow tied to the island, and Locke is the only one who can protect it.
so I think the body is the casket is Juliette's. Does anyone know her last name? Jack said he was hoping to see Kate there and, of course, Kate wouldn't go to the funeral nor would any other Losties who got off (if any). What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI think Naomi could possibly be a member of the DHARMA initiative. Maybe they're trying to reform the organization and want their island back, so they sent her in as a spy to see what they were up against and used Penny's Desmond search as a mask... I know I'm a little late, but I just read this post!
ReplyDeleteThe flash forward may be an "alternate future" but it is definitely the future from the Losties' perspective. The cell phones used by the characters appear to modern RAZRs or RAZR clones. I picked up on this right away and thought it was a huge oversight by the producers until I realized it was a flash forward and not a flash back. I believe the RAZR came out in 2005 and the island time is presumably 2004.
ReplyDeleteWell, I don't think it was 'alternate' as you say. That would be too complicated to explain... How do you say oh yeah btw, those flashes that happened at the end of season 3... well they don't ever actually happen because things got fixed thanks to Desmond and his ability to see into the future... THIS is what actually happens. No. They won't do that. It WILL actually happen. Mark my words. Next season will have some episodes off the island and back in the world. Jack will eventually convince everyone that they need to go back and they will... in which the last two seasons we will see the revelation of all the secrets about the island and then Dharma and everything. and then the end. on the island. the way it's meant to be... for whatever reason that we don't yet know.
ReplyDeleteWhy do a lot of people assume that in the flash forward, when Kate says she has to get back to "him" it is Sawyer??? Who's to say that Jack didn't just get him, her and maybe one or two other people rescued. Maybe it isn't Sawyer. We know that she's probably pregnant. Who's to say that she'll die in the 3rd trimester once she's off the island??? Maybe "HIM" is her son....no Sawyer.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't she stay with Jack....obviously, I don't know, but I bet it has something to do with those lies that Jack can no longer live with.
i defenitely think they went to far with Locke. To me he the present hi as a nor that very bright person. Dumb to say honostly. I truly hoped John was going to the other side with the others, but somehow it feld right that Ben shot him. As a big Ben fan, i wish he has something up in his sleeve for season 4!
ReplyDeletenow without the bas spelling
ReplyDeleteTo me they present him [Locke] as a not that very bright person. Dumb to say honostly...
I would have to disagree with rhialto. I believe that making Locke look like more of a renigade, doing his own thing. I believe that he is good, but cryptic and that he is acting on intuition without exactly knowing totally why. I think that he is doing a good thing by trying to keep all of the survivors on the island and that Jack and the rest of the people have a narrow view of what is going on.
ReplyDeletePS. LOST 03x22: The “The Catcher in the Rye” of TV series?
ReplyDelete(Spoilers included)
The last episode of LOST’s 3rd season is one that can change your life. It sounds exaggerated, but “Through the Looking Glass” can stand by the highly influential works of modern culture. That may sound sacrilegious, but LOST reminds me of the “The Catcher in the Rye”, which changed my way of thinking forever. Supposing that by reading the noted novel of J.D. Salinger you exercise yourself, like its main character Holden Caulfield, to question every status quo, even reaching levels of sabotaging your own existence, then what is the lesson learned by this special LOST ep.?
But, of course, to perpetually doubt not about the mere material or social substance of things, but about their ideological approach, undermining and tumbling the way you have learned to esteem facts. However, never without a price to pay.
The moment in which Kate shows up in front of Jack in the airport overbears everything we knew about LOST’s “normal” flow of facts, furthermore in a meta-level, everything we knew about the filming methods of breaking and reordering the time frame. It is common place, indeed, that in the past many directors have tried to narrate stories outside the linear direction of time, either successfully (e.g. Memento) or not, either in a comprehensible way or not (e.g. Mulholland Dr.).
LOST producers followed an outright honest approach into their chronological deception. They never underlined scenes with determinative time-spatial subtitles. They shot their first salvos in their inaugural –mutually inverse- scenes of 03χ01 and 03χ20. They paved the way with Desmond’s constant flash forwards. Finally, into 03χ22, they scattered hints to make us cerebrate what’s going on. Whoever has wide open eyes might see, whoever does not will be taken aback - nevertheless, their ignorance will be paid back with an unspoken, lasting, intense feeling.
Let us review some of these –already known- hints:
• The air turbulences and Jack’s calmness.
• The 1st phone call to Kate with the haunted, insular salutation: hey.
• The anagram of the funeral home’s title (not, of course, to be used during episode’s real time viewing)
• Jack’s avoidance of calling his father in the pharmacy, the chief doctor’s look in the hospital and Jack’s agony relating to what he has been through.
• The wink regarding Hurley’s participation. After his 2nd offer’s rejection (by Sawyer), you know that those scenes have not been shot without a cause and that he is the man that will eventually rescue Sayid’s group. You can see it in front of you, “look forward” is the “sesame” word, spell “forward” and it will inoculate the way you are experiencing the whole episode – the form (word) can lead you to the essence (meaning).
• Finally, Jack’s outrageous attitude during the whole “flashback”. Astonishment at its self-destructing character and pointless speculation about how Jack succeeded in controlling and rehabilitating himself, while the real question should concern the reason that led him to this painful position. Was it due to his ex-wife’s rejection? Too simple to be true, too out-of-LOST.
The structure and the facts of 03χ22, beyond the usual semiotic references, like the 3 suicide attempts – all related with the saving or taking of other people’s lives, permit me to parallel the whole series, regarding not the viewers’ feelings but the plot evolution, to the famous Gaussian (i.e. a hill-shaped graph).
“Through the Looking Glass” lies, of course, on the top of the curve. It is in many ways the outmost extremity of lost’s path:
• It stands in the exact middle of the series’ TV lifespan – wonder if it is also the middle of the real time space (from crash to the ending)
• It is the 1st time that communication with outer world is established; hence we have darkness on the one hand, light on the other.
• The strenuous acclivitous road of survival has ended, now the foretold road of rescue is about to start (?).
• Charlie’s death, the 1st of a leading character, prepares us for more of this kind in the future.
• Jack and Kate’s idyll culminates in the epic “Cause I love you”. An idyll that started with a needle and thread, forged into a cave’s debris, hymned through muted glances and everyday talking and tested by palinodes and diversions. Even if that idyll was not doomed due to its surrounding special circumstances, the romantic theory about Love states that love flares up whilst it is tacit – the moment it is expressed the process of decay and withering starts inevitably.
• And, of course, the momentous airport meeting scene signals the end (?) of the illuminating “flashbacks”, and the beginning of the mysterious “flashforwards” (e.g. dead man in the coffin). Till now, we would resort to the past to comprehend the characters’ present behavior. From now on we shall focus on “now” to try to explain the future “whys”.
According to an old logic problem, you are asked to cover all 9 dots that form a square (4 on the corners, 4 on the middle of the sides and 1 in the center) by drawing 4 consecutive lines. The solution is simple, provided you permit yourself to think outside the frame defined by the square.
In a similar way, that is the great lesson of LOST, “Through the Looking Glass”. The producers define an operation frame and they challenge us to move outside that frame. And what about the eternal quandary “Logic or Emotion” which even divides the protagonists (Jack vs. Locke)?
The “flash forward” mystery’s explanation leaves the pendulum swinging: whoever gathered all the puzzle pieces and solved the riddle can be proud of his discernment. Alas, the price is that the drama’s culmination found him prepared and tamed. What a contradiction with the gaping mouth of the startled viewer, who -after Charlie’s fatal flood- finds himself struggling in a sea of unanswered questions and heart-breaking emotions of cursing and sympathy.