The long offseason continues to march on. With each passing day and week we get closer and closer to the final season of Lost. We still have months to go, however, which is a bit discouraging. To help us get through this Lost lull, I’ve been recapping some of my favorite moments of the show. Indeed, there have been many, but this week’s was perhaps the most shocking.
Yes, this week I want to talk about the finale of season 3.
To say that the twist ending of “Through the Looking Glass” was a game-changing moment on Lost would be a great understatement. Up until that episode, the show had a very well defined storytelling structure. Virtually every episode that came before it featured flashbacks that focused on the lives of the characters before they found themselves on the island. There was no reason, then, to suspect that the finale should be anything different.
However, while watching the episode I couldn’t help but wonder where this crazy, wildly bearded version of Jack came from. Where did this episode in his life fit in with the rest of the flashbacks that we had seen? I didn’t give it too much thought as the episode went along, as I was far too enthralled with what I was seeing on screen. I think this episode was one of the most intense viewing experiences I’ve ever had. I was just mesmerized by my television.
The payoff came at the end of the episode when Jack finally met with an old friend. The car door opened and the audience saw… Kate! How could this be? What did this mean? Well, by now we all know that what we had been seeing during the episode was a flashforward, and not a flashback. It was a genius, inspired move by the writers of the show, throwing the whole Lost universe on its head.
In one brief scene so much information was divulged: people had made it off the island. The island really was just an island somewhere on Earth. All the completely far out theories involving purgatory, or other planets, or any other really hard scifi ideas were pretty much tossed out the window. A world of infinite possibilities had just been whittled down considerably.
This plot twist really did change the face of Lost, with the familiar storytelling formula being tossed out the window. It may have also been the greatest instance of a show toying with their audience, and if you’re anything like me, you loved it.
Clacked by Bob Degon
on Oct 19, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
What I really liked about this Lost moment, other than the fact it was a flash forward, was the tragedy of Jack’s character. Because when we do finally realized he got off the island we also find out – he was miserable. His quest for getting people off the island was like an operation that was successful but ended with a patient death.