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Through the Looking Glass (Lost)

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"Through the Looking Glass (Lost)"

"Through the Looking Glass" is the 22nd episode of the third season of the ABC television serial drama drama series Lost and the 69th episode overall. It was written by co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse and directed by executive producer Jack Bender.[1] The episode first aired on May 23, 2007, in the United States and Canada and was watched by an average of almost 14 million American viewers.[2] Like the previous two season finales, it was two hours long with commercials—twice the length of a normal episode, causing the episode to be aired in two parts in some countries.[3] Reviews for the episode were universally positive and the episode has been nominated for three 2007 Primetime Emmys.[4]

The episode begins on December 22, 2004, ninety-two days after the crash of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815. The survivors have still not been rescued. The battle between the crash survivors and the dangerous and mysterious island inhabitants referred to as "The Others" comes to a head as ten of the Others ambush the surviors' camp and are subsequently killed. Meanwhile, most of the survivors go to the island's radio tower to communicate with a nearby ship. This is the first Lost episode to feature flashforwards throughout the episode, as opposed to the customary flashbacks. The flashforwards show the life of series protagonist Jack Shephard (played by Matthew Fox) in ruins after he has escaped the island.

Plot

Background

No "previously on" segment begins the show; however, many important events led up to this episode. Nine days prior, the Others sent one of their own as a mole to live with the survivors.[5] The mole, Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell), decided that she is now working against the Others and befriended the survivors' leader Jack.[6] Juliet was told by the Others' leader Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) to mark any of the survivors' tents that are owned by pregnant women, such as that of Sun Kwon (Yunjin Kim).[7] The Others will send ten of them to ambush the survivors' camp and kidnap the pregnant women for scientific research.[8] Jack and Danielle Rousseau, a woman whose boat crashed on the island sixteen years prior[9] and had her daughter stolen from her by the Others,[10] have devised a plan to blow up the ambushing Others with dynamite.[11]

Five days prior, a parachutist named Naomi Dorrit crashed on the island.[12] She claims to be working for Penelope Widmore, island resident Desmond Hume's (Henry Ian Cusick) girlfriend who is in search of the island.[13] Naomi has a satellite phone, but she cannot communicate with her nearby ship, because the signal is being jammed by an underwater Dharma Initiative research station called "The Looking Glass." Additionally, the survivors' camp is not close enough to the island's radio tower, which is where a signal can be sent out strongest.[11] Desmond, who can see glimpses of the future,[14] has told the survivor Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan) that he must swim down into the Looking Glass and die to save the survivors.

One of the survivors, John Locke (Terry O'Quinn), was shot earlier in the day by Ben and has fallen into a ditch.[15] When Locke is about to commit suicide with a gun, he is stopped by what appears to be Walt Lloyd, who tells Locke that he has work to do. Meanwhile, Ben tells Richard Alpert to lead the rest of the Others to "The Temple." Ben is now going to see the survivors with his adopted daughter, Alex (Rousseau's daughter),[16] to persuade Jack not to call Naomi's ship for rescue.

Summary

Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews), Jin Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim) and Bernard Nadler stay behind at the beach, given the task of shooting the dynamite-rigged tents, while the rest of the survivors make their way to the radio tower. Once the Others arrive, Sayid and Bernard hit their targets; however, Jin misses. A shoot-out ensues, resulting in the deaths of seven Others and the capture of Jin, Sayid, and Bernard by the remaining Others: Tom, Ryan Pryce and Jason.

After hearing only two explosions, James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) and Juliet turn back to see if they can help Jin, Sayid and Bernard. Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) tries to join them, but Sawyer tells Hurley that he will get in the way because of his obesity. Before leaving, Juliet kisses Jack, when Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) is watching. Jack later tells Kate that he loves her. Jack's group is soon intercepted by Ben and Alex. Ben speaks to Jack alone and tells him that Naomi is not who she says she is and that if he is successful in making contact with her boat, it will be disastrous for everyone on the island. Ben tells Jack to get Naomi's phone, or the surviving Others at the beach will shoot their detainees. Jack does not comply and hears three gunshots. Distraught, Jack beats Ben severely. Rousseau and Alex meet and they tie Ben up.

File:Glass-promo53.PNG
Charlie enters the code to disable the system jamming outgoing transmissions from the island.

Meanwhile, Charlie dives down into the Looking Glass and is captured by resident Others Greta and Bonnie. After Ben hears this news, he sends Mikhail Bakunin to the station to kill the three to preserve the signal jamming. Mikhail arrives and kills Greta and Bonnie, only to be shot through the chest with a spear gun by Desmond, who emerges from a closet inside the station.

Charlie enters the code, disabling the signal jammer. Charlie is contacted by Penelope via a video transmission. Charlie asks about the boat located off shore; Penelope, confused, says that she did not send the boat that Naomi claims to be from, and does not know who Naomi is. With a grenade, Mikhail blasts the window of the jamming room, and Charlie locks the door to save Desmond from drowning with him. Charlie writes "Not Penny's Boat" on his left hand and shows this to Desmond before he drowns.

At the beach, it is revealed that the shots were fired into the sand, and none of the three survivors were killed, but are still in captivity. After Hurley drives the van he found[17] onto the beach, the survivors gain the upper hand and the remaining Others are killed.

File:Lost radio tower.PNG
The first appearance of the radio tower in the series.

The trek party, now able to get a signal, arrive at the radio tower. Rousseau disables her distress signal, freeing the frequency for Naomi. Naomi is stabbed in the back by Locke, who claims that if Jack makes the call, Locke will kill Jack. Jack invites him to do so, but Locke is unable to. Against the wishes of Ben and Locke, Jack communicates with Minkowski on Naomi's boat, who tells the survivors that they will be sending rescue.

Flashforward

Sometime after escaping the island, Jack is depressed, unshaven, addicted to Oxycodone, and heavily drinking. After finding a newspaper clipping about the death of someone he knew, he attempts to commit suicide. As he is about to jump off a bridge, a woman crashes her car and Jack saves her instead of commiting suicide. Jack contacts Kate and explains to her that he has been using the free pass from Oceanic Airlines to fly across the Pacific Ocean during weekends, wanting to return to the island, saying that they "were not supposed to leave." Kate rejects this and drives away, leaving Jack to shout "We have to go back!"

Production

Actors Jorge Garcia (Hurley) & Daniel Dae Kim (Jin) with executive producers Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse & Bryan Burk.

The title is an allusion to Lewis Carroll's novel Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There[18] and also a reference to the fictitious 1980's DHARMA Initiative research station found in the previous episode. Although it was not named or explored until the previous episode, the Looking Glass, was first alluded to when Sayid found its cable in the first season[19] and later when it was seen by Locke on the blast door map in the second season.[20]

While filming mostly took place on Oahu, Hawaii, some scenes were shot in Los Angeles.[21] The hospital scenes were filmed in the same sets used for the ABC show, Grey's Anatomy.[22] Shooting began on April 13[23] and ended on May 7, 2007.[24] Post-production wrapped on May 21, 2007, only two days before it aired on television.[18] The dramatic score was composed by series musician Michael Giacchino, while popular music was also featured and referenced throughout the episode. While Jack drives to the funeral parlor, he listens to "Scentless Apprentice" by Nirvana. The code that Charlie disables the jamming in the Looking Glass is to the tune of "Good Vibrations" by The Beach Boys.

Despite not being mentioned in the official press release,[1] Malcolm David Kelley returned to reprise his role as Walt Lloyd with the credit of "special guest star." While the 10-year old[25] character had left the island 16 days previous to the events of the episode, the now-15-year old[26] actor had not filmed Lost in one year. In his single scene, Walt is visibly taller, has physically aged and has a deeper voice.[27] Although uncredited, show runners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse lent their voices for the unseen roles of the flight captain and newscaster, respectively.[28]

This episode concluded the story arc about Charlie's death that began earlier in the season, when Desmond prophesied Charlie's death.[29] Throughout the season, Charlie escaped death.[30] Desmond told Charlie that he had to die this time for his girlfriend Claire Littleton to get rescued from the island.[11] The storyline of Charlie's death was conceived while producing the latter part of the second season after the storyline of Charlie's drug addiction finished.[31] The news of his character's death was broken to Monaghan two episodes in advance.[32] Monaghan felt "relief" for knowing the future of his job on the show.[33] On the night of Monaghan's second last day on set, he was presented with a canoe paddle that had been made by the cast and crew and then took part in a gambling party.[34] Monaghan hopes to return to Lost as a guest star in flashbacks.[35]

Like the other Lost season finales, the cliffhanger final scene was given a codename, "The Rattlesnake in the Mailbox," and kept top secret.[36] After Lindelof and Cuse wrote the scene, only Matthew Fox (Jack), Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Jack Bender (executive producer/ director) and Jean Higgins (co-executive producer) were given copies of the script. Despite the security measures, a complete and detailed episode synopsis was uploaded online over a week before the episode aired.[37] Disney investigated the leak[38] The leak combined with the cliffhanger prompted Lindelof and Cuse responded by entering "radio silence," which was be broken at Comic-Con International 2007.[39] The funeral parlor that Jack visits is called "Hoffs/Drawlar," which is an anagram of "flashforward."[40]

Reception

Ratings

In the U.S., the episode brought in the best ratings for Lost in fifteen episodes.[41] The two hour Wednesday broadcast on ABC was the sixth most watched show of the week with an average of 13.86 million American viewers,[42] below the third season average of 14.6 million.[43] The first hour was viewed by 12.67, while the second hour was seen by 15.04 million people. The episode received a 5.9/15 in the key adults 18-49 demographic.[2]

In the United Kingdom, the episode attracted 1.21 million viewers, and was the second most watched program of the week on the non-terrestrial channels, beaten only by Katie & Peter: The Next Chapter.[44]

Critical reaction

The episode received rave reviews from critics.[45] The Los Angeles Times wrote that it was "action-packed,"[46] Access Atlanta said the finale was "deeply satisfying"[47] and the Associated Press called the episode "gripping," "powerful" and "terrific".[48] Two writers for E! said that "Lost has never been better"[49] and that "Through the Looking Glass" was possibly "the best episode ever of the entire series."[50] The season finale was summed up as "a mind-blower, for sure, a radical two hours that gave us major fake-outs, an army of dead bodies, the possibility of rescue, diverse portraits of heroism, and the most touching loss of the series so far" by The Boston Globe[51] and "a dizzying exercise in adventure, sustained tension and time-shifting rug pulling [that was] spectacularly produced, amazingly directed and gloriously acted" by TV Guide.[52] BuddyTV praised the unpredictability, saying that "no other show can even attempt to do what Lost does."[53] Cynical Television Without Pity gave the third season finale an "A" – tying it with three other episodes as the highest graded Lost episode.[54] Stephen McPherson, the president of ABC Entertainment, called "Through the Looking Glass" "one of the best episodes" of the series.[55] Giacchino's musical score was commended, being called "ever-more-awesome" by TV Guide.[56]

The final scene was called "a great twist," by the San Francisco Chronicle,[57] "shocking" by BuddyTV,[58] "mind-blowing" by E![50] and Entertainment Weekly said that the cliffhanger "[revealed] new dimensions to [Lost's] creative world."[59] Matthew Fox's lead role acting was also praised, his performance being called "Emmy worthy" by BuddyTV,[53] "excellent" by IGN[60] and TV Guide,[56] "fearless [and] balls-to-the-wall"[61] and "tour-de-force,"[62] by another TV Guide writer, while another TV Guide critic wrote that Fox has "stepped it up again."[52]

Awards

The episode has been nominated in the categories of "Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series," "Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series," and "Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series" in the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards.[4] The season finale was also submitted for Emmy consideration in the category of "Outstanding Drama Series;"[63] however, it was not nominated.[64] "Through the Looking Glass" was the AOL primetime poll winner[65] and editors' pick for "Best Season-Ending Cliffhanger."[66] "Through the Looking Glass" is currently nominated for "Drama Episode of the Year" in the 2007 Gold Derby TV Awards, in which anyone can vote.[67]

References

  1. ^ a b Fordis, Jeff, (May 7, 2007) "Lost Season Finale Entertaiment Press Release," ABC Medianet. Retrieved on July 3, 2007.
  2. ^ a b Nielsen Media Research, (May 30, 2007) "Weekly Entertainment Primetime Ratings Wrap-Up Report Press Release," ABC Medianet. Retrieved on July 3, 2007.
  3. ^ Sony Pictures Entertainment (July 30, 2007) "Canal 13: Latin America," AXN. Retrieved on July 30, 2007.
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