>: 69 THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS

TSOL! I’ve just invented a new curse word. Every time you feel the island, and the minds behind it, whoever they are on whatever level of fiction you prefer, realigning your imagination and turning your synapses into tentacles of dangling octopi and making you see everything from the pilot forward in a new or slightly different light, or maybe if Sawyer just said something perfect, you say Tsol. It’s a homonym for soul. The T is silent.

I swear, though, the first thing I thought, and it was because of Jack's beard, was FLASH-FORWARD (or, alternate pilot, I mean parallel dimensions now folks, why not? Everything just felt so wrong from that first scene. Ha, like it wasn't supposed to happen, I guess).

Okay, wait. Linerally. By scene. That’s the only way.

Open on diluted whiskey. Jack is his father’s son. Flying Oceanic. In hindsight, it’s such an obvious flash-forward. We’ve mapped out his life pretty well and there’s certainly no period like this that we’ve seen, that of Bearded Maniac. I was looking for him to really kill himself on the bridge, that this would be called “The Death of Jack Shephard”, which would have been so balls-out, but no, of course he had somebody to save.

And hitting those waves, the flashback, in hindsight now, a really cool idea is occurring to me…what if we’re done with pre-island flashbacks? What if it wasn’t a flash-forward, but just the present, and the Island was the flashback and for the next 48 installments, we get post-rescue shots flashing back to the inevitable rescue? (which certainly might not be a result of the final call to Bukowski on Naomi’s phone)

Hey, over the Giacchino credit, Ben is writing in his diary. That would be one hell of an ancillary product, The Diary of Benjamin Linus. Not that any of it would be true.

Great shot, everybody watching those two plumes of black smoke. They keep figuring out new ways to get that shot.

Bitch doesn’t think it would be “appropriate” to give Jack “Hero” Shephard a ride home? Hope she thinks of him while she’s working the gas and brake pedals, at least.

Richard’s taking everyone to the Temple? Huh, one sight we didn’t get this time.

So great for the walking music to be that strident cello that Giacchino first wrote for Sawyer, Shannon, Boone, Sayid, and Kate to go use the radio and first hear Rousseau’s transmission back in #2.

Nice touch how Sawyer is shedding his affected personality now that he’s accomplished his life's mission, calling her Kate now.

Waiting for Naomi’s satellite phone light to turn green reminds me the Omni from that great old Voyagers show, back when I was five. Gene Ha put those guys in a panel of Top 10. I digress.

Charlie busting out You All Everybody in falsetto again (mirroring the pilot) is pretty sad.

“Dr. Shephard, the hero. Twice over.” That reads well as a flashback if you’re counting him saving his wife-to-be, but surely the first hit is getting them off the island and second is pulling the woman and kid from the flaming wreckage.

Mikhail: I thought you two were on assignment in Canada.
is kind of shocking thing to say.

But Ben’s “This Island is under assault by forces stronger than anything it’s had to deal with in many, many years and we are meant to protect it, Mikhail.” is a lot better. (ha, my Microsoft Word insisted that “island” was misspelled—it’s learned that it needs to me capitalized)

Was that a sandalwood grip on the pistol Locke found in the pit? Roland abides.

(and a jovial middle finger to President Hayes for spoiling me that Walt was coming back—at least he and Michael didn’t show up in the last five minutes, that would have been a damn shame)

That Nirvana tune (the only one co-written by the rhythm section, incidentally) seems to place the “flashback” in ’93, but then Jack takes out his cell phone and blows that away. Better shot of the clipping this time. It says a man died and looks like it opens with the phrase “The body of J_____” then perfectly wrinkled away from us. Which gives us Locke or Sawyer. I’m thinking it’s got to be Locke. Neither one would have any family coming to see them and I can see Jack’s “Neither” to the question “Friend or family?” applying to both (maybe more of a stretch for Sawyer—Sawyer admitting to Jack that he was his best friend last season finale was one of the best beats of that sick sick episode), but if they all got rescued, it makes more sense that no one would show up at Locke’s funeral, the guy who tried to keep them on the island. And look at the way Jack caresses the coffin. Like he finally realizes that Locke was right, which is the arc of the entire flash-forward. Yeah, thinking it’s got to be Locke. Ben works as well, but I’m pretty sure that’s a J in the newspaper clipping.

“Hoffs/Drawlar” Funeral Parlor is an anagram for “flash-forward”.

Danielle telling Jack that she’s not leaving the island, there’s no place for her out there, is a bit sicker the second time around.

Jack trying to get a refill is the first of two bits about his father. Both can be explained away due to Bearded Maniac awesomeness, but they are sure interesting. He claims that the second prescription is written by his father, then when the chick picks up the phone to call, Jack says that his dad’s out of town right now. Not dead. Could be a lie.

Speaking of, I believe everything Ben tells Jack, about Naomi being one of the bad guys. Of course, he says that if Jack uses the phone, every person on the island, including Jack’s people, will be killed, which we know doesn’t come true.

Making Good Vibrations be the code is classic.

As are Rousseau’s first words to her daughter in 16 years. “Will you help me tie him up?”

How cool for Hurley to FINALLY use that VW Bus. I figured it would come in handy some time. Sounded like the monster, ol Cerberus, right before it broke through the foliage. So glad all those people made it. Everything gets so weighty on a season finale, anyone can go. I almost figured Hurley to be toast, trying so hard to help. Sayid breaking that dude’s neck with his legs was incredible. But nothing tops Sawyer shooting Tom in the heart and then dropping “That’s for taking the kid of the raft.” Tsol! “You and me ain’t done, Zeke.” finally comes around the mountain, 34 episodes later.

And the second time Christian Shephard pops up. Jack tells Rob Hamill (Chief of Surgery and an obvious reference to myself and Luke Skywalker) to get his dad in there and see who’s drunker. I mean, you can say those are the words of painkiller-addled Bearded Maniac, but seems odd if Pop really died years ago. Certainly worth a look of pity, I guess.

Charlie dials up Good Vibrations…and then gets confronted with a button! Oh, if only they could stop pushing buttons on this show. Nice recurrence. Pen finally makes a present-tense third season appearance and confirms, no surprise, that Naomi’s not with her. Wonder where Naomi got the picture of her and Des, then.

The only reason in the world for Charlie to lock HIMSELF up in that room instead of just shutting the door behind him was because Desmond told him he was going to die, like Claire wouldn't get rescued if his heart was still beating. I mean, even if they couldn’t have sealed the room from the outside, they had time to put on diving gear and flee. Nice bit, him writing on his palm, flipping the H(F)ATE on his finger-bandages from the very beginning. Has the island been trying to kill him all this time to keep him from stopping the jamming and getting everyone rescued?

Jack’s “We’ll celebrate when we’re home.” to Kate is beyond irony.

And Ben’s “Making that call is the beginning of the end.” is just the truth.

Cue Giacchino’s Parting Words for the last seconds on-island this season. Beautiful.

Into a great juxtaposition, Jack’s messy sink with a Guinness bottle in it followed by a shot of his floor with an empty bottle of booze, some painkillers, an Oceanic ticket and lots and lots of maps and navigational tools. He’s trying so hard to get back there. I love that idea.

Needs to see Kate “out at the airport. You know where.” That sounds like an interesting story. She looked so airbrushed. I guess that’s Kate with makeup, a phenomenon we haven’t yet discovered. Her “Why would I go to the funeral?” combined with "He'll be wondering where I am." is a good argument for Locke over Sawyer as the deceased.

And “We’ve got to go back!” followed by an Oceanic flight taking off. What an incredible ending. The two references to a bridge (Jack on the 6th Street Bridge and Charlie’s last unfinished song composed while tied up “all finished except it needs a bridge”) kind of hearken to our story entering a bridge of sorts, the entire fourth season maybe, before the big chorus to finish. Of course, I’m fascinated and just ravenous to see what happens next, but we’re going to have the longest wait yet. Really wonder if we’ve entered the zone of flashbacks to the island while catching up with everyone post-rescue or if this was a one-time affair.

Appropriately enough, this was my 48th post, same number of initial survivors, which of course only lasted a couple of episodes and keeps dropping all the time.

Hell of a 92 days, people. Should only take us another year to make it 16 more days so we can finally find out if anything is going to happen. If anybody's even left on-island at the 108-day mark.

What I liked so much about this episode is that it throws a couple of massive givens right out the window. One thing we never expected is that they would all just get rescued mid-series and then have to deal with the consequences and repercussions of that through the back half. Just a genius move, as is Jack bereft of purpose without being able to live together.

Namaste, Island Faithful. I bow to you.