Oh. My. God.

I am still completely gobsmacked after watching last night's season finale of Lost ("Through the Looking Glass"), which--as promised--totally altered the series in a game-changing episode that will have all of us scratching our heads until the show returns next February.

As soon as a grizzly bearded Jack appeared on screen at the beginning of the episode, I instantly knew that we were seeing a Lost first: a flash forward in time that would change the direction of the series forever. It's an ambitious gambit to change everything about a series in the fourth season, but if anyone can pull it off it's the awe-inspiring duo of Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof (whose voices, FYI, appeared in last night's episodes); the fate of the series balances on a knife's edge but I have faith that this turn in direction is a positive thing.

Many of us thought that last night's episode would contain some explanation for Jack's strange behavior of late, following his incarceration with the Others, but instead just what happened to Jack during that time will remain shrouded in mystery; instead we're given a tantalizing flash forward in time to see a beleaguered and increasingly drug-addled Jack try to cope with life post-island but he appears to be weighed down by some massive guilt connected with his leaving the island (did he leave some people behind?) and an addiction to Oxycontin that plays with his mind. (Is Christian alive? Or is Jack just confused?)

In the future (which, thanks to that Motorola RAZR phone, appears to be post-2006 Los Angeles), Jack has taken to using his golden pass on Oceanic to take constant Friday night plane trips in the hope that the aircraft will crash and he will end up back on that damned island again. His ex-wife Sarah (Julie Bowen) is pregnant and wants nothing to do with him. He's suicidal and an attempt to take his own life causes a massive car crash that leaves yet another woman clinging to life. Kate has apparently sworn off all contact with Jack but he reaches out to her anyway, after reading an obit in the paper, and arranges a rendezvous at the airport.

Just whose corpse is in that coffin in the Hoffs/Drawlar Funeral Home? (My thoughts: Ben, Locke, or a new character.) And why did no one show up to that particular viewing... and why is Kate so insistent that she won't attend? (It's the little touches that count: Hoffs/Drawlar is an anagram for "Flash Forward," of course.) As for why Kate isn't in prison, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the castaways conspired to fake her death in the Oceanic crash and, presumed dead, she's assumed a new identity, a life which she apparently shares with someone (Sawyer?) who wouldn't be too happy about her meeting Jack. Especially given the fact that Jack, obsessed with the notion that they were never meant to leave the island, now wants them all to go back there.

To put it bluntly: I loved this new direction and everything it offers in terms of storytelling possibilities. Did any of us really think that they'd get off the island in the third season finale, especially with a 48-episode order for Lost?

Meanwhile, I loved how our castaways have become more and more like the Others over the course of this season and last night's episode pushed this even further, as they exterminated the Others without a second thought, racking up a body count that included fan favorites such as Tom. Hmmm, could it be that the island recycles its population in a purge every few years by turning one population against the other? Does it thrive on warfare and murder?

Never for a second did I think that Jin, Sayid, and Bernard would get killed (and if they did, it would have been shown on screen), which was a great relief. But I'll admit I got a wee bit misty-eyed when Charlie sacrificed himself to get everyone (especially Claire and Aaron) off the island. Down in the Looking Glass, Charlie encountered the exceptionally deadly Bonnie (Tracy Middendorf) and Greta (Lana Parrilla) who, in turned out, did work for Ben, after all. No one other than their bespectacled leader had any idea that they were down there: their cover story was an assignment in Canada! Once Mikhail breached the station and learned that it wasn't flooded as Ben had told them, Patchy (whose prosthetic makeup was absolutely brilliant, BTW) set out to follow Ben's orders and eliminate Bonnie and Greta. Fortunately, Desmond had made it down into the station and managed to stop Patchy--albeit temporarily (can this guy ever be killed?)--and he and Charlie were able to learn the code to turn off the communications jammer. Hmmm, was it a coincidence that a musician programmed the code to the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations" and Charlie, also a musician, just happened to be the one who had to turn off the machine? I don't think so.

I knew that Naomi was hiding something and she wasn't who she claimed to be (though she wasn't, as I had originally thought, working for Ben) and I loved the clever Star Wars homage as Charlie gets to speak to Penny Widmore (Sonya Walger) over the microphone, only to discover that Penny isn't on that nearby freighter, after all. As Mikhail detonates a grenade next to the station, Charlie seals himself in the communications room and--in yet another heroic move--writes on his hand that it's not Penny's boat and presses it against the glass. Sniffle.

I believe that Ben is actually telling the truth for once; these are evil people who have been trying to find the island for years (though why not just follow the Dharma drops?) and I think that Naomi is part of the same organization that the sinister Mrs. Hawking is. After all, it was Desmond's flashes that kept Charlie safe from death until he could get down into the Looking Glass and crack the "Good Vibrations" code. Whoever these people are they were able to use Desmond to manufacture an outcome that worked for them; they outfitted Naomi with a photograph of Des and Penny and a convenient cover story. After all, it was that photo that clinched things for Desmond; he helped Charlie obtain access to the Looking Glass and turn off the jammer, which in turn lead Naomi's people to the island. So maybe things aren't always as coincidental as they seem on Lost, after all...

What else did I love? Jack finally telling Kate that he loves her but he kisses Juliet and not her; Rose's line to Bernard to remember that he's a "dentist and not Rambo"; the fact that everyone discounted Hurley and he still managed to singlehandedly save the day with the VW van he discovered (which belonged, natch, to Ben's dead father in a sign that karma always gets you in the end); Sayid snapping an Other's neck with his legs; Alex finally meeting her mother Rousseau, whose first words to her daughter are "let's tie him up"; Aaron sensing that Charlie had died (signs of some extrasensory abilities?); Sawyer executing Tom because he took the kid off the raft; and Juliet's fear that Sawyer could turn on her next.

But let's face it: my favorite thing had got to be the reappearance of Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) standing above a newly paralyzed Locke, about to kill himself in the mass grave. While definitely looking more than a little older (puberty is a bitch), his appearance gave me chills. Is it Walt? Or a manifestation of the black smoke monster? Did Walt and Michael ever truly make it off the island or is this more trickery from the island itself? Or, finally, is it a projection of Walt himself, a la his dripping wet appearance at the beginning of Season Two?

In any event, Walt tells Locke that he can walk and that he still has work to do. Work, apparently, that includes killing Naomi with a thrown knife and attempting to prevent Jack from completing the call on the satellite phone. But at the final moment, Locke can't bring himself to kill Jack, who makes contact with a man named Spokowski aboard Naomi's boat. Rescue is on its way. What made Locke not follow out the island's instructions? And, even more tantalizing, is Locke STILL on the island in the future? Did he rejoin the Others at that mysterious temple?

The wait until next February is going to be an extremely painful one, methinks. The season finale's twist--a flash forward in time--could have been gimmicky had this been the end of the third season in an interminable series run, but with a clearly defined end date for Lost (May 2010) I do think that Season Four is going to potentially be the best season yet. Now if only we could flash forward to that season premiere in February...

The Looking Glass War

From  Daily Variety:

Web Exclusive