Title’s significance: It’s not the first reference we get to “Alice in Wonderland” – this one reminds us of the portal that brought Alice into a new and uncharted world – but on a literal level it points to The Looking Glass as being the thing through which the survivors’ rescue must pass.
Recap: The Others are coming, so the survivors are in full speed mode. At The Looking Glass, Bonnie & Greta are torturing Charlie, so Ben sends Mikhail to figure out what’s going on. The Others walk right into the beach trap, but after losing seven people they capture Sayid, Bernard, and Jin – the shooters. Ben deduces that Juliet betrayed The Others, so he tells Tom to find the 815ers; under duress, Bernard confesses that the survivors are going to the radio tower and that Karl tipped them off. Ben goes after the survivors and brings Alex, while directing Richard to “The Temple.” Kate derides Sawyer for not caring about anything while Desmond wakes up in his paddleboat and dives after Charlie. Sawyer turns back to help the shooters at the beach but refuses to bring Kate; Juliet volunteers, knowing where there’s a stash of guns. Mikhail comes to The Looking Glass, looking for Charlie and Desmond; Ben tells Mikhail that the island is under assault and orders him to “clean up the mess I’ve made.” Hurley follows Sawyer and volunteers to help, but Sawyer turns him down. In the mass grave, Locke is about to kill himself but is stopped by a vision of Walt, who tells him he has “work to do.” Jack tells Kate he loves her, and Rousseau tells Jack that she won’t leave the island – just as Ben catches up with the survivors.
On Ben’s orders, Mikhail kills Greta and is about to kill Bonnie before Desmond shoots him with a spear gun. Jack agrees to give Ben five minutes of his time, and Ben tells Jack that Naomi is “one of the bad guys” and is with a team that wants to kill everyone on the island; Jack, however, refuses to play ball, and Ben tells Tom to kill Sayid, Jin, and Bernard. So Jack roughs up Ben something fierce and vows to kill Tom. Bonnie surrenders the code to The Looking Glass – “Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys – as Ben introduces Alex to her mother, Rousseau. It’s revealed that Tom and Pryce didn’t kill the shooters, just as Hurley drives up to camp in the Dharma van and runs over Pryce. Charlie deactivates the beacon, and a message from Penny comes in – she’s ecstatic to hear that Desmond is alive, but Charlie learns that it’s not her boat; outside the porthole, Mikhail (STILL not dead) detonates a grenade, flooding the equipment room. Before drowning, Charlie communicates to Desmond that it’s “Not Penny’s Boat.” At the radio tower, Rousseau deactivates her signal, but Ben warns that “making that call will be the beginning of the end.” As Naomi makes contact, Locke appears and throws a knife into her back, but despite his warnings Jack makes the call to the freighter, which signals that it’ll be inbound shortly.
This episode is brilliant for its inversion of the conventional flashback technique, so stay tuned for why this is so awesome. Jack is about to jump off a bridge after reading an obituary, but he stops himself to save someone from a car crash. A pregnant Sarah comes to the hospital to see Jack, but it’s evident that he’s involved in substance abuse. Jack travels to a funeral home in a bad neighborhood, but he says the person in the coffin is neither a friend nor family. After the pharmacy turns him away, Jack steals from the hospital supply room, and Dr. Hamill tells Jack that the car crash was caused by a woman distracted by his attempt to kill himself but that the woman is going to be okay; they argue about whether Jack is fit to continue practicing medicine. At the end of the episode, Jack meets someone outside an airport – it’s Kate. They talk about the funeral and how Jack’s been flying a lot to try to crash on the island again. He tells Kate that they need to return to the island, and she runs away in tears. The whole thing, we learn, is a flashforward, not a flashback.
Thoughts: Home run through and through, Team Darlton. The 80 minutes on Hulu flew by for me, and I’m continuing to feel fulfilled and enriched by this rewatch project as the clock ticks down closer and closer to the Feb. 2 premiere. What’s fantastic about this episode is that the on-island bits are gripping; the Jack flashbacks are dull as always, but the last-second reveal that it’s all a flashFORWARD makes the whole thing worthwhile, and anyone who can redeem a Jack-centric episode gets an A+ in my book. So kudos, Damon & Carlton; keep up the good work.
Favorite moment: For the first half, “I am a dentist; I am not Rambo.” The second half gets points for Sawyer finally getting to kill Tom.
Characters introduced (in order):
- ROB HAMILL, new chief of surgery
- MINKOWSKI, one of the freighter people
What we learned:
- Mikhail’s eye patch is legit.
- Juliet doesn’t know why Sawyer and Kate had to break up rocks.
- Ben hates Karl because he didn’t want Alex to get pregnant.
- Ben claims that Naomi is “one of the bad guys.”
- Mikhail kills Greta and Bonnie.
- Sawyer kills Tom after Pryce gets run over by the Dharma van.
- The island doesn’t want the freighter showing up, either.
- Locke apparently killed Naomi.
- Jack and Kate will make it off the island.
Questions:
- What is The Temple?
- Is Kate pregnant?
- What happened to Mikhail’s eye?
- What forces are attacking the island?
- What’s with the vision of Walt?
- Who’s in the coffin?
- Is Mikhail finally dead?
- If it’s not Penny’s boat, whose is it?
- Who else makes it off the island?
- In the flashforward, who’s going to wonder where Kate is?
- Why weren’t Jack and Kate supposed to leave? That is, why do they have to go back?
- What happened to the island after they left?
Things that are going to be important in Season Six:
- Locke again emerges as a chosen one for the island, and I’m certain that he’s going to save everyone in the final season.
- The ability of the island – or the powers that govern it (i.e., Jacob and perhaps his nemesis) to consciously guide its own path makes me wonder why at times the island seems powerless and at the behest of those serving its needs (i.e., Locke). Who’s ultimately the man behind the curtain?
- I’m holding out hope for a Mikhail return, but it’s probably not top of the list of priorities.
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