JJ just loves his Alice in Wonderland references doesn’t he? Well let’s dive in, this was a whopper of a finale. Get comfy, it’s a long one. :)The flashbacks throughout the whole 2 hours show a different Jack than we’ve ever seen. For one, he’s bearded (not a fan personally), we see him doing a lot of drinking, taking prescription drugs, driving when he shouldn’t be and stumbling around. He sees an obituary in the newspaper that upsets him to the point of almost jumping off a bridge, but he’s stopped when a huge car accident occurs behind him and his doctor instincts kick in. He ends up saving a mom and her little boy from the burning wreckage, but does not think of himself as the hero the news and public considers him to be. This whole time we’re never let in on who the obituary was for and what’s pushed him to this brink of depression.
Back on the island our survivors prepare to depart from their camp and set their plan in motion of tricking the Others getting blown to bits. Sayid, Jin and Bernard stay behind as the shooters, and Sayid makes Jack promise to keep moving toward the cell tower no matter what happens. Down in the Looking Glass hatch, Charlie’s beaten for information and reveals that he found out about the underwater hatch from Juliette. The women on duty warn Ben of Juliette’s betrayal, but it’s too late to tell their beach attackers they’re being set up. Two of the three tents are blown up as planned, but Jin couldn’t get a clean shot at the third pile of dynamite and all three end up captured by the surviving Others. Everyone with Jack knows something went wrong when they don’t see the third explosion, so Sawyer and Juliette head back to the beach to see what went wrong (but not before Juliette gives Jack a lingering kiss in front of Kate). You can tell it bothers her, and later when Jack defends Sawyer’s refusal of letting Kate go back to the beach, he admits the only reason for is defense is because he loves her. They keep hiking, Roussoe tells Jack they’re close to the tower, but right after that they’re intercepted by Ben and Alex.
In the mean time we find out, in the most bizarre scene of the episode, that Locke isn’t dead. Yup he’s shot in the ditch, but his eyes open and he finds he’s paralyzed once more. He’s about to shoot himself when (a much older) Walt appears to tell him to get up because he has work to do (anyone else see the Biblical references in that?) Desmond swims down to the LG after coming under fire from eyepatch dude, who also scuba dives down to them. Eyepatch gets orders from Ben to kill everyone down there to prevent the jamming signal from getting turned off, so he kills one of the women, shoots the other in the back, then gets a surprise dart in the chest from a hiding Desmond. Before she dies Charlie convinces the woman of Ben’s betrayal and in her dying breath she tells him how to shut down the jamming signal.
Ben pulls Jack aside and tries to convince him that Naomi isn’t with Penny’s rescue boat as she claims, calling their boat will kill everyone on the island and to bring him her radio. When Jack refuses Ben tricks him into thinking the beach captures were killed from that decision. Jack beats Ben to a pulp, doesn’t tell the group about the “killings” but brings a tied up and bloody Ben along. At the same time Ben admits to Alex that Roussoe is her mother. Back on the beach Hurley saves the day by literally driving over one of the Others w/ the VW van, allowing Sawyer and Juliette to take control of the situation. (When Sayid broke his captures’ neck w/ his feet I seriously said holy sh*t! outloud, that’s hardcore!) Through the walkies the hiking group hears their friends are safe, everyone except Charlie and Desmond. Charlie successfully shuts down the jamming signal, and is instantly connected to a broadcast from Penny. He tells her Desmond is alive and so is Naomi, but she has no idea who Naomi is. Before Desmond can talk to her, Eyepatch appears out the porthole with a grenade (that guy never dies!!). Charlie blocks off the door, but the explosion blows the window and quickly floods the room. He lets Desmond know it’s “not Penny’s boat” they’re trying to call, and sadly Desmond’s vision comes true of Charlie drowning (I’m still in denial about him dying).
Naomi sees her phone connection is working, and just as she’s calling her boat she gets a knife in the back from Locke. He also warns Jack not to make the call, but the phone connects and it looks like rescue is on their way. Once again we see bearded Jack, at home sitting on the floor surrounded by maps. He makes a mystery phone call to meet someone by the airport. Suspense builds as to who he’s meeting, to my shock we see Kate get out of the car. The sickening truth sinks in that we haven’t been seeing flashbacks, but flashforwards. Jack informs her of the obituary, I can only guess it was one of the survivors who died but we never know who. Jack crazily rants at Kate that they need to go back to the island, they were never meant to get off, she quietly says “yes we were” and leaves him.
So this is the depressing future that awaits our Losties if they get off the island. Obviously Kate and Jack don’t get together, he becomes a drunken bum who flies on a weekly basis hoping his plane will crash again on the island. What happens to make Jack so sick with longing for the life they had on the island? Who is Naomi with, and is Ben right that everyone will die if they come? Can this glimpse of the dismal future somehow be changed?
