Episode 22 - Through the Looking Glass (1)
2 January 2009
Review
Present: Jack leads the survivors to the radio tower. Sayid, Jin and Bernard stay behind and fail to kill all of the Others who come to their camp. Down in the Looking Glass station Charlie tells the women the truth about why he is there. They are soon joined by Desmond and Mikhail. Once he hears all the news, Ben takes Alex with him to try and persuade Jack not to leave the island. Locke tries to kill himself but Walt intervenes.
Flashback: Jack is flying on a plane and reads something in a newspaper which drives him to the point of suicide. Before he can though a car crashes nearby and he rescues the family inside. Clearly on pills of some sort he confronts his ex-wife and the new chief of surgery who both react warily to him.
The Good: The gun fight at the beach camp is enjoyable and dramatic. Again the Others are the more humane ones, after seeing their friends blown up they could have been a lot more vicious with their prisoners. Meanwhile Charlie is still enjoying the certainty of his fate and his cocksure demeanour makes for entertaining viewing. Desmond and then Mikhail arriving adds greatly to the intrigue of what is about to happen.
Walt arriving out of nowhere (seemingly accompanied by the whispers) is a surprise but does pick up on his strange appearances in season two (last seen in 206). Sawyer still looks completely numb which is consistent and understandable (after killing the real Sawyer in 319). Ben’s explanation that he didn’t want Alex to get pregnant (for why he locked up Karl and brainwashed him in 307).
Finally Jack’s “flashback” is certainly intriguing. I won’t pretend I ever thought it was a glimpse into the future. At this stage I wondered when exactly he had been such a mess.
The Bad: Walt of course looks far older than he should do.
Ben’s answers remain too vague to be convincing. He tells Mikhail the island is under assault but not from whom. He tells Richard he will convince the survivors to stay but not how and he tells Alex they can’t leave but not why. If the writers are not prepared to give the answers, then perhaps Ben shouldn’t receive so many questions. It’s slightly difficult to believe Mikhail would follow his orders without a bit more information.
The Unknown: Why has Ben been blocking communications from the island?
Best Moment: Charlie’s unpredictable behaviour is fun to watch and again his certainty about his fate makes for good viewing. When Bonnie points out that he needs the code, he thinks about and it concludes that “I guess I won’t need the code” so sure is he of what will happen. Then when she asks him what will happen if the station floods, he responds with a smile - “I die.”
The Bottom Line: A strong and relatively simple first half.
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