Lost, Third Season Finale

SPOILER ALERT!!!!

Lost's season three came to a stunning end last night, a reminder of how much I love this show. The third season got off to a bumpy start in the fall, focusing on the Others, the mysterious and creepy faction that had kidnapped Jack, Kate and Sawyer. When the season continued in February, it was firing on all cylinders providing about a half-dozen excellent episodes, such as finding out how Locke got paralyzed, and Sawyer exacting revenge on the man who ruined his family. The only real clunker was the Paolo and Nikki episode, which still had its moments of perverse fun.

Last night, though, the whole Lost world got stood on it's ear. Almost all of the episodes have contained flashbacks for the characters, both the plane-crash survivors and the Others. Last night's episode seemed to be that way, showing Jack in a particularly bad spell. I assumed it was right after he had spent time in Thailand, perhaps grieving over his broken marriage. But at the very end of the episode (Here is a big spoiler alert!!!) we find out that this was a flash-forward, showing us Jack's life after being rescued. Or at least it appears that way. It also could be something like an alternate time line. But it's clear that it's Jack, it's post-plane crash, and he is upset about someone who died, someone who got no visitors at their viewing. Who is that, and what has happened to Jack from the moment he called for rescue on a satellite phone to the moment when he is ready to jump to his death from a bridge? This is the cliffhanger leading to season 4.

A lot of great moments in last night's two-hour finale (frequently interrupted by commercials): Locke, thought dead, awakens, and is saved from suicide by an apparition of Walt. Hurley riding the VW microbus to the rescue. Rousseau reunited with Alex, her long-lost daughter, and the first she says? Want to help me tie him (Ben) up? Jack beating the bejeesus out of Ben, a moment a long time in coming and certainly one that must have had Losties everywhere cheering. Charlie's brave and poetic death, in fact the whole Looking Glass portion of the episode, from the two chicks interrogating Charlie to Desmond shooting Mikhail with a spear gun, to Charlie learning the code was the tune to Good Vibrations, was inspired.

The next episode of Lost will be in February 2008, so a child conceived last night could to through a full gestation and be born before then. It's a long layoff, but fortunately last night's show set the hook deeply, and I'll be there when it airs.