Episode Report Card LuluBates: A | Grade It Now! YOU GRADE IT The End. With Questions.
By LuluBates | Season 3 | Episode 22 | Aired on 05.22.2007
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Jack leaves Jin, Sayid, and Bernard on the beach to blow up the Others while he leads the rest of the survivors to the radio towers to try and signal Naomi's ship and start a rescue. Their trap goes awry when Jin misses his mark. All three are taken captive and used as collateral in Ben's mission to protect the Island. The Losties, on their way to the radio tower, notice that there were only two explosions and know that something is wrong. Sawyer decides that he's going back to find out what happened, and Juliet offers to take him to a secret cache of guns, and she and Jack kiss as they part ways. Turns out there are no guns, though, and Sawyer and Juliet head off to deal with their karma issues unarmed.
Meanwhile, Charlie is being held captive by the Lovely Ladies of the Looking Glass Station. Desmond joins him when Mikhail is sent to the station and takes a slight detour to shoot the crap out Desmond's canoe.
In Otherworld, Ben is planning on heading off all 40 of the plane survivors by himself, but Alex invites herself along. Good thing he didn't bring the Others, because there is definitely dissension in the ranks. What with Locke missing, the away team dead, and the fact that Ben told everyone the Looking Glass was flooded and inoperable when in fact he was using it to block all transmissions off the Island, no one is happy with Ben's leadership. The lack of trust definitely rubs Mikhail the wrong way. You know what else rubs Mikhail the wrong way? The giant harpoon that Desmond shoots into him after Mikhail attacks the Ladies on Ben's order. The surviving Lady tells Charlie the code to avenge her own death. Inexplicably the code is keyed to the tune of Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys.
When Jack refuses to give Ben the satellite phone and give up their only hope of rescue, Ben tells Tom to kill Jin, Sayid, and Bernard. After the shots ring out, Jack promises revenge. But no revenge is necessary because Hurley and his Magic Bus run over the captors who had only pretended to kill the guys while deciding whether Ben had lost it. Hurley sends out a message letting everyone know that they won. Ben, now a captive, takes the opportunity to introduce Alex to her mother, Rousseau.
Despite the harpoon through the heart, Mikhail is not dead, and to prove it he throws a grenade at Charlie as he makes his escape. Charlie, who is busily making contact with Penny, saves Desmond's life by shutting himself in to the communications hatch. Before he drowns (yes, drowns, as in dead, as in ready for his return to the Big Screen) he manages to convey the message that Naomi is not who she seems.
Charlie's sacrifice paid off, though, and the jamming signal is turned off. Naomi manages to get a line to the outside world, but can't complete the call before Locke crawls from the grave to knife her. Yes, Locke is alive, and with a little assistance from Waaaaaalllltttt, he shows up just in time to protect the Island. Not to be dissuaded by a gun leveled at his head, Jack picks up the phone and, despite Ben and Locke's protestations, completes the call. The freighter crew says they can lock onto their position and the Losties cheer for the impending rescue.
Sprinkled throughout the episode have been flashbacks of a heavily bearded, drug addled, suicidal Jack slowly spiraling into a pit of self-destruction. In the last minutes of the show, it is revealed that these are not flashbacks, but rather glimpses of the future after the rescue. He meets up with Kate at the airport and tells her that he knows that they weren't meant to leave and they have to get back. She leaves him yelling to himself as planes take off overhead. I will just admit this now: I have no idea what is going on here. Damn season finales. Want more? The full recap starts right below!
A glass of ice is being nervously tapped on an Oceanic Air armrest, which I am sure the other first-class patrons just love. A fully-bearded Jack swigs, chugs, and asks for another. The stewardess tells him no because they are landing in 20 minutes. He points out that 20 minutes is a long time, and she still says no and offers him a newspaper instead. Jack's beard is really nasty and vaguely pubic. I really hope it's fake and that those are not the sorts of hairs that grow naturally out of Matthew Fox's face. The plane bumps and jolts and the captain asks them to buckle their seatbelts. As Grizzly Jack complies, he notices an article in the newspaper the stewardess handed him. He grabs the paper off the seat and reads an article looking more and more upset. He gently tears the article out. Soon he's landed and is driving a Jeep that he oddly chooses to park on a bridge. He pulls the article out of his pocket, leans his head against the steering wheel, and cries. If you had any doubts prior to this, let it hereby be known that Grizzly Jack is a sensitive man. He is in touch with his emotions. He probably eats quiche. Jack pulls out his phone and calls someone, even though it appears to be the middle of the night. He says, "Hi, it's me. I...uh. I just read..." He can't get any more words out and shuts the phone. He has apparently seen It's a Wonderful Life a few too many times, because he climbs out of his car and clambers up on to the bridge railing. He studies the drop, mutters "Forgive me" to the night air, and is about to make himself a pancake (mmm...pancakes) when a kindly angel tells him not to. Well, just substitute "kindly angel" for "enormously loud fiery car crash" and "tells him not to" with "interrupts his planned suicide." He looks at the crash, sighs at the distraction, and turns away from death and walks over to the crash. Don't you hate it when heroic acts interfere with your plans for an easy suicide?
At the beach camp, the Losties are hurriedly packing for their flight into the jungle. At the water trough, Jack and Kate make some serious eye contact that makes Kate blush and glance at Sawyer, who hasn't noticed a thing. He is undoubtedly a bit distracted from his ersatz love triangle what with killing a man with his bare hands so recently and all. Jack goes to Sayid and asks him if he has everything he needs. Sayid flicks him in the head and says, "Uh, duh, of course not. But I will make do because 1) we have no choice and 2) I am Sayid." Jack asks about Bernard and Jin, and Sayid reassures him that they are both excellent shots and "highly motivated." I guess that Successories poster he put in the canteen worked wonders! Sayid continues, "The dynamite is in place and we will not miss." He then looks closely at Jack and makes him promise that whatever happens on the beach, he will keep them all moving to the radio tower. He is wiling to sacrifice his life if it means rescue, but he is not giving it up for nothing. Jack understands. The two shake hands, exchange good lucks, and Jack walks off.