Lost Spoilers: "Greatest Hits" and the Grand Finale

This is the Lost Spoilers blog for Lost, episode 21, season 3, on ABC TV. Some grand finale - episode 22 and 23 Lost spoilers mixed in too.

The Lost schedule now is catapulting its way to to the grand finale for Season 3, in "Through the Looking Glass" - which is a two hour extravaganza, making it Season 3, episodes 22 and 23. Greatest Hits and Through the Looking Glass are the three pieces of the grand finale. Greatest Hits set the stage and Through the Looking Glass brings the rousing conclusion. The Lost spoilers here - in a season that had some ups and downs, the finale actually is rousing, and will leave us anxious for the return of the sixteen episode season 4.

All the pieces are in place for the climactic battle between the good beach Losties, and the evil Others. And what is the Looking Glass? ... read on. Spoilers ahead, of course, after all this is the Lost Spoilers Blog.

Alice and the Red Queen, Lost inspiration:

'I don't understand you,' said Alice. 'It's dreadfully
confusing!'

'That's the effect of living backwards,' the Queen said kindly:
'it always makes one a little giddy at first--'

'Living backwards!' Alice repeated in great astonishment. 'I
never heard of such a thing!'

'--but there's one great advantage in it, that one's memory
works both ways.'

The Looking Glass is a new undersea Dharma station, which will be introduced. And the final episode is aptly named "Through The Looking Glass", meaning going through the new Looking Glass Station - with inspiration by Lewis Carroll's children's classic sequel to Alice in Wonderland, namely, Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There. Here, in the Lost universe, we will go through the looking glass and see what is there - different rules and the unexpected. In Lewis Carroll's classic, time runs backwards ... makes you think, hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

The Lost Spoilers are that everyone's perspective on Lost will change after the end of the Through the Looking Glass finale. It will be game changing - as the inner sanctum at ABC tells us. We know it, and are going to limit some of the details ... maybe ... you'll see.

Now on to some more Lost Spoilers for "Greatest Hits". This episode has a Charlie flashback. Charlie is a musician, hence his Greatest Hits. Does Charlie die? Desmond uses his crystal ball and says definitely Charlie will die exploring the flooded Looking Glass hatch. The Lost spoilers are that Desmond does not lie, but it does not happen in Greatest Hits.

Do you remember the Desmond flashback in "Flashes Before Your Eyes", season 3, episode 8 - in February? Desmond runs into Charlie in London. Charlie is a street performer, and Desmond confronts him. The Lost spoilers are that we will be back to that time again, but from Charlie's perspective.

A lot of clips are floating around the Internet for the Greatest Hits episode. First, here is ABC's Lost Spoilers promo clip for the episode. The battle lines are drawn and Ben is leading the Others into battle, and Jack, Kate's love, is leading the Losties:


A sneak peak of the Losties trekking across the island. Juliet confesses she has been a spy, and the Others are coming back for the pregnant women. Jack formulates a plan for a Losties counter-attack - "We're gonna blow them all to hell".



ABC TV has its usual cryptic Lost Spoilers press release for Greatest Hits:

While Jack devises a plan to do away with the Others once and for all, Sayid uncovers a flaw in the Others' system that could lead to everyone's rescue. But it requires Charlie to take on a dangerous task that may make Desmond's premonition come true.

Jack devises the counter-attack, and Charlie goes on the mission.

Lost Spoilers: Catch 22, Season 3, Episode 17

On with Contender's Lost Spoilers for "Catch 22" - or let's learn more about Desmond and Penny, Lost TV show Season 3, Episode 17 on ABC.

Oh, first about "One of Us", episode 16. Wasn't that great? Hey Jack, wake up dude, Juliet's an Other. We also got the big spoilers clue on what is making Juliet sooooo cold. Remember when she cocked the gun and put it to Kate's head? Her eyes were cold. Now we learned why. The beach Losties - at least the tail section component and their captured beach Losties, killed Goodwin, her boyfriend. One of us was all about her confidence game, conning the Losties into accepting her as "one of us". Another spoiler is, they will catch on. Maybe not perpetually clueless Jack anyway, after all he thinks he sees virtue in her eyes.

Now on to Catch 22. Lost Spoilers ahead... A great name for a Lost episode, damned if you do damned if you don't. A Catch 22. This is a Desmond flashback episode and the drive to the Season 3 finale is taking us to where Season 2 left off, Desmond and Penny. And what about the Brazilians at the glacier monitoring station? And yes, for those breathlessly waiting to have more of Jack-Kate, oh... I mean Sawyer-Kate... you will love Catch 22. Kate gets her rolling on the ground rebound fling with Josh Hollaway aka Sawyer. Sawyer, having learned a bit of humility does the right thing. Locke is back too. Locke, meet ground.

Here is the ABC promo trailer, with Spanish subtitles, for the episode in case you missed it.



The official spoilers press release from ABC television:

Desmond coaxes Charlie, Hurley, and Jin on a trek across the jungle after experiencing one of his future-prophesizing "flashes" -- but is he purposely placing Charlie's life in harm's way? Meanwhile, Kate turns to an unwitting Sawyer after seeing Jack alone with Juliet.

The other theme of this episode is Desmond's ability to see Charlie's future.

Lost Theories: Desmond Flashback - Real or Fake?

Desmond Returns From His Flashback

I've been getting a lot of questions about the Desmond Flashback in Lost Season 3, Episode 8 "Flashes Before Your Eyes". So, this really is not a Lost spoilers post, but more like a Lost theories post. There is no spoilers-y explanation for it since the spoilers actually are in the creators' intentions. Like a lot about Lost, this was a thinking person's flashback. Not necessarily a tight linear narrative, but rather thought provocation about the rich mystery of the Lost TV series island itself.

What happened was, the flashback was of Desmond's experience as he turned the failsafe hatch key in the season finale of Lost Season 2. Desmond turns the key and is blown clear out of the hatch, and onto the surface of the Lost island. He is unconscious and covered with blood. His life flashes before his eyes, hence the episode 8 title. Desmond was remembering key events of his life, with an overlay of his present experience. The island references, recognition of Charlie and so on were all an overlay of dream on Desmond's memories of his life.

That is my favorite theory among the millions of theories floating around. One theory for each of the 20 million or 14 million or zillion Lost TV show fans... whatever ... If you KNOW, you know what I mean. :)

Back to the theories discussion: you cannot really decipher all that is dream from that which was real, and of course that was the intention of the Lost writers. Alternatively, if you are a cynic, it was just an entertaining mishmash, or you could say Desmond was travelling through time. To give a bone to that camp, the writers conveniently wrote Desmond naked, as losing his clothes. In one literary embodiment of the time travel myth, you lose your clothes when you return home. So, under such a theory Desmond actually time - travelled back to his past and lost his clothes upon return.

Lost Spoilers, Clues and Eggs from Flashes Before Your Eyes

(Desmond helps Charlie postpone his destiny)

This is a companion post to my Lost Clues blog at LostExposed.com. You should go there to read my summary of the clues in this Lost episode. Here I will expand on the spoilers - y items, after all this is the Lost Spoilers blog.

A lot of Lost fans are thinking this episode should have been placed as episode 1 for season 3, since it provided some sort of explanation for what happened when the hatch blew up, or imploded. This is a spoilers blog and the answer is: Desmond was fulfilling his destiny.

The title was “Flashes Before Your Eyes”, but it could have been, Finally Locke, Sayid, Charlie, Hurley and Desmond get some face time. Not really. "Flashes Before Your Eyes " was nicely tied to that theme, as the flashback was in flashes before Desmond’s eye, and also relates to the thought process going on at the moment of destiny. This Lost episode could have also been called, Desmond is the key. After all Desmond is the only Lostie to escape from the island and come back to talk about it. We need now to go back and look at all the statements Desmond has made about inevitable destiny and view them with a new respect.

Big spoilers are in why Desmond needed to return to turn the key. We have all the facts and just need to add them up. The missing portion of his back story is how Desmond got in the army, into jail, and then to make a decision to enter evil Charles Widmore’s boat race taking him to his destiny on the island. And, what did he tell the lovely Penny about the plan? The spoilers are that Penny knew to look for the magnetic anomaly (or whatever it was) that would occur when Desmond finally fulfilled his destiny and turned the key. That would be her clue as to his location or the timing of his eventual return.

The Desmond flashback was an undecipherable mixture of actual past events with an overlay of the reflections of present day island Desmond – as his life flashes before his eyes. One spoiler we know for sure is that when Desmond says, it is impossible to escape, he means, for the person he is talking to, the destiny is to remain on the island. And, if they do escape, time will correct that error.

For Charlie that means Charlie has been cheating death, with Desmond’s help, but that streak of luck is bound to end. The example in this episode is Desmond's rescue of Claire. His aggressive shooing away of Charlie is depicted in the picture above (thanks Lostpedia). It seemed odd at the time, but Desmond needed to keep Charlie away to avoid risks to Charlie's life.

If the Charlie's street performance flashback was 100% true, Charlie probably would have remembered the confrontation with Desmond on the street in London. The only explanations are, either the confrontation did not occur, or heroin wiped away Charlie’s brain cells. The spoilers are that the flashback was a dream by Desmond induced by the hatch ex - implosion, and in the dream Desmond mixed the actual event - meeting Charlie on the street, with the overlay of his present friendship with Charlie.

Desmond tried to escape, but his destiny was to come back to turn the key. He sailed away but time corrected that error and took him back at the end of Season 2 of Lost.

Then there was Charles Widmore – the mysterious man of many insults:

• “This swallow is worth more than you could make in a month” … maybe.


• “You will never be a great man” … wrong, Desmond turned out to be great, since pushing the button and turning the key would be great things he accomplished. We do not know why they were great, although the leading explanation is those events are his test of worth leading to his reunion with the lovely Penny Widmore. Oh, also he saved humanity from destruction.

This episode brought back the Lost clues, Easter eggs and spoilers hints Lost fans love … in droves:

• Beginning flashback song, “Building A Mystery”


• Beep on microwave, same as the eerie warning to push the hatch button


• Microwave numbers, 1:08


• Parcel delivery for (4) suite 8-15 at the Widmore Industries office.


• In Charles “whisky” Widmore’s office, the old broken down boat – the Black Rock (Black Rock spoilers to come), a polar bear painting and the word “namaste” backwards on the wall.


• Charlie on the street performing Oasis’ “Wonderwall” – following the wall theme.


• Ads in the soccer game on TV in the bar: Apollo Candy, The Hanso Foundation, Oceanic Airlines, Hurley's Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack, Gannon Car Rentals (mysteriously appearing in Heroes the same week!)


• Song in the bar – same song Desmond played on button-pushing duty.


• The diamond lady Ms. Hawking – like “M” from James Bond fame, and like the Oracle in the Matrix trilogy, an all knowing seer of the future and past. Second of the Hawking-based spoilers in two weeks, the first being his book being read by the Other guarding Karl's Room 23 brainwashing session.

Lost Spoilers: More Flashes Before Your Eyes, Season 3, Episode 8

Lost Spoilers for Flashes Before Your Eyes, Season 3, Episode 8. It feels like the season is just beginning, but we really are in Part II of Season 3. Keeping with the Part II theme, this is a continuation of my Lost spoilers for the Valentine's Day episode of Lost. Part I was the raft of spoilers post, and there are a lot of others that I've posted over the past few months and you can find those spoilers posts following this link and scroll down.

I actually have been looking forward to this episode a lot, since Desmond is one of my favorite Lost characters. Ep. 8 is a Desmond-centric episode, equipped with a Desmond flashback, which the producers have touted as unlike any other. Behind the hype will be revelations of how Desmond got where he is - and of the mysterious Widmore clan. The Desmond is new and improved for Season 3, the ability to see the future. What does he see? The previews repeatedly have warned us that he sees someone's death. Of course, every human dies, so it does not take much talent to predict that. But Desmond knows more. Expect him to be vague.

Ep. 7 last week gave us a hint of Widmores to come, as Juliet's sister Rachel tested herself with one of those ubiquitous Widmore Pharmaceuticals home pregnancy test kits - depicted in the photo (thanks DarkUFO).

Did you notice the references to the Lost Experience ARG last week? Mittelos, recalling Mittelwerk the evil star of the ARG, and of course Rachel, Juliet's sister recalling Rachel Blake the good star of the ARG.

Here is the official Lost press release from ABC, which usually has some spoilers, and sometimes some misdirection:

HURLEY CONVINCES CHARLIE TO HELP HIM FIND OUT WHAT'S UP
WITH DESMOND, WHO HAS BEEN ACTING VERY STRANGELY
EVER SINCE THE HATCH IMPLODED, ON ABC'S "LOST"

This is the headline ... Hurley and Charlie go and confront Desmond.

"Flashes Before Your Eyes" - A suspicious and determined Hurley enlists Charlie to help him wrangle the truth out of Desmond, who has been acting strangely ever since the implosion of the hatch, on "Lost,"

Look for Desmond to remain coy. He feels the horror of what happened from the implosion and failure to press the button.

"Lost" stars Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond, Emilie de Ravin as Claire, Michael Emerson as Ben, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet, Dominic Monaghan as Charlie and Terry O'Quinn as Locke.

Guest starring are Sonya Walger as Penny Widmore, Alan Dale as Charles Widmore, Shishir Kurup as Donovan, Fionnula Flanagan as Ms. Hawking, Katie Doyle as receptionist, Jeremy Colvin as delivery man, Michael Titterton as bartender and David Cordell as Jimmy Lennon.

Penny is back.

Escape Spoilers - Desmond Spoilers

Lost Spoilers ahead ...


The two upcoming episodes of Lost now have a lot of spoilers floating around, some misdirection. Here are a couple of preview clips that show the flavor of what we can expect:

From Not In Portland, Lost Season 3, Episode 7 (this week!): More spoilers details on Kate / Sawyer escape - Juliet double crosses Jack and orders the Others to pursue Kate and Sawyer at all costs, even if that means dead or alive. Just when the unknown Other is about to extract his revenge, and unseen ally, likely Alex (jungle lady Rousseau's daughter) or Karl (Alex's boyfriend) lunges out from a hiding place and strikes down the would-be assassin:

From Lost Season 3, Episode 8, "Flashes Before Your Eyes": Desmond Rescues Claire spoiler clip - this is an extended version of a clip released a while back. Desmond mysteriously senses that Claire is in peril in the middle of Hurley's line, drops everything and runs to the beach evading the Dharma sharks and rescues an unconscious Lostaway. Charlie is a few steps behind.

Spoilers: Lost Survivor Guide, Kate and Claire

Deep in the recesses behind the scenes, and heard by our vast network of Lost Spoilers Blog informants, there has been considerable unease inside ABC and the Lost team about the public perception of this season 3. When the recognition started sinking in starting around the end of October, serious thought was given to avoiding the mistakes of other now defunct television series, and also to reinvigorate the Lost audience. You will never hear anyone make a big point of the deliberations, just the tantalizing hints of the outcome. And the fact of the matter is that the first six episodes of Lost this season were nothing short of brilliantly written and filmed.

We already have discussed a lot of the spoilers rolling out about the changes after Episode 9 of Season 3. There have been so many spoilers you have to wonder if this is just the second half. Before we know it Not In Portland will be here and the slew of spoilers will only continue week after week as the season progresses.

One spoiler is the recently announced episode called "Lost Survivor Guide". A nice play on the word "survivor", after all the Lostaways are stranded on an island to survive by their own moxie and wit to outplay, outwit and outlast the evil Others and the smoke monster. This Lost Survivor Guide will not only be to introduce Part II of season 3, but also to set the tone for bringing some new Lost fans on board. The ad campaign in the can will capitalize on this. For existing viewers, ABC is touting that the recap reiterate some hints, clues and secrets that everyone missed. Hmmmm is that the Kate is an Other secret? We think not.

The "guest stars" for Not In Portland have been announced as Robin Weigert as Rachel, M.C. Gainey as Mr. Friendly/Tom, William Mapother as Ethan, Blake Bashoff as Karl, Tania Raymonde as Alex, Michael Bowen as Pickett, Ariston Green as Jason, Teddy Wells as Ivan, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Steve Labrash as morgue employee, Kimberly Estrada as Sherry, Rob McElhenney as Aldo and Zeljko Ivanek as Edmund.

Oh, I nearly forgot....Not. Why are there photos of Remington Steele, Moonlighting at the start of this post? Notice they are both couples but at the opposite ends of the romantic spectrum.

On the left there is Remington Steele featuring not quite lovebirds Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist) and Remington Steele (Pierce Brosnan). That's Laura with the wide open eyes in the picture. Can't take her eyes of Pierce, and he for her. So what happened? Nothing - not until after the ratings tanked and the decision to cancel had been made. Romantic tension never let up.

Now, on the right there is Moonlighting, featuring the lovebirds Madeline "Maddie" Hayes (Cybill Shepherd) and David Addison (Bruce Willis). So what happened? ... Well, nothing until season 4. In the picture you see they are back-to-back, but touching. Looking different ways, but still close to one another. Then what happened, well they became a couple and ratings tanked.

Conventional wisdom actually being hinted at by the producers of Lost is that Moonlighting tanked after Maddie and David became a couple. But what about Remington Steele? It tanked even though Remington and Laura were apart. There are also are alternative explanations for the demise of Moonlighting's ratings, like, lagging scripts and exiling Maddie to the end of a phone line when Cybill Shepherd became pregnant.

So HEY Lost producers: don't take the wrong lessons from the past!

And HEY Lost Spoilers blogger, why is this a Lost spoiler anyway?

Oh...Yeah ... they don't want to repeat the past mistakes of Moonlighting and all.

This means: Charlie and Claire - although dancing with couple-dom throughout the first two seasons - WILL become a couple sort of and maybe not. First it looked like Claire was accepting Charlie, then came heroine, uh heroin between them. Yet now, have no doubt at all, about the Charlie's back spoiler. Count on the relationship to blossom then become and remain tense, Charlie never quite knowing where he stands ... sort of and maybe not.

Also have no doubt about this spoiler - Kate and Sawyer will not remain a happy pair, white picket fence, doggie and all. Their relationship will be sort of and maybe not as well. It will not be a tidy one and count on circumstances and their own natures to drive them apart, while the affection pulls in the other direction. Also don't forget all of Kate's longing for Jack. Moonlighting Lost will not be, nor will it Steele.

Official Season 3 Spoilers, Part 2

ABC now has released their "teaser" for the mid-season premier of Lost. It contains a lot of "spoilers", which if history is the guide, may potentially, maybe, possibly ... ok probably maybe has some misdirection. It included a group photo that omits Mr. Eko, not a surprise:


Here are the Lost spoilers we believe are verified:

• More for the Guys Lost Spoiler ... ABC now has officially stated the "second act" of “Lost” season 3 (or Lost series 3 as the Brits might say) has "action-packed mystery and adventure". You might say ... well duh. However this actually is a concealed spoiler. Before season 3 began, the creators of Lost were hyping the "relationship" aspects of the upcoming season. Although they provided the sort of answer on who Kate picked (Sawyer) they also did not adequately address the male demographic largely responsible for all the grumbling about lack of "answers" for Lost this season. This is ABC's clue that we can expect an attempt to bring everyone home to the Lost fold.
  
• ABC has not forgotten about all the mysteries for which we want some attention. How do we know that? They summarized them all in their release. They have not forgotten!
  

"the island holds many secrets, including a mysterious smoke monster, polar bears, a strange French woman and another group of island residents known as “The Others.” The survivors have also found signs of those who came to the island before them, including a 19th century sailing ship called The Black Rock, the remains of an ancient statue, as well as bunkers belonging to the Dharma Initiative -- a group of scientific researchers who inhabited the island in the recent past."

• Juliet – the Others' fertility doctor - makes a "shocking" decision that could endanger her standing with her people. Remember, she will shoot someone.
• Look for a Charlie storyline about his future, as revealed cryptically by Desmond
  

Here is one that looks like misdirection: "can the survivors find a way to interact with the outside world". Our prediction is No. Although the Others might, we predict Sawyer, Locke et al. will not.

Here are some excerpts from the ABC Lost press release, but as usual, be wary of misdirection contained in it:

"As the second part of Season Three opens, Jack seems to have gained the upper hand, as Ben’s life literally rests in his hands. His demands are simple – release Kate and Sawyer as prisoners of “The Others,” let them safely return to the island and he’ll stay behind. But does Jack have a hidden agenda? Kate finally made her romantic decision between Jack and Sawyer by choosing the smitten con man – but were her feelings for him genuine? Juliet – one of “The Others” -- makes a shocking decision that could endanger her standing with her people. After the death of Eko, Locke’s obsession to uncover the secrets of the island leads Sayid to believe that his intentions may not be in the best interests of his fellow survivors. Sun and Jin will continue to celebrate their pregnancy – but is the child really Jin’s? Just as Charlie returns into the good graces of Claire and her baby, Aaron, Desmond drops a bombshell on him that could change the course of his life forever. After the hatch imploded and the electromagnetic charge was expelled, questions arise as to what effects it had on the island – as well as the outside world. Will Penny Widmore find the island and her long, lost love, Desmond, and can the survivors find a way to interact with the outside world?" No.

How about this reference to "heroes": "Even heroes have secrets." A lot of people are speculating on a connection between the NBC show and Lost. We can confirm there is no connection except the creators of Heroes are admirers of what Lost has achieved.

Summary of the stars not including Eko or Ana-Lucia. Don't look for their return flashbacks soon.

Naveen Andrews as Sayid
Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond
Emilie de Ravin as Claire
Michael Emerson as Ben
Matthew Fox as Jack
Jorge Garcia as Hurley
Josh Holloway as Sawyer
Daniel Dae Kim as Jin
Yunjin Kim as Sun
Evangeline Lilly as Kate
Elizabeth Mitchell as Juliet
Dominic Monaghan as Charlie
Terry O’Quinn as Locke.