So, just for fun, I figured I'd go back and watch "White Rabbit" from season one, just to see if there were any meaningful connections other than the names of the episodes. Both names relate to Carroll's works, and more directly, relate to "The Looking Glass" station (with its rabbit insignia) which we discovered to be lying under the water some distance out to sea.
What I found was pretty amazing. Of course hindsight is always 20-20, and maybe its just a question of reading way too much between the lines.... But here it goes anyway.
First off, I know this little tidbit has been discussed before, but I'll throw it out there anyway. "White Rabbit" contains that oh-so tasty little tidbit from Charlie... "I don't swim!" Now, either Charlie was lying at that point, it's a serious continuity flaw, or something strange has happened in the past to change the future. As we learned in "Greatest Hits" that Charlie was in fact a champion swimmer! WTF?! Alas, no more on this, that's not where we're going. I think that's been done already.
Second, after seeing Jack take off after the ghost of his father, you can't help but be reminded of Ben's visions of his dead mother. Courtesy of "the island." Was the island testing Jack? To see if he had "the right stuff?" You'll also remember from this episode's flashbacks Christian telling a younger Jack that he doesn't have "it," the mysterious quality that is required to be a leader.
It's also in "White Rabbit" we find Jack becoming the defacto leader of the castaways, and not exactly by choice either. The episode marks the beginning of Jack's journey as their leader, which culminates in "Looking Glass's" ending where he's led them to the radio tower, presumably to be rescued.
Ah, but has he? This is where the whole "failure of Jack" concept comes to bear. Once again Jack has failed, he just doesn't know it yet. Ben does. Locke does. And as we see in the flashback... er, forward I mean, from "Looking Glass", it's clear that Jack realizes it as well.
As an aside, I found it curious that "White Rabbit" was also the episode Locke explains to Jack about "the island" and its mystical qualities.
And we see Locke just head off into the jungle to find Jack, and mysteriously finds him hanging off the cliff in the nick of time. Mere coincidence? There is no such thing in LOST!
But, (and this is the big one that got me) there are two little tidbits remaining from "White Rabbit" which also connect to "Looking Glass" in a big way, and to each other.
As Jack takes on the role of their leader, he gives the famous "Live together, die alone" speech. We've come to realize over the past three seasons that this statement is one of the core commandments of LOST. So much revolves around it, and the plot and characters are shaped by it.
What's more interesting is the state of which the mysterious man in the coffin finds himself in the future of "Looking Glass." No friends at his service, save Jack. "Die Alone" he said once upon a time, and it looks like that's what's happened to this poor sod. Carry that back in time, and you might even apply it to Jack's father. Dead of a coronary half a world away, and brought to the island by Jack in what? A casket... a connection?
But then there's the question of who is in that mystery coffin. Unfortunately I don't think the two episodes put together offer up many clues in that regard. But it certainly lends some credence to the "altered future where Christian didn't die in Sydney" theory, moreso than I'd thought before.
I guess you could also read something into Claire's fainting episode which happens just as Jack's father... sorry,
their father's ghost leads Jack into the brush.... A nice touch if they had things planned out that far in advance.
Oh, and I almost forgot about the mystery woman at the outset of the show! Where was she headed, anyway? At the time she was just out for a swim and got caught up in the undertow. But maybe she was headed towards the Looking Glass station? Kate says she wasn't even supposed to be on the plane, but a strange set of events put here there.... hmmmm. Curiouser and curiouser.
Well that's my pre-season four, LOST-drought, going mad rambling for today. Man, I can't wait to get things underway again, shortened due to the strike or not. Although I'm hoping I haven't forgotten too much! It's been just too long!
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