Through The Looking Glass takes place on or about Christmas Eve 2004. We look through the glass at (a possible) future, in which Jack is convinced that destiny had been missed, that they were not supposed to do what they had done.

I see a references to: (1) Dickens: A Christmas Carol:

"Are these the shadows of things that Will be, or are they shadows of things that May be, only?" As Scrooge sees a possible future if he makes the wrong decisions, so we see only a possible future.

Desmond, the major Dickens fan, is a prototype of the future/past changing/altering destiny idea.

(2) Carroll: The Looking Glass is obviously a reference to the sequel to Alice in Wonderland. The Darma symbol for the station features the white rabbit. White Rabbit is also the title of eposode 1.04, in which Jack sees his dead father and flashbacks introduce his conflicted relationship with his father. Now he is becoming his father, or rather outdoing him.

(3) St. Paul: 1 Corinthians 13:12: "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

It appears they are back in the States, but that the whole crash/island experience has been kept secret. Kate ought still to be wanted, but she appears to be free. Perhaps she has arranged a new identity. On the other hand Jack is back and his identity is no secret. Yet the Oceanic affair is never mentioned by outsiders, who make a big deal out of the auto accident, even though the airplane crash/island ordeal is much, much greater in importance. It is clear that no one knows about it. Strange since he must have been reported dead when flight 815 was allegedly found. Still Oceanic has given them (all) a "Golden Pass" (to keep quiet????).

Evidently, Ben's warning is (as usual) a half-truth. The rescue ship is indeed "not Penny's boat" but a group associated perhaps with her father. Widmore Industries has wanted to find the island for many, many years...for whatever reason, special properties...immortality, forseeing the future, contact with the departed/extraterrestrials...who knows. But, after they arrive a new crisis ensues, and in the end some of them make a very dubious deal just to get home. For Kate, it works, in a way. Not for Jack...he realizes he has missed it.

For one thing, he and Kate are supposed to end up together, but don't.

Jack tries everything to get back to the island, where he can change things, correct destiny. He does not know where the island is (a condition of his release), but he knows ONE person who does.

On the plane he sees that that person has died (committed suicide, or made to look that way). He realizes all hope of returning to the island and correcting his mistake is gone and he decides to end it all. Yet, destiny again intervenes.

In the special prior to the finale, Damon Lindelof says that Lost explores Past, Present, and Future. At the time I wondered what he could mean. Until now we have not seen much of the Future aspect, except Desmond's flashes. Hence, for "Christmas" we see "shadows of things that may be."

Merry Christmas.

ABC.com - Message Boards

great minds think alike..mine is last comment

Propecy is an interpretation of what MAY happen in the future

religion says IF we change now then the bad future MAYBE avoided MAYBE less severe

Dickens isa greatexample cuz it has both practical thems and religious overtones

LOST is same ..redemption... sinners as saints
cowards as Heroes ... more redemption

risk taking as path to spiritual growth

FORGIVENESS is gonna be one big ole future the me when the LOSTies and Others merge

The Jackforward is what may or may NOT happen

BUT something MUST change now or Jack is gonna be the fallen hero turned bum

When I see the Dharma I think of the swan as their symbol
BUT the rabbit has LARGE meaning also

I just noticed that the Others were on the Island before the
Dharma bums..

I have a LARGE rabbit story to share sometime very funny


DHARMA Initiative - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Much of what has been revealed about the DHARMA Initiative comes from an orientation film found inside an underground bunker on the island. This film outlines the purpose and instructions for Station 3: The Swan. The film has a copyright date of 1980 and is designated as "3 of 6". Dr. Marvin Candle (played by François Chau) narrates the film, which is noticeably cut or damaged in places.


Gerald DeGroot as seen in the DHARMA Initiative Orientation film for Station 3 The Swan.The film provides a background history of the DHARMA Initiative. It states that in 1970 University of Michigan doctoral candidates Karen and Gerald de Groot founded the DHARMA Initiative with financial backing from the Hanso Foundation. DHARMA brought together "scientists and free thinkers" from around the globe at a "large-scale communal research compound" to conduct research in various disciplines, including meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology, electromagnetism, and a sixth discipline that the film begins to identify as "utopian social . . . ." before being cut off. American psychologist and Walden Two author B.F. Skinner is cited as an influence on the de Groots' work.

A section of film is discovered by Mr. Eko inside another, apparently inactive station in which the survivors from the tail section have been living. In "What Kate Did", this portion of filmstock, hidden in a hollowed-out Bible, is given to John Locke who splices it into the orientation film. The additional section completes an admonishment against station orientees attempting to use the computer system to communicate with the outside world.

In the second season finale "Live Together, Die Alone" it is revealed that the section was edited out of the film by a former inhabitant of the Swan.


DHARMA's food supply, used by the survivorsIn "?", Mr. Eko and Locke discover Station 5, "The Pearl" which has an orientation of its own on a video tape. It also has a copyright date of 1980. The narrator appears to be the same "Marvin Candle", but identifies himself as Dr. Mark Wickmund (he could be using a pseudonym in either or both cases, since a candle contains a wick.)[2] According to the video, the Pearl station is intended to observe and document activity in the other stations on the island. It explains that a psychological experiment is taking place in another station, where team members have been conditioned to believe their work is of great importance.

DHARMA Initiative members assigned to The Pearl are instructed to record every action performed in the monitored station, The Swan. Notebooks with these records are sent through a pneumatic tube. The other end of the tube is discovered to lead to a secluded spot, where a large pile of these notebooks lie seemingly untouched.

In "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead," Hurley, Sawyer, and Jin discover an abandoned DHARMA Initiative van in the jungle, containing the skeleton of a DHARMA Work Man, later revealed to be Ben's father. The van contained schematics indicating the DHARMA Initiative was attempting to build a road across the island during its final days.

In "Enter 77", it is revealed by Mikhail Bakunin, the inhabitant of The Flame (later revealed to be a member of the Others), that all DHARMA Initiative employees stationed on the island have been "purged" by the "Hostiles" (the name given to the "Others" by the DHARMA Initiative), who were present on the island long before the Initiative arrived. At the time, producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse said in the Lost podcast that Mikhail was telling the truth, albeit from a potentially biased perspective.[3] The series of events was broadly confirmed in "The Man Behind the Curtain", where several Others are shown killing those living in the DHARMA Initiative camp with a deadly gas. The Others then over take many of DHARMA's stations and The Barracks.

In the Lost Experience ARG, the DHARMA Initiative is revealed to have the purpose of finding a way to change the "Valenzetti Equation", a mathematical formula designed to predict the end of the world. Thomas Mittelwerk, a member of the Hanso Foundation, later says, however, that "The DHARMA Initiative failed".