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The Beginning of the End (Lost)
Encyclopedia
"The Beginning of the End" is the fourth season
premiere
, and 73rd episode overall, of the American Broadcasting Company
's television
drama
series
Lost
. It was aired on ABC in the United States and CTV
in Canada on January 31, 2008. Co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof
and executive producer Carlton Cuse
wrote the premiere in late July 2007, with most of the episode directed on location
in Oahu
, Hawaii
, in August and September by executive producer Jack Bender
. With this premiere, Jeff Pinkner
no longer serves as an executive producer and staff writer. The episode was watched by 18 million Americans, bringing in the best ratings for Lost in 17 episodes. According to Metacritic
, "The Beginning of the End" garnered "universal acclaim".
The narrative takes place over 90 days after the crash of Oceanic
Flight 815, on December 23, 2004. The stranded crash survivors make contact with associates of Naomi Dorrit (played by Marsha Thomason
) on a nearby freighter, but the survivors divide when they hear that those on the freighter may not be coming to rescue the survivors. Flashforward
s show the post-island lives of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia
) and Jack Shephard
(Matthew Fox
). They are lying to the public about their time on the island. In flashforwards, Hurley has visions of his deceased friend Charlie Pace
(Dominic Monaghan
); in the present, Hurley grieves over Charlie's death on the island. Daniel Faraday
(Jeremy Davies
) makes his first appearance in "The Beginning of the End".
(Terry O'Quinn
) in the third season finale
, Naomi uses her satellite phone to call George Minkowski (Fisher Stevens
) on the freighter. Before she dies, she tells him that her injury was an accident and to give her love to her sister. Meanwhile, Hurley finds Jacob's cabin. He looks through the window and sees an unidentified man in a rocking chair, before someone steps up to the glass, only the left eye visible. Hurley runs away, but finds the cabin again—in a different location. He squeezes his eyes shut and when he opens them, the building is gone and Locke appears.
Desmond Hume
(Henry Ian Cusick
) returns from the Looking Glass, bearing Charlie's final message that the freighter offshore is not owned by Penny Widmore
(Sonya Walger
). The survivors reunite at 815's cockpit. Jack knocks Locke to the ground, takes his gun and pulls the trigger, but finds that the gun is not loaded because Locke had no intention of killing Jack earlier that day
. Locke tells the castaways that they are in great danger and leaves for the Barracks with Hurley, James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway
), Claire Littleton
(Emilie de Ravin
) and her baby Aaron, Danielle Rousseau
(Mira Furlan
) and her captive Ben Linus (Michael Emerson
), Alex
(Tania Raymonde
) and her boyfriend Karl (Blake Bashoff
), Vincent the dog (Pono) and four other survivors. Soon after, Jack and Kate see a helicopter and meet Daniel, a twitchy physicist who parachutes down.
Flashforwards show that Hurley is famous as one of the "Oceanic Six" after his escape from the island and is keeping quiet about his time there. Hurley encounters an apparition of Charlie. Shocked, he speeds away in his Camaro and is apprehended by Los Angeles police. Hurley is interrogated by Ana Lucia Cortez
's (Michelle Rodriguez
) former partner Detective "Big" Mike Walton (Michael Cudlitz
) and he lies that he has no knowledge of Ana Lucia. Hurley, looking at the interrogation room's mirror glass, imagines seeing Charlie swimming in water until he breaks the glass and floods the room. Hurley willingly returns to the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institution
, where he is visited by Matthew Abaddon (Lance Reddick
), who claims to be an attorney for Oceanic Airlines
. When Abaddon fails to supply a business card
, he asks if they are still alive before stealthily exiting. An apparition of Charlie appears who tells Hurley that "they" need him. Finally, Hurley is visited by Jack, who is thinking of growing a beard
. Jack confirms that Hurley will not reveal the Oceanic Six's secrets. Hurley apologizes for going with Locke and insists that they return to the island, but Jack refuses (which shows that these flashforwards occur before Jack's flashforwards).
During casting, fake names, occupations and scenes were temporarily assigned to limit the leak of spoiler
s. Lance Reddick
was told that he was auditioning for the part of "Arthur Stevens", a "ruthless corporate recruiter", instead of Matthew Abaddon. "Matthew" and "Abaddon" were revealed as season 4 clue words in the alternate reality game
Find 815
. The writers chose the character's surname after they read the Wikipedia article on Abaddon
, which states that it means "place of destruction". The writer-producers were originally interested in having Reddick play Mr. Eko
during the second season, however, he was busy starring on HBO's The Wire
. Jeremy Davies
was cast as Daniel because he is one of the writer-producers' favorite character actor
s, and they think that his "transformative quality [and] the tremendous intelligence that seems to emanate from him ... seemed perfect for [the part]", which was originally planned to be a recurring
role. When Davies met costume designer Roland Sanchez, he was wearing a thin black tie. Sanchez merged this "cool, edgy look" with his idea for the character's clothes: a "nerdy" loosely woven dress shirt from J.Crew
.
Several different titles were proposed for the episode. The ultimate title is a reference to a line in the previous episode
when Ben warns Jack that contacting the freighter "is the beginning of the end". Filming began on August 17 and ended on or just after September 7, 2007. Garcia felt "a little pressure" because he had the lead role in the episode, but "was really excited, too [because it] was a different direction for a season premiere [that he] felt the fans would probably dig". In the mental institution, Hurley is seen painting a picture of an Inuit man and an igloo. This was painted by Garcia. When the episode was broadcast, Christian appeared in Jacob's cabin; however, the scene was shot with another Hurley inside. Additionally, when Garcia was filming his interrogation scene in an aquarium, he was unaware that Charlie would be swimming outside and breaking the glass in the finished product. Charlie's swim was filmed weeks after the rest of the episode had been shot, alongside production of "Meet Kevin Johnson
" and the Lost: Missing Pieces
mobisodes in late November 2007. The scene was filmed with stunt double
Jake Kilfoyle at the Looking Glass set that was previously used for the third season episodes titled "Greatest Hits
" and "Through the Looking Glass
".
Most Lost episodes feature crossovers and "Easter eggs
"—intentionally hidden clues and references to the show's mythology
—and "The Beginning of the End" is no exception. Despite being dead, Christian appears for a couple of seconds in Jacob's cabin with no dialogue. Big Mike, who appears in Ana Lucia's flashbacks in the second season episode "Collision
", returns in Hurley's flashforward. Randy Nations (Billy Ray Gallion
) appears in a few seconds with no dialogue, videotaping Hurley's arrest. When Hurley hallucinates that Charlie is swimming outside the interrogation room, Charlie has "they need you" written on his hand. This is what Charlie tells Hurley later in the episode.
Due to production of the fourth season being put on hold due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
, the show runner
s wanted to hold the eight episodes that had been completed until they were able to make more of the season. ABC decided against this and announced that "The Beginning of the End" would be aired at the end of January 2008, regardless of when the strike was to end. This was the first Lost episode to be aired on Thursday at ET, a competitive and prestigious timeslot normally occupied by Grey's Anatomy
; previous episodes had been aired on Wednesdays. Like the previous Lost season premieres, "The Beginning of the End" was scheduled for an outdoor premiere at Sunset on the Beach in Waikiki
, Honolulu, where movies are regularly shown on a 30-foot (9 m) screen free to the public, but it was cancelled due to the writers' strike. The original television broadcast of the episode was immediately preceded by a clip-show titled "Lost: Past, Present & Future".
dubbed "The Beginning of the End" "the most anticipated season premiere of the year". It was watched by approximately 16.137 million American viewers live or within six hours with a 6.7/17 in the key adults 18–49 demographic, bringing in the best Nielsen ratings
for Lost in seventeen episodes and ranking Lost eighth in the weekly charts. The episode was watched by a total of 17.766 million viewers live or recorded and watched within seven days of broadcast and this number went toward the year-end average. In Canada, "The Beginning of the End" was seen by 1.855 million viewers, making Lost the sixth most watched program of the week. It brought in an audience almost double the size of that of the previous episode and greater than any third season episode, with the exception of the season premiere
. The fourth season premiere was successful in the United Kingdom with 1.1 million viewers. In Australia, Lost was the fifteenth most watched show of the night with 912 000 viewers, which was deemed disappointing by David Dale of The Sun-Herald
.
American critics were sent screener DVDs of "The Beginning of the End" and "Confirmed Dead" on January 28, 2008. Metacritic gave the episode a Metascore—a weighted average based on the impressions of a select twelve critical reviews—of 87. Robert Bianco of USA Today
wrote that "returning with a heart-stopping, perfectly pitched episode ... Lost is an oasis in a strike-parched TV desert." Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times
described "The Beginning of the End" as an "emotion-churning chemical dump right in the old brain stem—horror, hysteria, regret, adrenaline and what ... will happen next?" Adam Buckman of the New York Post
gave the episode four out of four stars. Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune
"blissfully enjoyed every minute" and noted that "there aren't any faults". Diane Werts of Newsday
raved the episode as "superb" and "insanely entertain[ing]" and concluded her review with "Lost seems to have found itself". Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle
declared that it and "Confirmed Dead
" "are roller coasters of fast action and revelation [that are] good to see". Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe
pointed out that "Lost can still make the pulse race and the brain tingle ... [and] remains TV's most gripping serial". Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger
was unsure "if Lost is ever going to give satisfying answers to its many, many remaining mysteries ... but when it's as scary and hilarious and moving and exciting as these two episodes, I'm okay with that." In less positive reviews, Rodney Ho of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
called it "a satisfactory return episode with a fair share of drama and pathos ... [that] provides just enough revelations to keep fans hungry for more" and David Hinckley of the Daily News rated the episode with three stars out of a possible five.
Brian Lowry of Variety
said that "Lost' s return goes down like a welcome tonic as scripted TV fades to black ... providing an unusually generous array of juicy moments for the large (and, at times, neglected) cast
." Mark Medley of the National Post
called it "a brilliant season premiere" with multiple "jaw-dropping moments". Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly
felt that the premiere was mind-blowing and featured good acting by Garcia. Frazier Moore of the Associated Press
wrote that "Lost is further upping the ante, and heightening the pressure on us as the show's vast mythology continues to metastasize." Kristin Dos Santos of E!
called it "so well written, produced, acted and directed it felt like a movie". Michael Ausiello
of TV Guide
described it as "easily one of the best hours of TV so far this season." Bruce Fretts of TV Guide responded well to Reddick's performance. Chris Carabott of IGN
gave the episode 9.1/10, stating that it was "a great start to what promises to be an exciting ... season 4. The momentum and pacing is on par with last season's finale". LTG of Television Without Pity graded it as an "A–". Jon Lachonis of UGO gave the episode an "A+", calling it "a crushingly emotional, action packed introduction ... [which proves] that ... Lost' s groundbreaking protean form still has plenty of blinding ways to dazzle and entertain in a way that is nonetheless unique unto itself." Oscar Dahl of BuddyTV wrote that "the episode was pretty much a masterpiece". Daniel of TMZ
graded it as an "A", saying that it was perfect and set up the rest of the season well.
Lost (season 4)
The fourth season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing on the American Broadcasting Company Network in the United States, and on CTV in Canada on January 31, 2008 and concluded on May 29, 2008...
premiere
Season premiere
In North America, a season premiere is the first episode of a new season of a given television show. It often airs in September or October, after several months of reruns.-Evaluating the changes:...
, and 73rd episode overall, of the American Broadcasting Company
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's television
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
drama
Dramatic programming
Dramatic programming in the UK, or television drama and television drama series in the US, is television program content that is scripted and fictional along the lines of √a traditional drama. This excludes, for example, sports television, television news, reality show and game shows, stand-up...
series
Serial (radio and television)
Serials are series of television programs and radio programs that rely on a continuing plot that unfolds in a sequential episode by episode fashion. Serials typically follow main story arcs that span entire television seasons or even the full run of the series, which distinguishes them from...
Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
. It was aired on ABC in the United States and CTV
CTV television network
CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...
in Canada on January 31, 2008. Co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof
Damon Lindelof
Damon Laurence Lindelof is an American television writer and executive, most recently noted as the co-creator and executive producer for the television series Lost. He has written for and produced Crossing Jordan, and wrote for Nash Bridges, Wasteland, and the MTV anthology series Undressed...
and executive producer Carlton Cuse
Carlton Cuse
Carlton Cuse is an AmericanEmmy Award winning screenwriter and producer, most famous as executive producer andscreenwriter for the American television series Lost for...
wrote the premiere in late July 2007, with most of the episode directed on location
Filming location
A filming location is a place where some or all of a film or television series is produced, in addition to or instead of using sets constructed on a movie studio backlot or soundstage...
in Oahu
Oahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
, Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
, in August and September by executive producer Jack Bender
Jack Bender
Jack Bender is an American television and film director, actor, television producer and also a screenwriter. Bender was an executive producer and lead director on the ABC television series, Lost. He directed the series finale of Lost. Bender has also directed on other popular shows such as The...
. With this premiere, Jeff Pinkner
Jeff Pinkner
Jeff Pinkner is an American television writer and producer. He graduated from Pikesville High School in Baltimore Maryland in 1983. He is known for his work on Alias where he served as executive producer. In 2006 and 2007, he worked as an executive producer and writer for the mystery series Lost...
no longer serves as an executive producer and staff writer. The episode was watched by 18 million Americans, bringing in the best ratings for Lost in 17 episodes. According to Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, "The Beginning of the End" garnered "universal acclaim".
The narrative takes place over 90 days after the crash of Oceanic
Oceanic Airlines
Oceanic Airlines and less frequently Oceanic Airways are fictional airlines used in several films and television programs.The most famous use of this brand is in the TV show Lost, where Oceanic Airlines is featured branded with a highly-stylized logo depicting an Aboriginal dot painting that...
Flight 815, on December 23, 2004. The stranded crash survivors make contact with associates of Naomi Dorrit (played by Marsha Thomason
Marsha Thomason
Marsha Lisa Thomason is an English actress, who is known in the United States for playing Nessa Holt in the first two seasons of the NBC series Las Vegas, for her recurring role on ABC's Lost as Naomi Dorrit, and for playing FBI agent Diana Berrigan on USA Network's White Collar.-Early...
) on a nearby freighter, but the survivors divide when they hear that those on the freighter may not be coming to rescue the survivors. Flashforward
Flashforward
A flashforward is an interjected scene that takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media. Flashforwards are often used to represent events expected, projected, or imagined to occur in the future...
s show the post-island lives of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia
Jorge Garcia
Jorge García is a U.S. actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show Becker and later for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in the television series Lost. Garcia also performs as a stand-up comedian.-Early life:García was born...
) and Jack Shephard
Jack Shephard
Dr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character and protagonist of the ABC television series Lost played by Matthew Fox. Lost follows the journey of the survivors of Oceanic Airlines flight 815 on a mysterious island and their attempts to survive and escape, slowly uncovering more of the much broader...
(Matthew Fox
Matthew Fox (actor)
Matthew Chandler Fox is an American actor. He is mostly known for his role as Charlie Salinger on Party of Five, and for portraying Jack Shephard on the supernatural drama television series Lost.- Early life :...
). They are lying to the public about their time on the island. In flashforwards, Hurley has visions of his deceased friend Charlie Pace
Charlie Pace
Charlie Hieronymus Pace is a fictional character on ABC's Lost, a television series chronicling the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island...
(Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Monaghan
Dominic Bernard Patrick Luke Monaghan is an English actor. He has received international attention from playing Merry in Peter Jackson's adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and for his role as Charlie Pace on the television show Lost....
); in the present, Hurley grieves over Charlie's death on the island. Daniel Faraday
Daniel Faraday
Dr. Daniel Faraday, often referred to as Dan or simply by his surname, Faraday, is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Jeremy Davies. Faraday is introduced in the season four premiere as a physicist, suffering from memory loss, and is part of the team aboard the ...
(Jeremy Davies
Jeremy Davies
Father Jeremy Davies , an English Roman Catholic priest whose parish is based around Old Hall Green, is a former doctor and also a leading exorcist....
) makes his first appearance in "The Beginning of the End".
Plot
After being knifed in the back by John LockeJohn Locke (Lost)
John Locke is a fictional character played by Terry O'Quinn on the ABC television series Lost. He is named after English philosopher John Locke...
(Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn
Terry O'Quinn is an American actor, most famous for playing John Locke on the TV series Lost. He made his debut in a 1980 television movie called F.D.R.: The Last Year. Since then, O'Quinn has had minor supporting roles in films and TV movies such as Young Guns, All the Right Moves, Silver Bullet,...
) in the third season finale
Through the Looking Glass (Lost)
"Through the Looking Glass" is the third season finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the 22nd and 23rd episodes of the third season. It is also the 71st and 72nd episodes overall. It was written by co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse,...
, Naomi uses her satellite phone to call George Minkowski (Fisher Stevens
Fisher Stevens
Fisher Stevens is an American actor, director and producer. His most recent successes include the 2010 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for his film The Cove and 2008 Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature for his film Crazy Love...
) on the freighter. Before she dies, she tells him that her injury was an accident and to give her love to her sister. Meanwhile, Hurley finds Jacob's cabin. He looks through the window and sees an unidentified man in a rocking chair, before someone steps up to the glass, only the left eye visible. Hurley runs away, but finds the cabin again—in a different location. He squeezes his eyes shut and when he opens them, the building is gone and Locke appears.
Desmond Hume
Desmond Hume
Desmond David Hume is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost portrayed by Henry Ian Cusick. Desmond's name is a tribute to David Hume, the famous empiricist author and philosopher. Desmond was not a passenger of Flight 815. He had been stranded on the island three years prior to...
(Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick
Henry Ian Cusick is a Scottish-Peruvian actor of stage, television, and film. He is well-known for his role as Desmond Hume on the United States television series Lost, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination....
) returns from the Looking Glass, bearing Charlie's final message that the freighter offshore is not owned by Penny Widmore
Penny Widmore
Penelope "Penny" Widmore is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Sonya Walger. Penny is introduced in the last episode of the second season of Lost as the long-lost lover of Desmond Hume as well as the daughter of British tycoon and antagonist Charles Widmore...
(Sonya Walger
Sonya Walger
Sonya Walger is an English actress known for her roles in the ABC series Lost as Penelope "Penny" Widmore, and as Olivia Benford on ABC's FlashForward.-Education:...
). The survivors reunite at 815's cockpit. Jack knocks Locke to the ground, takes his gun and pulls the trigger, but finds that the gun is not loaded because Locke had no intention of killing Jack earlier that day
Through the Looking Glass (Lost)
"Through the Looking Glass" is the third season finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the 22nd and 23rd episodes of the third season. It is also the 71st and 72nd episodes overall. It was written by co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse,...
. Locke tells the castaways that they are in great danger and leaves for the Barracks with Hurley, James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway
Josh Holloway
Joshua Lee "Josh" Holloway is an American actor and model from Free Home, Georgia. He is best known for his role as James "Sawyer" Ford on the American television show Lost.-Early life:...
), Claire Littleton
Claire Littleton
Claire Littleton is a fictional character played by Emilie de Ravin on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of the survivors of a plane crash in the South Pacific. Claire is introduced in the pilot episode as a pregnant crash survivor. She is a series regular until her...
(Emilie de Ravin
Emilie de Ravin
Emilie de Ravin born 27 December 1981)is an Australian actress. She is commonly associated with her roles as Tess Harding on Roswell and Claire Littleton on the ABC drama Lost....
) and her baby Aaron, Danielle Rousseau
Danielle Rousseau
Danielle Rousseau is a fictional character on the ABC drama television series Lost, which chronicles the lives of over forty people after their plane crashes on a remote island somewhere in the South Pacific. Croatian actress Mira Furlan plays the scientist who shipwrecks on the island sixteen...
(Mira Furlan
Mira Furlan
Mira Furlan is a Croatian actress and singer currently residing in the United States. She is well known for her roles as the Minbari Ambassador Delenn on all five seasons of the science fiction television series Babylon 5 , and Danielle Rousseau on Lost.-Early life:Furlan was born to an...
) and her captive Ben Linus (Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson
Michael Emerson is an American actor who is perhaps best known for his roles as Benjamin Linus on Lost and fictional serial killer William Hinks in The Practice.-Early life:...
), Alex
Alex (Lost)
Alexandra "Alex" Linus is a recurring fictional character on the ABC television series Lost played by Tania Raymonde. She was born 16 years prior to the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, but was taken from her mother, Danielle Rousseau by the Others. She was raised among them, believing her mother to...
(Tania Raymonde
Tania Raymonde
Tania Raymonde is an American actress. Raymonde's first prominent casting role was the recurring character of Cynthia Sanders in TV series Malcolm in the Middle between 2000–2003, followed by a popular role as Alex Rousseau in ABC's Lost from 2006 to 2010.She can currently be seen as UTF officer...
) and her boyfriend Karl (Blake Bashoff
Blake Bashoff
Blake Warren Bashoff is an American television and motion picture actor, known for his role as Moritz Stiefel in Spring Awakening. He has also appeared in a number of guest roles on television series, including the ABC series Lost as Karl Martin.- Life and career :Bashoff was born in Philadelphia,...
), Vincent the dog (Pono) and four other survivors. Soon after, Jack and Kate see a helicopter and meet Daniel, a twitchy physicist who parachutes down.
Flashforwards show that Hurley is famous as one of the "Oceanic Six" after his escape from the island and is keeping quiet about his time there. Hurley encounters an apparition of Charlie. Shocked, he speeds away in his Camaro and is apprehended by Los Angeles police. Hurley is interrogated by Ana Lucia Cortez
Ana Lucia Cortez
Ana Lucia Cortez is a fictional character on the ABC television series Lost, played by Michelle Rodriguez. Ana Lucia made her first appearance as a guest star in the first season finale, and became part of the main cast for season two. After Oceanic Flight 815 splits in mid-air, the tail section...
's (Michelle Rodriguez
Michelle Rodriguez
Mayte Michelle Rodríguez , known professionally as Michelle Rodriguez, is an American actress. Following on from her breakthrough role in 2000's Girlfight, she is best known for playing tough-girl roles and starring in Hollywood blockbusters such as The Fast and the Furious, Resident Evil,...
) former partner Detective "Big" Mike Walton (Michael Cudlitz
Michael Cudlitz
Michael Cudlitz is an American actor. He can be seen in the TNT drama Southland, starring as John Cooper, and the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers as Sgt. Denver "Bull" Randleman.-Life and career:...
) and he lies that he has no knowledge of Ana Lucia. Hurley, looking at the interrogation room's mirror glass, imagines seeing Charlie swimming in water until he breaks the glass and floods the room. Hurley willingly returns to the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institution
Dave (Lost)
"Dave" is the 43rd episode of Lost and the 18th episode of the second season. The episode was directed by Jack Bender, and written by Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. It first aired on April 5, 2006 on ABC. In flashbacks, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes is in a mental institution, where he deals with an...
, where he is visited by Matthew Abaddon (Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick is an American theater, film and TV actor and musician born in Baltimore, Maryland. He starred in The Wire as Cedric Daniels, appeared in Oz as Detective Johnny Basil and appeared in the fourth and fifth seasons of Lost. He now has a prominent role in Fringe...
), who claims to be an attorney for Oceanic Airlines
Oceanic Airlines
Oceanic Airlines and less frequently Oceanic Airways are fictional airlines used in several films and television programs.The most famous use of this brand is in the TV show Lost, where Oceanic Airlines is featured branded with a highly-stylized logo depicting an Aboriginal dot painting that...
. When Abaddon fails to supply a business card
Business card
Business cards are cards bearing business information about a company or individual. They are shared during formal introductions as a convenience and a memory aid. A business card typically includes the giver's name, company affiliation and contact information such as street addresses, telephone...
, he asks if they are still alive before stealthily exiting. An apparition of Charlie appears who tells Hurley that "they" need him. Finally, Hurley is visited by Jack, who is thinking of growing a beard
Through the Looking Glass (Lost)
"Through the Looking Glass" is the third season finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the 22nd and 23rd episodes of the third season. It is also the 71st and 72nd episodes overall. It was written by co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse,...
. Jack confirms that Hurley will not reveal the Oceanic Six's secrets. Hurley apologizes for going with Locke and insists that they return to the island, but Jack refuses (which shows that these flashforwards occur before Jack's flashforwards).
Production
Spoiler (media)
Spoiler is slang for any element of any summary or description of any piece of fiction that reveals any plot element which will give away the outcome of a dramatic episode within the work of fiction, or the conclusion of the entire work. It can also be used to refer to any piece of information...
s. Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick
Lance Reddick is an American theater, film and TV actor and musician born in Baltimore, Maryland. He starred in The Wire as Cedric Daniels, appeared in Oz as Detective Johnny Basil and appeared in the fourth and fifth seasons of Lost. He now has a prominent role in Fringe...
was told that he was auditioning for the part of "Arthur Stevens", a "ruthless corporate recruiter", instead of Matthew Abaddon. "Matthew" and "Abaddon" were revealed as season 4 clue words in the alternate reality game
Alternate reality game
An alternate reality game is an interactive narrative that uses the real world as a platform, often involving multiple media and game elements, to tell a story that may be affected by participants' ideas or actions....
Find 815
Find 815
Find 815 is the second alternate reality game for the American Broadcasting Company's serial drama television series Lost. It began on December 28, 2007 and concluded on January 31, 2008 with the premiere of the fourth season of Lost...
. The writers chose the character's surname after they read the Wikipedia article on Abaddon
Abaddon
Abaddon in the Revelation of St. John, is the king of tormenting locusts and the angel of the bottomless pit. The exact nature of Abaddon is debated, but the Hebrew word is related to the triliteral root אבד , which in verb form means "to perish."...
, which states that it means "place of destruction". The writer-producers were originally interested in having Reddick play Mr. Eko
Mr. Eko
Mr. Eko Tunde is a fictional character, played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje on the ABC television series Lost. He is introduced in the second season episode "Adrift" as one of the plane-crash survivors from the plane's tail section. Flashbacks reveal that he became the leader of a gang of guerrillas...
during the second season, however, he was busy starring on HBO's The Wire
The Wire (TV series)
The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States...
. Jeremy Davies
Jeremy Davies (actor)
Jeremy Davies is an American film and television actor. He is known for portraying the interpreter Cpl. Timothy E. Upham in the film Saving Private Ryan and the physicist Daniel Faraday on the television series Lost. He most recently appeared in the FX series, Justified, as Dickie Bennett.-Early...
was cast as Daniel because he is one of the writer-producers' favorite character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
s, and they think that his "transformative quality [and] the tremendous intelligence that seems to emanate from him ... seemed perfect for [the part]", which was originally planned to be a recurring
Recurring character
A recurring character is a fictional character, usually in a prime time TV series, who appears from time to time during the series' run. Recurring characters often play major roles in an episode, sometimes being the main focus...
role. When Davies met costume designer Roland Sanchez, he was wearing a thin black tie. Sanchez merged this "cool, edgy look" with his idea for the character's clothes: a "nerdy" loosely woven dress shirt from J.Crew
J.Crew
J.Crew Group, Inc. is a multi-brand, multi-channel, specialty retailer. The company offers an assortment of women's, men's and children's apparel and accessories, including swimwear, outerwear, loungewear, wedding, bags, hair accessories, belts, jewelry, and shoes. As of January 30, 2010, it...
.
Several different titles were proposed for the episode. The ultimate title is a reference to a line in the previous episode
Through the Looking Glass (Lost)
"Through the Looking Glass" is the third season finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the 22nd and 23rd episodes of the third season. It is also the 71st and 72nd episodes overall. It was written by co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse,...
when Ben warns Jack that contacting the freighter "is the beginning of the end". Filming began on August 17 and ended on or just after September 7, 2007. Garcia felt "a little pressure" because he had the lead role in the episode, but "was really excited, too [because it] was a different direction for a season premiere [that he] felt the fans would probably dig". In the mental institution, Hurley is seen painting a picture of an Inuit man and an igloo. This was painted by Garcia. When the episode was broadcast, Christian appeared in Jacob's cabin; however, the scene was shot with another Hurley inside. Additionally, when Garcia was filming his interrogation scene in an aquarium, he was unaware that Charlie would be swimming outside and breaking the glass in the finished product. Charlie's swim was filmed weeks after the rest of the episode had been shot, alongside production of "Meet Kevin Johnson
Meet Kevin Johnson
"Meet Kevin Johnson" is the 80th television episode of the American Broadcasting Company's Lost and the eighth episode of the fourth season. It was written in October and November 2007 by supervising producer Elizabeth Sarnoff and co-producer Brian K. Vaughan, and directed in November by...
" and the Lost: Missing Pieces
Lost: Missing Pieces
Lost: Missing Pieces is a series of thirteen video clips ranging in length from one to four minutes that aired during the hiatus between the 3rd and 4th seasons of the television show Lost, from which the series is spun off...
mobisodes in late November 2007. The scene was filmed with stunt double
Stunt double
A stunt double is a type of body double, specifically a skilled replacement used for dangerous film or video sequences, in movies and television , and for other sophisticated stunts...
Jake Kilfoyle at the Looking Glass set that was previously used for the third season episodes titled "Greatest Hits
Greatest Hits (Lost)
"Greatest Hits" is the 21st episode of the third season of Lost and 70th episode of the series. It was written by co-executive producers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz and directed by supervising producer Stephen Williams. The episode first aired on May 16, 2007 on ABC in the United States and...
" and "Through the Looking Glass
Through the Looking Glass (Lost)
"Through the Looking Glass" is the third season finale of the ABC television series Lost, consisting of the 22nd and 23rd episodes of the third season. It is also the 71st and 72nd episodes overall. It was written by co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse,...
".
Most Lost episodes feature crossovers and "Easter eggs
Easter egg (media)
Image:Carl Oswald Rostosky - Zwei Kaninchen und ein Igel 1861.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Example of Easter egg hidden within imagerect 467 383 539 434 desc none...
"—intentionally hidden clues and references to the show's mythology
Mythology of Lost
The television show Lost includes a number of mysterious elements that have been ascribed to science fiction or supernatural phenomena, usually concerning coincidences, synchronicity, déjà vu, temporal and spatial anomalies, paradoxes, and other puzzling phenomena...
—and "The Beginning of the End" is no exception. Despite being dead, Christian appears for a couple of seconds in Jacob's cabin with no dialogue. Big Mike, who appears in Ana Lucia's flashbacks in the second season episode "Collision
Collision (Lost)
"Collision" is the 33rd episode of Lost and the eighth episode of the second season. The episode was directed by Stephen Williams, and written by Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Leonard Dick. It first aired on November 23, 2005 on ABC...
", returns in Hurley's flashforward. Randy Nations (Billy Ray Gallion
Billy Ray Gallion
Billy Ray Gallion played the character of Randy Nations in Lost. He appeared in the episodes "Walkabout", "Everybody Hates Hugo", "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead", "The Beginning of the End", and "The Substitute."- Source :...
) appears in a few seconds with no dialogue, videotaping Hurley's arrest. When Hurley hallucinates that Charlie is swimming outside the interrogation room, Charlie has "they need you" written on his hand. This is what Charlie tells Hurley later in the episode.
2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike
The 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike, more commonly referred to as simply the Writers' Strike, was a strike by the Writers Guild of America, East and the Writers Guild of America, West ....
, the show runner
Show runner
Showrunner is a term of art originating in the United States and Canadian television industry referring to the person who is responsible for the day-to-day operation of a television seriesalthough such persons generally are credited as an executive producer...
s wanted to hold the eight episodes that had been completed until they were able to make more of the season. ABC decided against this and announced that "The Beginning of the End" would be aired at the end of January 2008, regardless of when the strike was to end. This was the first Lost episode to be aired on Thursday at ET, a competitive and prestigious timeslot normally occupied by Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...
; previous episodes had been aired on Wednesdays. Like the previous Lost season premieres, "The Beginning of the End" was scheduled for an outdoor premiere at Sunset on the Beach in Waikiki
Waikiki
Waikiki is a neighborhood of Honolulu, in the City and County of Honolulu, on the south shore of the island of Oahu, in Hawaii. Waikiki Beach is the shoreline fronting Waikīkī....
, Honolulu, where movies are regularly shown on a 30-foot (9 m) screen free to the public, but it was cancelled due to the writers' strike. The original television broadcast of the episode was immediately preceded by a clip-show titled "Lost: Past, Present & Future".
Reception
Don Williams of BuddyTVBuddyTV
BuddyTV is an entertainment-based website based in Seattle, Washington, which generates content about television programs and sporting events. The website publishes information about celebrity and related entertainment news through a series of articles, entertainment profiles, actor biographies and...
dubbed "The Beginning of the End" "the most anticipated season premiere of the year". It was watched by approximately 16.137 million American viewers live or within six hours with a 6.7/17 in the key adults 18–49 demographic, bringing in the best Nielsen ratings
Nielsen Ratings
Nielsen ratings are the audience measurement systems developed by Nielsen Media Research, in an effort to determine the audience size and composition of television programming in the United States...
for Lost in seventeen episodes and ranking Lost eighth in the weekly charts. The episode was watched by a total of 17.766 million viewers live or recorded and watched within seven days of broadcast and this number went toward the year-end average. In Canada, "The Beginning of the End" was seen by 1.855 million viewers, making Lost the sixth most watched program of the week. It brought in an audience almost double the size of that of the previous episode and greater than any third season episode, with the exception of the season premiere
A Tale of Two Cities (Lost)
"A Tale of Two Cities" is the third season premiere, and 50th episode overall, of the American Broadcasting Company's serial drama television series Lost. The episode was written by co-creators/executive producers J. J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, based on a story by Lindelof and directed by...
. The fourth season premiere was successful in the United Kingdom with 1.1 million viewers. In Australia, Lost was the fifteenth most watched show of the night with 912 000 viewers, which was deemed disappointing by David Dale of The Sun-Herald
The Sun-Herald
The Sun-Herald is an Australian tabloid newspaper published on Sundays in Sydney by Fairfax Media. It is the Sunday counterpart of The Sydney Morning Herald. In the 6 months to September 2005, The Sun-Herald had a circulation of 515,000...
.
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
wrote that "returning with a heart-stopping, perfectly pitched episode ... Lost is an oasis in a strike-parched TV desert." Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
described "The Beginning of the End" as an "emotion-churning chemical dump right in the old brain stem—horror, hysteria, regret, adrenaline and what ... will happen next?" Adam Buckman of the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
gave the episode four out of four stars. Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
"blissfully enjoyed every minute" and noted that "there aren't any faults". Diane Werts of Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
raved the episode as "superb" and "insanely entertain[ing]" and concluded her review with "Lost seems to have found itself". Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
declared that it and "Confirmed Dead
Confirmed Dead
"Confirmed Dead" is the second episode of the fourth season and 74th episode overall of the ABC's serial drama television series Lost. It was aired on ABC in the United States and on CTV in Canada on February 7, 2008. The episode was written by co-executive producer Drew Goddard and co-producer...
" "are roller coasters of fast action and revelation [that are] good to see". Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
pointed out that "Lost can still make the pulse race and the brain tingle ... [and] remains TV's most gripping serial". Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger
The Star-Ledger is the largest circulated newspaper in the U.S. state of New Jersey and is based in Newark. It is a sister paper to The Jersey Journal of Jersey City, The Times of Trenton and the Staten Island Advance, all of which are owned by Advance Publications.The Newark Star-Ledgers daily...
was unsure "if Lost is ever going to give satisfying answers to its many, many remaining mysteries ... but when it's as scary and hilarious and moving and exciting as these two episodes, I'm okay with that." In less positive reviews, Rodney Ho of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the only major daily newspaper in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, and its suburbs. The AJC, as it is called, is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is the result of the merger between The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta...
called it "a satisfactory return episode with a fair share of drama and pathos ... [that] provides just enough revelations to keep fans hungry for more" and David Hinckley of the Daily News rated the episode with three stars out of a possible five.
Brian Lowry of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
said that "Lost
Characters of Lost
The characters from the American drama/adventure television series Lost were created by Damon Lindelof and J. J. Abrams. The series follows the lives of plane crash survivors on a mysterious tropical island, after a commercial passenger jet crashes somewhere in the South Pacific...
." Mark Medley of the National Post
National Post
The National Post is a Canadian English-language national newspaper based in Don Mills, a district of Toronto. The paper is owned by Postmedia Network Inc. and is published Mondays through Saturdays...
called it "a brilliant season premiere" with multiple "jaw-dropping moments". Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
felt that the premiere was mind-blowing and featured good acting by Garcia. Frazier Moore of the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
wrote that "Lost is further upping the ante, and heightening the pressure on us as the show's vast mythology continues to metastasize." Kristin Dos Santos of E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
called it "so well written, produced, acted and directed it felt like a movie". Michael Ausiello
Michael Ausiello
Michael Ausiello is an American television industry journalist and actor. He was a Senior Writer at TV Guide and its companion website, TVGuide.com. On May 28, 2008, Ausiello left TV Guide for Entertainment Weekly and posted his first blog for Entertainment Weekly on July 2, 2008...
of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
described it as "easily one of the best hours of TV so far this season." Bruce Fretts of TV Guide responded well to Reddick's performance. Chris Carabott of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the episode 9.1/10, stating that it was "a great start to what promises to be an exciting ... season 4. The momentum and pacing is on par with last season's finale". LTG of Television Without Pity graded it as an "A–". Jon Lachonis of UGO gave the episode an "A+", calling it "a crushingly emotional, action packed introduction ... [which proves] that ... Lost
TMZ.com
TMZ.com is a celebrity news website that debuted on November 8, 2005. It was a collaboration between America Online and Telepictures Productions, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. However, it is still affiliated with AOL News and has the AOL News logo affixed in...
graded it as an "A", saying that it was perfect and set up the rest of the season well.