This put up comprises spoilers for “Misplaced” season 3 and “Noticed II.”
With “Misplaced” streaming on Netflix in time to mark its twentieth anniversary, a brand new era of viewers have the possibility to look at maybe the best episode in TV historical past: the present’s season 3 finale, “By way of the Wanting Glass.” It is a jam-packed two-part installment, though it begins off a little bit bizarre with its fixed recurring flashbacks round Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox). The present had given us so many Jack-centric episodes by this level that it felt form of anti-climactic to middle the finale on him too. It additionally appeared unusual that Jack apparently had a tragic alcoholic part we would by no means been aware of earlier than. Nonetheless, after almost 60 episodes straight of pre-island flashbacks, most viewers have been completely happy to associate with this, particularly because the on-island storylines have been so compelling.
Within the ultimate scene, we see Jack assembly up with Kate, somebody he did not know earlier than the airplane crash. After which he is speaking about wanting to return to the island. Shock! These flashbacks are literally flashforwards; after three seasons of the present’s characters attempting to flee the island, it is immediately revealed that they do get off the island one way or the other, however they’re going to find yourself regretting it.
That is extensively thought-about among the best moments within the sequence, even by the naysayers within the viewers who declare that “Misplaced” went downhill after season 3. Showrunner Damon Lindelof agrees, describing the scene in a 2015 Buzzfeed interview as “undeniably nice.” Not solely did the twist enable him to “break from the monotony of character flashbacks,” but it surely let him take a cue from “Noticed II,” the gory horror sequel launched in 2005.
Misplaced and Noticed II used the same sleight of hand
“In case you have not seen ‘Noticed 2,’ all that you must know is that Donnie Wahlberg is in it and that the twist on the finish includes tricking the viewers into pondering they’re watching one thing unfold in current time, when the truth is, it’s unfolding within the PAST,” Lindelof defined. Positive sufficient, that is typically thought-about one of many coolest twists in all the “Noticed” franchise, in addition to considered one of many moments followers level to as a transparent counter to the “it is simply torture porn” accusation.
It is form of the other of what “By way of the Wanting Glass” did, but it surely stored the identical basic thought of utilizing movie language towards the viewers. When a film jumps backwards and forwards between two storylines set in other places, the pure assumption for viewers is that these two storylines are taking place concurrently. That is how most films work, in any case.
Likewise, “Misplaced” had spent three seasons educating its viewers tips on how to watch the present. Once we hear that plane-like whooshing sound and immediately we’re watching a personality off the island, we have been conditioned Pavlovian-style to assume “Ah, sure, this can be a flashback.” The season 3 finale took full benefit of this, as Lindelof famous:
“The divine inspiration of ‘Noticed II’ led us to the inevitable conclusion that one of the simplest ways to do that could be to make our first flash-forward LOOK like yet one more flashback. After which, within the ultimate scene, we drop the hammer. Growth. You are within the FUTURE, B****ES!!! TAKE THAT, DONNIE WAHLBERG!”
Damon Lindelof is definitely obsessive about Noticed II
In 2019, Lindelof revealed to Digital Spy how a giant twist in his hit miniseries “Watchmen” was additionally impressed from “Noticed II.” That present had an prolonged storyline primarily based across the character Adrian Veidt aka Ozymandias (Jeremy Irons). Veidt spends almost the entire season trapped on a far-off planet, attempting to get again to Earth. He does finally get dwelling, however given the mechanics of area journey, it is not clear how he’ll get again in time to attach with the opposite storylines within the finale.
Seems, he had loads of time; this complete storyline occurred years earlier than the occasions of the remainder of the present. Within the present’s present-day timeline, Veidt had been proper beneath the characters’ noses, trapped inside a supposed statue of himself in Tulsa, Oklahoma. This reveal traces its root to the timeline twist from “Noticed II,” in addition to that very same film’s reveal that the primary character’s son (who we thought was in imminent hazard) was proper subsequent to the primary characters the entire time. As Lindelof defined:
“On the finish of the story, the massive payoff is that Donnie Wahlberg’s son will get locked in a field that he’ll suffocate in, and then you definitely notice that that field has been sitting subsequent to Donnie Wahlberg all the film and his son was quietly dying inside and that every little thing we noticed as an intercut had truly occurred days earlier, and I used to be identical to, ‘Oh god, we’ll simply do this with Adrian Veidt.'”
Thoughts you, this was over 10 years after “Misplaced” season 3. It goes to indicate that you will by no means know the place you will discover inspiration from. “Noticed II” may not be thought-about high-tier, but it surely’s had a transparent, decades-long impression on no less than one author’s complete profession.
