I've now watched the premiere 3 times and I think I've got a handle on what is happening.....or I've at least got some theories. Going back to last season, the big question was: What happened when Juliet smacked the bomb? There were two basic theories among the fans. The first was "Whatever Happened, Happened" (or "you can't change the past").....the bomb caused "the incident", and the Losties were always responsible for the ultimate crash of Oceanic 815. The other was that Faraday's plan worked and caused a "Reset"....meaning the crash of Oceanic 815 never occurred. I was always in the Whatever Happened, Happened camp as it is a very pure way of looking at things. However, in "LA X", LOST gave us both scenarios.
Now, if you don't want your brain to explode, stop trying to make a single story out of the two scenarios. When the bomb went off, the story was split into two separate shows....the one we've been watching and a new one where the crash doesn't occur. Now while I believe these stories will eventually converge, intertwine, or relate in some fashion, I don't see that as critical in the near term. For now, just think about them as independent entities.
So, let's start with the "Reset" universe. The most important thing to note is that lives of the Oceanic passengers are NOT identical to those of the ones we've met before in series. Hurley considers himself lucky...not cursed. Shannon did not board the plane. Sayid's passport says he is from Iran, not Iraq. Sun is referred to as Ms. Paik (implying that she and Jin aren't married yet....and maybe she never learned to speak English). And my guess is that over the next few episodes, we will learn that Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, etc all have had different life experiences. This implies that their lives didn't change when the crash fails to occur, but rather they changed in 1977. However something (fate?) is drawing these 9 people (Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Locke, Hurley, Jin, Sun, Sayid, and Claire) together (I view all other characters...including Charlie and Desmond...as secondary....for now). Clearly, their interactions will continue.
Last week, I speculated that if we saw an alternate reality, the Losties would have some sense of recognition of their other life. Note, the somewhat confused look on Jack's face in the initial scene...he is remembering something. He also seems to recognize Desmond (I will concede though that Jack met Desmond before the crash of Oceanic 815 as well...but maybe not in this universe)...more on Des below. Additionally, Jack finds blood on his neck. I believe that as the season progresses, our characters will have more of these deja-vu-like moments. It is too early to tell exactly how this will play out, but I would bet that as they begin to understand what they are experiencing, their world will begin to unravel.....leading to something big.
Deja vu?
Moving on....while the sequence going from Jack's window to the island submerged under the ocean was quite cool, let me ask you this: Why would a hydrogen bomb detonation sink the island? Let's suppose for a minute it did....what are the implications? Well, the following people would be dead: Ben Linus, Richard Alpert, Charles Widmore, Eloise Hawking, and maybe Jacob and the Man-in-Black. It also means that Daniel Faraday would never be born. Penny might not be alive either (unclear exactly when she was born). That makes for a lot of plot driving characters not being around. Let's suppose now, that the explosion didn't sink the island....maybe that happened AFTER 1977. If that is true, then many of the antagonists are still alive and may interact with the Losties.
I mentioned Desmond earlier and, as always, he is an interesting case. And right now there are more questions than answers. Why is he on the plane? What was he doing in Australia? Has he met Penny (does she even exist)? Is he even on the plane or is he a figment of Jack's imagination? Remember that Faraday once told Desmond that "the rules don't apply to you". The assumption was that he was talking about time travel....but maybe it also applies to the alternate realities. Desmond has a role to play in both scenarios and my guess is that he will be instrumental in bringing these to realities into a single timeline.
Seen you in another life brotha?
Before we get to the happenings at the airport, I'd like to note a few more things from the flight. So, did you notice that Jack couldn't find his pen when he was trying to open Charlie's airway? Two interesting things about this. First, this is a callback to the series Pilot when Jack asks Boone to find a pen to open Rose's airway. Second, Kate took Jack's pen when she bumped into him at the lavatory (and later uses it to try to get her cuffs off). Nice cameos by fringe characters Dr. Arzt and Frogurt. Boone tells Locke, "If this thing goes down, I'm sticking with you"....which is what happened after the crash of Oceanic 815 and led to his death. The pilot, Capt Norris, heard over the intercom is Matt Parkman from Heroes (he also played the pilot in the series Pilot). When Charlie realizes he is alive he says the line, "terrific".....which he said in the pilot when the smoke monster is first heard in the jungle. He also says that he was "supposed to die".....just like he was supposed to die on the island. Also, the end of the first hour was just fantastic, as the exiting of Oceanic 815 mirrored the boarding sequence from the Season 1 finale, "Exodus" (one of my favorite scenes in Lost).
On the ground things get even more interesting. We got to see bad-ass-Kate kick the marshal's butt before escaping the airport. Interesting that in the getaway taxi there is non-other than Claire....Aaron's mom and pseudo-mom riding off together..... the new Thelma and Louise? I like that Sawyer gave Kate a little cover on her escape. I'm also curious to find out what Jin had all that money for. But the scene I really like is the one with Jack and Locke in the lost baggage office. The dialogue between these two is so great. I love when Locke says, "How could they know where he (Christian) is? They didn't lose your father...they just lost his body." If there was ever any question that Christian Shephard is crucial to the story, put it to rest now. He will prove pivotal in both stories. However, the line that will end up defining the "reset" story is when Jack says, "Nothing is irreversible." Damn....he may not know it yet, but he isn't just talking about Locke's spine. He could be talking about the crash...the bomb....even the island being on the bottom of the ocean. Remember that line. It is important.
OK....back to the island story. Let’s start with the bomb and Juliet. Initially, I was pissed to see Juliet alive. How could she be alive? A nuke detonated 6 inches from her face! However, I’ll suspend disbelief and just be thankful that she did indeed die. My reason for wanting Juliet dead had nothing to do with whether or not I liked or disliked her (but honestly I was never a huge Juliet fan). Rather, I feel her death was critical to the Sawyer story arc. In Season 6, he needs to be a ball of southern-fried rage. And Juliet’s death pushed him there. When he says, “I ain’t followin’ nobody, Kate” it is an indicator that he will be marching to his own drum from here on out. An angry loner...who will ultimately find redemption (and if I had to guess it will be to save Jack.....remember Sawyer once said in season 2, “....you're about the closest thing I've got to a friend, Doc.”)
That is one pissed off redneck!
While Sawyer’s rage is growing, Hurley encounters Jacob. Of course only Hurley can see him, because he is now dead. He tells Hurley, “I was killed by an old friend, who tired of my company” (there were more great lines in this episode than any other I can remember). He then explains that the only way to save Sayid is to take him to the Temple and bring the guitar case with him. However, in order to get to the temple, the Losties needed to journey through the wall surrounding it. This was an interesting little trek as it took us past the body of Montand (Rousseau’s team’s smoke monster victim) sans arm and the hole Ben fell down when he encountered the smoke monster. It was also interesting that Kate heard whispers. It isn’t clear if these were The Whispers (that have been heard in the jungle) or just the Others coming to snatch her.
The Temple itself has been alluded to since Season 3 and finally, we got to see it. I’m sure there is more to the Temple than we saw this week, but we were introduced to The Spring. So this appears to be the source of the island’s healing powers. This must be where young Ben was taken after Sayid shot him. Two things struck me about the Spring. First, is that if it is indeed a spring then it’s source must be below it. We’ve already see that there are “pockets of energy” below the surface and now these healing waters come for below. Something is clearly going on deep underground. The second thing was that the Others state that the water is no longer clear. This seems to affect the healing capabilities. What could have contaminated the water? Maybe it was the detonation of the bomb (a sign that the events in one universe can affect another....but I’m violating my own mandate to keep the stories separate....so I’ll move on) or maybe it is due to Jacob’s death (is his blood running in the water...looks reddish) or maybe it is connected to the smoke monster (remember the muddy water Ben stuck his arm in to summon the smoke monster last season?). Sayid dies in the Spring but he is ultimately resurrected. The question is: Is this really Sayid? Could it be Jacob? Or maybe Christian? Or maybe some other entity? This will be very interesting.
Everybody in the pool!
The other really great thing that was revealed at the temple was the contents of Hurley’s guitar case. He’s been carrying that thing around since midway through last season and now we learn it contained a big wooden ankh...the Egyptian symbol for eternal life (remember last season DHARMA Amy removed an ankh necklace from her dead husband’s neck). But it wasn’t just an ankh...inside the ankh was a note from Jacob. Interesting that Jacob has been passing notes to the Others for years.....was this his method for delivery? Recall that Jacob gave the guitar case, with the ankh and its note, to Hurley before they ever returned to the island, so he must have foreseen what was coming. This make me think that despite the Man-in-Black’s plotting, Jacob has always been in control.
Guitar hero?
Speaking of the MIB, let’s get to his piece of the story. Well, we finally received confirmation that the Fake Locke/MIB is indeed the smoke monster (“I’m sorry you had to see me like that”....classic). And you have to love the way he came out of the closet....taking out Bram and his lackeys with no trouble. Then in a conversation with Ben, the MIB say that he wants to "go home”. Where is home for him? One guess might be Hell (but maybe not...see below). Also note that both Bram and the Others use a ring of ash to keep out the smoke monster (the same ash that was around "Jacob's cabin"). I'll see what I can dig up for next week on the ash.
Now where things really got interesting was when the MIB emerged from the four toed statue. He approached Richard and said, “its good to see you out of those chains”. This indicated to me that Richard was either taken to the island on the Black Rock slaving ship or he may have been a slave in the Egyptian era. I’m guessing though that it is the Black Rock (remember that Richard was once building a ship inside a bottle that looked like the Black Rock). After knocking Richard out and throwing him over his shoulder, MIB turns to the Others and says, “I am very disappointed in all of you.” This was an epic line. I am still on the fence as to whether or not the MIB is truly “bad”. I still think it is possible that Jacob is the “bad guy” and the MIB is the “good one”. Why would the MIB be “disappointed” in the actions of the Others? I'm not sure....but I think I like it.
I could keep on writing, but I think I’ve written enough for now. Before I conclude, I want to give some major props to Terry O’Quinn, the actor who portrays John Locke. He is really an amazing actor. When you juxtapose his performances as Locke interacting with Jack in the airport with the MIB chastising the Others, it is hard to believe it is the same guy. That is a testament to his acting skills. I see another Emmy in his future.
Scary....
OK...that’s a wrap. LOST has come through once again with a spellbinding and mind-bending episode. I expect that Season 6 is really going to be something special. See you next week.
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