already & not yet

Okay, I’ve been a faithful devotee of this show for years now. Even when it didn’t make sense, even when it seemed they were making it up as they went, even during the polar bear cage days of Season 3. But I have to confess: this premiere was a major letdown, at least on initial viewing. I’m holding out hope that they’ll right the ship here, but its hard not to be a little disappointed at this stage in the game.

I’m REALLY not digging the “flash sideways” storytelling device. With the phrase “flash sideways”, the producers are referring to the LAX storyline. (For a detailed explanation of the “flash sideways” from Damon and Carlton, click here.) It seems that for at least part of this season, we’ll find out what would have happened if Oceanic 815 had indeed never crashed. We saw several of these implications early in the episode, most notably Desmond never shipwrecks on the Island. (I still wonder about Farraday’s comment to him from last season: “The rules don’t apply to you.”) I definitely wasn’t expecting this and I don’t really care to see “what would’ve happened”. How are we supposed to interpret this storyline? Is it “real”? Another possibility? How can it possibly be reconciled with any of the previous 100+ hours of the series we’ve invested in to this point? Like I said, it’s hard not to be disappointed.

At the same time, we’re witnessing an “alternate reality” where the bomb detonated and our castaways are blown back to the Island present in 2007. Juliet has a tearful goodbye with Sawyer, but she imparts this one little piece of info (via Miles) as she exits: it worked. Is Juliet somehow aware of these alternate universes? Will she and Sawyer have a fortuitous encounter in this off-Island universe? If so, I’m betting we hear her utter the same words she spoke as she died in Sawyer’s arms: something about grabbing coffee and going dutch.

As for revelations in this episode, we had several.

• We were correct to link the Man in Black with Smokey.
• The Man in Black alludes to Richard and his “chains”. I’m pretty sure this is a reference to the Black Rock, a slave trading ship from the 1800s. I’m betting Richard was a slave on the ship, the same ship we saw coming to the Island in the Season Five finale.
• We finally got to see the inside of the Temple. Lots of hieroglyphs. Lots of dudes with guns and turbans. And muddy water that drowns you and then saves you. Weird.
• We finally got to see what was inside the guitar case. I’m wondering if all of this means Jacob has now inhabited Sayid’s body, in a way that’s similar to the Man in Black’s use of Locke.
• The volcano ash that surrounded Jacob’s former cabin was explained (sort of). Seems it was intended to keep Smokey out.

I still have plenty of questions:

Why the blood on Jack’s collar when he looks in the mirror in the airplane bathroom?

How does Charlie know he’s “supposed” to die?

What is it that has changed Hurley’s luck? How is it that he thinks he’s the “luckiest man alive” in the alternate timeline?

Why can’t the show spring for some better CGI graphics?

Most of all, what happens in an “alternative reality” when Jacob & the Man in Black have been presumably blown to smithereens with the rest of the Island? Isn’t this whole thing about some age old argument / feud between these two? How can this be played out in the “new” timeline?

What about you? Your thoughts? Did you love it or were you disappointed?

Well, LOST fans, we’re finally here. The beginning of end. With the premiere of Season six tonight, we’re officially in the last days of LOST-dom. To say I’m stoked would be an understatement. It’s been a long eight months since Juliet detonated Jughead and our screens went white. In the downtime, I went back and re-watched the entire series from “Pilot” to “The Incident”. Here are some of my random ruminations as we prep for the final season premiere of LOST:

• The question circulating for most fans seems to be “Timeline reboot: Yes or No?” Was Jack successful in his quest to detonate the bomb and rewrite history? I’m tempted to say “yes”, but I think that might be too easy; I think that’s what they want us to think. If time was rewritten, what does that do to these characters that we’ve grown to love over the course of five seasons? Are all of these experiences — both redemptive and destructive — somehow just negated or “washed away” by Jughead? If so, that’s weak. At least I think so. I could envision a scenario where 815 lands in LAX but the castaways retain the memory of the “future” that never happened, but even that seems whack. And if everything is rebooted, what do we do about the “current” Island timeline of 2007 — you know, where Locke isn’t Locke and Ben stabs Jacob? I think Miles might have gotten it right in last year’s finale: Jack and co. may actually have caused the very thing (the Incident) they were trying to keep from happening.
• At the end of Season five, Sun approaches Richard Alpert with a 70’s era picture of Dharma life. Of course, its a pic of Jack, Kate, Hurley, etc. Sun’s question to Richard: “Have you ever seen these people?” Do you remember Richard’s answer? “Yes, I watched them all die.” If Jack and the crew somehow “died” during the Jughead explosion / reboot, then how could Richard say he saw them die? I suppose Richard could just be lying to Sun, but I doubt it. I’m wondering if the Jughead explosion wasn’t quite as dramatic as we thought; perhaps there’s a little more 70’s era Dharma story to be told.
• I worry about my boy Sayid. In the season five finale, he comments that he’s beyond saving, beyond redemption. Sayid, like Mr. Eko, is a remorseless killer who feels his actions have satisfied some deep internal craving for justice, for things to be made right. And like Mr. Eko, I fully expect Sayid to pay the ultimate price for this lack of penance. Think back to Ben’s “judgment” by Smokey in the bowels of the Temple. He’s only spared when he tells “Alex” how sorry he is for letting her die. Repentance seems to be at least one of the keys to redemption on this Island.
• I just love how even now, five seasons and 100+ episodes in, I’m still captivated by the undergirding question Charlie asked at the end of the first episode: “Guys, where are we?”
• Along those lines, I’m hoping the producers don’t feel the need to answer each of the show’s mysteries to appease a fan base that wants it all to “make sense”. Don’t get me wrong; I want to know what Smokey is, or why Locke is so special, or the true nature of Jacob & the Man in Black’s centuries old feud. But the older I get, the more comfortable I am with ambiguity. In that way, my engagement with this show has been similar to the character arc of Jack. At first, I was probably a rigid “man of science”; I wanted it to all make sense, to add up. I read articles about what the Numbers could mean. I theorized about who the Others were and what they wanted. But over time, I realized — like Jack — that this whole ride is better if you just roll with it. I guess what I’m saying is that while I expect a certain level of explanation and “answers”, I’m also okay with some of the more mythic elements of the show retaining their mysticism. So while I expect an answer re: Smokey (and the producers have promised one), I’m less certain that we’ll ever get a definitive answer to the “What is the Island?” question. And I’m cool with that.
• My Adam & Eve prediction: Sun & Jin. At one point in time, I was convinced it was going to be Desmond and Penelope. But they’ve already had their happy ending (sort of), and after all the time-shifting loopiness that’s kept them apart, I can’t think of a happier ending for Sun & Jin than a lifetime together in the Island’s past. However, I’ve also had a long running theory that Adam & Eve would end up being Rose & Bernard. Who knows?
• Speaking of Desmond, I hope there’s plenty more of his story to be told. He was severely underused in season five, and he’s actually become one of my favorite characters. I hope we get a healthy dose of Desmond in the final chapter of LOST.
• Speaking of severely underused in season five, I guess we’ll finally find out what happened to Claire. Is she a ghost? I don’t really care. But one thing has always bugged me: so far, Desmond’s flash that convinced Charlie to give up his life has yet to come true. He told Charlie that if he flipped the switch in the Looking Glass and died there, that Aaron and Claire would get on a helicopter and be rescued. I’m struggling to see how that can happen at this point. And that annoys me. I’d be disappointed if they don’t circle back around to this; I hope it’s not a hole in the narrative.

Well, that’s enough for now. I’ll have a full recap of tonight’s episode posted by tomorrow. Until then, enjoy tonight’s premiere. Namaste.