LOST Season Premiere – Back to the Future

“When am I?”

So you’ve finally seen the season premiere of LOST! Got everything figured out already? Yeah? Liar.

While last night’s episode of LOST certainly gave us glimpses into answers we’ve been waiting a long time to see, it certainly left us with a myriad of questions that need to be sorted out before we can even begin to fully comprehend what we’re watching, and what we’ve been watching for the past few years.

I’ve already shared my thoughts on the first two episode of LOST, and I’ll be teasing what I saw in Episode 3 later this week.  If you’ve read my earlier piece then you know I loved these first few episodes and I’m so glad to have the show back…even if it is a mental mindfrak.

As the better half of “Two Idiots Talk Lost“, I’m not going to pretend that I can give you a full synopsis of what exactly went down last night. Who are we kidding. But I thought the important stuff should be covered by me and the speculation and analysis should be covered by the collective you (whom I am assuming are way smarter than me.) Deal?

Let’s start with….

The Dharma Initiative Strikes Again
The skipping record of doom let’s us know that something is about to go terribly wrong.

Dr. Pierre Chang (or Dr. Marvin Candle – just one of his many aliases) starts his day off like any other. He tends to his family, goes to work, slips on the lab coat and starts filming a Dharma training video. Just another ‘ol day on the weird, freaky island, right? Not exactly. Just as Chang informs us that The Arrow station was used to study the “hostile indigenous population” of the island (aka The Others), he is pulled away to handle an issue at The Orchid station. It seems that some drilling has gone awry resulting in some melted drills and a man severely injured. When it’s suggested that they abandon drilling and just blast, Dr. Chang goes all “hells no” on them and informs us all that behind the walls of The Orchid station is an “almost limitless energy source” that can harnessed to manipulate time, but if messed with incorrectly…well, let’s just say that we don’t want to go there.

As Chang leaves the station he bumps into a Dharma worker – a one Mr. Daniel Faraday. Wowza! Not looking a day younger or older than he does now, it seems that Mr. Faraday and his handy dandy notebook might know a thing or two about manipulating time and just how to deal with that pesky limitless energy source.

The Island – Bright Lights. Big Frakkin’ Disaster…
Picking up where we left off last season, the blinding lights has everyone a little out of sorts, and things looking a little different. Rose and Bernard, who were separated during the flash, are reunited but come with the news that the 815ers camp is no more – it has disappeared. Juliet and Sawyer also notice that the freighter has vanished too. Locke, who before the flash was with Richard and The Others, is now left alone in the jungle.

With everyone in a panic, Daniel informs them that their camp hasn’t necessarily disappeared, it just hasn’t been built yet. Ohhh, well then, that explains it all.  Carry on.

With that news in hand, but clearly not fully understood, Faraday, Miles, Charlotte, Juliet and Sawyer take off in search of the hatch which Daniel thinks may hold some answers as to “when” in time they are.

A few different bright light flashes and our friends find themselves all over the place in time. Daniel tries to explain that when Ben moved the big wheel he dislodged them (or maybe the island) from time. They seem to be on a free fall through time and it needs to stop. But who can stop them?

Frustrated, Sawyer tries to break into the hatch knowing that Desmond is in their will lots of supplies. But as Daniel explained, the rules of time travel don’t let you go back an do things you didn’t do initially. You will fail. Desmond didn’t know Sawyer at that point in time (remember, they were in the past, before the hatch was discovered) so he wouldn’t be able to get the supplies he needed.

However, when everyone went back to camp, Daniel knocked on the hatch once more and Desmond appeared. With seconds to go before the bright light appeared again, Daniel tells Desmond that when he gets off the island, Des needs to go to Oxford and find Daniel’s mother. Daniel also tells Desmond that he is uniquely special and the rules don’t apply to him. Why not? I said why not?! I want to know!!!

..flash forward three years later, and Desmond wakes up in a cold sweat. Penny said he had a bad dream about the island, but Desmond tells her it wasn’t a dream, it was a memory…and they are going to Oxford.

John Locke and the Virgin Marys
Still trying to sort things out after the flash, Locke sees a small airplane crashing down on the island. He notices that it’s the plane that he and Boone first discovered back in the day – the one that carried Eko’s brother and all those cocaine-filled Virgin Mary statues. While climbing towards the plane, Locke is shot….by Ethan! Hold the phone! This was a very cool, unexpected moment from last night’s episode. The return of Ethan! But that return was short lived. Just as John was trying to explain what was happening and that he should be spared because he was the new leader of The Others, that pesky light flashed once more an an Ethan was gone.

Later Locke runs into Richard who helps him with his gun shot wound and tells Locke that the only way to save the island is to get The Oceanic 6 back on the island. And the only way to do that is for Locke to die. Huh? No time for explanation now, the bright light is going to shine once again. Richard gives Locke a compass which will be a sign that the two of them know each other if and when they encounter one another in a different time.

Off the Island and Out of Their Minds
The Oceanic 6 aren’t kicking back with their payoff and living life large these days (well, except for Hurley, but he can’t help that). Ben is trying to light a fire under Jack’s ass. They need to get Locke’s body out of the funeral home and somewhere safe, and then they need to round up Hurley, Sayid, Jun, Kate (and I’m assuming Aaron) and get them back to the island. Interesting that there was no mention of Desmond. I know he wasn’t an Oceanic 6 member but he did get off the island. But as we learned, maybe the rules don’t apply to Desmond. And maybe the fact that the O6 were all on the plane has something to do with it. Who knows?!

Kate and Aaron are kicking back with cartoons when two men approach Kate’s door. They have a court order to take Kate’s blood to prove her relationship with Aaron. She refuses. When they leave she gathers some clothes, money and a gun and grabs Aaron telling him they are going on vacation. Run, Kate, run!

Sayid and Hurley, on the run after Sayid killed the man who he claimed was watching Hurley at the hospital, head back to Sayid’s hotel room. But people were already there. A fight ensued that left two men dead, Sayid with a tranquilizer in back and Hurley looking all kinds of guilty.

Meanwhile, Sun, on her way to L.A., gets stopped by security and is placed in a room with none other than Charles Widmore. He confronts her about approaching him in public. She tells him that they share a common interest…seeing Ben Linus dead.

The bright light flashes once more and I wake up in 2011 when all of the above made perfect sense. A flash again and I’m right back here in January 2009, confused and as intrigued as ever.

Best quote of the night
Hurley to Sayid: “You know, maybe if you ate more comfort food you wouldn’t have to go around shooting people.” Ha ha…I’ve missed you, Hurley!

Riddle me this…
Here are just a few of the many questions I had after watching last night’s LOST (in no particular order)

• What does Daniel Faraday’s mother have to do with any of this?
• Why is Desmond so uniquely special?
• Why are The Others not moving through time but the 815ers and the Freighters are?
• Why is Charlotte getting the nosebleeds and not everyone else?
• Why did Daniel say that Sawyer would fail is he tried to get to Desmond in the hatch, but somehow Daniel did it?
• Who is trying to kill Sayid and Hurley?
• Who hired the law firm to get Kate and Aaron’s blood?
• Why does Locke have to die to get the O6 back to the island?
• Why doesn’t Desmond have to go back to the island too?

So that’s that.  I tried to capture the big stuff.  Did I succeed?  Your thoughts on last night’s episode.  Loved it?  Hated it?  Confused as all get out?  Let’s talk LOST!