LOST Season 4 Premiere Recap: “The Beginning of the End”

Tonight’s season premiere of LOST is  going to warrant quite the discussion. What’s the fun of watching a show like this if you can’t share your speculation with others. I personally can’t wait to read your comments to find out what thought about the show.

I’d be a fool to pretend that I could properly recap tonight’s episode, but I’ll give it my best shot. If I left anything out or maybe didn’t get something quite right, leave a comment and let me know.  Recapping this show is a daunting task and I’m not sure I’m up for the challenge.  But for tonight, let’s give it a shot.

In a (rather large) nutshell….
During tonight’s episode we learned that along with Kate and Jack, Hurley too got off the island. The three of them were part of what is known as ‘the Oceanic 6’. The 6 presumably indicates the number of people who made it off the island, but this is LOST so that number could really mean anything. Whomever and whatever the Oceanic 6 are/were, they received some kind of positive notoriety as indicated by Hurley’s declaration to the police that he was one of them, and later when Jack said he still signs the occasional autograph.

Picking up on the mystery we were left with at the end of last season, we know that Jack is tormented by something that happened on the island and thinks they should go back. Hurley too seems conflicted about what happened and also alludes to guilt and regret. This regret may or may not have something to do with Hurley willfully (and thankfully) returning to a mental institution. While in the hospital, a man claiming to be from Oceanic comes to visit Hurley. When Hurley becomes suspicious of his intentions, the man asks him, “are they still alive” (more on this in a bit). Hurley freaks out. Later, Hurley is confronted by “the ghost” of Charlie Pace. Hurley says that he knows Charlie is dead, and “Charlie” says that he indeed is, but he’s still there (whatever that means). When Charlie tells Hurley that there’s something he needs to do, Hurley gets agitated and wishes the vision of Charlie away, but not before Charlie can say, “they need you, Hugo”.

In the future (but not the future future where Jack is a drunk with a beard), Jack visits Hurley in the hospital under the guise of checking in on him. But Hurley knows that Jack is there to make sure he doesn’t say anything he isn’t supposed to. Once Jack is assured that Hurley won’t tell their secret, Jack leaves. But Hurley says, “I think it wants us to go back. It’s doing everything it can…”, but Jack wants to hear nothing more and says that they will never go back. Hurley apologizes to Jack for going with Locke, saying that he should have sided with Jack.

And this brings us back to the island…

When we last saw the Oceanic gang (and a few of The Others), Naomi had just been killed by Locke and Jack went ahead and made the call to her boat who was now on their way to the island to rescue everyone. Ben insisted that the people on their boat were not there for rescuing, but rather to kill everyone on the island. It’s always something, Ben. Naomi’s team calls her on the SAT phone, and Jack (and later Kate) have to come up with excuses as to why Naomi isn’t available to chat. They don’t want her team to know that she was killed for fear that the rescue mission would be called off. Later, a not so dead Naomi disappears into the woods. Jack follows her trail of blood, but Kate thinks it’s a rouse and that Naomi went in the opposite direction. Kate was right, and good thing she was because she stole the SAT phone off of Jack. When Naomi’s team called, she convinced them that she got her while parachuting in, and made no mention of being (eventually) killed by anyone on the island. Naomi fixed the coordinates on the SAT phone seconds before she took her last breath. Um, ok, did anyone else find it completely unbelievable that Naomi, laying smack in the middle of an open field with people all around her and a knife in her back, could slip away going unnoticed into the woods? And not only that but she managed to first go East and leave a fake trail of blood, and then go back and head West into the trees. Come on now.

Back on the beach, Desmond returns from The Looking Glass and tells everyone of Charlie’s message that the boat was not Penny’s. For some reason the people on the beach take Desmond’s message quite seriously and immediately think that the people Naomi’s rescue boat are dangerous. This was a bit of a leap for me. “Not Penny’s Boat” could have meant anything. And even if it wasn’t Penny’s boat, how do they know that they “rescuers” are there to do them harm. It seemed a bit odd that they would all jump to a conclusion that would keep them on the island, so quickly.

Desmond, Sawyer, Sayid, Hurley a few others (others with a lowercase “o”) head off to find Jack and his crew and warn them of the “rescuers”. While on their trek, Hurley gets separated from the gang and stumbles upon Jacob’s creepy cabin. He looks inside and sees someone sitting in a rocking chair just before the is confronted by someone else looking back at him from inside the cabin. Hurley runs in the opposite direction only to see the same cabin again. What? So confused. He falls but is rescued by Locke. He and Locke soon meet up with Sayid, Sawyer and the gang. And a few minutes later they all run into those traveling with Jack’s group…what a small island. In a moment that made me than a bit teary, Hurley tells Claire (and baby Aaron) that Charlie is dead.

Jack arrives a few minutes later and clocks Locke before pulling a gun on him. Locke says that Jack wouldn’t kill him just as Jack puts the gun to Locke’s head and pulls the trigger with no hesitation. Lucky for Locke there were no bullets in the gun. But Jack didn’t really seem to have many issues with boldly killing Locke (is bold the right word?). Locke once again warns everyone that the rescuers are there to kill them all and they must hide. Jack thinks Locke is nuts and that no one would give up their shot at being rescued. Hurley steps up and says that Charlie died warning them and he was going to listen to Charlie and side with Locke, and hide from the rescue team. Sawyer, Claire (and Aaron) and a few others join Locke while the others stay with Jack. The two groups depart. Jack is feeling the pressure of making the decisions for his group, and looks to Kate for support, but just then they hear a helicopter. They look up and see someone parachuting out of the plane. They track the guy down, he removes his helmet and says, “Are you Jack?” .

And with that I conclude the recap portion of this post. Sadly, as long as it was, there is so much I left out, I’m sure. Hopefully nothing too important, but that’s what you guys are there for.

What did you think of tonight’s episode?  Did it live up to the hype?  Are you officially excited LOST is back?