I guess I join the long ranks of bloggers who have
continually made wrong and wild predictions about Lost.LA X had nothing to do with the number Ten and everything to do with the terminal.
Apprehension:Perhaps I am still adjusting to the ending of Season 5, perhaps I am deeply upset that Lost will soon be coming to an end, perhaps I am far more confused than I like to let on - whatever the reason, I couldn't shake my feeling of apprehension throughout these two episodes.
Thinking about the show knowing that I would be attempting an analysis afterwards wasn't helping, so I made a deal with myself (and am now making that deal with you too) - I would try to relax, enjoy the first two episodes as a mere fan, and return to deeper analysing with episode 3.
It didn't help. I still feel ill and giddy.
Recognition:
Yeah, that's Jack. That's clearly Oceanic 815. That's... Cindy! Rose!! Bernard!!!
Frogurt?!! ARZT!?!?! THE VOICE OF PILOT SETH NORRIS?!?!?!?!?!Well, at least I got my first answer - I was pondering hard whether it would be Frank or Seth piloting the flight. I was also musing whether they would double-fake us with a bit of turbulence, then finally a crash on the island. But what's this?
Immersion: 
Crunch time came early. Forget about time travel, forget about split dimensions, forget about how everyone survived on a diet of boar and mango - the biggest leap of faith we need to take with Lost is the CGI. The poor imitation of Smokey we saw in this episode, the submarine trip we had to endure last season, and the coup de grace, this underwater scene, our island Atlantis, was so poorly rendered and unbelievable that it's enough to make you.... oooh, oooh was that the
Dharma shark?!?!Thanks to
a video posted by Izi at Not Confused, Just Lost, my theory wheel started turning regarding this scene. You can read my raw ramblings over at NCJL, but to put it short - what if the Frozen Donkey Wheel is more than a mechanism for time travel? What if the physical movement of the Island isn't that it just disappears, or moves somewhere else in the world, what if when Ben turned the wheel he switched Above The Water Island #1 with Under The Water Island #2?
I'm not sure where to go with this theory at the moment, but there is definately something worth pondering about here.
Kate:
I was convinced that Kate's first scene was off-Island. I kept expecting a major twist at the beginning, in line with the start of Seasons 2, 3, 4 and 5, where they made us believe that we were off-Island when we were actually on. No way they'd make things so obvious this time around?
Kate. She runs. She is also seemingly a master-level pickpocketer and lockpicker (I'm sure there is a joke to be made about her finding work on a construction site and manning the cherrypicker?) ((For all you readers groaning right now, just be glad I didn't go down the nosepicker route... oh, wait...)). Let's hope the arrival of Claire opens some interesting dynamics on the tired, worn out fugitive storyline.
Hurley:
I'm not sure what to think of this "new dimension". A lot of people are taking the fact that Hurley seems happy about his lottery win to mean that a lot has changed fundamentally with our characters. I disagree. Hurley, perhaps, may not feel cursed by the numbers, but beneath that smile of happiness lies the deeply depressed man we all know and love. Remember, back in Season 1 he was always listening to his music, trying to cheer everyone up, although we knew all about his pain deep down inside. I don't think this has changed - the numbers never cursed him, he is depressed.
Same goes for Locke. He can lie all he wants to a total stranger about the walkabout, but he still got turned away, he is still in a wheelchair and he is still very, very frustrated. His scene at the end with Jack was loaded with passive-aggression. Sawyer? Still a con-man through and through. Kate is still on the run. Charlie is still a suicidal junkie. Sayid just wants to help, but Jack has a bona fide Hero Complex. Jin has his secrets, as does Sun. Nothing has really changed for these people. Shannon may not physically be there, but I guarantee she occupies all of Boone's thoughts.
The only real wildcards were those not on the flight - Claire, Michael, Walt and Vincent. I won't even begin to tackle those last three, but Claire I have one thought about - if her psychic was genuine, then he would know there is no Island to crash on and would have told her a different story than the "couple who want to adopt in LA" line.
Sorrow:
As nice as it was to see the likes of Boone, Locke and Charlie alive and well, I couldn't help feel major pangs of sorrow as I realised something - if this is Rose and Bernard coming back from seeing the "healer" in Australia, and Rose has lied to Bernard about the results, then the Island is never going to heal her and, one day soon, she is going to die of cancer, leaving Bernard alone and deeply betrayed by her.
This realisation tainted the overall happiness I felt watching this scene. I really wish that they would have made Rose's storyline more obvious, like perhaps giving her a throwaway line mentioning the fact that they had been Honeymooning in Australia, for example.
Desmond: 
Now you see him, now you don't. So where did my fellow Scot disappear to?
I personally believe that Desmond was physically on the plane. The fact that Jack remembers him but Desmond doesn't could just meant that Desmond doesn't really remember their jogging encounter at the stadium. Basically we need a Charles Widmore / Desmond centric episode to clear things up with them - anything else would just be pure guesswork, not theorising.
Let's All Pretend That We're Sherlock Holmes: 
Every time someone was hiding in the bushes, or in cabs, or kidnapping Losties, I verbally ran through the same list of potential reveals, in increasing urgency - Christian! Vincent!!
Jacob!!! Walt!!!! Smokey!!!! Claire, Claire, oooh it HAS to be Claire!!!!!!!Ironically enough, the one time it was Jacob, I was adamant Claire was about to appear - and then when Claire did appear, it caught me completely off-guard. Kudos writers - you've had my nerves so frayed these past months I didn't even see the obvious stuff coming.
On a related note, it will require repeated viewings, but... I swear I saw someone in the bushes behind Jack & co. as they approached the Temple hole-in-the-wall.
Now, I may have been imagining things, but I definately felt a Season 2-era Others vibe. I implore you to re-watch this scene and keep your eyes peeled for anyone in the background spying on our Losties.
Jacob: 
Why can Hurley only see him? One good, solid answer came out of this episode - at least we know that Jacob does have 'lists', and that our Losties are on them.
"I'm Sorry You Had To See Me Like That" 
The Lost writers continually do a fantastic job of locking the stable door long after the horse has bolted. As if it weren't obvious enough that NotLocke and Smokey are one in the same, they decide to spell it out to us.
My one query - how did Smokey disappear, leave the room, and then come back with all his fury and vengeance without anyone noticing? Can he take the form of an insect as well? Or just plain disappear? If that is the case, why did he feel the need to leave the room, return as Smokey, leave again, then appear out of nowhere as Locke? On second thoughts, perhaps this scene isn't quite so straight forward.
Loved the whole scene with Bram circling himself in ash and smugly holding his arms out (surely his hands were poking over the protection ring?) only to be knocked out of his safehouse and joining the ranks of the dead.
Speaking of the dead - Hurley, get that red shirt off!
Ben:
The new Locke? Of course Smokey was manipulating you, and now that he is the new Jacob, he is very disappointed in everyone (didn't it seem like he was specifically disappointed in Lapidus? What is going on with this 'candidate'?).
What Smokey's going to do with Richard I have no idea, but I'd bet my bottom dollar that Ben will be tagging along with them, trying to make sense of it all - I wonder if his last thought will be "I don't understand"?
Locke: 
Speaking of that line, it made me think of Locke as one of those sweet little puppy dogs that the RSPCA advertise as needing a home - beaten up by his previous owner, he just doesn't understand, only wants to love and be loved but life keeps beating him down. Poor Locke :(
In alternative news, the Jack-Locke exchange was quite sweet (I hope he does go for that consultation), but the more the show goes on, the more I begin to agree that Locke is a very, very creepy character. I don't know why Jack is smiling - if a random guy starts taking shots at me and waxing philosophical about how it's only the body that's gone, not the soul, I think I would have taken more offence. I coulda sworn I saw an orange peel under that passive-aggresive smirk of his.
Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty certain that Locke is still one of my favourite characters - but he doesn't actually seem like a very nice guy in the grand scheme of things - quite manipulative in fact. Perhaps Michael had it right all along? I sure wouldn't want my impressionable young son to be hanging around with Locke - just look at Boone.
Ilana:Do something, please. Seriously, you don't even deserve a picture at this point.
Juliet/Sawyer: 
The only episode I re-watched over the hiatus was the excellent "The Incident" (hence the rustiness of this post). That Juliet/Sawyer scene has me welling up every time I see it, i
n its original form. Season 6, however, has kinda ruined what was already a perfectly emotional ending with fast, bad cuts of previous material, destroying all semblance of emotion in that scene, coupled with a useless "Sawyer-goes-down-the-well" side-story.
Isn't it amazing that there was a nice, neat tunnel there for him to travel down to Juliet? Oh, and she seems to find enough energy to sit up and kiss, but dies halfway through a sentence. If it was that important, you should have said it when you first woke up. (And what did Miles mean, that it "worked" - what did Juliet know? Was she guessing? Did she see the future/alternate timeline?).
I get that some people needed "closure" but, to be honest, if Juliet was just going to die anyway, what was the need to drag it out even longer. We had already established that Sawyer was pissed off at Jack. I guess the scene did serve some points, but I felt it was kinda needless and detracted from Sayid's life-threatening situation.
Miles: 
A waste of a good character. They should have been throwing him into graves every five minutes, maybe get themselves some answers.
"I Don't Like The Way English Tastes On My Tongue" 
So, we are we in general agreement that the Other man was speaking Japanese? (And here I thought Latin was the language of the enlightened).
To be honest, I wasn't paying too much attention to what he was saying - it could have been Latin for all I know - I was simply too stunned by the very Dharma vibe I was getting from this group, especially that translator guy. What was his name? Horace something?
Also, Cindy seems rather high up in the Other rankings. I always suspected that woman was up to something major. The kids still freak me out a little - are they slaves? Others? Casualties of war?
I will say one thing - I love how we have come full circle. At first, we thought the Others were almost primitive people, living in huts, barefooted, rags for clothes. Then we discovered, to our shock, that they lived in houses just like us, with electricity, fridges and book clubs. Now, we are back full circle - back to basics, nature, bread and water and living in a stone temple with a mystic swimming pool. (I bet you it's not even heated!)
Resurrections:
Jack saved Charlie's life again, but failed Sayid without much of a struggle. "What are the risks?" Jack, that was your line. When someone says there are risks, you ask what those risks are!!
Now Sayid is "back", I have to wonder - is he now Jacob? (Or, perhaps, a Richard-esque character?) Jacob certainly seemed to be deep in thought before deciding to tell Hurley how to save Sayid.
On a sidenote, isn't Hurley supposed to pass out at the sight of blood, keeping in line with Pilot part 2 (where he passed out while Jack was helping the Marshal)?
The Temple:
At least we now know where the CGI budget went to.
What is this place, and how is it linked to Jacob? It stands to reason to the pool may have turned murky/lost some of its power since Jacob died (as it was only one hour previous, it may have retained enough power to ressurect Sayid, but I doubt that thing will be very useful from now on).
Also, the Others rushing to defend themselves upon hearing the news of Jacob's demise made me ponder what kind of relationship these guys have with Smokey. It seems that Smokey roams freely around the wall outside of the Temple, and so do the Others, but once they learn Jacob is dead they begin scattering ash everywhere.
Could it be that Jacob had some kind of protective forcefield surrouning the Temple, that allowed Smokey to travel as far in as the wall but no further, and now that shield is gone?
Jin/Sun:I almost didn't want to mention them, their characters are so "Meh".
They have returned from being potentially interesting characters to obscurity yet again. I hope the writers have something brilliant in store for them in Season 6 because, watching the likes of Sun and Ilana get air-time, I begin to miss Penny, Libby and even Shannon all that more.
Speaking of the ladies...
Claire:
I was very excited to see Charlie and Claire back, albeit not together. It amazes me to no end the amount of people who have been making theories about why Claire wasn't around much last season, without realising that Emilie De Ravin has been off for a year due to being pregnant in real life.
Hopefully Claire's storyline picks up full steam. She is the only one that can breath life into the "Kate On The Run" storyline, and I hope we get to see all that went on in that cabin between Locke, Claire and Christian. I cannot wait! (I also wonder where the storyline would have went had Emilie not went the real-life Claire route to motherhood).
Now, I'm off to ponder if Jacob was ever in the cabin, what the ring of ash meant, try to remember every appearance of Smokey, Christian, Yemi, Walt and "Jacob". Oh, I think I can feel my Lost brain ticking back into gear.
Remember to check out
my Lost CaféPress competition and thanks again to the team at
http://lost-media.com/ for the images.
