The Delayed LOST: LA X Parts 1 & 2

As mentioned on the podcast, Rafe’s move away from satellite television and to “peasant TV” has cost him ABC. Each week he’ll give a review/response to the latest episode of Lost as the series wraps up its final season, but that response will be a bit delayed since he doesn’t get to see it the night it airs. Be warned, however, that these looks will be spoiler-filled up to the latest broadcast episode, so only read forward if you don’t mind being spoiled or if you’ve seen the latest episode.

Well, the waiting has come to an end and the final season of Lost is upon us. The new season kicks off with a double episode that resolves some of last season’s cliffhangers and answers a few questions while posing still yet more questions and offering quite a few “What the hell?” type moments - my favorite part of the series.

For those who don’t remember, I offered a few theories on where the series could go following last season’s bomb of a conclusion (literally). Watching these first two episodes, titled “LA X,” it becomes readily apparent that I was onto something… and at the same time, way off. Obviously the producers have something in mind that I got close to in a few of my theories, and obviously (as with all things Lost), it’s not going to be simple.

Guys… where are we?

Instead of flashbacks or flash-forwards, we’re getting flashes of something this season, although how it relates to the active storyline isn’t exactly clear. My guess is an alternate timeline, branched off from the original, in a Donnie Darko sort of way. In this timeline, the plane doesn’t crash, and we see some interesting interactions between our much-beloved characters as the plane finishes its flight and lands in Los Angeles airport. Jack saves the life of Charlie, who attempted to swallow his drug supply so as not to get caught. Locke inspires Boone with some words of wisdom, much like he did on the island in season one. Sawyer offers some friendly advice to Hurley about broadcasting that he won the lottery.

The astute viewer will notice the goings-on on the plane aren’t exactly true to what we’ve seen in seasons past. Hurley claims to be the luckiest guy in the world when he talks about winning the lottery, never having bad luck. This is quite the departure from the Hugo we know who was tormented by the bad-luck numbers of the earlier seasons. If Jack’s plan of detonating the bomb was successful, this makes sense - Hugo never would have gotten the numbers in the manner he did, because they never would have been heard on the repetitive broadcast cycle. The writers also wrote Shannon out, with Boone admitting his sister didn’t want his help (so therefore she didn’t get on the plane). Oh - expect that minor shot of Jack looking in a mirror at a cut he didn’t remember to come into play somehow, and it might offer the only clue we have as to when these events took place. My theory: Jack was on the island, and in some deal he makes this alternate timeline happen, which we will see throughout the season instead of torturing fans with an “AfterM*A*S*H* episode” that resolves all of the characters’ lives. Both timelines we’re watching are the real deal.

After the plane lands, things start to go wrong for the characters. Kate tries to escape from the Marshall, and winds up beating him up and leaving him in a bathroom while making her escape, which puts her into the same cab as Claire. Meanwhile, Jack discovers his father’s coffin didn’t make the flight (or, at least it didn’t finish it), and Oceanic can’t find the coffin at all. This leads to one of my favorite moments, with Jack Shepard and John Locke meeting for the “first time” - a moment that offers a return of Locke as the “man of Faith” from the first couple of seasons, and introduces a solution to Locke’s issue I had never contemplated - Locke’s spine is damaged and Jack is a spinal surgeon - how did I never see that???

One last note before we leave what I’m dubbing the “alternate timeline” (at least until someone else comes up with a more clever title for it). It was really interesting to see how much attention the staff paid to minor characters, with appearances by Arnst and Frogurt in various places. More impressive was that everyone was able to reverse the characters by five years and remember what they were like - the sage version of Locke, the unstable Jack, and the tenuous, insecure relationship between Jin and Sun. That last one becomes clear when Sun won’t admit she knows English even though it would help her husband. Sun hasn’t gotten the confidence boost that life on the island gave her, and this was a beautiful moment, albeit frustrating from a dramatic irony perspective.

Meanwhile, back on the island…

So, even though we’re seeing this timeline where Oceanic Flight 815 doesn’t crash, the bulk of the action still takes place on the island, where the characters are still trapped and separated. The bomb explosion appears to have knocked all the characters back into the same time period (thankfully!), but clearly Jack’s plan didn’t work, a fact Sawyer calls the doctor to task over, with a kick of his boot to Jack’s head. They’re still on the island, and Juliet is dead, which the former con-man isn’t taking lightly.

Thanks to Sawyer screaming at Jack, all of the former castaways, turned ‘70s Dharma Initiative employees, reunite at the site of the former hatch. Jin races to get help from Jack, Sawyer, and Kate. Sayid, as you might remember, was shot, and is pretty bad shape. Jin’s attempt at getting help for Sayid is interrupted when the group hears crying from the near-buried hatch - Juliet is alive! While the gang attempts to unbury Juliet, Hurley is visited by the now-dead Jacob, who instructs him to take Sayid to the temple, along with the guitar case he gave Hurley. At this point, I was wishing I had gone back and watched the end of season five one more time.

Sawyer manages to get to Juliet, but she’s in too critical a condition and dies, making what my wife refers to as the worst use of a person’s last ten words, telling Sawyer she has something really important to tell him, but dying before she gets to tell him what it is. Luckily, Sawyer remembers Miles’s ability to communie with the dead, and he forces Miles to help him bury Juliet as the others go to save Sayid by taking him to the temple. Juliet’s message, according to Miles, is that the bomb attempt did actually work. This supports my theory of alternate universes, although it could be Miles telling a lie. The way the scene is set up we aren’t given reason to doubt Miles, but he was a con-man once too.

What about John Locke?

John Locke’s dead, baby. As we learned at the end of last season, that isn’t Locke walking around anymore, but another mysterious figure who was at odds with Jacob and took advantage of the Oceanic refugees in a method of killing Jacob. When we see Locke (who isn’t Locke) and Ben, Ben is in shock over the death of Jacob. Locke sends Ben to get Richard Alpert, who is outside, but instead of Richard, Locke gets a group of the armed individuals who have sworn allegiance to Jacob. They aren’t too pleased to hear about Jacob’s death, but their attempt to get revenge is cut short when Locke disappears and moments later Smokey, the smoke monster, appears and wreaks havoc, killing everyone in the room but Ben. When Ben turns around, Locke is there, and he apologizes for Ben having to see him that way. To clarify - whatever the mysterious Man in Black who killed Jacob is, it’s been around all along in the form of Smokey, and now it’s taken the form of Locke.

When Locke (who isn’t Locke) does finally leave, he sees Richard and comments on how he looks good without chains. The then beats Alpert unconscious, threatens the remaining members of Jacob’s supporters, grabs Richard and walks off. My theory: We’re going to find out that Jacob, the Man in Black, and Richard all date back to the Black Rock, where Alpert was a prisoner.

About that temple…

The trip to the temple is not without strife, and Hurley, Jack, Jin, and Kate are ambushed by another group of people - this deserted island never stops producing new groups of people! Actually, we’ve seen these guys before - they’re more of the Others - the ones who took the children from the tail section, as well as stewardess Cindy, who we hadn’t seen since early season 2.

At first the Others aren’t happy to see Jack and company, and decide to kill them until Hurley steps in and tells them about Jacob’s instructions. They open Hurley’s guitar case and find an oversized ankh (symbol of life), which they bust open to find a written message. They confirm the identities (or at least the names) of Jack and company before dragging Sayid into the temple. Hurley puts his foot down, demanding to know what the paper says. In essence - if Sayid dies, they are all in a lot of trouble. Interesting to know the former Iraqi soldier may be a prophet-type figure, or important to the survival of the island and its inhabitants. And all this time you thought he was just a bad-ass pretty face…

Inside the temple, the Others are disturbed that a pool of water isn’t clear. Since this is the same pool they use to attempt to help Sayid, my guess is its red-state is related to the death of Jacob, which they don’t know about. The attempt to heal Sayid fails and he is declared dead. Hurley shares the news of Jacob’s death as well. The second they hear about this, all Hell breaks loose as the Others prepare defenses that are clearly meant to protect them from Locke (who isn’t Locke) - spreading a dark powder designed to keep Smokey out like one of the Jacob supporters tried to use. The Others come to talk with Jack about something, but the scuffle that results from his disinterest in going with them is interrupted as… Sayid rises, clearly not dead.

So now what?

Time for some analysis… Here’s some of the things that came to mind watching the episode

• One of the biggest asked questions is why Richard Alpert doesn’t age. My guess is he was bathed in the pool that was used to heal Sayid. If this is so, Sayid will now get some lovely health benefits from newfound eternal age.
• Jack shows more personal growth in these two episodes than in the past five seasons. He’s finally starting to accept there are things he can’t fix and can’t change - something he couldn’t handle in the past. Sure, he slides some (trying to give CPR to Sayid), but overall he’s actually grown.
• Speaking of CPR - what kind of doctor doesn’t check the airway before starting? It’s one of the first things they drill into you when you take a darn CPR class, yet Jack starts CPR on Charlie without checking, and thus encounters problems.
• Desmond’s momentary appearance on the plane was (intentionally) trippy. Where’d he go? Was he ever really there? Who else should we expect to see pop up in the “normal” timeline?
• I’m one of the few people who doesn’t care who Kate picks, even though that’s considered of the show’s big questions. Sawyer and Juliet were awesome and unexpected. They were a couple you could expect to see grow old together, and that’s been cut short, which I’ll address in a minute. If Juliet meant as much to Sawyer as we are supposed to believe, he’s not going to give ol’ Freckles a second thought. Let Jack have her.
• Sawyer got a lot of face time in the alternate timeline, but we didn’t really find out much about him. If Hurley’s lucky and Shannon’s not burdening Boone, could it be he’s not a con-man? I look forward to finding out more.
• Speaking of Sawyer - clearly he gets to replace John Locke for the antagonistic relationship with Jack. The look on Sawyer’s face when he confronted Jack (“You did this.”) was pure hatred. He says he’s not going to kill Jack, but he may make the doctor’s life a living hell, much like Locke did for the first five seasons.
• Locke’s dead people. We’ll get to see the actor carry on as whatever it is that’s taken Locke’s form, but don’t expect to see the former Man of Faith back. That’s a shame, because the glimpse of him in the alternate timeline was a good reminder of why I loved the character so much from the beginning of the series.
• With so much time spent on Jack, I’m starting to wonder if we haven’t misread this show all along. Could it be the series is really about one man’s salvation? Could Jack be the lynchpin in a way we’ve never seen before? It’s a shame I never liked the character more if this is the case, but it almost feels like that’s the thread that’s being spun right now.

What do you think? Is this an awesome kick-off for the final season, or has Lost lost you? Comment below and join us next week for episode 3, “What Kate Does.”