Much like and adolescent at their first make-out party, I've been swamped with peer pressure to blog about the season premier of Lost last night. And following suit with that analogy I will try my best at a recap/breakdown/theorization. Something you'll have to keep in mind as you read this, is understanding that while I really enjoy the show, I'm not obsessed with it. This year is the first year I've read anything about the episodes, and truth be told the only reason I read it is because it was sent to me by friends. I will likely forget things that you more obsessed fans may think is elementary. What I will put forth is theories and questions I have. I'll tell you right now, I enjoy Lost not only for its great story and character development; but for the fact that it has brought sci-fi back into the mainstream. It had its inklings in the first few seasons, but as soon as you add time travel to the mix? NERD ALERT! Throw in a dash of some of comicdom's finest writers since circa Season 4 and you have something that has my rapt attention.
I'll start off by saying that I thought it was a strong premier that thoroughly blew the collective socks off of everyone in the room where I was watching. It seems like everyone and their sister has decided that the 2-hour premier is the only way to do a long running show's season premier these days. I used to find them exciting and special but, and maybe my age is showing here, I think I'm finding them increasingly tiresome. That being said let's break this bad boy down, shall we? Oh, and before I forget, I must give the customary Spoiler Alert!
The opening picks up, thankfully, right where we left off, and has Juliette smashing the core of Jughead the H-bomb. This puts us back on Oceanic 815, with Jack charming an extra vodka off the stewardess (I know she's the one that pops up later with the other Others). We catch him being reassured by Rose which is funny because he was the one consoling her when the plane crashed. That's when we get smacked with the big surprise! Desmond's on the freakin' plane, Brothah! It seems that Jack either has some residual memory of his as of yet time spent on the island, or he actually remembers some random dude from the stadium where he ran years ago. We are then taken several miles below them into the ocean where we see that the island has sunk. We're treated to some average CG (although better than "V" zing!) and a view of some old Dharma buildings, the four-toed foot, and a Dharma-stamped shark (I really want to know why Dharma has its own shark)!
We bounce back to the island where we see Kate in a tree. They do a great gag here where they try to simulate someone's ears being blown out. I thought it was hilarious, because I caught on immediately, while my room mates were asking what was wrong with the sound. We're kept guessing if only some of the survivors made it back to the plane until lo and behold! Jack is also still on the island! This is the point where my brain turned inside out for a second. Meanwhile on the other side of the island we watch as Black Locke watches Ben awkwardly murder Jacob. We continue to bounce between these three story lines for the rest of the show.
Highlights:
The Plane: Boone's back and reports that he actually left Shannon in Australia. Charlie tries to choke on a baggie of heroin. A friend points out that it's ironic that Charlie drowned on the island, and he's trying to cut off his airways with the baggie (Sidenote: Does anyone know how the song Charlie's band plays goes?). We find Kate is also on the plane and still a fugitive. Bernard makes it back from the tail section's bathroom to rejoin with Rose. We don't get to see any of the other tail section survivors. Jin gets taken into custody because he can't explain the shady bag of money in his luggage. We see Kate escape what must be the absolute worst U.S. Marshall ever with some help from her burly protector Sawyer/James. Claire makes her first non-ethereal appearance since what must be Season 4 as Kate narrowly escapes airport authorities.
The Island: Sawyer/James is angry and brooding (surprise) blaming Jack for still being stuck on the island and Juliette seemingly dead as a result of the initial attempt. Sayid's still bleeding out; but luckily an undead Jacob is able to ask Hurley to take Sayid to the "Temple" to save him. It's at the temple we're introduced to a whole other group of "Others". Sawyer/James hears a somehow not-crushed-to-death Juliette and rushes to her aid. She's crushed to bejeezus and dying and in classic Lost fashion tells James she has something to tell him right before she dies (and apparently is transported to the universe of "V"). Sawyer/James and Miles bury Juliette and we are reminded for the first time in a while that Miles can talk to dead people. We are told that "It worked", and we can only assume at this point that this means that Jack's/Farraday's plan actually worked. Lost continues to borrow from comics as the other Others attempt to revive Sayid with a Lazarus Pit (for you non-nerds, it was a pool of primordial goop that was able restore youth to aging people and in extreme cases, life to dead ones in Batman). It doesn't work, and the crew loses more morale. Upon discovering that Jacob is dead, the other Others send up a flare to warn Richard Alpert's crew on the other side of the island. Return to the temple, to find that surprise, Sayid's alive.
The Foot: Jacob's little group of bodyguards, incensed by Ben's vagueness about the condition of Jacob, rush in to see what happens. Unfortunately that means they rush in unprepared to deal with the Black Locke. They fire their weapons, and one even hits Black Locke. When they circle his position, they find the bullet on the ground, and we find that Black Locke is the smoke monster. We also learn that the smoke monster is deterred by a ring of ash poured in a protective circle. Deterred, not defeated, as we see that the monster merely needs to knock you out of it with any kind of implement. He emerges from the foot, and totally delivers a righteous yet effective beat-down to one Richard Alpert while expressing disappointment in everyone. We're only left with an ominous statement to Ben that Black Locke wants to go "home".
Implications and Questions:
So the idea of two divergent timelines has emerged. We are faced with "flash side-ways" as opposed to flashbacks or flashforwards. It seems at this point that they are two distinct timelines since characters exist simultaneously in both the island and on the plane/airport. The fact that they showed that the island was sunk also means that their actions in the '70s had ramifications in the timeline where Oceanic 815 doesn't crash. This may explain why some characters are no longer on the plane. You're aware of the butterfly effect? Well, if a butterfly flapping its wings can cause a hurricane somewhere else, imagine an H-Bomb going off. Lost using principle of quantum realities also brings up the idea that multiple universes can exist, and some characters seem to have more awareness of that than others (Jack, Charlie, Juliette).
So what are some of the questions this begs? Are any of the other tail-end people going to return? Is Boone back to stay? Do the timelines intersect again or converge? Will everyone meet similar fates in both realities displaying some sort of "destiny"? Does Jack/Charlie know on some level that things are not as they were supposed to be? How can Jacob speak with Hurley if he's already dead? Where's "home" for the smoke monster? Is Locke coming back? Can the Lazarus Pit be used to save Juliette or Locke (despite Jules being on another show)? Can Jacob take on new forms? Is Sayid just Jacob in Sayid's body? Is Desmond skipping between timelines like he was skipping through time? Are there characters that will be able to move freely between timelines? Will the divergence cause similar headaches and deaths like moving the island did?
The Good, The Bad, The Ugly:
Good: It looks like the writers of Lost have not lost their sense of pacing or the ability to create cliffhangers and have brought sci-fi to the mainstream for the first time since Quantum Leap.
Bad: By quasi-rebooting you create more mysteries in the final season of a show that has already promised answers (although it's asking a lot from a producer of Cloverfield).
The Ugly: Through no fault of the actual premiere, I had to watch that scene where Juliette's crying and smash the bomb maybe four or five times that night.
It was a good episode, and I'm glad I've stuck with the show 'til now. I probably won't be writing down breakdowns like this for every episode, because this in of itself took much longer than I had expected. I actually have way more respect for those "Lost Ones" who write blogs about this regularly with more extended breakdowns and research and pictures, blurgh. If anything I'll probably write something for the finale.
JJ and I were slightly to moderately disappointed with the first episode, not quite because of the quality, but merely the path in which the writers took by adding newer mysteries so late in the game while revealing very little. The sideways perhaps even alternate reality storytelling worked nicely, and revealed more than what was on-screen. Most notably, the absence (or neglect) of key characters on Oceanic 815 (Michael and Walt, Ana Lucia, why show Claire in a cab?, among others). Are we to believe they never were on that flight?
ReplyDeleteObviously, the Locke/Smoke Monster and Jacob storyline intrigues me the most now. I'm hoping that storyline gets developed earlier this season as opposed to at the end.