Guest Blogger: Eric on LOST

Today was a day I'd been looking forward to for awhile. It was just under 9 months ago that I sat on my couch surrounded by friends who were just as bewildered and confused as I was. As per usual, the Season 5 finale of LOST left us with many unanswered questions and a monster of a cliffhanger. A hydrogen bomb had been detonated by a barely alive, time traveling Juliet at the bottom of a very deep hole in the ground. The bomb was meant to undo all the events that had happened thus far in the whole show. Would it work? And what the heck was going on with John Locke? There were two of him; one of them was dead and one of them had Ben kill Jacob.

Season 5 was a different kind of season for LOST. After negotiating an official end for the series with ABC, the producers and writers had only two more seasons to tie up many of the loose ends in the series. Season 5 answered a great many of the long standing questions viewers had, but in typical LOST style raised many more. Our beloved characters spent the majority of the season bouncing back and forth in time. Half of them landed in the late 1970's where they established relative normalcy living among the Dharma Initiative. Some of the other half eventually met up with them and hatched a plan to stop the Dharma Initiative from building the Swan Station. They theorized that if the Station was never built, Desmond would never not push the button which meant there would be no "incident" that crashes their plane.

Season 5 finally introduced Jacob to viewers. He was known only as a mysterious, shadowy character who had been referenced countless times throughout the series, but had not yet been seen. One particularly confusing scene had Jacob and "The Man in Black" sitting on the beach of the Island watching as an old ship, The Black Rock, sailed towards shore. The Man in Black expressed that these people would end up destroying each other as so many others had in the past, while Jacob maintained hope for them. The Man in Black told Jacob how badly he wanted to kill him and how one day, he would find a way. The finale of Season 5 showed Jacob being killed by Ben at the behest of John Locke, so it appeared as though the Man in Black had found his way.

After the obligatory recap episode (which greatly helped me to remember where the show left off), Season 6 began. Jack is on Oceanic 815 going through the now familiar dialogue with the flight attendant over the strength of his drink and with Rose about keeping an eye on her while her husband was away when turbulence suddenly shakes the plane. As we've seen in many flashbacks, this is usually where the plane splits in half and crashes onto the Island. This time however, the turbulence ends and the flight continues on. The characters interact with each other as strangers and appear to have no memory of any of the events from the Island.

Back on the Island however, Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Jin and Miles awake in the present (?) and it appears as though "it" didn't work. The Swan Station had been blown up but they were back to where and when they started. Sawyer uncovers Julia in the same hole in the ground she had detonated the bomb, only to die in Sawyer's arms before she could tell him something "very important." Sayid is still mortally wounded and while Hurley is caring for him, Jacob appears to him and tells him the only way to save Sayid is to bring him to "the Temple."

Meanwhile, under the four toed statue, Jacob's slain body has disappeared. Jacob's “people" go into the room under the statue because Ben has expressed that Locke would like to talk with them. When Locke tells them that Jacob is "gone," they open fire on Locke and he disappears behind a pillar. Suddenly, the Black Smoke enters the room, killing all of them. Ben, cowering in the corner, stands up bewildered. Locke appears behind him and apologizes that "you had to see me like that." WHAT?

"The Man in Black" is the SMOKE MONSTER?!?!? The Man in Black is who seemingly possessed a clone of John Locke and convinced Ben to kill Jacob??? So many new questions!

Meanwhile the alternate reality Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Jin as well as Locke and Sun all land at LAX and their respective story-lines continue. There are subtle differences between these versions of the characters and the ones from the flashbacks we’ve seen before and we are left wondering if and how the detonation of the hydrogen bomb might have effected their lives.

On the Island, after burying Juliet, Sawyer implores Miles to find out what Juliet wanted to tell him before she died. Miles tells Sawyer that Juliet wanted him to know that "it", the detonation of the hydrogen bomb, had worked, (this would explain the alternate universe Oceanic 815 landing at LAX). Later, Hurley and Jin lead the group to “the temple,” where they are promptly captured by a new set of “others” who appear to live in the temple. When Hurley relays that Jacob had sent them, they eventually revive Sayid. Hurley tells the new “others” that Jacob has died and the episode ends with these “others” going on high alert as if to defend themselves from attack.

This 2 hour premiere was exactly what I hoped it would be. Me and my viewing party friends spent most of the 2 hours hollering and gasping at each of the revelations and twists as they occurred. The premiere has introduced a completely new plotline (not to mention an alternate reality plotline) that will hopefully delve deeper into the history of the Island and the seemingly ancient battle between Jacob and the Man in Black. It also left myriad new unanswered questions. It seems clear that the writers and producers of LOST have indeed had a plan all along and I couldn’t be more excited to see what this story has been all about and how the show will end.

If you haven’t ever watched LOST before, the entire series is readily available on ABC’s website for free and I strongly recommend watching it all so that you can catch up and watch this season unfold with the rest of us!

- Eric Rippin


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