Quick Hits: LOST S6, E1 and E2 – “LAX”
Last night's Season Premiere was a wonderful present to come home to on the DVR.
In the buildup to the sixth and final season of LOST, I’ve been using the DVDs of Season 5 and as a catch-up. In the past month, I rewatched to episode 8 (it was a swamped month and I wasn’t able to fit the rest in) and watched the Season 5 finale prior to last night’s premiere.
As readers of the site know, I’ve been popping out LOST Recaps for those rewatched episodes, chronicling some of my thoughts. I intend to continue to do so in order (the “Jeremy Bentham” episode is next and I can’t wait to write about utilitarianism) until I can’t up to Season 6. So I’m going to be at least a couple of weeks behind in getting full on LOST Recaps out on Season 6, but as with 24, I will be posting initial quick thoughts on the episodes.
I began writing these Quick Hits at the end of the first hour and at the start of the second part of the season premiere entitled “LAX”. I’m not sure I ever appreciated just how good Season 5 was until now. Just watching the buildup to the finale (I avoided all spoilers, but reveled in past footage), it was like seeing old friends again and a storyline I had somewhat taken for granted.
Below are just some preliminary thoughts on LAX parts 1 and 2, written as and immediately after watching the first time through. Click through to give a read.
They’re Not Done Jumping Yet
I'm pretty sure the Valenzetti Equation has nothing to do with dividing by zero... plus, Season Six appears to have left the world of the time travel in favor of the multiverse.
There is a theory in physics that states that there could be what’s known as a multiverse – in other words, infinite parallel universes separated on a distinct, unknown dimensional plane, maybe only millimeters from our own in the measurements of such other dimensions. One recent theory implied that the interruption or interaction of two such universes release tremendous energy… big bang type energy.
As we see the post-bomb LOST world, we’re presented with the very possibility of multiple universes, and the show has dabbled with a similar concept before. Indeed, the idea of time travel without paradox is more easily explained away if one considers such time travel as dropping in on a separate plane, rather than a different time on the same plane. We saw this with Des and with the tripping survivors.
Well, one might posit that the releases of mass amounts of energy (energy on a Large Hadron Collider level) could be the reflection of such an interaction, or perhaps the cause thereof.
I’m still working through my thoughts on this (and the parallels between time travel and plopping into different event trees on the multiverse), but one thing that caught my eye is that the typical thumping scene shift sound that we’ve come to know from LOST has been replaced with another that distinctly reminds of the temporal shift. Only now said shift flips between a world where 815 isn’t interrupted and the Island post “incident.” I’ll expand a bit later.
We’re [Not] All Back In The Game
How good was it to see Boone and Charlie back on the plane and hear Captain Norris (JJ Abrams’ good luck charm Greg Grunberg of Felicity, Alias and Heroes fame)? But the big question I was most interested to see was whether or not Damon and Cuse would be able to get Michael, Shannon and Claire back on board. In particular, I was curious about whether or not we’d see Harold Perrineux, who I understand did not have the best of departures from the show.
Also in absentia were tailees like Ana Lucia and Mr. Eko, though I didn’t really expect to see them.
Charlie Still Can’t Die Right… Yet It Was The Guy Sitting Next To Dez
Seeing Charlie’s reaction to Jack saving his life was priceless. And it was reminiscent of Desmond’s constant efforts to save Charlie from his destiny with death. That was readily apparent.
Unexpected was Dez sitting down next to Jack. Entirely unexpected… every bit as unexpected as Frogurt being the guy sitting next to Locke.
Much as with other shows before (BSG, in particular, comes to mind), LOST's producers did their own Last Supper photo.
And Then There Was Claire!
As I’m writing this, my moaning about not seeing Claire was ended by Kate hopping into the cab next to Emilie de Raven. Oh Claire, how you make our lives complete.
The Kids And The Stewardess
One of the most truly haunting scenes in all of the show’s run was watching the tailee kids marched through the jungle with a straggler dragging along a teddy bear like he was Calvin walking the unanimated Hobbes. In the Temple, we see the stewardess who turned into an Other and the kids, all well and fine in the jungle retreat.
Who Are The Black And White Counterparts Among The Survivors
I’m no longer quite sure if the Man of Science and the Man of Faith are Jack and Locke or if its really Jack and Sawyer. Throughout this entire storyline, it’s always been Jack and Locke. And yet somehow it’s evolved into Jack and Sawyer… with Jack relying on his faith in instinct and Sawyer the man who steadies and relies on judgment and analysis. This was something really more delved into in the Season 5 finale, but it popped up as a black and white issue in “LAX”.
Here’s a theory though, the new version of black and white are the individuals who were youngest on the Island. Walt and Aaron. Black and White. It’s not clear who is good and evil. It’s not clear who is Jacob and who is the Man in Black. Nonetheless, we do know that they were the centers of power among the survivors. All unrealized and all awaiting their new Eden. The irony is that neither is on the Island.
Is That Sayid Or Jacob?
Am I alone in thinking that it was Jacob who woke up in Sayid’s body in the Temple? Was it Jacob’s spirit that had muddied the Temple’s waters and was breathed in with Sayid’s last breaths?
This would present a bit of a counter to the idea of John being taken up by the Man in Black. And we’ve already seen Christian Sheppard reanimated, in a manner. Speaking of Sheppard, why did Daddy Doc end up zapped back to the Island on the parallel, uncrashed Flight 815?
Still Processing
I have no comprehension of what I’m dealing with with respect to the interactions between John and Ben and the apparition that is the Man in Black. I’ll get to that when I turn to a LOST Recap (which is probably still a couple of weeks away).
Nonetheless, I do want to note that the item that struck me most about “LAX” part 1 was that they didn’t flash the “LOST” closing credit. Maybe I’m’ reading too much into this because it was a two-part/hour episode… but I thought it was reflective that everything was changed by the bomb, as Miles quoted Juliet.
Just before the opening LOST frame, as the camera dove through the waves toward the Statue's base, we saw Sawyer's shark. Immediately I paused because I just knew there had to be an homage on the tail. Sure enough, the Dharma tag appears.
