LOST Season 5 Premiere - Episodes 5.01 & 5.02

Greetings!

Well well well, it has been a long eight months, but we have finally returned to the Island! There has been a lot of talk about questions finally being answered this year, and after the premiere, that statement might seem hilariously untrue. However, I do believe the pieces are falling into place and we continued to receive some major clues as to what it is really happening on our beloved little getaway.

The show is often described by the producers, also known as Darlton, as a mosaic in which we see random pieces put into place that don’t make sense without the context of the entire work. The season 5 premiere event placed a lot of pieces at once and I think portions of the puzzle are becoming very clear while others remain hidden in the hands of the powers that be. I have mentioned a few of them below and, as always, welcome your thoughts and suggestions as discussion often brings new key points to light.

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1) Opening Scene — LOST definitely kept the tradition of beginning the new season with a puzzling opening scene. This one was a little different though because not only did we play the guessing game for the first few minutes as to who was being featured, but we also had a strange encounter between two seemingly unrelated characters, Pierre Chang (aka Marvin Candle, Mark Wickmund, Edgar Halliwax) and everyone’s favorite physicist, Daniel Faraday. (Not to mention this season’s awesome opening song, “Shotgun Willie.”)

I believe, as with most LOST scenes, that there is more here than meets the eye. I have heard some theories trying to explain away the paradox of Daniel being alive and working with Dharma while he exists elsewhere on the Island at the same time. I do not think this is the case. I believe that scene took place AFTER most of what we saw in the premiere. In other words, I think the Island will eventually stabilize (after the Oceanic 6 return) and Daniel will infiltrate the Dharma Initiative, giving him the chance to explore what is going on with their operations at that time.

Another interesting thing to note in this scene is that Chang and his (assumed) wife just recently had a baby. This means the fertility problems that Ben and Juliet were dealing with happened after this point in time. What caused the fertility problems? Was it the Incident? The purge? Do we know who that baby was??

(We also learned in this scene that the “frozen donkey wheel” predates Dharma. But Chang seemed to know a lot about what was going on. He also was aware of the “Rules.” There are some MAJOR questions associated with this revelation. Please see the “Major Questions” section for more on that.)

2) The Island’s Constants — After reading and discussing theories regarding the O6, I found that the question of WHY they need to go back pops up a lot. There are lots of guesses regarding this, but I like the theory stating that the O6 need to return to stabilize the Island. So, basically, the Island has been dislodged or is now unstuck in time, a la Desmond in “The Constant” last season, and needs its constants to stay...sane?

For the Island to function properly and complete its mission, the constants need to be present. If any of you followed The Lost Experience earlier in the series, you might remember the Valenzetti Equation, which predicted the exact number of years and months until “humanity extinguished itself” and featured the famous sequence “4.8.15.16.23.42” as the numerical values to the core environmental and human factors of the equation. Now, there is a theory claiming that each of the O6 represent a value of the equation, although I don’t know exactly how that works. If I learn more, I’ll certainly share.

And I’m not clear if it is just the Island that is unstuck or if some of the people on it are as well, but it’s probably some combination of the two. We know the Island is unstuck because the O6 saw it disappear. So it definitely moved. However, some people on the Island are stable, like Richard and Ethan, meaning not everyone is jumping with it.

One thing is for sure though—there are plenty of people who believe it is necessary that the O6 return. Something BIG is going to happen…

3) Kate, Sun and Widmore — I don’t know about you folks, but after that scene last season with Sun telling her dad off, I became just a little scared of her. I think the direction of her character this season will be a darker one (at least on the surface) and I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up compromising the safety of the O6 to get what she wants—Ben.

Is it possible that Sun sent the lawyers to Kate to provoke her, knowing it would force her to run and she would eventually catch up with the others, bringing Ben out into the open? Is she really working for Widmore? Or is she a double agent working for Ben and trying to get an inside view at the workings of Mr. Penny’s Dad? Sun seems to be, at this point, the most mysterious of the O6, and I hope we learn more about her soon.

Something else to note is the confirmation of the Widmore/Oceanic Airline connection. Seems like Oceanic employees were on the lookout for Sun’s name and Widmore was right there ready to respond. Do you think we’ll get any confirmation of Widmore being behind the staged crash? There was a lot of skepticism about that at first but as things align, it seems more reasonable. Your thoughts?

4) Locke and the Island — Oh, Locke. Mr. Clean. Colonel Kurtz. I don’t know why it didn’t fall into place for me before but there is a much deeper connection between Locke, the Island and the reclusive Jacob. When Richard told Locke that he had to die to save everyone, it all made sense. Richard and the Others need Locke’s body. Ben and Jack need Locke’s body. Because the Island and Jacob need Locke’s body.

Is it possible that Ben was keeping Jacob prisoner? Is that why It asked Locke for help? I think Ben realizes that he was following his own will and not the Island’s. Didn’t Richard even tell Locke that Ben was wasting their time with experiments? Locke, however, does not yet understand his role and just how important he is to the Island.

If it is possible that Locke can be fused with the Island’s spirit, does that mean other corpses are available to It? Have Christian Shepherd and Yemi been reanimated with the Spirit? Guess Darlton wasn’t kidding when they talked about a final zombie season in those early podcasts!

I’m still not convinced that the Island is benevolent. Yes, it has many attractive and unique properties, but most sinister things can present themselves as beautiful, or even miraculous.

Seeing Yemi’s plane crash through John’s perspective was something I liked about this episode. He did not have anyone there (like Daniel) to explain what was happening. The Island was his guide. And I loved the Locke/Ethan encounter! I wonder what Ethan thought was going on.



5) Desmond — Desmond is pretty much the coolest character on tv. (Second only to Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm.) I’m so glad he still has a meaningful purpose with the story, although I was confident we would have him until the end of the series. I am very interested to see him meet Faraday’s mother (who many say could be none other than the creepy-"end of the world"-hood-wearing Mrs. Hawking). I wonder what Daniel looked up in his notebook right before he started banging on the hatch back door…

—Major Questions—

*What is the island?
Since we know the Island isn’t reeeeally an Island, then what is it and how did it get here (or there)? Does it naturally occur in this world, or was it manufactured by some group from the past (or the future)? I saw the Island referred to as a Timeship on a message board recently and that term sat well with me.

*What is the donkey wheel and who put it there?
This is one of the biggest questions of the show in my opinion. Is it Richard, the Others and Jacob who created this device? Or is it some other faction we have yet to see?

*What are the Rules?
We have heard them referenced several times throughout the series. I understand these rules are set to prevent paradox happening with the time travel, but what are they? We heard Daniel tell Sawyer that he cannot meet Desmond, because they haven’t yet met. Ben told Widmore that he changed the rules. Who wrote these rules? How else can you change them?

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I didn’t address a lot of Hurley’s episode, simply because it wasn’t as heavy on the mythology. I thought it was a great episode with scenes that will go down as some of the best of the season (the Michelle Rodriguez/Ana Lucia cameo, Hurley’s confession/summary of what really happened, the Hot Pocket chucking scene), but since I’m most interested in the mythology, naturally that’s what I’ll be asking questions about.

I encourage you to share any ideas you may have about topics I mentioned and also those I might have missed. I really like the fast-paced, multiple-storyline style of these early episodes and I hope season 5 continues in that direction. However, that means I need your help to keep up!

Until next time, fellow LOSToholics….

Namaste…and good luck.

SFO