After a long hiatus, LOST came back. It came back with a vengeance and if the season continues in the pattern the two episodes that comprised the premiere did, we are in a ride of a lifetime. Lost will go out the way it came in six years ago: with a bang.

White on Black, Black on White

Season 5 ended with a white screen and not the usual black all the episodes always ended with. Many surmised that the significance for this type of ending was to show the fans that yes, Juliet was successful in detonating the H bomb.

Season 6 began the way Season 5 ended, Juliet hit the bomb and the screen turned white and the next thing we know, Jack is on the plane, sipping a drink, looking pensively out of his airplane window, Cindy the stewardess asks him the same question she did six seasons ago. The viewer now knows, the bomb was successfully detonated.

The plane is en route from Sydney to LAX. The same scene we saw in Season 1 is reenacted: Cindy, the fight attendant asks Jack about his drink and gives him additional bottle on the sly, except this time, she gives him one bottle and not two as she did in Season 1.Why? Is it because the plane is not going to crash and Jack will not need the extra bottle to be used as a disinfectant for his upcoming wound?

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Also, I noticed that Jack seems to be apprehensive. He seems to be aware of something. Is he aware of the crash? Is he expecting it? Rose is sitting next to him as in Season 1. But this time, she is not nervous. She is confident. Jack is the one who is nervous. The tables are turned. Jack is the one being reassured. The plane hits an air pocket. Jack closes his eyes. He is ready for the crash. But it never happens. The plane stays on the air.

I’ll see ya in anotha life, brotha

Jack goes to the bathroom. He stares at his reflection. He seems to be older. Maybe he is older for us. After all, it’s been 6 years for us. But Jack is reflective. He sees a bloody sore on his throat. But the real question is whether the sore is really there. We only get to see the reflection. It’s as if we are looking through a world of the Looking Glass.

When Jack returns, Desmond is sitting on the aisle seat. He claims that the person he was sitting next to was snoring ever since they departed from Sydney. Why is Desmond there? Probably because the island is no longer in existence and he is no longer there plugging the numbers away. I wonder whether Eloise was able to escape before the island disappeared. If not, then Penny was not born and Desmond did not need to prove himself to Widmore. At this late of the game, there are still questions that need to be answered .

Jack seems to feel that he knows Desmond. Obviously, not everything was erased. Jack has some memory of something afoul. He just can’t put this finger on it. Another possibility for Desmond is that he is really Jack’s constant. He is there to keep Jack’s mind intact. Jack’s reaction to Desmond is similar to Desmond’s reaction to Charlie in “Flashes before Your Eyes.” He knows the person in front of him. He just can’t put his finger on it.

According to earlier narrative, both Jack and Desmond met before Jack flew to Sidney. But on the island, the two men acknowledged each other. They both remembered each other. In this “life,” Desmond is not relenting. He is not letting Jack know that they have met in “another life.” Perhaps that’s the secret of the show. We will go through many lives. Some call it parallel lives or alternate universe. I’m beginning to believe that Jacob and his Nemesis are playing a version of video games, and our characters are just playing out another life. And as quietly as he appeared, that’s how quietly he disappeared. Was he really there, or was he just a vision, or better yet, Jack’s constant.

The DHARMA Shark Knows

Yes, the island is now gone. It’s submerged under the sea. All that once was DHARMA is gone. It’s now guarded by the DHARMA shark.

The bomb was detonated. Success.

Onto a commercial break. But let us not fret, this is LOST.

You Are Wrong! They Built It!

The bomb detonated, but nothing was changed. Our heroes are still on the island. Kate is up on a tree. Miles can’t hear and Jin knows that they have travelled through time. You cannot change your destiny. The Swan station was built and it now looks exactly the way it did when Desmond imploded it. Sawyer is upset! Everything is the same, except they have jumped through time and Juliet is dead. The plan didn’t work.

Just Cluck like an Australian Chicken

I heard rumors over the summer that LOST will no longer use flashbacks or flashforwards way of story telling, instead, they will be using flash sideways. I didn’t understand what they meant by that. But now I know.

Hurley is the luckiest man in the world, Kate is still a murderer, Jin and Sun are still at odds, Sawyer is still a conman, and Charlie … Well, Charlie is still an addict. In fact, he tried to kill himself with a bag of cocaine. Jack saved him. Once again, there was a allusion to using a pen to dislodge a blocked windpipe. This time it was Charlie’s throat and not Roses. Jack wants to use his pen, but it disappeared from his jacket pocket.

An interesting anecdote is that Kate was given lasagna to eat but the marshal took her cutlery away. Both the knife and the fork were sharp items that he didn’t want her to use. Yet, when Charlie was dying, Cindy was not able to produce any sharp object due to flying regulations not allowing them onboard. Really? Why not give plastic knives and forks to the passengers? LOL

Hurley, must not have gone to Australia to find Sam Toomey. Maybe he went to record the cluckity cluck chicken commercial that Arzt thought was so hilarious. Sawyer warns Hurley about not disclosing having won a lottery. But Hurley declares himself to be the luckiest man alive and is not afraid of being duped. It looks as if Sawyer will have a con job to do after all.

Boone and Locke meet once again. Boone is sans his sister. Apparently, Shannon did not want to be saved from the bad relationship she was in. I heard that Maggie Grace was not very willing to come back to LOST. Her decision, I think, made the deviant storyline better. In this life, some of our characters seem to be better off. Locke is still in a wheelchair and he is still talking grandiosely about things he dreams he could do and cannot face up to that he cannot do it. But I think that’s what makes Locke such an intriguing character. He is so pathetic that you cannot stop falling in love with him.

If Jack Can’t Fix Him, Call Jacob

Sayid is dying. Jacob arrives and tells Hurley though he is dead, he knows that Sayid can be saved at the Temple. Like Ben, the young man Sayid shot, Sayid will be saved by the Temple. How ironic.

Juliet is barely alive. Much energy is used to bring her up from the rubbles. She dies in the hole in Sawyer’s arm. She tells him that though she hit the bomb, it didn’t work. As she is dying, she wants to tell him something. But she dies before she can utter a sound.

Sorry You Had to See Me like That

For six seasons, we have been asking who/what the heck is the smoke monster? Now we know. This past summer, many of us were surmising that Esau, Flocke, Man in Locke, whatever you want to name the nameless person playing this endless game with Jacob is the monster. It was finally confirmed. In front of Ben, Esau, the angry Flocke comes back as smokey. There’s a song that the Arrogant Worms, a Canadian comedy act, sing called “Malcom.”

Billy solves his problems by calling up his mom
Heather solves her problems with drugs and Alcohol
Daniel solves his problems with a doctor and the law
But Malcolm has his own way and it’s better than them all
CHORUS
‘Cause Malcolm solves his problems with a chainsaw
and he never has the same problem twice
Whether it’s a bill or a cheque arriving late
Rancid marble cheese or a steak that’s second rate
Awful TV programs or a broken ELvis plate
Or his fiancee who dumps him because he’s gaining weight
CHORUS
Aaaaggghhh Aaaaggghhh
problem solved

Well, Flocke solves his problems with smoke. One flick and problem solved.

Ben, Is that You?

I have never seen been so meek, mild, and scared. I hardly recognize him. The game plan changed with Jacob’s death. I don’t know about anybody else, but I don’t like the man who inhabited Locke’s body. He is not someone I’d like to meet. Kudos to Terry O’Quinn for his great portrayal of this new character.

And speaking of great acting, Josh Holloway should be nominated for an Emmy this year. He is amazing. I feel so bad for Sawyer’s loss.

Plane Lands, Life Goes On

I think Michael Giacchino is a great genius. His soulful melody is so appropriate. The plane lands, everyone goes on with their lives. And the saddest thing of all, Locke is in a wheel. I’m lying if I say I didn’t sob.

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I Was Supposed to Die

There were so many things that happened in this episode, and this is episode 1, yet. Here are things that didn’t fit:

1. Charlie said to Jack that he was supposed to die. What does that mean?
2. Sun knows English, but despite her husband’s possible trouble with the law, she refuses to help him.
3. Jacob sized up Sayid. Did he mean to inhabit his body they way his game partner inhabited Locke’s body?
4. Miles hears the dead, but Hurley sees them. Are we in the long-awaited Zombie season?
5. What did Juliet see? Why did she say that it worked? Did she go to another
6. Will Ben ever become the old Ben. Right now, he is meek, mild, and petrified. I hope that this will change.

Screencaps by Spicedogs.
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Next: Episode 6X02