Summary: In flash-sideways, the island is shown to be at the bottom of the ocean. Flight 815 doesn't crash and Desmond is on the plane. Charlie chokes on heroine in the bathroom and Jack saves him, but he is arrested. Meanwhile, Jack's group has traveled back to the present from 1977. Sawyer attacks Jack but stops when he hears Juliet trapped under wreckage. Sawyer goes to get her but she dies. Sayid is going to die too, but Hurley is approached by Jacob's ghost, telling him to take Sayid to the temple. Everyone agrees to go along with it. Bram and his men go inside to find the man in black (MIB) and they learn that Jacob is dead. They try to kill him but MIB is revealed to be the smoke monster and he kills all of them.
The Good: As ever, a new season starts with a shocking and entirely unexpected opening sequence. Following up the explosion with what seems at first like a rewritten timeline (see: The Unknown) was a real shock and I was stunned throughout the entire opening of the episode, wondering what direction the show was going to go in. But more on that alternate reality later. Right after the opening we return to the main island plot and it's clear that we will get continuation of the main island story. Thankfully, the events towards the end of season5 were not rendered meaningless and there is still plenty of story to continue with. The scenes with Jack's group were tremendous. There was a vivid sense of despair and sadness in these scenes as nobody looks happy to be back in the present. Sawyer angrily rages at Jack in a terrific scene, and Jack looks shocked and helpless after realizing that his plan didn't work. There were some other excellent sad moments to follow up on the season 5 finale. Juliet's death was superbly done and Josh Holloway was every bit as good as he was in "The Incident" as he tried everything in his power to save Juliet only to have her die in his arms. It's very tragic. Sayid also gets a terrific moment before falling unconscious, pondering that he will be punished in the afterlife. The episode maintains this dark and depressing aura throughout and it is very effective. The scenes at the statue are extremely tense. We get a huge reveal as we find out that MIB (man in black, it's what I'm going to call "Locke" until we have a name) is actually the smoke monster. This brings up a hell of a lot of questions and connections (see: The Unknown), and it's really fun to think over everything to fully understand the significance of this reveal. On top of that, Ben is put in a really tense spot as he has to hide what he's done from Richard and the others while also fearing what MIB might do with him now that he's got what he needed. Ben is terrified for his life here, and is probably thinking back to how he killed Locke once he was done manipulating him, afraid that MIB will do the same with him. The confrontation between Bram's group and MIB was superbly intense, and the sequence where the smoke monster murders them all was outstanding and filled with suspense. The storyline is helped along by how incredible Terry O'Quinn is at portraying this villain. He's unnervingly terrifying and he steals the show every time he's on screen. It's a terrific performance that makes me really appreciate his versatility as an actor. I really enjoyed the alternate reality scenes in this episode. I'm not entirely sure what's going on (see: The Unknown) but I am enjoying the scenes we are getting. I would presume that this alternate reality is somehow connected to the main storyline in an important way. This storyline is really delightful and is packed with terrific callbacks and references, with minor changes to the characters that make things more interesting. For example, it's really great to see Rose comforting Jack about the turbulence instead of the other way around. There are other similarly delightful moments: Hurley being the luckiest man on Earth, Charlie saying he's supposed to die and even referencing his iconic "terrific" from "Pilot Part 1", Boone saying he'll stick with Locke if the plane ever goes down, Arzt being fascinated by Hurley, Jack being told by Rose he can "let go", Desmond appearing on the plane, etc. All of these moments were really well done, and they make this alternate universe storyline more emotionally satisfying. The ending scenes with everyone arriving in LA X was surprisingly emotional. "Lost" has always been incredible with these departure/arrival scenes, making use of how we care about these characters to make them feel deeply powerful. This one works so well because with everyone arriving at LA X, you understand that in this reality they will not meet and bond with each other like they did on the island, which creates a profoundly sad feeling throughout the scene, a fitting conclusion to what has been a dark and sad episode. The Bad: I am nervous about the alternate universe storyline though. I really hope that it has a major importance to the story or else it might just feel like fanfiction as a sort of "what if" storyline. I'm not a huge fan of that idea because I'm invested in the story of these characters that I've been following since season 1. These alternate reality people are similar, but not the same, and I'm not as invested in them as I am with the characters on the island. I hope that this storyline shows its purpose soon and is used sparingly. If this alternate reality is replacing flashbacks in this last season, I'm not sure that it's a good thing. I have some small nitpicks as usual. Ben should be covered in blood after he killed Jacob, the little splatters on his shirt would not be accurate. Furthermore, even in the dark people will absolutely notice the blood on his shirt and be curious about it. Additionally, I was annoyed that Jin didn't question Hurley asking him about the temple. He just answered the question. There should be no way that Hurley knows this information, and Jin should be far more curious how he obtained the information. The Unknown: Did a new reality just get created by the detonation of the hydrogen bomb? How will this new reality tie into our current reality? What is the blood on Jack's neck? Why is Desmond on Flight 815? Did Locke actually go on the walkabout in this timeline? How and why did everyone get transported back to the present? Was it because they were successful in creating a new timeline? How is Jacob able to appear to Hurley? Is this another one of his abilities? Is he sending Sayid to the temple to be saved in the same way that Ben was in the last season? The reveal that MIB is the smoke monster answers some things but also raises more questions. If he's the smoke monster, does that mean that the vision of Alex that Ben had last season was also orchestrated by him? Does this mean that he's the one who killed Mr. Eko? It seems that MIB can appear as people who have died. Have all of these visions of dead people been MIB? Like Yemi? Christian? Ben's mother in "The Man Behind the Curtain"? Also, why is he unable to cross circles of ash? Is this why there was ash around the cabin? To keep MIB out? What was it that Juliet wanted to tell Sawyer? Best Moment: It's tough to choose. I'll go with Juliet dying in Sawyer's arms for the pure emotional impact, although MIB killing Bram's men is a very close second. Character of the Episode: Sawyer. Conclusion: This was a packed part 1 of a premiere that went at an excellent pace. Season 6 was set up perfectly, but there were also plenty of gripping, intense moments to make this feel like more than just a set-up episode. Score: 75
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Aaron DhillonJust a university student who loves to watch TV. And analyze it way too much. Archives
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