LOST in the Cat Box

This helpful picture totally explains last night's LOST

So, it’s quantum physics-esque “alternate realities,” eh?  That’s what it’s come to?  In some ways, I’m glad LOST is ending this year; there’s no telling what we’d get if those poor characters hung around for a seventh season.  Full-blown multiverses?  Flashes forward and back at the same time?  The mind boggles.

In all seriousness, though, I kid LOST because I love it so much.  There’s no other show as ambitious and crazy, and both those adjectives were in full force in the season six premiere last night.  You had the alternate universes, the devil (?) continuing to present himself as a dead guy, a whole new group of “Others” that we hadn’t seen before, Hurley seeing dead people, Miles talking to different dead people, and people coming back from the dead and talking.  Dead is dead?  Hmm…

I like how the show keeps coming back to core phrases that force the viewer to take a stand one way or the other — “dead is dead,” “you can’t change the future,” “live together, die alone,” “nothing is irreversible,” “you have a choice,” etc.  It gives LOST a framework on which to hang all the craziness.  Yes, Juliet died, but is dead really dead?  And where is she in the alternate timeline?  Why did old dirty dead Jacob tell Hurley to take the great Sayid to the temple, and not Juliet?  Is Jacob God, and the smoke monster the devil?  Where is the smoke monster’s home, exactly?  And if Jacob was, you know, a dude who could die, then can the smoke monster be killed?

But those are questions that nobody can answer right now.  So it goes with LOST.  My main problem with last night’s extravaganza, other than letting Juliet live for exactly one scene before killing her again, is that they’re cramming two separate timelines into one already-crowded show.  We’ve got sixteen more episodes to go, and now we have to deal with non-island versions of Kate and Jack and Locke and Boone and even Arzt and Frogurt (but not Shannon, or any tail section people — yet).  Sure, it was great to be reminded of what an inappropriately smiling buffoon Sawyer was when the plane crashed, but what purpose does it serve?  I trust the writers have a plan here, but what if it’s a bad one?

But enough nitpicking about things I don’t yet understand.  Here were the things I liked, in the order they come to my mind:

• Desmond showing up on the plane, then disappearing.  Gave me hope for the two timelines being merged back into one show, and that this might have been Jacob’s plan all along.  Also, I love Desmond.  “See you in another life, brotha” indeeed.
• In general, I liked the more confident/less shaken versions of the former characters.  Even Charlie seemed to know what his purpose was, even if that purpose was dying.
• Speaking of Charlie, I’ve got a (probably wrong) possible theory:  Just like Juliet seemed to grasp the fact that the bomb created an alternate timeline as she was dying, Charlie may have seen the first timeline when he “died” in the plane bathroom.  Perhaps that’s why he was staring holes through Jack as he left the plane — he knows Jack was responsible for the bomb, and therefore this whole new timeline.  When Chaz said, “I should have died” or whatever, he may have meant drowning in that underwater Dharma station.  Just throwin’ it out there.
• Sayid, as always, is awesome.  I like his way of making friends — offering to help by kicking in doors.  It’ll be interesting to see what exactly has changed about Mr. Sayid since his literal temporary death.  Is he now Jacob?  Unlikely, though he may have seen Jacob or something when he died.  Did the smoke monster take him over a la Locke?  Even less likely, due to the absence of a body, and there being no evidence that Smokey can appear as different people in different locations.  Did he just flat-out rise from the dead?  Well, he was dead, and now he’s not.  Perhaps he also got a glimpse of the whole story while he was dying or deceased.  I’m just glad he’s still around.
• The Jacob-Hurley conversation?  Awesome, and confirmed that Hurley does indeed see dead people.  Perhaps we should have seen this coming — Jacob told him as much in last season’s finale.  Nice callback, LOST.
• Kind of sad to see old jerky Jin again, telling Sun to button up her shirt and trying to sneak thousands of dollars past customs.  Sun’s dad is not going to be pleased.  So, does alternate-Sun still know English?  I like how they left that question open for interpretation.  I bet she does.
• Liked both Jacks more than I’ve ever liked Jack before — suffering confused Jack on the island, and old confident Jack the Fixer on the plane.  I never thought I’d say this, but I’m rooting for island Jack to get some redemption.  He hasn’t had a good day since season four.
• Well, they certainly put a fine point on the pathetic nature of the original Locke, didn’t they?  I like how he remains the spiritual heart of the both timelines, even though he’s dead and being impersonated in one of them.
• The Locke Becomes a Monster scene was probably the best one last night.  It confirmed what we thought we knew (namely, smoke monster=NotLocke=Jack’s dad=other people who died on the island), but also brought up a bunch of questions.  I’d like to see a Smoke Monster backstory built — was he confined to the cabin for a while?  Why did he chase the 815 survivors, starting in the pilot episode?  Why did he kill those he killed, like Mr. Eko?  Why was he referred to as “the island’s security system”?
• Ben better come up with a plan, and quick.  I hope he does, because Ben outsmarting the fake Locke would be an incredible plot twist.
• Kate’s cute, but I kinda wish she hadn’t commandeered a cab at gunpoint.  I’d like to think she learned her lesson, even if it was in another reality.  At least Claire was in the cab, though.  I liked how (just like Sun and English) they didn’t tell us whether or not she was pregnant.
• Finally, it was a nice contrast we saw between Hippie Others “It’s OK to Kill People” Cindy and Stewardess Cindy.  Good to have her back, and to get a plausible explanation as to where she was the last three years.  I wonder if Stewardess Cindy is still dating Gary Troup.

So, there you go.  I still don’t know what to think of all this, but I kinda like it.