LOST, Season Six: The Befuddling

That familiar feeling of utter confusion can only mean one thing: LOST IS BACK!

Warning: there will be many spoilers in the text to follow.

Okay, so what are we dealing with? Parallel universes? Divergent paths that split at the moment 815 started to break up, meaning that we have one reality in which events progressed the way they have over the course of the series and one in which the plane makes it to LAX and things pan out the way we saw them in the premiere? Tough to tell right away. Unlike the flashback/forward device the show has used for the last five years, it's not immediately clear what's going on, and the possibility of there being multiple realities within the context of the show makes my head hurt a little bit. But that's exactly what's going on, according to executive producers and Lost gurus Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. They're calling the device a flash-sideways, since it presents two different universes that appear to be linked in some way. Darlton are, of course, being vague about what the relationship between these worlds actually is, but that's to be expected. If we knew what was going on, it wouldn't be Lost.

A couple thoughts on “LAX, Parts 1 & 2”:

First off, I was Not Pleased that Juliet didn't survive the first hour. As my friend J can tell you, I've been insistent that she and Sawyer get together since way before we, the audience, were ever supposed to consider it. For me, they were meant for each other from the moment she first Tased him. I understand that Elizabeth Mitchell is on V now, but really, Juliet Burke is a much more interesting and compelling character than Erica Evans, and I'd much rather watch the former than the latter. I'm sure there's a show out there that can showcase Mitchell's talent to its fullest, but I just don't think V is that show. Josh Holloway gets some quality brooding, grimacing, and Sawyerly growling out of Juliet's death, but I feel like taking her out of the equation sets him back significantly in terms of character development. He's back to being the bristling, uncouth loner who hoarded all the supplies in camp, had a contentious relationship/rivalry with Jack, and thought he was in love with Kate (because he hadn't met Juliet yet) – and if there's one thing I will not tolerate in this final season, it is the will-they-won't-they Jack-Kate-Sawyer triangle. As far as I'm concerned, Sawyer is Juliet's man forever, and Jack and Kate deserve each other. The two of them can lame off into the sunset together.

One theory that has been posited relates to the message Miles conveyed from Juliet to Sawyer: “It worked.” Referring, presumably, to the detonation of the Jughead bomb and the other timeline, in which Oceanic 815 never crashed. The theory is that Juliet's seemingly nonsensical dying words (“Let's have coffee sometime...Dutch treat”) indicate some kind of connection to the other world, in which Juliet and Sawyer have never met. As she dies on the island, does she have some sort of psychic connection to another, parallel existence in which she and Sawyer meet under different circumstances? It'll be interesting to see how it pans out.

Ben gets a lesson in turnabout being fair play; after manipulating, controlling, and using the people around him for so long, Ben gets played by Jacob's mysterious nemesis (who confirms that he is, indeed, the smoke monster). Ben is horrified, terrified, and kind of helpless against the unreal power of this entity that looks and sounds like John Locke, but is obviously something else altogether. It's interesting to see Ben put in a very submissive role after so long as the Others' leader and one of the most dangerous characters on the show. Ben has been very cool and in control for much of his tenure on the show, and it's fun to see him freaked out by the “Man in Black.” I really enjoy watching Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn together, especially now that they've presented O'Quinn with the opportunity to be really, truly creepy and deliver slightly cryptic monologues that make him even more sinister. He played Locke fairly benign (you know, for a knife-toting, boar-hunting believer in the powers of a mystical island), and it's startling to see him be violent and malevolent – startling, but entertaining.

There were some frustrating moments in the two-hour premiere, but ultimately, it looks like it will be a great final season. Former regulars now returning – Claire! – and all the on-island characters finally in the same year – Jin and Sun! – and a parade of dead minor characters brought back to life by the parallel-storyline device (worth it just for Greg Grunberg's voiceover as Captain Seth Norris on the plane – Viva Grunny!) give us the potential for some great mind-boggling TV. Bring it on!