Lost: LAX

After such a long break of thinking about Lost, my brain seems to have grown mushy in its attempts to process space jumping, alternate realities, and hydrogen bombs that detonate but don't actually hurt anyone. I think my brain was still spinning even while I was asleep as I attempted to make sense of last night's Season 6 Premiere.

So, let's just break it down.

It was Groundhog Day, which gave us a hint we might have to live the same day over and over in two different scenarios.

The Lost writers gave us flashbacks in the first few seasons. Then they switched to flashforwards, and then the characters flashed back and forth through time. This season, it seems we are following them in two separate realities.

First, we have the big WHAT IF the bomb did go off and reset the timeline that would have caused Oceanic 815 to crash.

The characters are back on the plane. The plane shakes, but they don't crash. We are reminded just how sad many of them were back then. Back in time before life on the island.

Except. This isn't the past. This is actually the future. They didn't get on that plane until 30 years after they would have thrown that hydrogen bomb into the huge hole in the ground.

And although they are all complete strangers on the flight, they start making connections. Jack saves the life of Charlie. He gives his card to John Locke. He chats with Rose and Desmond.

Sawyer meets Kate. He talks to Hurley. John makes a connection with Boone. And Kate shares a cab with Claire.

Are they all destined to get to know each other whether or not they crash on the island?

We also learn that in this WHAT IF world, the Lost island has sunk to the bottom of the ocean. Was that a result of the bomb or something else?

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Then we go back to the present, which is actually the past since the Losties were working in the Dharma camp in the 1970s. At first, I thought they were waking up after a flash through time. But it seems they were waking up just moments after the bomb exploded.

However, that wasn't your average H-bomb. Even Juliet, who was lying right beside it is still alive.

We are starting to learn more about Jacob and his nemesis, who I will call Esau. Jacob appears to Hurley and informs him that he died an hour ago. He gives him instructions to take Sayid to "The Temple" where he will be healed.

There, we are introduced to a whole new cast of characters, which in and of itself was mind-boggling. Who are these people? They seem to be aligned with Jacob, living in his temple with the healing water. And strangely, some of the passengers of the original flight 815 are living with them.

Over on another part of the island, we learn that Esau is Evil Incarnate. He has taken over Locke's body, uses his superhuman strength to kill people, makes really scary faces, and most importantly, we learn that he IS the smoke monster!

While Jacob seems to be represented by light and water, as in the temple, Esau manifests himself through smoke and fire. White and black. Healing and Death. Water and Fire. Good vs. Evil.

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THE CLUES

I really have no idea what all of this means or where this season is going. However, the writers did give us quite a few clues.

• Juliet's final words, as spoken through Miles, were that "it worked". Somehow, Juliet is aware of how her life would have progressed in a WHAT IF scenario and is able to identify that the bomb did go off.
• Cindy, the flight attendant from the first flight, who is now living at The Temple, explains that Jack and Co. are from the "first flight". She could be referencing the fact that they came back to the island on a second flight. Or perhaps she means that after they reset the chain of events, another group of people were brought to the island on another flight.
• Jacob gives Hurley a guitar case, which contains a list of the names of those on flight 815. Could this be THE list, that has been referenced so many times throughout the show? Was it actually created by Jacob to let his companions know not to harm the Losties. And then the list is used in the future to find them all and bring them to the island?
• After Jack saves Charlie's life, he reprimands him for helping him. "I was supposed to die," he tells Jack. Ironic, since we know that Charlie does have to die to save everyone later.
• Desmond appears on the plane and then mysteriously disappears. Desmond would have been working in the hatch at that time, so he couldn't have been on Oceanic 815. Oh, except that there was no hatch because it was never built.
• Christian Shephard's coffin is lost. What does that mean? Did he somehow get transported to the island without the rest of the plane?
• What did the new fake John Locke mean when he talked about Richard being "in chains"?
• And strangely, in this future scenario, it seems that Jack and John have reversed roles a bit. Now John explains to Jack that he has an incurable spinal condition. And Jack retorts that nothing is irreversible. So, now Jack is the one with the extra measure of faith?
• Finally, we have Sayid's sudden resurrection. Could this actually be Jacob coming back to life through Sayid?

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THE TIMELINE

The Losties thought that if they detonated the bomb, it would reset the timeline of history and they would never land on the island. However, it seems that they must continue to live their lives in the 1970s. We also flash forward to the future when they were on the original Oceanic 815.

Should we just view these two timelines as the past and the present? Or is one reality and one a dream? Or are they somehow living in a Groundhog Day state where they will relive the same time over and over with different scenarios?

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What did you think of last night's premiere? Do you have any ideas or theories about how the season will progress?

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