Lost – “LA X, Parts 1&2″

After eight months of agonizing anticipation, Lost has finally returned for its sixth and final season. Creators Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have amassed quite a laundry list of things to explain and clarify in this season, and as expected, the season premiere clarified a few things while leaving us with an entire new line of questions. Such is the agony of being a Lost fan.

The challenge of reviewing an episode of Lost is in trying to be as spoiler-free as possible, so excuse my vagueness. The episode begins with a brief recap of the Season Five finale, in which Juliet sacrificed herself to detonate a bomb in the site of the Swan station in order to prevent the plane crash that would bring all the original Losties to the island. After the recap, we are transported back to Oceanic flight 815, right before the crash…except the crash doesn’t happen this time. We see some old friends who we thought were long gone, some prominent redshirts, and one character who should not be there at all. Just when we think the Losties succeeded in preventing the plane crash, the episode cuts to the island in the present day (circa 2007 in Lost time), where Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, and the rest are still stranded. So right off the bat, we’re treated to a genuine “WTF” moment, the first of many in this episode.

We are also given some insight into who is occupying the body of John Locke, whom we found out is still dead at the end of Season 5. The reveal is not exactly surprising, but it helps provide some insight into one of the show’s longstanding mysteries. The premiere’s second hour mostly deals with the Losties taking the mortally-wounded Sayid to a temple, as instructed by what the alleged “Ghost of Jacob” told Hurley, where they run into yet another group of gun-toting island dwellers. Man, that’s a big island. When this group learns about what happened to Jacob, they start panicking and preparing their fortress for an impending attack by what I am assuming is the fake Locke. All of this will hopefully be made clearer as the season continues.

The thing I love the most about this show is how each season has a completely differerent angle. Love it or hate it, you at least can’t say that Lost is predictable. Lindelof and Cuse have a lot to account for in this season, and some may argue that they are shooting themselves in the foot by giving us even more mysteries to solve, but the first five seasons have contained some of the most engrossing and entertaining hours of television I’ve ever seen, so I have faith that they will finish strong. I’m baffled by their decision to show the characters returning to LA in 2004 while still trapped on the island in 2007, but it just wouldn’t be Lost if we weren’t at least a little confused at the beginning of the season. The premieres are normally not the best of the season, as they mostly provide setup with little to no payoff, but “LA X” still earns 4.5 out of 5 Purloined Pens for blowing our minds yet again.

Filed Under: Reviews • TV

Tags: Carlton Cuse, Damon Lindelof, lost