First, let me just say this about Lost’s return to the airwaves for its final season:

Wow.

Forgetting for a moment all the questions it answered and new ones it raised, I find myself continually amazed at the skill of the writers, actors, directors – hell, even the Best Boy deserves an Emmy so far as I’m concerned.

This two-parter was gorgeously filmed. Impeccably acted. Fantastically – and minimally – written. Surprises were truly surprises. Neither acting nor writing telegraphed what was going to come next.

And hear this, Emmy voters: If you do NOT give Elizabeth Mitchell an Emmy this time around, I will personally come to your houses and insist you give me an explanation. There’s no way that I should have cried when seeing Juliet die even in the “previously on Lost,” scenes. Oh, and Josh Holloway? Going back and forth between his alternate universe “Hey there, pretty lady” personality and his utterly changed James Who Loved Juliet, I think he may be the best actor on a show filled with amazing actors. If he doesn’t get one, I’m also gonna camp out on Emmy voters’ lawns.

It’s so hard to dissect an episode of Lost. There’s so much there and it takes repeated viewing to truly get everything. And this was TWO HOURS. So I’m just gonna go through it all by location and probably will have to come back later and do another post.

Alternate (or is it?) reality

What, exactly, is this other reality we’re seeing where everything is the same, yet justatinybit different? Hurley lucky? Boone couldn’t get Shannon to leave Australia? Wait – Boone’s flying coach?

Some things aren’t different at all, though — Locke’s still paralyzed, Jack’s father is still dead, Charlie’s still a heroin addict (Charlie’s alive!!!!), Kate’s still a fugitive. Jin & Sun are still a troubled couple, with Sun still pretending she doesn’t know English. Does Rose still have cancer?

And was Desmond actually on the plane? Was he a figment of Jack’s imagination, a sliver of the other universe/reality coming through?

It was fun seeing Doc Arzt again. I know Lindelof & Cuse loved the character and have brought him back whenever they could, despite his being blown up by dynamite. I hope we get to see him a few more times. (It was even OK seeing Frogurt again.)

Whatever the case with Desmond, it’s obvious a little bit of the other reality is bleeding through. The paths of all the Losties are overlapping again. Jack’s father’s coffin is MIA and so is Locke’s bag o’ knives. That is NOT a coincidence. That is the island, underwater though it may be, exerting its power in some way.

But how does Juliet know reality reset? Did she, in her onthevergeofdeath state, somehow see this other universe where she had never come to the island?

And what does it really mean that reality reset? Obviously, it’s an alternate reality. Did that reality not exist until the bomb went off? In a quantum physics sort of explanation, there always was a reality where the bomb went off and this alternate reality always existed.

But we know that things are never as simple as mere quantum physics on Lost. The entire stream of the show has been the question of whether everything is predetermined or if we actually have some control over our fate. Not a simple question, and Lost is giving us its usual not-simple answer.

So I imagine that, somewhere, Christian Shepherd’s body is lugging around Locke’s bag o’ knives. And soon enough, that’ll rear its head and the two realities will come crashing together. The island still exists – Giant Foot Statue and all – albeit under the ocean (btw, WTF?).

I would imagine that sooner or later all our Losties end up hanging out back in the “real world,” even if they don’t know why. And will Jack cure Locke? I tend to think so.

The island storyline – at the Temple

First off, what what year is it on the island where our Losties are? We all assumed it was current time where Sun and Frank and Ben were. But Cindy’s long hair and mention of “the first plane” (nevermind that some other random guy we’ve never seen before is in charge, which would seem to indicate perhaps a couple of changes in Others leadership have occurred, made it seem as if we were maybe 10 years in the future? Maybe more, as some Others don’t really seem to age on the island. Or maybe that’s just Richard.

And just how many planes have crashed on the island? Flight 815 was just “the first.” Whaaaa? Obviously, modes of transport have crashed there for a long time, boats before planes, what with the Black Rock and Rousseau’s boat (please, please, please can we see Rousseau at least one more time? I love that crazy French chick!).

So, the water in the healing pool is supposed to be clear, as Mr. I-Don’t-Like-The-Taste-Of-English’s assistant indicates. Is it unclear because Jacob’s dead? It seems they didn’t know if it would still heal because Mr. IDLTTOE has to slash his hand to test the water.

What I found even more interesting than the fact that they didn’t know why the water had changed color was that they thought Sayid was dead. They didn’t know he’d come back to life.

And what, exactly, was in the note? Obviously, it didn’t indicate that Jacob was dead. And, as always, WHY are these people so important? Why were Jack, Hurley, Jin, Kate & Sayid all on the note? How did Jacob know all of them would be there? (I’m guessing Miles & Sawyer were on there, too, and thus they were jacked and brought back to the Temple.)

Sayid especially, why did he have to be saved, when so many before him haven’t been important enough to save?

The island storyline – with Smokey Locke

OK, so the man in black IS the smoke monster. And he hasn’t inhabited Locke’s body, he merely takes Locke’s form. He can only take the form of dead people, though? Or is it just that it’s more convenient?

I had almost forgotten this, too – the smoke monster, masquerading as Alex, told Ben to do everything that Locke said from now on. So the MIB told Ben to do everything he said without Ben ever knowing.

Was Ben unable to ever see Jacob because he was under the thrall of Smokey? Remember, Ben had full access to Smokey. When Charles Widmore’s men came and killed Alex, Ben went downstairs into that ancient room and let loose the beast: Smokey. I wonder if Jacob chose Ben as the leader of the Others after Widmore was banished and Eloise left (did Eloise leave willingly?) so he would be able to keep a closer eye on Smokey, but then realized Ben was irredeemable?

Obviously, Smokey can’t cross the line of ash for whatever reason (in Supernatural, demons can’t cross a line of salt), so that’s why Jacob’s cabin was always surrounded by a circle of ash. And Jacob needed help because he was basically trapped in his cabin, wherever he chose to move it, because of Smokey’s control over Ben. I think, anyway.

So now Ben is TOTALLY confused. He now sees that Locke is Smokey and now Smokey has Richard and we know that Richard was once locked up in chains, but we have no idea why. Though the assumption is that Smokey had him locked up. Is that why Richard never ages? In return for being freed, he will always serve Jacob. And that means ALways?

So this all brings us to … Sayid.

Yes, Sayid, who is in the temple and is alive. Well, alive in some way. “Alive” doesn’t mean the same thing on Lost as it does on other shows.

Jacob needed Sayid back on the island so badly that he sent the mean chick with the gun to get him. Remember? That’s how Sayid ended up coming back. The pretense of having to go to Guam for some trial or whatever, she made sure Sayid was on the plane. And then Jacob makes sure that Hurley and Jin get Sayid to the temple. Jacob needs Sayid.

Which is interesting, because Sayid is perhaps the MOST flawed of all the Losties, though he’s also perhaps the least flawed. He’s the most flawed, as he became the best torturer in the Republican Guard in Iraq. Perhaps the least flawed, though, because he’s more aware of all his flaws and under no delusion that he’s a “good guy.”

Is this self-awareness the reason why he’s a good host for Jacob’s spirit?

The only good thing about this being the final season is that all these questions should be answered in some form in a mere 16 weeks.

One last note: Please, Damon Lindelof and Carleton Cuse: Make sure Jin & Sun (the new J&S, not the pre-crash couple) and Desmond and Penny (PENNNAH!) are together in the end? PLEASE. PLEASE? PLEEEEEEAAAASE??

These are the two most romantic stories ever in the history of mankind. Especially Desmond and Penny. They make Romeo and Juliet look like a pair of pikers. Really.