Lost: LA X :: Question: WTF?

So here we are, Lost’s final season has gotten underway.  We are on the cusp of having the important questions answered.

Except after tonight’s episode, LA X, I’m not feeling like anything’s been answered.  In fact, I have even more questions.  And with 15-or-so episodes left this season, the producers better get cracking with some explanations!Seriously, horrible attempt at an SAT analogy aside, it feels like we are nearing the end.  And we’re getting hints at the answers.  Jacob’s adversary/nemesis is also the Smoke Monster.  The ash and everything makes sense after all these years.  On the other hand, the Smoke Monster living under the temple makes no sense, what with the Other Others trying to keep it out after Jacob’s death.

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.  The plan hatched by Faraday, initiated by Jack and hammered home with a rock by Juliet worked.  Sort of.  It looks like the Swan was never built and everyone’s back in 2007.  Jacob’s ghost told Hurley to take the group that was at the Swan site to the Temple to save Sayid.  At the temple, they met another group of Others, who drowned Sayid and freaked out at hearing the news of Jacob’s demise.

On the other side of the island, the fake Locke revealed himself as the Smoke Monster to Ben and some of Jacob’s unlucky bodyguards.  Monster then told Ben that Locke was someone to be pitied and that unlike Locke, all Monster wants to do is to go home.  But before he can, he punches out poor Richard Alpert.

Meanwhile, instead of flashing forwards or backwards, this season, it looks like the flashes are to an alternate timeline.  We see what happens to Oceanic 815 if it never crashes.  Some things are similar- Charlie’s a druggie, Jin is a jerk, Kate’s a fugitive and Arzt can’t shut up.  But some things are different- Sawyer’s a nice guy, Hurley is lucky, Jack and Locke become friends, Desmond’s on the plane, Shannon isn’t and the freakin’ island is underwater.

My first question about this alternate timeline, is, how did the island get underwater?  We saw the shark, so it happened sometime after the 70s.  Was this caused because the plan succeeded? Or was it something all together different?

The alternate timeline seems like it would be an interesting idea, but I have two reservations about it:

1. It makes everything that we’ve seen over the past five years not matter.  Some of these characters we’ve watched grow go back to square one.  And the rest of the season can be filled with awesome in every episode, but will you get to have characters mature and change over the course of 15 or so episodes?
2. The creators have said in the past that this show is about characters.  Well, one thing that stands out about Lost is that the Island is a character itself.  It’s a place where miracles happen.  It’s brought these people together, healed them and helped them change and grow.  Plus, with all these pockets of energy, polar bears and magical boxes, it’s a pretty cool place.  So I’m not sure I like the idea of it being at the bottom of the ocean.

Regardless of any reservations I may have, I’m going to watch and drool over this season like the fanboy that I am, because LA X was pretty damn awesome.

Some other things:

-So did Jack et. al cause the incident?  What happened to DHARMA?  It looked to me like they were at the Swan site, but everything was abandoned after the bomb went off (or didn’t go off).  Does this mean the pocket of energy isn’t there anymore? Are we going to learn why DHARMA packed up and left the island?  Are we ever going to lean about all the DHARMA weirdness that we never found out about last season?

-I’m wondering what Ben does now.  He doesn’t seem to be too happy about being a patsy.  Still, his scenes with the Monster were awesome, even if it was the Monster doing most of the talking.

-So Jack’s savior instincts kick in again and he saves Charlie on the plane.  As Jack walked past, Charlie said to him “I was supposed to die.” I wonder if that was the timeline’s way of telling Jack that everything he went through wasn’t supposed to happen.

-The Other Others are even more mysterious than the Original Recipe Others.  Nice to finally see the temple though.  And the magic pool must be how Richard saved Ben.  But why couldn’t Ben just take a dip in the pool after being diagnosed with his spinal tumor?  And why didn’t the Others live there all the time? And how does Samurai Other fit in with everything?  Does he answer to Ben? Richard? Jacob?  Again, this season is supposed to be answering questions, not creating new ones!

-Is Monster’s home the Temple? Somewhere else on the Island? One of the pockets of unlimited energy? Off the Island? Is he the monster from Star Trek V? (If so, I hope Shatner gets a cameo this season just to ask what God needs with a spaceship).

-I’m sure Faraday had it all figured out from a physics standpoint, but how does doing whatever they did back in ’77 create two timelines?  If anything, I’m hoping that the alternate timeline is just that- one that doesn’t happen and is supposed to be stopped and corrected.  But I’m prepared to accept the fact that it might not be.  Or because this is Lost, it may be something different alltogether.

-The Monster’s little speech to Ben about Locke really had me feeling sorry for Locke.  True, his life wasn’t much off the island, but Locke’s determination made him make his on-island life something special.  Of course, now I’m wondering if he was “healed” by the Monster (and not by the Island, or Jacob) to set the Monster’s plan into motion.  If so, I feel bad for Locke.  Of course, his little scene with Jack in the airport was nice.  Good to see that they could actually get along when Jack’s not trying to take charge of everything.

What did you think?