LA X

First of all, wow. I thought last night was great. There were so many stories going on that I was interested in that two hours didn't feel like nearly enough. Rather than recap last night, I thought I would just do a sort of stream of consciousness with thoughts from last night. For a recap check out Lostpedia.

Alternate Timeline

So this is the new vehicle for this season. We've seen flashback, flashforward, time flash, and now alternate universe flash. I enjoyed a lot of these scenes but am still a little unsure how it fits into the whole story. Perhaps a destiny v. free will thing. Even if the plane never crashed these peoples lives were destined to cross paths. We saw many familiar pairings from the time on the island play out in the alternate universe. To name a few: Kate/Jack, Kate/Sawyer, Sawyer/Hurley, Jack/Locke, Locke/Boone, Kate/Claire.

So, obviously this is meant to be an alternate version of events if the incident never happens, the hatch doesn't get built and the plane never crashes. So what's different? Well apparently in the alternate timeline Jack's "It's not a very strong drink" comment doesn't draw as much sympathy from Cindy, the stewardess, because this time Jack only gets one nip instead of two. He has the same conversation with Rose, but this time Rose is the one calming Jack down ("You can let go now"). Also, Jack's neck is bleeding.

Desmond is on the plane. Probably because his boat never crashed on the island (if he even still entered the race...we aren't sure how far the ramifications of the explosion go). Jack seems to recognize Desmond from somewhere. I figured it was after he said "brother" and we are to assume that they still had their interaction at the stadium. But it could also be a hint at lingering memories from the main time line. Bernard and Rose did not see Desmond. Is he real?

Boone is back in coach rather than first class. Shannon isn't here because she didn't want to get saved from her bad relationship (but really Maggie Grace just couldn't fit it in her schedule). We are left to guess for a bit on Locke and whether or not he can walk or not. He tells Boone he went on the Walkabout and for a while I thought he did. Why did he go on the Walkabout though? In the main timeline he went because Abaddon encouraged him to go. I know he helps people get where they're going, but assumed he worked for Widmore. And now that the island is underwater (!?) why would Widmore be interested in Locke? Perhaps he just went on the Walkabout for other reasons.

Hurley is a lottery winner and his Mr. Cluck's hasn't been destroyed by a meteor (Doc Artz loves Mr. Cluck's). The numbers aren't cursed and Hurley is the luckiest man in the world. I'm not sure about Sawyer. I'm thinking he may not be the same con man, but we'll see. Hurley was an easy mark, and instead he warned him about people taking advantage of him.

Charlie is likely the same drug fiend. I would take it he swallowed the bag of drugs so that he could get them through customs. Jin and Sun are miserable it seems. Claire is pregnant. Frogurt still complains about everything. I didn't notice but on one of the fan sites they noted that Sayid's passport is from Iran not Iraq. Christian's coffin isn't in LA and Oceanic doesn't not know where it is. Locke makes some comment about "how could they know where he is."

I'll be interested to see what they do with this alternate timeline. I like the idea, but again, I want it to mean something, otherwise it's just in there to appease the "bomb changes everything" crowd.

On the Island

The 1977 Losties flashed back to 2007 at the site of the Swan. Sawyer now hates everything about Jack because Juliet is dead. We got some closure on that relationship, and she wanted to tell Sawyer that "It worked." Perhaps she had some connection with the other timeline and knew it worked.

Hurley can see dead people so Jacob tells him that to save Sayid he has to bring him to the Temple. They do and we see where the other group of Others is. Then Pai Mei and Jenny's abusive boyfriend from "Forrest Gump" show up and want to shoot the Losties. Hurley shows him the guitar case with the Ankh from Jacob with the note inside. They scramble to save Sayid by dipping him the water (which isn't clear anymore). Sayid dies. Hurley lets them know Jacob is dead and it's all hands on deck to keep "him out".

Bram and a few of his crew go to try and find Jacob but he's gone. So they shoot Flocke who turns into the smoke monster and kills them. Bram momentarily protects himself with the ring of ash but he is pushed outside of it and killed. Ben is upset that he was used. Flocke tells him that he wants the one thing Locke didn't, "to go home."

I had a friend comment that he hoped this wasn't some God and the Devil kind of thing where the man in black was Lucifer, a fallen angel trying to make his way back into heaven. "He who will save us all" lies in the shadow of the statue, Richard as a sort of guardian angel...I think that would be a bit too spiritual for this show. I could be wrong, but I feel like it would be too tired of a story to retell in such a great series like this. Plus, I think I read somewhere that Darlton said not to be surprised if you switched allegiance between Jacob/MIB a few times before it was all over. I could see that happening. Our natural inclination is to side with Jacob. But in reality we really don't know much about him. He orders the Others to kidnap people, kill people, etc., so who knows. But Flocke is very disappointed in everyone on the beach. The scene with Richard and Flocke was interesting. Flocke mentions that its good to see him without his chains and Richard seems to then realize that Flocke is the MIB which clearly frightens him. Who is Richard? Are they literal chains that he used to wear (he is very old after all) or the figurative chains of serving Jacob? The mention of chains is what seems to cue Richard in to Flocke's real identity. I'm interested to learn more about this.

Back in the Temple Jenny's abusive boyfriend wants to talk to Jack alone and this is not negotiable. Just then Sayid awakes after being clearly dead. Cut to black. So, is this Sayid? Is it Jacob? I mean "Dead is Dead." I have a lot of questions at this point, but I think they are short term questions that will help answer some of the larger questions in short order.

I want to know why the island is underwater and when that happened. How much of the alternate timeline did the explosion change? Is Jacob part of the good guys or the bad guys? I still don't know what Ilana and her crew are up to. Where is home for the MIB? All in all, I was happy with the first episode. I am already anxious for next week, but it's better than eight months. It was a long episode with lots to talk about so if you have something of substance it will probably be better served in a full post rather than in the comments section. If anyone is having problems posting, let me know. I know I missed some stuff so feel free to fill in.