Lost - "LA X," Ctd, Ctd

If you missed my initial thoughts on Lost's Season 6 premiere, "LA X," please click here.  I'll try not to repeat my first post, but may need to in order to fully illustrate some other thoughts.  It's funny, I intended to write a full review like I did for previous episodes, but I realized that even though the premiere was two hours long, not all that much actually happened.  I mean, stuff happened, but that "stuff" was mostly the asking of more questions.  So, I don't have all that much more to add to my first post.  Therefore, we will just go with some Quick Hits (usually the second half of my posts), and get back to a "normal" posting scheme for this week's episode.  Away we go:

*Although the 2004 storyline was interesting and fun to see, nothing much of note occurred.  I imagine the "flash-sideways" (as Damon and Carlton are calling it) will illuminate some great character developments in the upcoming episodes.  Perhaps we'll see that if the Lostaways never crash on the Island, their lives will plummet (no pun intended) quickly into a deeper despair than we initially saw.  Regardless, I'm willing to trust Team Lost and be patient with this "reality."

*Additional thoughts on the 2004 storyline: What, if anything, does Jack "remember" about crashing on the Island?  I'm going to go out on a limb (like Kate: Climber Extraordinaire) and say he doesn't remember anything, until he sees Desmond again.  At what point after 1977 did the flash-sideways split off form the "real" timeline?  We know that some of the 2004 Lostaways' lives are different (e.g. Hurley is lucky; Shannon didn't come home; Locke maybe went on the walkabout), but when did they change?  Was Claire pregnant when Kate jumped in the cab with her?  Was Claire even on the plane, or was she already in L.A.?

*I did love the Jack/Locke scene in the luggage claim area.  It was short and sweet, and reminded me how much I loved the original Locke, and how much I missed him.  Locke's words of consolation ("They just lost his body.  They don't know where he is."), I think, really effected Jack.  Further, Jack's offer of a free consult on Locke's paralysis, to me, came from a genuine desire to help, especially after Locke's kind words.  Ye,s we know that Jack loves to try to fix people, but I think that was the old Jack.  This new 2004 version of him just wants to help someone.  I greatly look forward to how these two interact in the 2004 future.

*Did you all hear Greg Grunberg's voice as the pliot of Oceanic 815?  Maybe he can join the last few episodes of Lost now that Heroes is over (hopefully for good).

*I thought the direction of the episode was, as usual, great and very effective.  "LA X," like all big Lost episodes, was directed by Jack Bender.  The sound effect upon Kate's waking in the tree was fantastic.  Great stuff having Kate in the tree to begin with, and her tackling of Miles when he showed up.  These were two bits (Kate climbing; Kate on top of men) that have run throught the series; I liked seeing this little shoutout to the long-time fans.  Other pieces of direction I enjoyed: the water shot of Sayid's "Drowning," Kate bashing the marshall's head (he ALWAYS gets hit in the head), Sun's "No....English" line reading, etc.  Bender is a genius, and he'll, thankfully, be directing the finale.

*Upon a second viewing, I found Jacob's appearance to Hurley even more interesting.  He contemplated Sayid for a long time.  Was he thinking, "Wow, that looks like a great vessel for my essence!" or more like, "Oh darn...can't let the leader of the resistance to die."?  I'm not sure, and Sayid's revival at the end of the episode really doesn't answer either way.  Also, Jacob's line, "I was killed by an old friend who grew tired of my company," was intriguing.  Yes, we know he and Esau have been on the Island for a long time, but we don't know much about their relationship.  The easiest reading (and the one I subscribe to) is that Jacob was using "friend" sarcastically.  However, maybe they really were friends.  If so, what caused their rift?  As I said in my last post, I'm not too down with the idea of Sayid and Locke being used as puppets for Jacob and Esau, however, I do want to find out a whole heck of a lot more about them.

*Despite her death, I expect Juliet to return at some point, most likely in the 2004 flash-sideways timeline.  What she said during her death scene leads me to believe that her consciousness was slipping between the two time periods/realities.  Remember, Desmond was at the epicenter of the Swan hatch's explosion and coinciding electromagnetism release, and was able to have his consciousness jump in time.  Juliet, similarly was at the epicenter of the Incident.  Did her consciousness start travelling as well?  I think so. 

*Quickly repeated from first post: Not sure I like Dogen ("I don't like the way English tastes." Whatever.) and Lennon (my character name/costuming is a little too on the nose), and really don't like the Temple Others with their fancy costumes.  I'm now thinking Sayid is NOT Jacob because: 1) Sayid's body sat up (as opposed to Locke's) and 2) Miles couldn't hear Sayid's thoughts when Sayid was "dead."  The scene cut to Miles staring at Sayid's body as if there was something wrong.  HUrley asked him what was up, and Miles quickly said, "Nothing."  What I got from that was that Miles couldn't hear Sayid's thoughts, so Sayid must not be dead.

*Locke/Esau (and we'll just refer to him as 2007 Locke from now on until the Main in Black/Esau is finally named) had maybe the best line of the series.  After taking out Bram and his team as Smokey. Locke reappears to Ben and says, "I'm sorry you had to see me like that."  Best.  Line.  Ever.  Quickly followed in awesomeness with his retort to Ben calling him "the Monster":  "Now, let's not resort to name calling."  Awesome. 

*When Sayid said, "What happened?" at the end of the episode, did he have a different accent?  Or was it just something weird with the sound?  Guess we'll find out on Tuesday.  Also, did you notice that Sayid was in the water for one minute and eight seconds.  In other words, 1:08?  Sweet directing/editing job.

*Last, but not least, I freaked out.  I mean, really freaked out when I saw what Hurley was wearing under his Dharma jumpsuit: a RED t-shirt.  Now, most people know about the theory of red-shirted characters (if not, click here), and that they usually die in sci-fi shows.  In fact, last season, both Frogurt and Juliet blatantly wore bright red shirts while everyone else around them did not.  So here was Hurley with a bright red shirt on when everyone else was in khaki, green, blue, whatever.  I became very concerned that the Numbers were finally going to get him.  However, when we were shown the Temple Others, they were ALL in red.  This assuaged my fears, and leads me to believe Hurley will become a leader of the Temple Others of some sort.  Whatever the shirt's significance (or not), I just want the big lug to survive the series. 

OK, that's about it for "LA X."  It's Monday, so I won't write a preview episode for tomorrow night's installment, "What Kate Does" (I love that title, by the way).  Suffice it to say, I expect a major download on what's going on with the Temple Others, what they privately wanted to say to Jack, what's going on with Sayid, and how Kate escapes the law in the flash-sideways.  It should be some really great stuff. 

As always, please leave any comments, thoughts or theories below.  Be sure to check out all of the Lost goodies provided by Jay and Jack, Erika Olson, Doc Jensen at Entertainment Weekly, and the granddaddy of them all, Doc Arzt.  I am also writing TV recaps for Chuck, Modern Family, and FlashForward and other TV news at a great site, TVOvermind.  Please be sure to check it out for all of your TV needs.  For the next episode, I'll get back on the schedule I established last season for these posts.  Until then...

Enjoy.