Lost - "LA X," Ctd

Hello all.  I wanted to get some quick thoughts up on last night's season premiere of Lost, "LA X," before I read the deluge of commentary that I know is floating around the interwebs right now.  As you know, I was very, very excited for Lost's return, and after getting myself rather amped up for the premiere, I have to admit, I awoke this morning a bit underwhelmed.  Listen, Team Darlton has built up a lot of good will with me, and I trust them implicitly that the series will end in a rather satisfying fashion.  However, while I enjoyed many things about last night's episode, I have to say, a couple things fell flat with me.  I'm going to do a complete analysis when I have a chance to watch the entire episode again, but that likely won't be until Friday night at the earliest, so for now, here are a few thoughts:

*The 2004 timeline where Oceanic 815 lands safely in L.A. doesn't need much discussion, as nothing seemingly of consequence happened.  I liked picking out the inconsistencies (with the original Oceanic 815 sequence in Season 1), like Jack only receiving one liquor bottle from Cindy instead of two, but other than Christian's coffin not making it on the plane, what really happened?  One question though, did anyone notice if Claire was pregnant or in her dress form the "Pilot" when she was in the cab with Kate?  It was great to see Locke: Original Recipe again.  Juxtaposing 2004 Locke against Fake Locke/Esau really brought into relief how much I missed scared, trusting, fallible Locke. 

*Oh my God!  When Juliet was still alive, I totally thought the whole V layoff was subterfuge by ABC so Elizabeth Mitchell could play a much larger role in Lost's final season.  My heart was wrenched out of my body (again) when she "died" a second time.

*I don't think I like the idea that Smokey is also the Man in Black/Esau.  Why did he kill Eko then?  Why did he NOT kill Ben over the years?  Especially since Ben was always serving Jacob, why would Smokey/Esau allow himself to be called by Ben?!?  Meh.

*Really not digging the Mr. Miyagi-like, bonsai tree snipping leader of the Temple Others.  English doesn't taste right on his tongue?  He's got mad kung fu skills?  Please.  And all of a sudden the Others have ornate uniforms?  Huh?!?  I think this could be a Nikki/Paolo-size whiff here.  The Temple itself was pretty cool though, and nice to see the Tailie kids again.

*Kind of hating the Sayid is now Jacob thing.  Or at least that's what I got from Sayid's awakening at the end of the episode.  The idea that two of our Lostaways are now just meat puppets for the ancient dueling duo is a poor plot device in my opinion.  This was what really stuck with me this morning, but as I was mulling this over, I realized something.  Unless Jacob's body-snatching ability works differently than Easu's, Sayid is NOT Jacob.  It was very clear that Esau did not take over Locke's body, as Locke's corpse is lying on the beach.  Rather, Easu is just taking the form of Locke.  Sayid actually sat up awake and alive.  He didn't walk in from another room in the Temple.  So, if the process works similarly for Jacob and Esau, Sayid is not Jacob, but has just been ressucitated.  I really hope this is the case.

Anyway, all in all, I did like the premiere.  Like I said above, Darlton has a lot of leeway with me so I'm willing to trust that now with the story-telling device in place, they'll be able to move forward in a more satisfying fashion.  I don't know, maybe I'm the only one who felt this way.  I'm going to rewatch "LA X" this weekend and get a full post up then.  What did you think about the first two hours of the final season of Lost?  Please leave your thoughts, comments and theories below.  See you this weekend.