A Modest Beginning

These past two weeks have work have led me to believe that I need to have a hobby. At the same time, it occurs to me that next week, Lost returns. As most of my friends know, I love Lost. You could say that I am pretty obsessed with Lost. I love watching the shows and reading recaps about them. I also love talking ad nauseum about Lost. So, why not take combine my need for a hobby with my love for Lost, and share it with all my fellow Lost-lovers.

I assure you that my posts will not include spoilers. I also will not obsess about how slow the plot might be or rail against the lack of answers to all the questions they raise. I love the journey, and the slow pace doesn’t really faze me. And honestly, all the time travel theories and the numbers really are beyond me. I love theories with the best of them, but my head can’t wrap around those. And I couldn’t tell you the numbers to save my life.

What will I talk about? Well, the rest of this post should give a clue. I’ll start with where we left our characters last season.

On island time (?)
- Charlotte refuses to go with Daniel to the freighter. Miles tells her that he knows she was born on the island.
- Ben kills Keamy, knowing that he is dooming all on the freighter by doing so. He sends Locke out of the station, and turns the key. He shows up in a desert , as seen in a previous episode.
- Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Sayid, Hurley, and Lapidus are flying to the freighter when a fuel leak endangers their safety. Sawyer whispers something in Kate’s ear, kisses her, then drops out of the helicopter into the ocean.
- Lapidus safely lands the helicopter on the freighter, and the hole is fixed and the copter refueled. Desmond, Sun, and Aaron board.
- Michael, previously with Desmond and Jin’s assistance, has kept the freighter from blowing up by freezing the bomb. Unfortunately, they run out of liquid nitrogen (?). Christian Shepherd appears to Michael, saying, “You can go now, Michael.” The bomb explodes. Presumably, Michael dies in the explosion (the actor certainly seems to think so).
- The helicopter takes off on Desmond’s warning of the C4 on the freighter. Jin has run from bowels to get on the helicopter. Despite Sun’s demands, Jack refuses to allow the helicopter to land again. The freighter explodes, and it appears that Jin dies with Michael. Sun’s grief was devastating.
- Sawyer walks out of the ocean shirtless. Priceless.
- Sawyer joins Juliette on the beach. Juliette is clearly intent on becoming intoxicated on whatever beverage is in her hands. When asked, she points to the ocean, where we can clearly see the freighter is burning.
- Lapidus tries to bring the helicopter to the island, but suddenly, the island disappears in a white-yellow light. When the fuel runs out, they float in a raft, eventually to be picked up by Penny Widmore.
- Daniel Faraday is en route to or from the freighter when the island disappears.
- Millions of people are ecstatic that Penny and Desmond are reunited.
- The Oceanic Six honor Locke’s request to lie about the island, and develop a story. They are dropped off near the fake wreckage of Oceanic 815, where they are found.

“Today”
- Kate dreamed of Claire warning her to never bring Aaron back to the island.
- Walt tells Hurley that he had been contacted by Jeremy Bentham, the dead guy.
- Sun blames two people for the presumed death of Jin; one is clearly her father. She goes through a hostile takeover of his company. She also approaches Penny Widmore’s father, Charles Widmore, indicating that they have common interests, related to the island.
- Sayid kills a man who is clearly watching the mental institution where Hurley is hospitalized. Sayid successfully convinces Hurley to leave with him.
- Hurley was playing chess (?) with Mr. Eko.
- Jack discovers that Claire is his sister.
- Jack breaks into the funeral home where Jeremy Bentham is interred. He is startled by Ben, who tells Jack that everyone needs to go back to the island, including Jeremy Bentham. The casket is opened to reveal John Locke.


So what will we learn about the island and our friends this season? How will our questions be answered? Will the producers be able to answer our questions without raising yet more questions?

- What the heck is going on with Claire? Is she dead?
- Why is Jacob using Christian Shepherd to talk for the island? And WTF is Jacob anyway? And where is Christian’s body? Is he not dead?
- Who’s right about the island – Jack or Locke? It appears right now that Jack believes Locke is.
- Who else does Sun blame for her husband’s presumed death? Initially I believed that it was Jack, which would make it very difficult for him to convince her to return to the island. Now I’m wondering if she blames Widmore, or even Ben.
- Is Ben the epitome of Machiavellian or what? That assumes that his ends really are as noble as he protests them to be.
- Will any of the Lost-aways figure out that they are being manipulated by Ben?
- Will Penny & Desmond stay a happy couple? What will happen when Ben tries to take his revenge for Alex’s death?
- How did Locke leave the island? What killed him?
- What is the deal with Walt? What is his connection to the island? Does he have to return to the island with the Oceanic Six, Locke, and Ben? And isn’t he tall?
- Can the producers make a new rule that Sawyer never wears a shirt again?
- Kate is raising Claire’s son, Aaron. The psychic, Richard Malkin, said that Claire must raise her child, implying doom if she doesn’t. Will there be repercussions? Or was this predicted and planned for?
- Sayid is now a stone-cold killer. How does he recover from that?
- Jack now has something to fix. He’ll sober up and shave, I’m sure. Kate will find herself torn, yet again, between Jack and Sawyer.
- Dear Producers: Please, please let Jin live. I would rather have that than a shirtless Sawyer.
- Is Desmond still clairvoyant? Or is that only island-bound? Will he have to return to the island?
- What’s up with Charlotte? Could she be Annie (Ben’s friend from the Dharma Initiative)?
- Where or when is the island?
- What’s the deal with Richard Alpert? Isn’t it great that Nestor Carbonell’s terrible series with Jimmy Smits was cancelled so that Richard could return to Lost? Are there other ageless Others?
- What is Locke’s connection to the island? What object should he have picked when Richard “tested” him?
- Is Matthew Abbadon the creepiest, most sinister character on the show? I think he could give Ben a run for his money. What is his agenda? Who the heck is he working for? At first I figured he was working for Charles Widmore. But I became confused when he sent Locke to the island. Was that part of Widmore’s plan to wrest control of the island from Ben?

Well, that’s enough for tonight. I got a later start than I had wanted, and Bruce wants the computer. I’ve not edited as I would have liked, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.