Season 6 Preview - A Look Back On Season One

As we approach the start of the last season of LOST just weeks away, I am racing through my DVDs to rewatch every season, from the very beginning, hoping to pick up additional insight of the journey that we are all experiencing in our own way. As for me, I ramble on in these self indulgent reviews of a show I find so fantastic and so enraging. A combination of emotions so perfect, it’s like gumbo and rice.

The first season captured all of our imaginations right from the first second of Jack waking up in the jungle. Or else, you would not be reading my crap and about to watch the new season. It was well written, competently acted, and had enough mystery to keeping you full of suspense. The pace wasn’t as hectic as the show has now become, but it didn’t exactly drag along like the middle of Season 2 and a chunck of Season 3. Those Hydra Island episodes….I’m trying to make them a repressed memory, but I just haven’t succeeded. I keep hitting myself in the head with a hammer, but I keep waking up mumbling about fish biscuits. So, let’s get started.

I’ve been pushing a Groundhog Day theory very strongly since Season 3, and Jacob and X seem to confirm a cyclical nature to the island or at least the visitors to the island. Possibly reliving their lives on the island after a certain amount of time goes by, a flipping of the numbers after 108 minutes type of deal, or Jack re-awakening in the jungle right after the plane crashes again. Another possibility is alternate realities, as JJ Abrams new show Fringe seems to be involved in (I’ve fallen behind watching that show), and the plane lands in Los Angeles, never crashes on the island, and the characters are all alive. But as they live their lives, they start to remember and reconnect again, which is probably the direction this show is headed in. It’s probably one of the two, loop or alternate universe. Because Juliet did set off the bomb. No doubt in my mind. And she is longer a cast member on the show. As Faraday said, the bomb would change everything and Faraday did also say that the plane would land in Los Angeles after the detonation. Who is going to doubt him now, as he was the smartest guy on the island? And planted that thought in our heads at the end of last season. The writers love to give us foreshadowing.

Right off the bat, you start to get clues to a deep seated, unexplainable familiarity of these Losties to the island. After first hearing the crashing in the jungle of the Smoke Monster on their first night on the beach, the next day Claire said that the monster “it sounded very familiar”, a very odd comment for all intents and purposes. Not scary or creepy, but familiar? Again, leading to some kind of fleeting memory of something that happened previously. Next, we have Charlie and Kate introducing themselves as they head off to find the cockpit to recover a transmitter from the plane. Kate, “You look familiar, but I just can’t place it.” You could chalk this up to a subconscious awareness of Kate knowing the band Drive Shaft, for which Charlie was a part of, but working against this is that Kate doesn’t know the band, it’s a one hit wonder type of band which makes a 15 minutes of fame type of celebrity, and the band has been broken up for years. On top of that, how many bands do you know where you recognize the bass player? 5 or 6? Lead singer? Sure. A bass guitarist is as famous as the guy that carries the speakers from gig to gig. Do you remember what Balloon Boy looks like, and it’s been just a couple of weeks. So, let’s chalk this up to another clue to memory of past events.

After the monster attacks the still living pilot, Jack, Kate and Charlie take off into the jungle. Charlie falls, and Jack stops to help him out. Jack falls behind as Kate and Charlie escape. The duo go back to find Jack, and he seems to appear out of nowhere. Jack, what happened, did you see it? Mysteriously, Jack says I didn’t see it, it was right behind me, I dove into the bushes. Bullsh!t. The monster, who it certainly seems is working with X, is trying to find out who Jacob has brought to the island. Are you telling me Smokie doesn’t want to scan Jack’s memory. Bullsh!t again, as a few episodes later, Christian is stomping around the jungle. Oh, Jack was certainly scanned and saw the monster, but didn’t say anything.

Speaking of X and Jacob, very early on Walt approaches Locke as he is setting up a game of backgammon. Locke explains that it is an ancient game, artifacts of the game were found in ancient Mesopotamia maybe 5,000 years ago. Locke further states that you have two sides: one is light and one is dark. Wow, what a brilliant metaphor as you fast forward to the conclusion of Season 5. Whoever is saying they didn’t plan out this show is just kidding themselves. I was somewhat speechless watching the scene again. Powerful stuff. Of course, googling was in order. Mesopotamia is regarded as the cradle of civilization. Keeping it brief, early philosophy, among other advancements in civilization can be traced back to Mesopotamian roots. I have a feeling that the philosophy has the most impact on our two mysterious beings and this may very well be the background of Jacob and X.

The evolution of the Jin and Sun relationship is certainly bizarre. I know that I’m hard on Sun’s character most of the time. To be fair, Jin was really giving Sun a hard time early on the island, being very controlling and protective. But as time went on, Sun proved to be a snake. For all the things I blame her for in ruining Jin’s life, I forgot that Sun also poisoned Jin. Sure, it was somewhat of an accident as she meant to poison Michael to keep the crew from leaving the island on the raft, but holy smokes is Sun evil. She selfishly wanted to keep Jin on the island instead of allowing them to leave and possibly find a way to be rescued. While the raft wouldn’t have gotten far, as Desmond’s sailboat in Season 2 proved, Sun didn’t know that. They brought up several times in Season 1 how Sun wanted to leave Jin because he wasn’t spending enough time with her. Poor baby. He is paying off his service to your father for marrying you, stupid. And this is all before we find out about the cheating too. Sun stinks and I don’t like her.

Aside from the Others, Widmore, etc, did anybody on the Oceanic 815 flight ever know about Locke’s paralysis and his miracle cure. His “secret’. Well, evidence is that Locke did tell Walt, as early on Locke asked Walt if he wanted to know a secret. Since later on Walt confided in Locke that he burned the first raft, it stands to reason that they swapped secrets. Watching the episode where he is told he can’t go on the walkabout and then flash to him crashing on the island and moving his legs and standing, really emotional material there. Early on, Locke confirmed that he had confronted the monster. "I've looked into the eye of this island, and what I saw was beautiful." I can’t recall if Locke said that Season 1 or Season 2, but the confrontation was certainly in the first couple of episodes. What did Locke see? Because, when Locke was bringing back the dynamite later in Season 1, he stood and waited for the monster, but when he saw it again, he turned and fled. Why? The speculation would be that Locke saw a different smoke monster early in Season 1, and the dark Smoke Monster later when he was being pulled into the ground, much like the Frenchman who was part of Rousseau’s crew in Season 5, and close to the same spot. And we know that monster was evil, turning the French into people that tried to kill Rousseau. So, is there a white smoke monster, that only Locke saw? Maybe.

Jack sees his father, just as he is desperately tired. This seems to be a pattern. Most of the time, an image, an illusion, Smoke monster in disguise, happens when a character is tired, on drugs, or asleep. When their concentration is most cracked, and is more susceptible to accept the notion that your death father is talking to you or leading you around the island. Just like it is often raining when the Smoke Monster appears, or at least this is how it seemed in Season One. You can definitely hear the subtle clanking of the Smoke Monster during Christian’s appearances. Jacob is not responsible for Christian, but X and Dark Smokie are. So, here is the problem. Why would Smokie lead Jack and the Losties to water so they could survive. They were in dire straights. I can only come up with X wanted Jack in charge, and finding the water cemented his leadership, especially when he did his Live Together, Die Alone speech stuff. X is a more practical entity, while Jacob was more optimistic in human nature. So they choose sides. Jacob had Locke, and X chose Jack. The two kings in their game of chess.

Discovering the two skeletons and the rocks, one white and one black, would have been perfect to connect to Jacob and X, but one of the skeletons was female. So unless X’s name is Chaz, this whole Adam and Eve thing just doesn’t interest me. But the black stone, the backgammon reference, and the Black Rock ship all seem to be tied together in some color scheme sense. Next.

Everything that Rousseau told in Season 1 matched her Season 5 flashback. The firing pin of Robert’s gun didn’t work. This is where Montand lost his arm. The sickness came. I killed them all. The Dark Territory (Temple). The Others took her baby. The whispers. Still, why did she not recognize Jin as he time traveled to her time and here he was on the island. Although, I didn’t clearly see a scene with both Rousseau and Jin both in it. Is it possible that she just never saw him in the Losties camp? The next few seasons will bear this out. It was a bit creepy how she mentioned a “pillar of black smoke” just before they took her child. She certainly has seen Smokie.


Boone started talking about Star Trek red shirts, and how they would get killed off in episodes because they were expendable, just a few episodes before he died himself. And so now we come to our Jack Sucks Moment of Season One: Jack blames Locke for Boone’s death. Why? Boone fell from distance in the plane and received multiple injuries, especially internally. Locke told Jack fell off a cliff. Boone fell out of a tree inside the plane. What the fock kind of difference does this make? His leg is going to be smashed no matter what. What if Boone fell off the cliff and a rock fell on his leg. Same difference. Just treat the injury, Doctor Stupid. Either way, the leg is going to swell up. If I sprain my ankle, it’s going to swell up. You know his leg is going to fill up with blood either way. But I guess it’s just easier to blame Locke than to blame yourself Dr DumDum. Sure, Boone was probably going to die anyway. But why blame Locke? For the love of all things holy, you got Boone’s learning impaired chimp of a step sister so riled up that she tried to shoot the most important man to your survival chances. And dopey Shannon couldn’t even muster up much tears over Boone’s dead body. Well, I’m not surprised she can’t act; just watch Taken and her horrific acting in that horrific movie. But you just possibly committed incest with Boone a few weeks prior, and you can’t even get weepy eyed for the guy? You sick freak. And then Jack makes his grand speech at Boone’s funeral. Or actually not. He says nothing. Sayid did. Until Locke shows up to apologize. Then mute Simple Jack opens his yap. “Where were you?”. Nice. There is a time and place for everything. A school yard fight at a funeral is perfect. And my hate of Jack beings anew. He had more flashbacks in Season 1 than a Family Guy episode, and they all stunk. This was the star of the show? When you pitched the network? “Let’s get this really stupid doctor Jack, who doesn’t want to be a leader but wants to play house with a murdering mannequin called Kate, and build a show around them on an island.” Brilliant. And that’s just Season 1.

Charlie was a decent enough character early on, comedic relief-wise. I thought the best line of the season was Kate taking off her shirt after a bee attack and talking about bees, and Charlie saying “I would have thought those were C’s”. But he really should have died when he was hung by Ethan. That would have been such a powerful image, blind folded and left for dead. Instead, Jack pounds on Charlie’s ribs like a a deranged chimp attacking a turtle, no doubt breaking all of Charlie’s ribs, a full 10 minutes of Charlie not showing any signs of life, and then Charlie is alive. Bull-sh!t. That was such a phony scene. I got douchechills and felt embarrassed for the writers. And then the Claire “my baybeeee” stuff starts up. And of course next season “Walt, Walt, Walt, they took my boy.” Kill me. Speaking of which, I was pretty happy that Walt’s mom died. It’s tragic that it wasn’t a slow death, but I sure hope it was painful. Walt’s mom was a monster. What an unfeeling…well, I’m trying to cut back on my cursing in these to make it more family friendly. Oh, fock it. She was a cunt. And we all know it. She put her career first, child second, and Michael was on the list somewhere after a well cooked piece of fish and a satisfying martini. Sure, Michael was naïve and a dummy, but he seemed to care about his kid. She took full advantage of the laws that, well, I won’t editorialize about the court and custody and divorce, I bet you know where I would go with this. So, she died. Brian was terrified of the kid. And that truly is disappointing about Walt’s story arc. What is his power exactly? We know he told Locke to not open the hatch, but why not? I don’t see what harm came from that. Walt also told Locke’s that he was standing in water, surrounded by people that want to hurt him in Season 5, so I’m curious if he knew that X would be using Locke’s dead body for that. But Walt didn’t tell Locke not to go back to the island. Just that he was in danger. Walt told Michael that we now have to leave the island on the raft. Again, why? Because he knew Locke would open the hatch? The Others were coming? Why would the Other go to all the trouble of kidnapping Walt and do experiments on him, just to let him get away eventually? What did they find out about Walt? These are questions that linger with no realistic hope on my part of a resolution.

Sayid goes on and on about Nadia, the love of his life. He carries her picture with him, he talks about her, he risked his life for her. So does Desmond, with Penny. The difference is that Desmond isn’t trying to get in the pants of the island’s snarky blond in a matter of weeks after a plane crash. Nadia who? Wow, he really knows how to move on. And fast. So while Desmond can pine away for his love of his life, Sayid is searching the island for condoms. Shannon is the like the wrestling heel, who has an knack for getting the audience riled up and hate you no matter what she says. And Sayid is so preoccupied with Shannon, that she asks him to kill Locke. Wouldn’t you think twice about the motivation of the the person you are romantically linked to if the main reason to be with you is to kill someone else or do something illegal?

Which is something the men in Kate’s life don’t seem to understand either. Help escape from the law in a hospital, rob a bank, etc. Sure, why not? Let’s dig up the marshal but do a sleight of hand to hide the key from Jack. Kate’s true love died to help her. Kate is easily my least favorite character on the show. She had more terrible flashbacks in Season 1 than a Vietnam vet coming off 3 tours. Just horrible stuff. Easily the most selfish character on the show. And they really pushed the Jack, Sawyer, and Kate triangle far too aggressively. Jack has more chemistry with Vincent than with Kate. Sawyer smirks, Kate bats eyes, and Jack looks perpetually confused. What a season of smoldering indifference. I can find better acting on a skit on Saturday Night Live featuring the musical guest and the sports athlete host of the show. And another thing, why does every kiss on this show come from the left. I mean, don’t most people tilt their head to the right when they go in for a lip lock. On this show, every tilts to the left, which is very odd. The episode where Sawyer revealed Kate was the criminal, Tom gets shot, and then Sawyer wraps it up with a revealing statement to Kate “There ain’t anything on this island worth staying for.” just before the raft launch, I smiled. It was a just an episode dedicated to beating down Kate. Good. We need more of that. And of course, the first person to start talking to Kate again was the equally treacherous Sun. Snakes of a feather flock together.

Random tidbit. Locke gives Sayid the compass as they launch the raft. When did Locke get the compass back, which figures prominently later on?
As I wrap up Season One, and fittingly with the proper topic, how exactly did the Others know about Walt’s abilities and that he would be on the raft? Unless Faraday wrote about them in his journal, and that’s doubtful, the Others could not have know this information. Ethan was no longer spying, and they aren’t watching them secretly in the Pearl hatch on monitors. How did the Others just so happen to be on a boat to capture Walt? Why target Walt? Was this information that could have been researched by Mikhail when the plane went down. It’s not like his parents would have been bragging about how weird Walt is to the world. Seems way too coincidental, other than Jacob told Richard to go get Walt, to set up the trade at the end of Season 2 where Michael and Walt left.

Well, I’m currently making my way through Season 2. I’ll see you in another week or two, brutha.