Episode Review - 6.01 & 6.02 "LA X"

KatesFate’s Episode Review – 6.01&6.02 “LA X”

For about an hour before the premier of Lost began, I was on pins and needles. I was so excited to see it that I honestly couldn’t contain myself. I suddenly remembered what it felt like to be a child again on Christmas Eve. I paced around nervously for about an hour and then finally made my way to my chair, powered up the flat screen and cranked up the surround sound. I had waited patiently like a good fan during the longest nine month hiatus EVER and I was ready to get Lost.

I spent the next three hours of the night enjoying the reward that the writers and producers of Lost bestowed upon me for waiting so patiently. It was well worth the wait. I enjoyed the season premier of Lost immensely. There was not a single aspect of the episode that I did not love. It had a nice flow following season fives finale and we were given answers that I didn’t expect for at least a few more episodes. We were also surprised with what I felt was an awesome twist, placing the Losties into two timelines at once.

Timeline One – The flight and arrival at LAX

The fact that detonating the bomb worked and the Losties were right back on Flight 815 was not a big surprise to me. This is what I thought would happen. However, I always thought this would happen and they would retain their memories of the island. I never dreamed that what they did, would make them forget and reset their pasts, not to mention create an alternate timeline where they are still on the island, but now in 2007. I was more than happy to learn that setting off Jughead managed to give us both scenarios. The island is really where they are destined to be, so it makes sense that they are still on it. We’ll talk more about the island later, let’s talk about Flight 815.

This timeline was fantastic. It was awesome to see what would have happened to some of the characters had they never crashed. I also loved the way the writers incorporated lines and sentiments used during season one and how the characters lives still seem to be intertwined. It was interesting that their lives leading up the the flight were different as well. Hurley suddenly feels like the luckiest man alive and Jin is still barking orders at Sun, only this time I get the distinct feeling that Sun does not speak English, yet Jin does. Sawyer still seems like his normal self and is most likely still a con man. However, wouldn’t be a nice twist if this around he is not a con man, but a policeman or a detective? Think about it for a minute and rethink his actions on the flight, it’s not beyond impossible. You see they reset time all the way back to 1977 so anything that happened to them after 1977 has changed. Sawyer’s parents died in 1976 (I think), which would mean his childhood was still the same. But Hurley would not have been born yet, so his past would be completely different. This would also mean that Juliet never went to the island because as we know the island is now underwater, therefore she is most likely not dead in this timeline. Yah!!!!! I wonder if we will get a glimpse of the tailies and what happened to them once the plane landed. I hope we do.

For me the most interesting part of this timeline had to be the fact that both Locke’s knives and Jack’s father have mysteriously gone missing. I also now understand why Locke chose the knife as a young boy when Alpert came to visit him and why it was the wrong choice. Locke chose the knife because it would become the knife that would kill Jacob. This is why Richard never saw anything special in Locke, because he never was. I am guessing that Locke’s knives are lost because their true destiny is on the island as well as the body of Christian Shepard. Perhaps these two items never left the island to begin with when the bomb was detonated.

I also liked the idea that Jack provided Locke with some hope by giving him his business card and offering a free consult. Jack has never been one to hand out hope before and it was nice to see it being offered to John, who could have used much more of it the first time around.

Another interesting thing to note is that Desmond was on the Flight. Or was he? Do you think that Desmond might have been a vision that was meant to somehow jog Jack’s memory to recall island events? He did just seem to disappear into thin air and he was never on Flight 815 to begin with, so why would he be there now?

I also tried very hard to notice when Kate kicked Claire out of the cab, if Claire was pregnant this time around, but it was too hard to tell. Here is a screencap of her. What do you guys think?

And did anyone else notice that Kate pick-pocketed Jack’s pen on the plane in the same way she tried to pocket the handcuff key she and Jack retrieved from the dead marshall on the island and the satellite phone she lifted from his back pocket?

I could go on and on about all of the events so it’s probably best if I just move on the the island events now.

Timeline Two – The bomb explodes and sends the Losties to 2007 but they are still on the island.

This timeline began with a close-up of Kate’s eye. Kate awakens and suddenly realizes she is in a tree. She also has very muffled hearing because of the explosion. I have something to say here and you guys are all going to think I am nuts, but I don’t care because it makes perfect sense to me. As Kate wakes up and is climbing down the tree, her hearing may be muffled, but you can hear all sorts of noises going on around her and it was not just the noise of her climbing down the tree. When she gets her hearing back, everything around her is silent. Now hear me out for a minute, remember the pilot from back in season one that Kate and Charlie found laying in the treetops? Kate looked suspiciously like that pilot laying up there in that tree when she woke up and if you listen to the noises around her, it sounds a little bit like Smokey retreating. It is almost as if Smokey picked her up and put her in the tree without harming her and then retreated as if he was somehow saving her. She also woke up a lot further away from the hatch than everyone else did. I have to add also, that Kate is plagued by a Black Horse in season one. Coincidence? Hmmm…..we’ll see. Wasn’t Kate in the Judas position in the Lost Supper picture? Even though we saw Jacob touch her, whose to say she was not somehow also touched by Esau? If Locke’s character can end up never being special, then Kate’s character can certainly end up being on the “wrong” side.

Moving on to Sawyer & Juliet. Even though the idea the she could possibly be alive down there is a bit hoaky, I was glad that Sawyer and Juliet got to say a proper good-bye. Poor Sawyer though, he has been through a lot and seeing him suffer this way breaks my heart. I tried to contact him through fanmail to let him know that I am here for him whenever he needs me, but for some reason they believe me to be stalking him and I am no longer able to gain access to any of his fansites. Go figure. Their good-bye gave me hope though. Based on Juliet’s comments to Sawyer before she died, I predict that their characters will be reunited with one another before the end comes around. Remember, Juliet is not dead in the off-island timeline and could be living in LA for all we know and remember, she told Sawyer, “It worked”.

Now let’s discuss Hurley. While tending to Sayid who is bleeding profusely, Hurley is visited by the ghost of Jacob. WOW! Jacob tells Hurley that he needs to save Sayid by taking him to The Temple and to take the guitar case too. After easily convincing Jack that Hurley can fix Sayid, they head to the Temple. I was very surprised that we got to see the Temple so soon. Happy, but surprised. It reminded me of a Mayan Temple and the people protecting it are just others. Somebody please tell me why the other that was translating looked so familiar. Have we seen him before somewhere? So Hurley carried this Ankh with a list of names hidden inside all the way to the island. I love that he peeked at what was inside too. It was great that Hurley demanded to know what was on the paper. Once again he saves the day.

A quick thought here. Was Sawyer on the list too? Because you would think if he was that the others would have questioned his whereabouts?

Sayid’s turn. So Hurley convinces them to save Sayid and Sayid is placed into a pool of water that is no longer clear. My guess is that it is no longer clear because Jacob has died. Not to mention, no speak English, English taste bad guy, did not have his wound healed when he placed his hand in the water. So how did the water end up healing Sayid? Wanna know what I think? Too bad, I am going to tell you anyway. I think it might be possible that Jack’s touch somehow saved Sayid. Perhaps after Sayid was taken out of the pool and Jack tried to save him, he actually did save him. Maybe Jack has the same power of healing that Jacob does. He does have an obsessive need to fix things and has performed miracles. Shout out to Lupinbell here who mentioned that Sayid, may have said, “What Happened” in the voice of Jacob when he awakened. I watched it again and I think Lupinbell is right. That is definitely not Sayid’s voice. Could Jacob now be inhabiting Sayid?

I have saved the best part for last. The Lockeness Monster, Richard Alpert and all that went down at the beach. The most spectacular part of the entire episode was the scene where Flocke turns into Smokey, killing Bram and his men in much the same way it did Keamy and gang. I love the way it tricked Bram out of the ash circle. Clever fellow. By the way meppy, I am so sorry that Smokey turned out to be a man. I know you always fancied it a girl. While all of this happened, Ben hid and when it was over he stepped out and was heading toward the door, when Flocke appeared behind him and said, “I’m sorry you had to see me that way”. That statement combined with the look of evil on Flocke’s face and the look of terror on Ben’s face was more than wicked. This will go down as one of my all time favorite scenes ever.

In yet another great Flocke/Locke/Ben scene we learn what Flocke wants. He wants to go home. Home? Where is home? Could he mean the ultimate home, heaven? Was Flocke/MIB cast out of heaven and he now wants to go back. I want to see these two people act together for the rest of their lives and I will watch anything the two of these men do together. How have they not won every single award out there? I am in awe of both of them.

Flocke decides it is time to confront the people on the beach and he starts with Richard. In another great wow moment, Flocke says, “It’s good to see you out of those chains Richard”. Well there you have it folks. Richard was a slave on the Black Rock. I never believed he was an Egyptian. The look on Richard’s face was one of sheet terror and that one sentence from Flocke told us more about Richard that we’ve known for five years. Flocke then man handles Richard and Richard is down for the count. Flocke turns to everyone else and tells them that he is very disappointed in all of them. But why? Does he mean for locking him in a cabin for all of these years and for following Jacob instead?

Back at the Temple, they learn of Jacob’s death through Hurley. Was anyone else surprised that they didn’t somehow know themselves? It seemed odd to me that some stranger had to inform them of it. Jacob could have been dead in that foot for years and they seemingly never would have known. With Flocke on his way to the Temple with Richard in tow, next week is looking to be even better than this episode, although I don’t know how that would be possible.

That’s it for me folks, at least until next week. I know I left some important stuff out, but I have covered some of those topics in other threads so I left them out. Thanks once again for reading and please feel free to share your thoughts and leave your comments.

Things I Noticed and/or Loved

1. Hurley wears a red shirt throughout the entire episode. Say it ain’t so.
2. Frogurt sleeping on the plane between Locke and Ben was a nice touch.
3. I loved that Sawyer & Juliet got to say a proper good-bye.
4. Hurley! Hurley! Hurley!

Best Lines

1. Lockeness Monster – I’m sorry you had to see me that way.
2. Lockeness Monster – It’s good to see you out of those chains Richard.
3. Juliet – It worked.
4. Ben – You used me.