…..aaaaaaannnd exhale. Welcome to the jungle, everyone. The wait has been long and difficult, but hours from now, we’ll be watching the first new episodes of Lost in seven months. I’ve completed re-watching Season Four, and I’ve got enough questions to fill a Dharma hatch or two. Some of these will likely be addressed this season, while others will probably just get more complicated before their answers come in the sixth and final season. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. As we get rolling, here are some of the things on my mind; my sad, obsessed, freakish little mind. To whatever degree I ever aim for eloquence of prose in these messages, you’ll find little such aim here. This is just a down and dirty, catch-up message; a sort of “what-the-fuck-is-going-on-with-this-show,” if you will.
The last thing we saw at the close of Season Four was John Locke, aka Jeremy Bentham, lying in a coffin. So let’s start there. It seems Locke came off the island to try and convince Jack and the others to come back. He tells Jack that some very bad things happened on the island after Jack left, and that those things are his fault for leaving. This is what Jack tells Ben as they stand near Bentham’s coffin. So Bentham somehow got off the island and visited the Oceanic Six one by one, trying to convince them to return. Kate said she knew he was crazy, but Jack believed him. “Yes, Kate, I did because he said that that was the only way I could keep you safe. You and Aaron.” Keep her safe from what??? In fact…okay…wait…
Breathe, stop, collect your thoughts:
- How did Locke get off the island?
- What things happened that could have been prevented had Jack and company stayed?
- How will the return of the Oceanic Six, not to mention Bentham’s corpse, fix things?
- Why was Locke traveling under the name Jeremy Bentham?
- Why does his death lead Sayid to fetch Hurley from the mental hospital and flee to somewhere safe?
- Why did Bentham go to see Walt, and does Walt need to return to the island as well?
- Why did Jack believe whatever Bentham told him, when he’s never believed any of the “crazy” things Locke has said before?
The questions about Bentham off the island lead me to questions about Locke on the island. Mainly, what is the relationship between these two? From the time of his birth, the island has had an interest in him, particularly in the form of Richard Alpert, who seems to have been watching over him since he was a baby and trying to get him to the island. Ben has always tormented Locke with the idea that he is important, that he shares a connection to the island, and Locke has believed as much himself since he first encountered the Black Smoke. But what is this connection? Locke has a dream in which long-deceased Dharma worker Horace is chopping down trees to build what will become Jacob’s cabin. Horace tells Locke that Jacob has been waiting for him for a long time. Why? And if the Oceanic Six and Ben bring his body back to the island, will he come back to life? 
Can the island return life to the dead? When Jack found his father’s coffin shortly after the crash, the body was missing. But we’ve seen Christian Shephard on the island several times now, most notably last season when he took Claire’s baby – his grandson – and then when Locke encountered him in Jacob’s cabin (remember that Hurley spied him in there too, earlier in the season). So what is Christian’s state? Hurley has seen him, Locke has seen him, Claire has seen him and we can infer that Miles has seen him too. But Jack has also seen him, off the island, at the medical office where he works. This is the stuff I’ve been trying the hardest to wrap my head around, come up with a theory…but I’ve got nothing. Jacob…Christian…Claire…I should let it all go for now, because I don’t think we’ll get any answers until the final season. And remember, Claire is off the show until then. Short of a possible surprise cameo, we won’t see her this season.
So let’s turn our attention to some things that are more likely to get answered in the short term. Where…or more appropriately, when…is the island? Last we saw it, Ben was deep below its surface, turning some big frozen wheel and transporting it somewhere else…in time, if not also in space.
- Is it in the future or the past?
- Did the small island where Jack, Kate and Sawyer were once held captive by The Others move too?
- What did moving the island accomplish?
- Is the move supposed to protect it from being discovered by Charles Widmore?
- Does that mean Jacob doesn’t want Widmore to find the island?
- How many times has the island been moved before?
- Does the time travel explain Richard Alpert’s agelessness?
- Where does the Dharma Initiative factor into the island’s history and any previous movements?
We still don’t really know what happened to the Dharma Initiative. I mean, we know Ben gassed their asses into the next life, but why? What were they really doing? What is with all those creepy videos featuring the Asian scientist?
Other things I expect we’ll learn more about soon: Daniel, Charlotte and Miles. And maybe Frank. The writer’s strike that interrupted last season meant we didn’t see the backstory episodes intended for at least two of the four freighter folk. We can expect to start learning more about them soon, and there are plenty of questions.
- What is Charlotte’s connection to the island?
- How did the skeleton of a Dharma polar bear come to be excavated in Tunisia, and how did Charlotte know to expect it there? Was she on the island at some point in the past when it was moved?
- What is wrong with Daniel? Has he been leaping through time, like Desmond?
- Why did he have a note indicating that Desmond would be his constant?
- Why doesn’t 2004 Daniel remember his meeting with Desmond from 1996? What has happened to him in the interim?
- Why was he crying when he learned that Oceanic 815 had been discovered on the ocean floor?
- Why did the freighter’s doctor and that glorious son of a bitch Martin Keamy react so defensively to him talking to Desmond on the phone? Why did the doctor say “he can’t even help himself?”
- Now that Miles’ plan to get paid off by Ben is moot, what is his interest in the island?
- Why didn’t he return to the freighter when Daniel gave him the chance?
- Why did Frank not pilot Oceanic 815 on the day of the crash, as he claims he was supposed to?
Questions about these four still-mysterious newcomers to the island feed into the larger puzzle of how they were brought together in the first place. Matthew Abbadon, the creepiest man alive, told dear departed Naomi that each of them was chosen for a specific reason, and that she was responsible for getting them in and out of the island without them coming to harm. By the end of Season Four, Daniel had admitted to Jack that they never intended to rescue the survivors. And though Miles says early on that they came to the island looking for Ben – which was clearly Keamy’s mission – it never seemed that Daniel and Charlotte were there for that reason. They always appeared to have another interest in the island.
- Why did Abbadon bring these four together? Is he in league with Charles Widmore, or does he have his own agenda? Naomi asks him what happens if they find survivors of Flight 815, but he insists there are none, even though she knows that that may not be the case. What do Abbadon, Naomi and the freighter’s Fantastic Four know about the plane and the island?
- Why does Naomi have a picture of Desmond and Penny?
- Do Daniel, Charlotte, Miles and Frank know why they were chosen for the mission?
- Do they know anything about Abbadon, or were they recruited through Naomi?
Continuing with the Abbadon thread, what is his interest in the survivors? Post-island, he approaches Hurley at the mental institution. Pre-island, he pretended to be an orderly tending to Locke during the latter’s physical therapy. In that encounter, Abbadon suggested that Locke go on a walkabout – something Locke eventually attempts to do, which is why he was in Sydney. Is Abbadon actually on Ben’s side, trying to get Locke to the island? Trying to keep tabs on Hurley and the rest of the Oceanic Six post-island so that it will be easier to get them to return? Before leaving Locke in the rehab center, Abbadon tells him, “When you’re ready Mr. Locke, you’ll listen to what I’m saying. And then, when you and me run into each other again, you’ll owe me one.”
My head is spinning anew, and the damn season hasn’t even started yet. I could go on and on and on, but I do have other things to do you know, including making my final predictions for tomorrow’s Oscar nominations. So here’s a random assortment of other questions and thoughts that are gnawing at me after re-watching Season Four:
- Why is it so hard to find the island? Is it invisible to the outside world? The Season Four DVD includes a feature called Lost in 8:15, which humorously breezes through the first three seasons’ events in 8 minutes and 15 seconds. In covering the Season Two finale, the narrator says that the two people on the boat in the arctic – the ones working for Penny – locate the island on the radar only briefly. We already know that when Desmond neglected to push the button in the hatch, it caused a huge electromagnetic burst that brought down the plane. Lost in 8:15 makes it sound as though that same burst caused the island to momentarily appear on radar, when otherwise it would be hidden. I hadn’t considered that before…
- When we last saw Sun, she had taken over her father’s company and was apparently looking for an alliance with Charles Widmore. Was that for real? What is she up to? (Bringing up the Season Four DVD again, there’s a deleted scene in which Kate and Hurley arrive at Jack’s father’s funeral service and meet up with Sayid and Nadia outside the church. Kate asks if anyone’s heard from Sun, to which Sayid replies, “No. And I don’t expect we will.” But sometime after that, Sun gives birth, and Hurley shows up to visit Jin’s grave with her and the baby. When he arrives at her apartment, he asks her if anyone else is coming. She says no, and he replies – rather oddly, as if he’s relieved by her answer – “Good.” I still think there’s something more to that.
- Juliet’s ex-therapist Harper appeared out of nowhere on the island to give Juliet a message from Ben. Jack saw her too. And then she disappeared. How do people materialize on the island like that? What is the whispering that seems to precede appearances by The Others? Was Harper really there?
- How did Ben know where Daniel and Charlotte were going when he was being held captive by Locke? How did he get Harper to deliver the message to Juliet? Is it all based on time traveling he’s already done?
- We learn that Ben sent Goodwin undercover at the tail section of the plane as punishment for his affair with Juliet. Why was Ethan sent away to go undercover?
- Who are the people Sayid is killing for Ben? Ben tells him that killing them is helping his friends. How is killing these people helping Sayid’s friends and achieving Ben’s goal? Why is Ben pleased to learn that his enemies know he is after them (after Sayid’s cover is blown with “the economist”)?
- Desmond knows that the freighter was Charles Widmore’s. Now that he’s off the island, with Penny, what will he do with that info? Will he try to find out why Widmore was looking for the island? Will he talk to Penny about it? How much does Penny know about her father’s activities? When they parted ways, Jack said to Desmond, “Don’t let him find you.” Was he talking about Penny’s father? Or Ben, who told Charles that he was going to kill Penny as revenge for the murder of his “daughter” Alex? And why would Jack tell Desmond to be safe from either of them? What does he know about it?
- After Regina, a crew member on the freighter, takes a fatal suicide plunge, the captain tells Sayid and Desmond that some of his crew has experienced a “heightened case of cabin fever,” most likely due to the proximity of the island. That explanation is left hanging. Why would he think the island is causing this strange behavior?
- When Ben breaks into Widmore’s house, the latter asks if Ben has come to kill him. Ben replies, “We both know I can’t do that.” Why can’t Ben kill Widmore? And does it work both ways? What is the relationship between these two?
- After Keamy kills Alex, a stunned Ben says, “He changed the rules.” The “he” is Widmore, but what does the remark mean?
- How does Ben manipulate the Black Smoke? And enough already – what is the Black Smoke?
- What favor is Kate doing for Sawyer?
And so it goes. I suspect that come the beginning of Season Six, I’ll be listing more than half of these questions again, with a slew of new ones as well. But for now…Season Five. If you can’t remember anything that happened last year, tune in at 8:00 for one of those recap episodes that will likely highlight some of the storylines to be addressed sooner than later.
Enjoy the kickoff.
Tonight’s Episodes: Because You Left; The Lie
I Am DB 