Lost s601 "LAX" Review

I apologize for not writing this earlier but I was away for the last few days, which gave me plenty of time to think about the premiere of Lost. I will say that I did not like it as much as Tim did, but I did think it was great. To me, it did what Lost does best, the unexpected. When last season ended it could have went a few different ways. Through the off season everyone was speculating which actually happened and couldn't wait to see if they were right. What the Lost writers did was combine all the theories into one, unexpected outcome that was more shocking than we could have ever thought.

So the bomb worked, but it didn't. And now there are two timelines, one where Oceanic 815 landed safety and the other where they crashed. That's awesome! I was blown away when I first saw it. And now the flashbacks are flashes to the alternate timeline. Also we finally were shown the Temple, which I has been dying to see since it was first mentioned in season 3. But my favorite was when we got some hints towards the black smoke monster. Season 5 is already shaping up to reveal, just as Tim was saying, answers that are subtle. A lot of conclusions I've made about this episode came later when I put some thought into it, and whenever a show or movie does that, its fantastic.

My gripe with the episode it that you can count one constant in Lost; that big things happen in the premiere and final episodes. For a premiere I felt that not much actually happened. The pacing was off for the first hour and the characters were in one place. Finally with the Temple, the story picked up a bit but still, I felt like not much actually happened. I was way more interested in the alternate timeline. And then there was Juliet's second death. Okay, maybe she survived the bomb with a flash to a new time or something, but to have her die again was comical. I thought Josh Holloway's performance was amazing but the material he had to work with left a lot to be desired. "I have to tell you something...ugghhhh...." That is way too cliche for Lost but it in no way made me hate the episode.

The main thing is that I am more intrigued by Lost than ever before. I can't stop thinking about it. Locke aka Jacob's nemesis aka black smoke monster are all the same thing. It solidifies what people have been speculating for years that the black smoke monster is actually all the dead people we have seen on the island. But what the shit is it? How did he know Locke's last thoughts? Why in the alternate timeline was the island underwater? What the hell is it all about? I love it! The premiere answered as many questions as it raised but it is all fresh and new. Lost always changes and that's why its so great. I can't wait to see what is going to happen. Thank god its Tuesday tomorrow.