the blast door map

..and the beginning of something completely new. cue your 'aladdin' cd's cuz it's a whole new, well you know.

directed by: lead director jack bender.

written by: showrunners damon lindelof and carlton cuse.

let's start at the beginning.



knowing that we would expect an opening similar to the last two fakeouts, instead of an opening eye, we are presented with a pile of fruit. this was no arbitrary decision. the shot holds for an uncomfortably long time. we hear seagulls, we see the ocean in the background. we are on the island. rather than give us an entire fakeout scene, as we've had in seasons 2 and 3, the fakeout is encapsulated in this one shot, as hurley's camaro bursts through the fruit. not only are we off island, that shot also describes in miniature, the overall philosophy of the season: "you think you know what this show is about? you think it's about being on an island? well let's just drive this here car through what you thought this show is about."

and then we see someone drinking orange juice, an echo of the opening to season 2, when we saw desmond do the same. this time it turns out to be jack. and we're teased out and teased out as to who the driver of the car is.. sharp viewers will recognize the camaro from his flashback episode.. it's hurley. and it turns out to be hurley's episode. which is also a change. the season premiere flashback has previously only belonged to jack.



so here are the big issues and thought the episode raised for me:

1. charlie's death
2. the chapter 4 topic
   
3. everybody cracks
   
4. the boat people
5. the oceanic 6
6. the cabin/jacob/jack's dad
7. the secrecy pact
   

1. you come back into a season of 'lost' and you just want answers answers answers. but then you're hit by the realization that while you've had 8 months to ponder events in the finale, the characters in the show are moving seamlessly from moment to moment. so while i've had plenty of time to be sad over charlie's death, it's kind of a blow to realize that hurley doesn't even know about it yet.

the episode was mostly about catch-up. people on the beach needed to know about naomi and locke. people at the tower needed to know about charlie.

and while we're talking about charlie's death, let's talk about how he manifested at hurley's mental institution. and was apparently 'seen' by one of the other patients (also a crazy person, granted). i will have to watch hurley's season 2 flashback episode again, "dave." we know that hurley is prone to seeing at least one person, dave, where he doesn't exist. but is charlie's manifestation different? is the monster or the island or whatever reaching out to the survivors off island and attempting to pull them back?

if the monster is able to manifest to people off island, it might make a little more sense why jack, in the cracked-out finale, was shouting at the doctor to 'go upstairs' and compare his sobriety to his father's.

2. the chapter 1 topic was discovering the island - exposition. chapter 2: the hatch. chapter 3: the others. each season/chapter's topic is squarely identified in the premiere episode of its respective season, so.. what is season 4 going to be about? it doesn't feel as cut and dry as the other seasons.

ryan mcgee believes that this season is going to center around 'the event' that shatters the survivors, and fills them with such regret once they've escaped. i think he's right. every season has a circularity that circles back on the opening moments of the premiere. this season we opened with hurley screaming "i'm one of the oceanic 6!" boom. titles.

in the season 4 finale we will finally discover what the hell happened and moreover, who the oceanic 6 are. i think we'll look back and say that this season was about 'the rescue.'

3. now this is interesting. it looks like everyone who gets off the island eventually cracks. the flashforward scene between jack and hurley is essentially the same as the final scene of season 3, except the roles are reversed. in the finale, jack is off the deep end, and asking kate, who's doing great, for help getting back to the island. kate says no and walks away. here we have hurley, off the deep end, asking jack, who's doing great, for help getting back to the island. jack says no and walks away. this makes me wonder: is it just a matter of time before something happens to you that makes you crack? will we see kate hit a similar downfall? when kate finally cracks, will this be the big event that leads her to team up with jack to get back to the island?

4. the people on the boat. we still don't have enough information to know who they really are or what they want, but we can pretty safely assume that naomi was an ok person. she could have doomed them with her last breath, but chose not to. considering that the new characters this season are all going to come off this boat, i think it's pretty safe to say, that like juliet, they will be some conflicted, complicated, double crossing, triple agented mofos.

5. the oceanic six. jack. kate. hurley. who else? i'm going to guess that michael is already on the rescuer's boat. other than that - they could write anyone into those spots, just as they can write anyone into the coffin at this point. prediction: the oceanic 6 will be fully revealed in the season 4 finale. second prediction: the man in the coffin will be revealed in the season 5 finale. and season 6 will be about returning. if you look at who stays with jack - juliet, sayid, desmond, sun, jin (bernard and rose also stay, but they are not series regulars, so i will guess they are not oceanic 6 based entirely on that), the remaining 3 spots could be any of jack's team, but seeing how hurley was not part of jack's team, it looks like choosing sides was not the deciding factor in who goes or stays.

6. the monster and jacob. closingspeed asks in the comments "is jack's dad alive?" many others have asked me this since the final "missing piece." and the answer is no no no no no. the final "missing piece" is confirmation that the monster is capable of physical manifestation, and that the visions are not subjective experiences seen only by those it appears to. the monster manifests to certain people, in the form of people (or animals) with whom they attach enormous guilt (eko's brother, ben's mother, kate's horse, sayid and the cat, etc..) and seeing as how christian shepard was clearly sitting in jacob's rocking chair, i think it's fair to draw connections between jacob, the visions, and the smoke monster.

7. last year jack said to kate 'i'm tired of lying.' jack check up on hurley to make sure he won't 'tell.' and there we have another of the new mysteries to carry us through to the grand finale: what the hell happens, and what did they make a pact not to tell? hurley lies about knowing ana lucia, and when asked by mr. abbadon if 'they're still alive,' hurley freaks out. is the pact simply not to reveal that the others are on an island?

awesome details:

• in hurley's season 3 flashback episode, tricia tanaka is dead, we see his camaro on blocks, as his father had left it.
• videotaping hurley's chase is randy, hurley's old boss, later locke's boss at the box company.
• ana lucia's partner did indeed serve with her in one of her season 2 flashback episodes.
• jack isn't just having orange juice in the opening scene, he makes himself a screwdriver. the weakness is already starting to show, though he hasn't broken yet.

pep talk: a few people have expressed disappointment in the premiere, and also an unease with the whole flashforward conceit as a whole. i have only one thing to say to these people: remember the past, and have some faith. similar disappointment was expressed when we finally entered the hatch, and it contained only a button - the mystery was gone, replaced by a new one. many of you also expressed a similar disappointment last year when suddenly the others were no longer mysterious faction - the threat was gone, replaced by a new one. i'll ask you also to remember how necessary the expository chapters of each season are - even an episode that doesn't feel crucial, later takes on greater, momentous meaning (sun's 'i'm pregnant' episode, hurley's 'i drove a van' episode). in a nutshell: this is the setup!

minor gripe of the week: i only yearned for more of a perspective shattering opening. it made no sense to tease out the reveals of jack and hurley, since we've already been conditioned to expect a flash-forward. i'm sure many alternatives were considered - i would have expected something from the perspective of the rescuers. but i think the opening would have played stronger without the teasing. just unabashedly fling us into the new format.