Lost-blogging: LA X

Editor's Note: Welcome back to "Lost blogging," part of this blog's continuing effort to understand ABC's "Lost." Tonight's instance: LA X, a two-part, two-hour stage-setter for the show's final season. As always, stay away from this blog if you haven't yet seen the episode, as SPOILERS WILL INEVITABLY OCCUR.



Currently, I'm watching the show's "cheater" episode, a one-hour recap that basically serves as a means of allowing everyone who's never watched the show to get caught up (though, of course, it misses most of the subtle nuances).
A few questions before we get there:
• When we re-set everything, where will we wind up?
• Is Jacob really dead? Is he a good guy? And why does his nemesis look like Locke?
• What in God's name is Kim Bauer doing on a different show?
(Whoops — that's a different blog.)

And away we go. All Times are CST.

8:00: So ... we're back on the plane. A few key differences here: Jack's hair isn't buzz cut; he didn't mention anything about critical FAA regulations; Rose talks to him first (instead of the other way around, and her hair is different too); and, of course, well, the turbulence is just that.
8:03: "You can let go now. It's OK — you can let go."
"Looks like we made it."
8:04: What is Desmond doing on the plane? And why shouldn't Jack remember him (since they met off the Island)?
8:06: That trip on the camera just made me seasick. Apparently the entire Island is now underwater.
[commercial break]
[Note during the commercial break: Now seems like a good time that I have no idea what the point was to give away the entire opening segment (it "accidentally" leaked late last week. Of course I watched it. But what good did it do? I have no idea.]

8:10: I have now watched Sawyer drop Juliet, followed by her detonating the bomb, at least 40 times in the past seven days.
8:11: I think something's wrong with my TV's sound system. Kate sounds like she's underwater or something.
8:12: Oh. It was supposed to sound that way.
8:14: Everybody who had Sawyer's first "son-of-a-bitch" at 8:14, cash in now.
8:15: Dude, it Arzt! How cool is that?
8:16: In this alternate plane universe, Hurley is "the luckiest guy alive."
8:18: There's a 100 percent chance Hurley will pass out on top of Sayid. He's not so good around blood, you know.
8:19: Holy smokes! It's Jacob!
[commercial break]
[Note during the commercial break: now seems like the right time to bring up Dr. Jensen's recent post regarding time travel theories, and the various movies/TV shows/ comic books in which they play themselves out. "Lost" may be going for the "parallel universes" theory. Maybe.]

8:23: Except Jin and Sun. They seem just the same.
8:24: That Boone-Locke conversation was dripping with irony. I mean, you couldn't have gathered all of it up in one bucket.
8:25: Wild Theory I: the H-bomb blew the time-traveling folks back into the present day. Or what passes for it, anyway.
8:26: Just to review: we now have the Ajira group, the Others, the DHARMA Initiative, the Tail Section people, the Original 48, the Freighter People AND whoever Charles Widmore represents. You need a scorecard to keep track here.
[commercial break]
[Commercial break note: The Boone/Shannon combo is a classic case of two characters who simply didn't work. Neither of them brought a thing to the table (borrowing from Simmons' analogy) and both got in the way of a good story. It was a great thing when the show's writers found ways to get rid of them. Although they kept Claire for farr too long.]

8:32: Eerie parallels here to the first season when Jack was buried in a cave-in.
8:33: Recall that Hurley accidentally stumbled onto Jacob's cabin very early in Season ... 4, maybe (he saw the eyeball staring out at him)? What's his special connection to Jacob?
8:36: Charlie overdosed, apparently, in this alternate universe. Bummer. No shot at redemption.
[commercial break]
["Lost" related tweet of the night so far: "@LtRandazzo That McDonalds coffee guy is a f------ d---. #LOST"]

8:40: A pen. Hysterical.
8:43: Juliet and Sawyer's emotional reunion is kind of lame. On the bright side, at least Sawyer won't try to kill Jack now.
8:46: Not Locke made the first reference to "freedom."
8:47: Everyone who had Smokey's first appearance at 8:47, cash in. Also, cash in one of our theories from back in November.
Worth noting, our friend appeared to be protecting himself with the ashes from Jacob's cabin, which the Ajira folk burned in the Season 5 finale.
8:48: I haven't seen Ben Linus look so scared since he was poisoned by Jigsaw in "Saw."
[commercial break]
[Thought during the break: It just occurred to me that they're taking Sayid to the Temple to save him, just like they took Ben after Sayid shot him. Interesting, given what we already know about Sayid.]

8:54: I'm getting the same vibe from this scene that I got when Jack tried to save Boone, even when it was obvious he was beyond saving. Although Jack never tried to kiss Boone. But remember: Boone died saying, "Tell Shannon ... Tell Shannon." And Juliet died saying, "I have to tell you something. It's very important." Also, Sawyer is blaming Jack for this, the same way Jack blamed Locke for Boone's death.
8:56: It's our first reference to FATE in the episode — Charlie says, "I was supposed to die."
8:57: "Lost" related tweet of the moment: "@MKE I think #Lost just jumped the shark. Glenn Beck is the smoke monster? C'mon!"
8:58: In the parallel universe plane, Charlie gets arrested for using drugs on the plane, Kate's still in handcuffs and Jin is still there to deliver a watch to somebody on behalf of Sun's father (and he speaks no English).
8:59: Is Locke going to stand up?
9:00: Dammit.
[end of first hour]

9:05: "I ain't followin nobody, Kate." A good line.
9:07: So ... in the alternate "Lost" universe, Jack's dad escaped?
9:08: The hound dog watched briefly before rolling back over. Nice.
9:10: Are these the Ajira soliders? Or did they come from "Temple of Doom?"
[commercial]

9:15: Shouldn't there have been some kind of authority to meet Kate & Dog the bounty hunter at the airport? I'm perplexed.
9:17: Poor Dog gets hit in the head A LOT on this show.
9:19: Did what Juliet wanted to say have anything to do with what she was attempting to show her friend right before the plane crashed? The "we're in big trouble" scene?
9:21: Hey, it's Cindy! How exciting. I'd forgotten she ever existed.
9:22: What language is the Asian gentleman speaking here? It doesn't appear to be Korean, since Jin can't understand him.
9:22: Aw, hell. What kind of cross is that again? (Note: It's an ankh.)
9:24: Did Hurley never bother to look inside the case before he left L.A.? Really? I'm perplexed again.
[commercial break]

9:30: The only person left on the Island who might recognize Cindy from the plane is ... Sawyer. Who, of course, is burying his dead lover.
9:32: The water turned into blood? Because Jacob is dead?
9:33: I have no idea what just happened here. But Sayid currently has a nice Christ-imagery thing going on.
[commercial break]
["Lost" tweet of the moment: " @ryanmsheely The only way this mystical Asian guy is okay with me is if he is really Dr. Pierre Chang in disguise."]
[Note from the commercial break: it actually says on Bradley Byrne's Web site that his family has been in Alabama for "four generations," at least it used to. But ... so what? My family's been in Alabama for longer than that — farming hogs, mostly, but we've been here. I'm supposed to vote for someone based on that?]

9:40: Was that Ilana who just picked up a bag?
9:42: Hey, Claire's back! And here I thought maybe she'd died and was never coming back. Wishful thinking, I guess.
[Note: I genuinely can't stand Claire. She's like every annoying girlfriend I ever had, multiplied by 20.]
9:43: So ... the fact that he's doing Bansai trees means he's Japanese?
9:45: Now I get it — the ash is the same white ash that surrounded Jacob's old cabin. And hey, they have a flair — just like the one that Sayid tried to shoot back in Season 1.
9:47: Fake Locke at least proves he's not Real Locke. Also, it should be noted that the Man in Black KNOWS Locke wasn't weak — he looked him directly in the eyes and chased him off.
9:48: So now we get to debate about where Fake Locke's "home" is. I guess it's the Temple?
[commercial break]
[Note from the commercials: I still say the AT&T spot with Luke Wilson would be better if someone chopped off his arm.]

9:52: Kate is cleaning up Sawyer and caring for him again while he's barely conscious. Just like Season 2.
9:53: Poor Jack suffers a lot. "He deserves to suffer on this rock like the rest of us."
Locke's question is pretty poignant, "What did you lose?
9:55: The conversation between Jack and Locke, like the Boone-Locke one, is dripping with irony and symbolism.
9:56: I was right about the present day thing, apparently.
9:57: Poor Frank Lapidus feels the same way I do about all this.
9:58: Richard has made earlier references to the fact that he is the way he is because Jacob made him that way. Does that mean he's going to start aging?
9:59: Well, at least one person who died in this episode isn't completely dead. That's good news, at least.
[end of episode]

As always, I'm completely perplexed and need a few hours to think it over. Feel free to leave your own thoughts in the commentary section below.