LOST: Season 5, Episode 1: "Because You Left"... ***SPOILERS***

Hey guys,

Alright.

It's way past time to do this...

LOST IS BACK!!!

I've been contemplating doing some blog posting on the show ever since I've begun counting down to its return. I've seen the first episode of Season 5 now twice and I'll probably watch it again as I type this.

This won't be your typical LOST blog entry. Some of the other guys out there throw out spoilers for future episodes and such. Since I'm a "spoiler-free" kind of guy, I'll refrain from that. However, I know that some of you are interested in the show, but have not watched the show up to its current episodes. I'm sorry, but these posts would be spoilers for you folks...

What I really want to do in these is put forth my take on the episode in reference, give some of my theories, and who knows what else...

Here we go...

The show opens with an alarm clock going off at 8:15 (TWO OF THE NUMBERS!) and a sleepy Dr. Marvin Candle/Edgar Halliwax/Mark Wickman tends to a child. Who is the child? Is it Charlotte? Is it Farraday? Is it a baby who will mean nothing to us in future episodes?

And don't forget: "Ya cain't make a record if ya cain't make a record if ya cain't make a record..." (Does that record skipping mean anything? A time jump?)

The good doctor goes off to make a Dharma orientation video for "The Arrow Station". Someone breaks in and says that they have a problem... Some workers are drilling at the Orchid Station and they can't get through the wall. A worker has collapsed and clutched the sides of head and "freaking out". In short, "The Frozen Donkey Wheel" is in there. It's source of limitless energy and will allow them to manipulate time. A worker asks, "What, so we'll go back and kill Hitler?" But, no... Dr. Candle says that there are rules...

Then, a worker walks past with his head down as Candle departs. It's Farraday... Which means the baby in the crib can't be Farraday, right?

Flash to the funeral parlor where we last saw Jack and Ben. They're preparing to leave. "Why are we here? How did all of this happen?" Jack asks... Ben's reply is, "It happened because you left, Jack..." Does he mean that it all happened just because Jack left or because all of the Oceanic Six left? Does it matter? I guess we'll see...

Next, Jack and Ben are in a hotel room. Jack shaves his depressed, drug-addict guy beard and then talks with Ben about getting the rest of the Oceanic Six back to the island. Jack asks Ben when the last time he saw Locke was. Ben says that it was at the Orchid Station. Jack says that the last time he talked to Locke, Locke said that all of them had to go back or that everyone they left behind would die. Ben asks Jack if Locke told him what happened after they left. Jack says no. And Ben says in his mysterious Ben-like way, "Then I guess we'll never know..." Do we really think that Ben doesn't know? I think he knows...

Flash to the "Three Years Earlier" thing that's put up on-screen. We see Ben turning the Donkey Wheel and a recount of the flash of light that we all saw when he did so in Season Four.

We go to where we last saw Locke alive on the island, except that after this flash, Richard and the Others that Locke was with have flashed away... They're gone. Locke is confused.

We next see Farraday and the those he was with on the raft. They, too, have been affected by the flash. Frogurt asks what the flash was and Farraday says that they must have been "inside the radius".

Next, to Sawyer and Juliet. They, too, are confused by the flash and remark that the freighter, which was just a moment ago smoking on the horizon, is gone. Bernard walks onto the beach, followed by a screaming Rose... They are, of course, confused... Their camp is GONE after the flash!!! Farraday walks onto the beach and says that the camp is not gone, it hasn't been built yet... There are hints that there will be more time-flashes.

Now, a theory that I think is very interesting but that I can't take credit for is that the island is flashing repeatedly through time and space. The good folks on a couple of the LOST podcasts ("The Dharmalars" and "The Transmission") have spoken about this. (By the way, LOVE YOU GUYS ON THOSE PODCASTS!!!)

This theory explains a lot. Imagine if the island is moving through both space and time. This explains the polar bear, the Black Rock, Yemi's plane, and a host of other things... We think that the Smoke Monster is some kind of advanced security system based on what characters on the show and some theorists have said... But what if it's some kind of futuristic life-form that the island has come up underneath? Is there anything else that can be explained by the island popping in and out of time and space?

Next, we see Kate at her home with Aaron (affectionately dubbed "Goober"). The doorbell rings and two men from a law firm want samples of Kate and Aaron's blood to determine their relationship. They can't divulge the name of their client. Is it Sun? Ben? Widmore? Anyway, a concerned Kate packs some clothes, a gun, some money, and Aaron and takes her leave.

Over to the island and Sawyer, Juliet, Farraday, Charlotte, and Miles walking through the jungle... After some discussion, Sawyer asking for a shirt, Sawyer bitch-slapping Farraday and Charlotte exclaiming, "Oi!", Farraday explains that Ben turning the Donkey Wheel has dislodged them from time. Farraday asks if everyone in the group is accounted for. Sawyer says no... Locke isn't...

Back to Locke... A plane buzzes in overhead. It's Yemi's. The drug plane. Locke watches it crash. The island had flashed back to when it had crashed. Locke yells to the plane and with no Boone to do the climbing for him this time, he climbs up towards the plane and then someone shoots him in the leg. He falls. Ethan Rom (I thought he was dead!) walks up... "Who are you?" Ethan asks.

Pause there for a moment.

Just wanted to insert my opinion that if Ethan can come back, so can all our other favorite dead characters. I personally don't think we've seen the last of Charlie, Eko, maybe even Boone, Shannon, Libby and Ana Lucia... And by that, I mean alive... Not in some sweat lodge fever-dream or in a Hurley's talking to dead people kind-of-way... Alive...

After Locke haggling with Ethan a bit, another flash takes place and Ethan is whisked away. Night suddenly falls on John Locke.

Back to Sawyer and the others... The've felt the effects of the flash, too...

We now go to Sun. She's embarking on a flight to L.A. She flagged and taken into a room where Charles Widmore appears... and he's not happy. He's angry at Sun for approching "in broad daylight, in front of [his] associates." He says he will be respected. He talks to Sun about what their aforementioned "common interests" might be. She says, "To kill Benjamin Linus..."

Is anyone going for this? Do we really think that Sun wants Ben dead? Or is she working with him? Is she really that averse to getting back to the island? She must know something of the strange goings-on there. Could she really NOT want to go back there and have the possibility of meeting up with a supposedly dead Jin? OR... What I think might be going on is that Sun utterly despises everyone who's had anything to do with this whole ordeal. Maybe she'll go crazy and try to just do totally awful things to everyone. Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid... Everyone... Wouldn't that be crazy if she just went, um, crazy?

Back to Jack and Ben. We see them watching the news on TV. Hurley has escaped the mental institution. Ben says, "Looks like we have a change of plan..."

Now, to Hurley and Sayid. They're getting Hurley some food. They finally go to a hotel room. Sayid tells Hurley that he's been working for Ben. He tells Hurley that if he ever runs into Ben, just do the opposite of what Ben says. They are ambushed from inside the hotel room they are going to. Sayid kills both attackers but not before he's shot with some kind of tranquilizer dart. He tells Hurley to get him to the car.

What has happened between Sayid and Ben? Sayid goes from working for him to now admonishing Hurley not to trust him... Can't wait to see...

Back to Juliet, Miles, Farraday, Charlotte and Sawyer walking to the hatch... They observe that after the last flash, they are now after the point in time after the crash of Oceanic 815. Farraday tells them (after some discussion) that they cannot change events that have happened... "Whatever happened, happened... We can't stop it." Sawyer asks, "Then who can?"

Back to Locke, lying on the jungle floor, shot in the leg... After getting to Yemi's plane to get a seatbelt for a crude dressing of his wound, he sees someone walking through the jungle who turns out to be Richard Alpert. Richard tends to John's leg. Locke asks how Richard knew that there was a bullet in his leg. Richard says that he told him or rather will tell him... Richard tells John that the next time they meet, Richard won't know him. He gives John a compass. "What's it do?" John asks. "It points North..." says Richard... (Pretty comedic, but I love it...) Richard tells Locke that he's got to get everyone back to the island. When John asks how he's supposed to do that, Richard says, "You're going to have to die, John..." Another flash sends them apart...

By the way, it is my opinion that John Locke is NOT REALLY DEAD!!! Perhaps his body in the coffin (as has been suggested by those podcasters wiser than myself) is in a suspended state as his consciousness is active on the island (what we're seeing in this episode). After all, if I'm correct, these events with John Locke are taking place as his "dead" body lies in the casket back with Jack and Ben.

Back to Sawyer and the others... Juliet explains to Farraday what the hatch was before it blew up. Desmond was in there... Remember? Another flash (presumably the same one that just happened for Locke) and Sawyer says, "Son of a *FLASH* bitch..." The hatch is whole again now. Sawyer says that he's going to the back door of the hatch to get some supplies... Farraday says that this is not a good idea. Farraday explains that Desmond will not know him even if he IS in there because of the time shift. "If it didn't happen, it can't happen!!!" Farraday exclaims... We see a more good-guy side of Sawyer as he says that everyone who he cares about just died on the freighter and he knows what he can't change... No one answers when Sawyer beats on the hatch door...

With Farraday and Charlotte remaining behind as the others take off for the beach, he notices that she has a nosebleed. He tells her he forgot his pack and that he needs to go and get it and sends her back to the beach. He begins leafing through the notebook that has all that research on the Dharma Initiative and his time-travel findings and such...

He begins beating on the hatch door. Desmond opens. He's wearing the contamination suit that he wore when he went outside when we first saw him and pointing a gun at Farraday. After some haggling, Farraday tells Desmond that he's special. He needs the incarnation of Desmond that's off the island in the future, the future referring to this very moment when Farraday and Desmond are talking (follow me?) to go to Oxford and find his mother. A time-flash happens before Farraday can get her name out.

Desmond (the one in present day off-the-island time) wakes up next to Penny. He's disturbed by his dream. He says that he was on the island while he was sleeping. Penny tells him that he's alright, he been off the island for three years now. It was just a dream. "It wasn't a dream, Pen... It was a memory..."

It turns out that Desmond and Penny are in a boat. Desmond goes up out of the boat's cabin and tells Penny that they're leaving. "Leaving to go where?" she asks. Des replies, "Oxford."

And... THUD! LOST appears on the screen and the episode's done.



There.

That's one of the things I hope to do with these blog entries. I've recapped the entire episode with my opinions and theories (and some interesting theories of some other people) inserted.

I want to thank Ryan and Jen from "The Transmission", Jay and Jack from "The LOST Podcast with Jay and Jack", and Ben and Ralph from "The Dharmalars" for podcasting, keeping us going with the show, making me laugh, and just doing what they do. If you're a fan of LOST and you haven't listened to these podcasts, you're truly missing out. You can go go iTunes and download them for free. You don't need to have an iPod or even an MP3 player to do so... These folks are great to listen to about LOST and are just great people all around. They keep with it week after week and I'm glad to have found their podcasts.

Now then...

Another reason why I love this show (among many) is that it pays homage to music, books, movies, and all sorts of things of cultural significance. I want to take a look at those things every week as I write about the show. If I ever get off my ass enough to write a sweeping epic such as LOST, I hope to be able to pay homage to some of my favorite things like the creators of this great show do.

So...

CULTURAL REFERENCES

-"Shotgun Willie" by Willie Nelson is the song that's playing in the beginning of the episode as Dr. Marvin Candle prepares to go off to the station to make the Dharma video.

-"A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens is referenced when Saywer is pounding on the back door of the hatch saying "It's the Ghost of Christmas Future!"

-Some say "Gilligan's Island" is referenced when Sawyer calls Charlotte, "Ginger"... Some say it's The Spice Girls being referenced... (HA! Sorry, Jay...) Something that no one has said yet, though... Could this be a reference to South Park? Remember the episode of South Park with all the redheads and the "Ginger-vitis"?

-Sawyer calls Farraday "Dilbert", referring to the white-collar comic strip character.




I have to also give thanks to the folks over at Lostpedia, which is basically a Wikipedia for LOST. They always help with the cultural references and a multitude of other things... THANKS, GUYS!



Well, that's about it for "Because You Left". Hopefully, I can get on to Episode 2, "The Lie" in the next day or so and also be altogether more timely with these blog posts. We're only three days away from another episode and I've still got one to blog about!!!

Anyway... If you've read this, thank you. Keep watching LOST, be good to each other, and keep reading the Llog for LOST stuff and all the other stuff I deem noteworthy...

Peace...