'Lost' Moves Forward

Lost is finally back. And, we don't know much more than we did at the end of last season's finale. The one thing we do know, we're sure not whining about the decision to move Lost to the second half of the season and run it 24-style now! If nothing else, one thing the writers strike has taught us is to never take the midseason replacement for granted AGAIN! But, I digress. It's not like I was expecting this show to reveal much, but I think I was a little put off by the way it sorta kinda rehashed all of the shocking turns in that awesome finale. It's like, OK, you got us. In fact, you got us good with that whole "This isn't a flashback!! It's a flashforward!!" trick. You rock once again, so let's keep up that momentum and continue to knock our socks off with new twists instead of re-using the old ones, k? Now, this isn't to say that there weren't any new reveals this week or that I dislike the new flashforward format. Actually, it's quite the opposite. I am so flashbacked out!! I really think I might rip my eyes out if I have to see another flashback on this show. We get it: the characters are all somewhat connected and they all have issues. Move on. And that's exactly what the show did with this season premiere. I'm so loving the new flashforward format. Please let this continue.

One of the things that makes this new format so good - it allows for more understanding of the events on the island. For instance, we now know that 6 people get off the island ("The Oceanic 6" that Hurley alluded to), one of them probably dies (hence, the mysterious funeral from the season finale), Jack tries to assimilate back into his normal life and fails miserably which leads him to that desperate moment in the finale where he meets Kate and admits to taking constant flights trying to get back to the island, and we have the identities of three of the "Oceanic 6" (Jack, Hurley and Kate). We also know that Hurley doesn't deal with it well either and winds up back in a mental facility, but what we don't know is what "it" is - the thing that nobody seems to be coping with very well. Back on the island, things seem to be coming to a head between Jack's side and Ben/Locke's side over the question of "To be rescued or not to be rescued." Could the outcome be the dreaded "it" or is "it" something we haven't encountered yet? As usual, we have more questions than answers, but at least this time, the questions are about what's going to happen and not what already has. We know we're getting the answers to these questions.

Screencaps courtesy Lost-Media.com