The Final Stage

A little heads up: Spoilers.

 Few shows have been able to work up the kind of fan dedication and excitement that Lost has been able to garner over the last 3 seasons, particularly the shocking end to the third season. Waiting for the fourth season would have been hard enough, were it not for the happenings and announcements before last Thursday night. First was the WGA strike. The the announcement of shorter seasons, and finally, the major announcement that season 6 of Lost, would be the absolute end of the show, the story, and the troubles of it’s characters. So what does that mean? It means that every one involved, from fans to producers, went into the first episode of season four knowing that this was the first of the final 42 episodes. Let the frenzy begin.

The big question as the episode began was who will it be, and when will it be. Both questions were answered immediately, as season 4 began with a post island Hurley in a high speed chase with the LAPD in his camero. So the question became, why was he running from the police? When we get back to the island we are exactly where we left off with the events of last season ‘Through The Looking Glass’ with rescue seeming imminent and news of Charlie’s death having yet to reach the ears of the remaining Losties. As the survivors prepare to head back to the beach, we finally get hardcore confirmation that the Claire-Charlie relationship had escalated to a form of full on official relationship, thanks to some subtle humor by Rose. It was a nice moment to, and gave us a chance to see some of the friendships that had formed among the 2nd string characters, though it was really the only feel good moment of the entire episode. And given that all of us viewers knew that Charlie Pace had met his end, it made a really happy scene, a very sad and tragic scene.

Normally Lost is good at balancing all of its many story lines, and when a new element is introduced, it is smoothly integrated and handled in a positive way. Meaning that most if not all character/sub plot additions to the show have had a positive over all effect. This was the where we had the only real head scratching moment of TBOTE. This whole Naomi sneaking away side story really made no sense at all. It seemed like the writers had a reason for splitting up the group, something was going to happen, Kate was going to die, Ben was going to escape…nope. All the characters came back together in the end with nothing having changed except for Naomi being dead…which was how we had ended the season before.

There were a few ‘Holy Shit’ moments in the season premier, the biggest of all was Hurley’s run in with Jacob. But the biggest surprise was not that Hurley found the cabin, and that it followed him, and that he saw Jacob, but that he was two Jacobs…or something of the sort. Just who was in the chair (a lot of people seem to think it was Christian) and just who did that eye belong to? It was a chilling moment to be sure. And one that is bound to have a huge effect on the rest of the show.  

Now there has been the idea going around for a long time of the survivors being split up into two different camps, and we finally got to see that. With ‘rescue’ soon arriving, it was faith vs science all over again. The confrontation of Locke and Jack came to head in a very powerful scene, and Jack let his dark side shine a little more. Hurley’s speech about Charlie’s sacrifice and him changing his mind was a powerful moment, and really added to the splitting of the camp. season 4 is shaping up to be team Locke vs team Jack. Clearly there is going to be some serious animosity between the two groups, given by flash-forward Hurley apologizing to Jack for going with Locke. Although after the survivors split up, it began to seem that some of them didn’t go with Jack because they thought he was right, but because they thought Locke was wrong. And as the episode grew towards its later half, it started to become clear that even the likes of Jack and Kate were beginning to doubt their rescue.

The show came to a close with one more character showing up on the island, the one who will most likely cause the biggest stir this season. It’s very clear that these new people are not who the Losties think they are, and are not going to be a positive addition to their lives. Like most episodes, at the end we are left with more questions than answers. Who is on the boat? Why is Charlie haunting Hurley? And just what is the secret that Jack wants kept? What exactly happens to the others when the 6 leave the island…?

Over all it was a solid episode. And one hell of a way to kick off season 4. I, personally, cannot wait until next thursday.