megorious

Last night’s episode of LOST was by far one of the best in the show’s history. It raised a lot new questions but, more importantly, it answered a lot too. It’s apparent now more than ever that the writers and producers know where they’re going. Before I offer my own insight, I shall warn those who haven’t watched last night’s episode of the spoilers that lurk below.

We got a lot of juicy tidbits last night. We know that Locke is receiving his orders from, as Sawyer put it, “Tall Ghost Walt.” We know that Locke’s conman father, who Sawyer killed last season, inadvertently saved Locke’s life by stealing his kidney. We know that Locke and Ben were both disturbed by the fact that Hurley saw Jacob’s cabin in a different location. And, despite the fact that we didn’t get an answer, we know that the Smoke Monster is still on the minds of some people, including the writers. We also know that Ben was actually telling the truth for once, thus earning yet another reprieve from death.

It’s obvious that Matthew Abaddon (The Wire’s haunting Lance Reddick, who seems to be the go-to man for assembling special ops teams) does not work for Oceanic Airlines, despite what he told Hurley in last week’s season premiere. Abaddon either represents The Dharma Initiative or another party yet to be identified. It’s conceivable to think that he works for Dharma, since his team’s primary objective is to find Ben Linus – the one who betrayed Dharma, allowing them to be purged from the island. Ben knows every member of Abaddon’s team because he has a man on the inside. Who is this inside man? Is it one of the four team members we met last night, someone we already know, or yet another new character? I don’t know for sure, but if you paid close attention to the opening credits last night and last week, there’s a familiar name listed as a series regular. Regardless if this person is the inside man or not, you can bet that (s)he will be popping up soon.

Now, some of those new questions: Why does Abaddon’s team consist of a physicist, a psychic ghostbuster, an anthropologist, and an alcoholic Oceanic pilot? Why was Daniel Faraday so upset over the news that Oceanic 815 had been found? What was the significance of Charlotte Lewis uncovering polar bear remains and a Dharma collar in the middle of the African desert? Whose spirit was Miles Straume ghostbusting? And what the hell did Faraday mean when he said, “The light doesn’t scatter quite right?”

The most chilling part of last night’s show was the discovery of Oceanic Flight 815 at the bottom of the sea. Some people have expressed their frustration with this development because the plane was intact. We all know the tail section landed in the ocean, while the cabin and fuselage landed on the island. So how did the whole plane end up in the ocean? That’s where the skeptics are missing the point.

The discovered plane wreckage is not Oceanic 815. Frank Lapidus, the man who was supposed to pilot 815 on the day it crashed, conveyed that information when he pointed out that the pilot was missing his wedding ring. Plus as viewers, we already know that’s not the plane. Someone, most likely Oceanic Airlines, planted a dummy plane to give the grieving family members a sense of closure. For that explanation, I shall refer to the logic of Donnie Darko.

After the plane engine fell into Donnie’s bedroom, the FAA reported that no airplane was missing an engine. That was unsettling since the engine had to come from somewhere. On LOST, what would be more unsettling for the grieving families of Oceanic 815 victims: that the plane crashed into the ocean, killing all aboard, or that it disappeared from all existence? And don’t fret over the human body on the dummy plane either. If you have the resources to sink an airplane, you have the resources to scrounge up a corpse to stick in there too.

The discovery of this red herring plane answered one of the biggest questions in the LOST mythology. When Naomi parachuted onto the island near the end of season three, she told Hurley that the plane wreckage had been found and the outside world believes them all to be dead. Now we know why.

There’s so much more to get into, such as the whole issue of time-travel, the spiritual undertones, and the theories of alternate realities. I just don’t have the time. But if last night was any indication, I think we’ll all know a lot more real soon.

For those that need a little refresher, here’s LOST in 8 minutes, 15 seconds.

This Television entry was posted Friday, February 8th, 2008 at 4:05 pm.
Tags: LOST