LOST is taking a break this week to give loyal viewers a chance to catch their breath before the final five episodes. Let’s take this opportunity to recap the top eight (in true LOST fashion) most shocking/important/cool moments and reveals of this season (so far!).
1. Alternate Off-Island Timeline Revealed – The biggest cliff-hanger of Season 5 was the question “Did the bomb work, or didn’t it?’. We still don’t know the answer, but the alternate timeline has brought plot twists and turns that few could have imagined before the Season 6 premiere. Hurley’s lucky, Jack’s a dad, John’s a substitute teacher engaged to Helen, Jin and Sun aren’t married but are pregnant, Sayid’s still a killer but his brother is married to Nadia, Ben is a high school history teacher with a PhD, Kate’s maybe a murder, Sawyer and Miles are cops, Claire’s trying to unload her unborn baby, Charlie’s a drug addicted musician, and Desmond is Widmore’s right hand man. Some things haven’t changed and others have changed drastically. Is the off-island action real? Is the on-island action real? Are they both real and connected somehow? Hopefully the next five episodes will give us some of these answers.
2. Flocke is the Man-In-Black is the Smoke Monster – The second major cliff-hanger of Season 5 left fans wondering “If John Locke’s body is laying dead on the beach, who the heck just convinced Ben to kill Jacob?”. Well, the answer came in the first two episodes of Season 6 (LA X, Parts 1 and 2). Flocke was the Man-In-Black, who was also the mysterious Smoke Monster that’s haunted the LOSTies since Season 1. I think the entire country gasped in unison when we discovered what, or who, Smokey was. The part of the mystery that does remain is whether or not Flocke is good or evil. Will we have a definitive answer at the end of the series?
3. Richard Alpert’s back-story – Undoubtedly one of the most mysterious characters in LOST history, fans have been dying to get a peek into Richard Alpert’s past. Well, the Richard-centric episode, Ab Aeterno, brought loyal viewers some serious answers. Richard was brought to the island in 1867 as a slave the Black Rock. He made a deal with Jacob that he would communicate with those who come to the island on Jacob’s behalf in return for immortality. Richard also has some interactions with the Man-In-Black, but chooses the side of Jacob. He may be fed up with Jacob, but his dead wife told him to make sure the Man-In-Black never leaves the island, so I’d expect that to be Richard’s mission till the end of the series.
4. Resurfacing of Claire Littleton – Our favorite island mother has been missing since Season 4, Episode 10 (Something Nice Back Home). After an absence of nearly three seasons, Claire reappeared in the island jungle in Episode 3 (What Kate Does) pointing a gun in Jin’s face. She’s obviously been through a lot (except a bath) over the past three years, but we’re not exactly sure what. She’s been running from the Others, searching for Aaron, rocking a strange skeleton-baby, and hanging out with Flocke. She tried to kill Kate, sang creepy lullabies, and is now on board with Sawyer’s team trying to get off the island back to Aaron. Is she really fit to be a mother? I’m not sure, but some shampoo could really help.
5. Sayid’s Creepy Side – Since he was dunked in the murky water in Episode 2 (LA X, Part 2) Sayid’s been acting a bit, well, weird. He was tortured and almost poisoned by Dogen, he tried (unsuccessfully) stab Flocke, he (successfully) murdered Dogen and Lennon, let Flocke into the temple to massacre the Others, watched Claire beat up Kate with a smirk on his face, kidnapped Desmond, and possibly shot him in cold blood. Needless to say, he’s had a busy season so far, and he’s done this all with a creepy blank-stare. Is this all in order to be reunited with Nadia as Flocke promised? This isn’t the Sayid we’ve come to known over the past five seasons, so what’s in store for our favorite torturer as the series comes to an end?
6. The Numbers = The Candidates –First appearing in Episode 18 of Season 1 (Numbers), 4-8-15-16-23-42 have been part of LOST folklore from the very beginning. They help Hurley win the lottery, they must be typed into the hatch computer every 108 minutes or the world will end, they appear on Danielle’s map, they are the serial number on the door of The Swan, and they drive Leonard crazy, and Episodes 4 and 5 (“The Substitute”/”Lighthouse”) brought us more information about this major piece of LOST lore. Each of the numbers aligns with one LOSTie that is a candidate to replace Jacob as protector of the island. The numbers are written on a cave wall and on a giant wheel in a lighthouse on the island. Many of the names and numbers are crossed out, except for 8-Reyes, 15- Ford, 16 – Jarrah, 23- Shephard, and 42-Kwon. (But which Kwon?)
7. Sun and Jin’s reunion – After being apart for 29 episodes, Sun and Jin were finally reunited in Episode 13 (The Last Recruit). Though the reunion was brief, it was sweet. Sun and Jin were separated in Season 4, Episode 14 (There’s No Place Like Home, Part 3) when Widmore’s freighter exploded, flinging Jin into the ocean while Sun flew away on a helicopter. I don’t think a single LOST fan has ever forgotten her gut-retching scream as she watched the freighter blow up. We thought that they’d be reunited when Sun came back to the island on Ajira 315, but alas, she was sent to 2007 while Jin was stuck in the 1970’s. They’ve been apart throughout Season 6, arriving at different parts of the island just in time to miss each other until Sun arrives at Widmore’s camp where Jin is waiting. Hopefully we’ll be seeing lots more of the couple together throughout the final episodes of the series.
8. Desmond – is he the key to it all? – Episode 10 (“The Package”) was a definitive turning point in the Season 6 plot. Desmond begins to connect his off-island life with his on-island life via his constant, Penny. At the end of the episode, he asks for the flight manifest from Oceanic 815 and over the course of the next three episodes, he begins to connect other LOSTies with their constants. It does seem that Desmond is the key to the entire LOST mythology, but what’s in store for Desmond’s (and the rest of the LOSTies) future if Sayid really did shoot him last week?
Katelyn is a graduate student at Michigan State University is East Lansing, MI. In her free time she loves to spend time watching and writing about LOST.
(images via Lostpedia)
