Review: Lost 6.1: LAX, Part One

The Man In Black reveals himself.

Lost - Season Six, Episode One - LAX, Part One
Written between 30th December 2012 and 2nd January 2013

Lost, I'm sorry. I was nasty to you last year, I know, and I really shouldn't have been. Well. You did give me plenty of reasons to be angry, what with your characters acting like idiots for no reason and a plot strand that blatantly contradicted all logic. But I'm prepared to throw all of the criticism away for now. Season Six of Lost is unlike all the series that came before, to the extent, in my opinion, that it feels more like a shadow of the old show than the final series. That isn't to say that there isn't any good in it, however, but rather that I'm going to have to look at it less with a critical eye and more with a kind of gentle supervision.
     LAX Part One brings the series into its final season with a series of powerful revelations and plot twists, as well as removing the flashback/flashforward dynamic and replacing it with the flash-sideways, an interesting if ultimately disappointing concept wherein we see our characters lives play out in a parallel universe. At the time, the flash-sideways both excited and confused the fanbase, leaving us wondering exactly why this was relevant and where it would all end up. As a publicity tool it was probably the most clever thing they could have done, and kept the debate going in fandom for a while.
      On the island, our intrepid heroes have not in fact reset the timeline but have instead been transported by the electromagnetic energy to the present, where they're all rather pissed off that their harebrained scheme hasn't worked. While they try to tend to the gunshot wound that Sayid received off of Roger Linus, they discover Juliet still alive in the rubble and they try to free her. She dies in Sawyer's arms. Jacob appears again to Hurley, telling him that the only way for them to save Sawyer is to take him to the Temple, a mystical home for The Others, the island's native inhabitants. Over at the Statue, and Ben discovers Locke's body, and the Man In Black reveals himself to be the evil Smoke Monster. In the flash-sideways timeline, flight Oceanic 815 hits turbulence on its flight, but it's fine and the flight goes on to land in Los Angeles. The Island is underwater for some reason, and Desmond is now on the plane with them. Sun doesn't speak English, and she and Jin aren't married.

Oceanic 815 lands safely at LAX.

    One thing I very much appreciated was that the writers developed Jack a bit more and actually made him regret his actions at the end of the last season. That made up for a hell of a lot, and Jack's humility in this season, while playing into the whole faith thing, makes him a much more pleasant presence on screen. It was very necessary for Jack to take the background here - mainly so that Josh Holloway and Elizabeth Mitchell could come to the forefront as Sawyer and Juliet, allowing the latter a chance to say goodbye.
       I felt that it was a theme of this opener that was actually quite wise, setting right the wrongs of the previous season while setting up a few initial mysteries. Of course the beef of the season will be set up next week, but I for one bloody enjoyed this premiere and it left me impatient for more. On the face of it, this season might not be so bad after all.

Thanks.