eanic Flight 815, intact, in some sort of parallel universe or reality.Everything mirrored season one's pilot – but not really. Not only did the plane not crash this time, but Charlie nearly chokes on his drugs. Shannon is absent, left behind in Australia by Boone. Bernard makes it out of the tail-end bathroom. Jack only finagles one bottle of vodka from the flight attendant instead of two. And Desmond is on the plane. Desmond! Oh yeah, and the island is under water.
Obviously, the bomb – or something – sets off this sideways reality. And yet, the action picks back up on the island, too – now back to the year 2007. Juliet is pulled from the Swan's imploded wreckage only to promptly die – though, in death reveals that "it worked."The crew decides to take Sayid, still dying from his gunshot wound, to the Temple to be healed. A cast of new recurring characters at the Temple (of Doom?) promptly drowns Sayid. He comes back to life, of course – but as whom? Strangely, Jacob, only an hour dead, had earlier come to Hurley and didn't even seem irked at his fate. Hmmmm.
Meanwhile, Fake Locke (also revealed to be Smokey) exerts further control over Ben, over Richard, over Ilana's crew, over everybody – and seems poised to try to "go home" – something the real Locke never wanted.
Back in the alternate reality, Kate is still outrunning (and escaping from) the marshal (but what crime did she commit? The same one, or something different?). Jin is back to being completely paternalistic with Sun. Sawyer is still a bit of a sleeze. Hurley considers himself "lucky" (a far cry from cursed). Jack, after trying to find his father's body (not on the plane this time) has a lovely conversation with Locke. And as Kate runs of, she gets into a cab with Claire!
While raising a lot of new questions, this episode did answer a few, including:
-We know what happened to Cindy and the kids. They have been living in the temple for years.
-We finally (sorta) know what Smokey is: Esau, aka the Main in Black, aka Fake Locke.
-The bomb did create a re-boot. Maybe. Sorta.
-We finally know what was in the guitar case. Was this list similar to the "lists" the Others used to create?
Aside from the cheesy CGI and temple scenes, it was an explosive premiere. Let's hope the rest of the season can maintain that momentum. A-
