LOST: "LA X, Part 1"

Original Air Date

February 2, 2010

Description
The aftermath from the detonation of the hydrogen bomb is revealed.

Notes

(A) My theories about Lost revolve around the interplay between reason and faith – epitomized by the characters John Locke and Jack Shepard. John Locke has faith in the island, in his purpose on the island, while Jack Shepard, a doctor, relies on reason and rational decision-making.

It is easy to confuse myself about this idea – I know it is a motif – whether it is the key I don't really know. I could write for hours, going down different paths of thought about this and the different situations in which each character has confirmed or muddied this concept for me. Therefore, I try not to fall head first into the rabbit hole and choose at this point to let it ride for the sake of brevity.

Reason and faith have both had their huge pratfalls. The showcasing of the bomb on the island highlights that reason can lead to illogical ground sometimes. Faith on the other hand is just as dangerous. For example, no one questions the entity that is posing as John Locke. He is sort of a false profit that preys on those who do not question his leadership.

The biggest mystery for me at this point is who is this character... aka the man in black aka the smoke monster. That seems to be the key secret that was teased in the first two episodes of season six. Is it going to take until the final episode to figure out? Is he Esau, the biblical twin brother of Jacob?

As a side note – I am not sure that this means anything or not – according to some research on names Jacob and James come from the same Latin roots (the language that has shown up on the show by the way).

The English names Jacob and James derive from the same source, with James coming from Latin Iacomus, a later variant of Iacobus. Unlike English, many languages do not have separate spellings for the two names. -According to BehindtheName.com

It is also kind of curious that Jacob means “holder of the heel,” as Jacob seems to be living in the heel of that huge Egyptian looking monument (there is also something to be said about Jacob and Egypt if you want to look in your bible.)

But like I said, I am going to try to not fall down the rabbit hole here.

"LA X, Part 1" was quite a dramatic reintroduction to lost. We seem to be seeing the alternative reality of if the plane did not crash on the island in flashes. We started with flashbacks and moved into flash forwards later in the series. Is season six about flash sideways? What I mean in that sense are we just watching an alternate time line unfold. And if that is the case, how is that relevant to the overall plot?

The season-opener made us watch Juliet die all over again. Thanks Lost writers... like we needed to go through that again. Jack and James are looking to rumble, like usual. It occurs to me that they seem to be similar to Jacob and unnamed man in black.

James' philosophies have been elastic. He tends to adopt the philosophy that is most apt to allow him to survive. He seems to be the middle ground and at various points has followed behind the reason of Jack and the faith of John.