A Tale of Two Cities

Hello everyone! Welcome to the new season of Lost!

And boy…didn’t it start out with an “Oh my gosh!!!”

I want to thank those for coming to the season premiere party at my place. It was very low key…dogs running amuck...80’s music in the background…lots of beer (I’ve learned my lesson!). It was a good night! I’m looking for 100% participation for the season finale though! Maybe even a mid-season party when the show goes on hiatus. Remember this year it goes no repeats, long break, and then back with no repeats up to the finale. I will try to be better and send this no later than 9am the next day…it was hard getting back into the rhythm this time.

So without any further adieu…let the discussion begin! We shall keep our same format from last season (summary, connections, questions, and conclusion).

Summary

I thought it was a good season premiere. I needed to watch it a couple of times to really get the most out of it. It gave us very little in the way answers…but it did give us a new direction. We will never truly know all the answers until the end. I think people who disliked the premiere, didn't like it because it didn’t seem to answer anything. Why would they give anything away in the first episode of the season?!? We instead got new characters, Juliette (who is NOT Penny) and Karl (although I am not convinced that he is going to be around for much longer, perhaps another new character? There are supposed to be 2 this season). It dispelled some theories like the plane was crashed on purpose, it seemed clear that it wasn't. I feel this season we will learn more about the Others and how the Tailies continue to live without answers. Maybe even the true birth of Two Cities. Ever wonder how countries develop…you live here, we’ll live there and we will both populate our land. I think its clear that there is life outside the island as the plane existed while the Others were living in their own little world on this island. So in a way it did answer questions.

Connections

Even though we know Ben’s real name, we will be referring to who once was Henry Gale, then Fake Henry, and now Ben as Benry.

The title of the episode, A Tale of Two Cities, referring to the two camps on the island, “the colony of the Others and the “losties”. The whole “it was the best of times, the worst of times” etc…I look forward to learning more about the Others and their camp. Where are the children?!? Is Benry “Him” or is there still another?

The song playing on the car radio as Jack stalked his wife was the same one playing on the ham radio on the beach with Sayid and Hurley. Although the song was different for the start of this season and the start of season 2, the images were the same. You think you are viewing someone in their home (Juliette in the colony and Desmond in the hatch). They are doing things first thing in the morning. Both seem a little tense but they continue with their routine (her cooking, him working out). There is a beep (one an oven timer, the other computer). There is an explosion, (one the plane crashing and the other the hatch being blown off). Then contact with the Losties. Losts of similarities…I loved it!

I could’ve sworn that that was Miss Klugh from last season sitting down at the book club. It wasn’t…but that would have been cool. The Asian dude in the book club was the officer that took Jake from the holding cell after his arrest in his flashback. The nurse in Jack’s flashback was the same nurse that spoke to Locke after his kidney surgery for his father. I think Karl is an Other who is trying to infiltrate. But the Echo did say when he was a Tailie, “they took Karl.” Maybe the same one?


As I mentioned before, Juliette is not Penny (Desmond’s girlfriend). Totally different actress. She looked so familiar because we have seen her before on other tv shows such as ER and House. She may have a Sawyer/Hurley connection. Sawyer did look at her kind of funny when he saw her. Some say she was reading the lottery balls when Hurley won, but I have no confirmation of this. I believe that Juliette may turn out to be Penny’s sister. She could be Juliette Widemor. There was a hint that Juliette and Benry were once in a relationship together. As they were talking at the beginning of the book club, one guy said the host chooses the book and Ben would never choose this book. And she was like, well I’m the host now…kind of like he use to live here but now I get to choose. And then when he saw the book she had, he was like - I guess I’m really out of the book club now. I thought he may have been referring to the plane crash and that they have bigger things to worry about, or that Juliette feels like an Outsider too like the character in the book and now here come more Outsiders.

The book at the book club was Carrie. I thought it was the Stand but based on book covers on Doubleday’s website, it’s Carrie. Which makes sense, when the guy said that it wasn’t literature but popcorn (possibly referring to the movie), and just “religious hokum pocum.” I was also reminded that when Benry was caught he said to Locke, “What, no Stephen King?”, obviously referring to Juliette's love of the book.

We now have an explanation for the polar bears. They were there as subjects in an experiment. Add Zeke saying to Sawyer, “it only took the bears 2 hours”, so they were walking free for the Others to encounter.

Questions

This leads me to a question about time. How long was Sawyer working on getting the treat? We know time is not necessary linear on the island (at least I don’t think so). Kate was supposedly on the beach and brought to where Sawyer was, but her hands were all red and irritated. Could it have been 2 weeks later? Jack let the flood waters in, but the next scene everything is dry, he is too and she is sitting there with his file. How long was he really out? That pounch was good, but not good enough to knock a grown man out for hours. What happened to Kate, she looked really flustered.

Desmond seems to be screwing things up for everyone. He is in love with the daughter of the President of Widemor Corp. He winds up on this island, causes the plane to crash, kills an Other, people on the outside are looking for him potentially leading to their exposure. If not for Desmond, the Others life would have continued on. The Pearl station was unoccupied when Desmond arrived so maybe only Kelvin knew he was there. Kelvin didn’t tell anyone so he could leave in Desmond’s boat. Maybe that is why Benry is so surprised there is a boat in the previews for next week.

Are the Others evil? I would have to say, yes. They may believe that they are acting for the greater good. But they are clearly misguided. I believe the show is going to continue to build our hate for them. The Losties just want off the island and to go home. Well…not all of them. I think Rose and Bernard would stay in the colony if that meant that Rose would stay healed. Locke would stay and either join them or live in the jungle like Rousseau if that meant he could walk and really be somebody there. Maybe even Kate, who is a murderer and a fugitive. I think Benry wants Kate to be his new “Juliette”. Their lives weren’t that great in the outside world. Jack divorced and feeling guilty about his father, Sawyer a murderer, broke, focused on revenge, Jin tied to Sun’s father to hurt people on his behalf, Echo a drug runner, Hurley feeling cursed by the world and suffering from depression. I think, in the end, whether they stay or go once they are given the opportunity to get off the island will be interesting.

Conclusion

Next week, we will be learning more about Jin/Sun-I love them! And perhaps confirming the whole time line theory. I also found it interesting that Benry was so interested that they had a boat (Desmond’s). Was it because Michael’s boat really won’t get them off the island, or because there is someone that they didn’t know on the island. They give us a little and then make us want for more!

Welcome all newcomers…hope ya stick around. I am so in love with this show again! Let the obsession begin…..