Get LOST!

Last night was the final season premiere of LOST. I, admittedly, was not a fan of LOST until some friends, whose opinion I respect, wouldn’t stop talking about it. With my schedule, I find it difficult to commit to a television program (no, that’s doesn’t classify as a “commitment issue”) because of the time it takes. I also don’t have DVR or TiVo to record things and watch them later. I do have high speed internet, which gives me the capability to watch shows online.

My wife and I journeyed through the first 5 seasons of LOST completely online. It got a little frustrating sometimes as ABC.com would sometimes take episodes off of their website for no apparent reason. My viewing times were really limited to times when I had a break from schoolwork, which didn’t leave an incredibly big window of opportunity. Needless to say, we finished season 5 last week and were ready for the sixth and final season to begin last night. I even read Chris Seay’s book “The Gospel According to Lost” in the interim.

The thing that has drawn me to LOST is the same thing that has drawn me to the genre of film in general. I am always intrigued at how people do not claim to be followers of Christ deal with the issue of spirituality. At some point, regardless of our religious affiliation, upbringing, or background, most of us will come to a point where we will ask ourselves questions about spirituality: who are we? Why are we here? What is my purpose? Am I free to do what I want? What is destiny? And on and on we could go with similar questions. I guess the reason that I like meeting people at that point of questioning is because it’s at that point where I find myself leaning more towards faith than reason.

One of the main conflicts in the whole LOST series is the conflict between those two: faith and reason. There are characters who represent one and characters who represent the other. There are also renegade characters that don’t seem to represent either or represent both. This is what has drawn me to LOST and as it enters into its final season, I suspect that there will be more people watching it than ever did before.

So, in response to last night’s premiere, I put together some questions and observations that have been stirring around my brain. I would love to hear the thoughts and wisdom of others who have opinions and questions of their own. Together, maybe we can navigate through the waters of faith and reason.

Questions
1) What is the mark on Jack’s neck?
2) Desmond is on the flight before it lands but when Jack looks for him after the Charlie situation, he’s nowhere to be found. What happened to him? Was he ever really there?
3) a. Why does Hurley not think that he is cursed in the LAX reality? He says, “I’m the luckiest guy alive.”
b. Why did Shannon, Boone’s sister, not get on the plane?
c. What happened that made this situations turn out different? Did something that was done in 1977?
4) What happened to Jack’s dad? Where is his body?
5) Hurley’s guitar case and Charlie’s guitar case look similar, but are all guitar cases made equal?
6) What is the source of the spring and what does it mean if the water is clear or not clear?
7) When did the man in black/smoke monster see Richard in chains? Or was he speaking figuratively, meaning he had been chained to Jacob for so long?
8) When Sayid is pulled from the water, his body is in the formation of one who was on a cross. What is the significance of Sayid’s resurrection?

Observations
On the flight back to LAX, Jack interacts with many people who he met on the island. Most of them will not have the same life alterations:
Bernard and Rose – the Island will no longer impact Rose’s cancer and she will not be healed
Sun and Jin - At LAX, Jin gets detained for not reporting all the money that he is carrying. Sun is given the opportunity to save him by speaking English, but she does not.
John Locke – the Island does not grant him the ability to walk, but he meets Jack who offers a consultation to evaluate whether something can be done.
Charlie - He attempts to commit suicide and Jack prevents that from happening, leading to his eventual arrest once the plane lands in LA

Most of the things that happened in the LAX scenario were not positive. I began to see how many positive impacts the Island had on the people who were stranded there.

In considering Jacob and the Man in Black/anti-Locke/Smoke Monster, now that Jacob is dead, what does it mean that the MIB/AL/SM wants to “go home?” Does he want to reintroduce evil into the world? Is the absence of Jacob the absence of good?

Just a few things to ponder after just the initial episode.