PREVIOUSLY ON LOST

Let the games begin. Lost is back and as good as ever, as could be expected the overall theme for Season 5 looks like it will be quiet different to the previous four (Season 1 – The Losties, Season 2 – The Tail Section, Season 3 – The Others and Season 4 – The Freighters). I’ve decided to take a different approach to my recap posts this year, since the ‘full’ recaps I was doing for a while last year take too long (and lets face it, probably weren’t overly interesting either). So, like I started last week with the post for “There’s no place like home”, lets have a look at some of the questions that struck me while watching the season premiere.

Is the identity of Chang’s baby significant?

We got to see Pierre Chang for the first time outside of a Dharma video, and it was a great way to kick things off. But is the identity of his son important, remember he was also mentioned in the ‘leaked’ video from Comic-Con. Given that this takes place around 30 years ago could it be Miles? This was suggested by someone in the comment of a previous post, interesting, and could explain a few things, but I’m not convinced. Yet.

What is Dan doing hanging around in the Orchid Station with Pierre Chang and the Dharma workers?

We know the island is jumping around, but is it going to stay in one particular time long enough for Dan to infiltrate the Dharma ranks? So far the jumps have been fairly frequent, maybe things will settle down. Or maybe he actually was there in the 1970’s… think about it, he tell Sawyer how he’s spent his whole life researching time travel and Dharma. Now lets say, for example, Dan was born in 1970, he wouldn’t have been even starting University until the very late 1980’s, early 1990’s at the latest, by which time Dharma (at least on the island) wasn’t too far from being wiped out by Ben. How much research can you do on something that no longer exists, on an island no-one can find, unless you’ve been there and seen it first hand?

Why do the Losties move but the Others/Hostiles don’t?

After Alpert explains to Locke that it was him that moved/disappeared, we then know that the Losties appear to be the only ones moving through time. Why is this the case though? For those who’ve lived on the Island the majority of their lives I guess you could say it makes sense, but what about those Flight 815 survivors that they poached from the Taillies (The flight attendant, the children etc). Probably has something to with why Alpert never appears to age…

Who are the lawyers that visit Kate representing?

Only two real obvious possibilities, Charles Widmore or Oceanic Airlines. Perhaps that should be Widmore and/or Oceanic, I think there is a strong chance that Widmore is connected in someway to Oceanic, evidence perhaps was how it would seem that Oceanic staff promptly contacted him when they realised Sun was checking in for an Oceanic flight.

Sayid says he was working for Ben, why isn’t he anymore?

Something has clearly gone awry with their arrangement, from what Sayid says it sounds like he talked Sayid into doing something that he now wishes he hadn’t done. But what? You would think it would have to be something more complicated than simply ordering Sayid to kill more random people.

Why did they use tranquilizers on Sayid?

The man in the safe house obviously didn’t intend to kill Sayid since he used tranquilizers darts instead of good ol’ bullets. But why? Did Widmore, assuming they were his men, have something else in mind for Sayid?

Alpert says that Locke told him where he was

But how Wouldn’t Locke remember that? Apparently not if it hasn’t already happened. In my mind I can mostly make sense of what he meant, but not sure how to put it into words that also make sense, probably easier if we just accept what he said to be true.

When Alpert says that the next time he sees Locke he wont recognise him, what did he mean?

Ok, this bit appears to have taken place sometime in the future (because Alpert knows the Oceanic 6 are home), and we’ve already seen that he was in the past (watching the drug plane crash, getting shot etc), so I’m guessing the next jump will take him back in time again. Think of “present day Island time” a point in the middle and they are skipping back and forwards around this point without actually landing on it. It doesn’t seem like they are going as far forward as they are back, but who really knows.

If you can’t change the past how then does Dan manage to get Desmond to come to the hatch door?

All I can think of is that Dan wasn’t being entirely truthful when he told the Island 5 this things couldn’t be changed, even though Chang’s statement in the opening supports what he said. Perhaps in his lifetime of research he has actaully found a way that things can be altered, and this is what he was frantically searching for in his notebook right before he went back to knock on the hatch door.

Who is Dan’s mother?

Mrs Hawking. Why not? She seems capable of the same crazy maths that we’ve seen Dan working with, and she seems to have a connection to some combination of the Island/Dharma/Ben/Widmore/Time/Space etc etc

Desmond tells Penny that it wasn’t a dream it was a memory.

I’ve kind of suggested this in one of my first posts (Flashbacks or Memories). It would appear that Dan was able to change Des’ memory by meeting him in the past, is that possible? or is this what Dan meant when he told Des he was special and the rules didn’t apply to him.