Season 5, Episode 1: Because You Left

(updated: recap below)

Meet the Newest LOST Fan!
Well, it has been almost 9 months since last season's finale, and I have a big announcement to make!

Gregg and I just welcomed our new son, Chase, on January 11th, 2009. He weighed 7 pounds, 13 ounces and was 20 inches long. Of course Mommy was worried during the past nine months that he might make his big arrival on the night of the Lost season premiere, knowing it was going to be in January, but of course our little man knew better and made sure he would be here in time for us to watch together :)

So, here is our newest little LOST fan, 10 days old.
Many thanks to his Uncle David for the super cool bib!! We love it!



You all owe me HUGE for the fact that I actually wrote this thing today, despite having a 10 day old at home! I will admit it's kind of scatterbrained, I didn't really write it in any sort of organized essay (although I think you will understand seeing as I had like 5 minute intervals throughout the day to write a little here, a little there!) So here are some of my random thoughts and observations from last night's season finale (which I only watched once, as opposed to my normal two times watching it. Oh well, those days are over!)
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SEASON 5, EPISODE 1: "Because You Left"
The title of this episode relates to Jack and his guilt over the fact that "bad things" happened after they left the island, which Locke told him was his fault.

The episode opens (once again) with a man putting a record on (just like Desmond in the hatch in season 2 opener, and Juliet playing the CD in season 3 opener), which then proceeds to "skip" - foreshadowing of the island's "flashes" as it skips through time. Here, we see the man from all the orientation videos (Dr. Marvin Candle, Dr. Halliwax, Dr. Wickman - he always uses a different name in each video) - although it sounded like they called him Mr. Chen, I think? The episode opens with him waking up in bed with his wife and getting his baby up and preparing a bottle. Note that he and his wife are both oriental, yet their baby is not, so the baby must be adopted. This also appears to be sometime in the 1960s or 1970s. Because this was the opening scene, it surely has some meaning that is going to come back to us. I'm sure that adopted baby will turn out to be someone significant from the island. I'm thinking it could possibly be Charlotte, who we already know was born on the island and came there looking for the place she was born. Maybe they "took" her as well?

So we learn that they have not moved the island "physically," which is what we all assumed after last season's finale, but rather moving it in TIME. However, one thing I am confused about is that after Ben moved the island, the rest of the survivors (in the helicopter and on the raft) could no longer see it. So, if they moved the island back into the past, does that mean that it did not exist in the past? Because they would have still been able to see it if it was there at whatever point in time it moved to, they just would not see the new things or new people there. Or, if they moved it into the future, will it not be there in the future? I can understand that they wouldn't see the things that didn't exist at the point in time they traveled in the past (such as their camp and supplies), but shouldn't the island itself still be visible? Unless it was "built" or created at a certain point in the past....hmmm.

Regarding the Time travel/flashes: Only the new people seem to be affected by the island's moving. Alpert and the Others don't move through time. When the first time flash occurs while Locke is with the Others, he is the only one that "moves" through time, and when he wakes up he is all alone. Why do the Others not move with him as well? Does that mean they were always there? However, when Locke encounters Richard Alpert in a later time-flash, Alpert does know that he is "moving" as he tells him that the next time he sees him, he will not know who he is, which is why he gives him the compass. Is this the same compass that we've seen Locke with in the early days, when he was first looking for the hatch with Boone?

One big revelation we see is that Faraday was there in the past when they were drilling in the Orchid station and found the "wheel" which moves the island. This is where they discover that behind this wall is a catastrophic source of energy which Dr. Marvin Candle explains is a source of time travel. Was Faraday there when this actually happened in the past (which would explain him coming back to the island now, to try and "fix" the situation?) Or is this during one of the time flashes that is currently going on, and he is just observing? Regardless, one of the most important things that we learn in Faraday's explanation later on about this time travel theory is that nothing can be changed. So, despite going back in time, they can't do anything to change or alter the future. This goes along with Locke's theory all along that FATE is what brought them there, and things are "supposed to happen" the way that the island wants them to. There is nothing they can do to change their fate. If this is true, this would suggest the reasons why Locke has always argued to Jack that they are not supposed to leave the island. This is why all of the "bad things" have happened since they left, and why Locke returns to warn Jack that they must all go back. This is sort of like in the movie "Back to the Future II" when Marty buys the sports almanac to change his future and ultimately messes everything up in his future life. They have to go back to the past and prohibit the events that changed the future from happening again. I think this is why the Oceanic Six have to go back to the island. If they can go back to a point in the "past" where they can prevent themselves from "leaving" again, maybe that would make everything right. However I'm a little confused because Faraday keeps saying that you can't change anything in your future...though he does say later that you can't change it "if it hasn't happened." Because this DID happen (the 6 leaving the island), maybe that means they CAN change it?? Though Faraday seemed to have some loophole to this rule as he went back to knock on the hatch door and spoke with Desmond, just after telling Sawyer that it couldn't be done. Also remember from last season, Desmond wrote in his journal, "Desmond is my constant." It appears that Desmond is going to be the key this season in saving everyone by going back to Oxford to talk to Faraday "in another life."

I'm also wondering if all of the three "freighter folk" have been there/time traveled to the island before. We already know that Faraday has. We also know that Charlotte was born on the island. And we have seen Miles has "psychic" abilities - which may not actually be psychic but possibly because he has been there before so he already knows things that have happened, where things are (for example, how he just happened to find the dead animal in the jungle to make food). I'm also wondering if when Widmore set up this team for the freighter, if he had some part of their past lives being on the island?

One of the other big revelations in this episode is that we learn that Locke had to die. If you remember from last season's finale, Ben told him just before he moved the island that in becoming the new leader also came great sacrifice. Now Locke must give up his life in order to protect the island and all the people. But we know that Locke truly believes that the island controls his fate, so he would definitely follow these "orders" in wanting to protect the island and its inhabitants.

I still have a tiny bit of distrust with Ben, though. I'm wondering if he knows something more and is not entirely truthful about everything and the reasons for bringing everyone back to the island. He knew exactly what was going to happen when he moved the island. He also knows about what "bad things" could potentially happen if he does not get the Oceanic Six back to the island again, so he seems desperate to do anything to get them there. (I also think it was Ben who "staged" the lawyers to scare Kate about the blood test with Aaron...as that would be a surefire way to get her to agree to go back to the island.) However, now that Hurley has been arrested, it is going to be more difficult to get them all back. And as the old woman tells Ben at the end (how many of you recognized her from the jewelry store where Desmond went to buy Penny the ring?) - she tells Ben that he only has 70 hours to make it happen, or "God help us all." So, I think this is going to be the theme pretty much of the entire 5th season...getting the six of them back to the island. Looks like it's going to be a great season!!!