The premiere episode of the final season of Lost has gotten better and better as I’ve thought about it the last few days. I think it just took me some time to get my mind back in that weird, puzzling, obsessive place where the mysteries of Lost challenge me to think. 10 months is too long between episodes.

A few random thoughts and links:

Damon and Carlton were on Jimmy Kimmel after the premiere. It is well worth watching. Jimmy asked them to say whether a series of things in the episode were coincidence or significant. It’s pretty darn revealing and some of what is significant is surprising. They are on about halfway into the show. They also announce that May 23rd, which is a Sunday, will be the final episode.

http://abc.go.com/watch/jimmy-kimmel-live/93521/250056/jimmy-kimmel-live-22?cid=fullepisodeaccess

There is something more going on than just two timelines. It seems like much of the “stuff” that crashed on the island is not there on the if-we-didn’t-crash timeline. Jack’s dad, Locke’s knives, the second bottle of vodka the stewardess gave Jack and Kate used to sterilize his wound. This timeline is a close approximation of time without a crash. But something is wrong. It’s almost like someone copied a painting with some colors missing from their palette.

I’m not convinced the white flash was a nuclear bomb going off. A bomb would have blown up everything and everyone. Yet even Juliette, who was laying next to the bomb, was still alive. That’s not how bombs work. I think the Island moved in space and time before the bomb went off. Not sure why or who was behind it. But I think the bomb is a red herring.

Here are links to two columns by EW’s Jeff Jensen. This guy is amazing. His columns last year consistently challenged my thinking. He generally does an amazing recap column every morning after the show airs. Here are this week’s. (How in the world is this guy so well read?)

http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/02/02/lost-premiere-damon-carlton/

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20313460_20341211,00.html?xid=email-whattowatch-lastnight-%27Lost%27+recap%3A+What%27s+your+worldview%3F

My former partner at Paste, Josh, has a good column on Lost As Religious Allegory. He’s no Jeff Jensen, but his personal theology is probably a little better.

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2010/02/high-definition-lost-as-religious-allegory.html

I believe there is a moment in one of the Back To The Future movies where there are logically five DeLoreans. We seem to have ended up with three Lockes at the same time. Dead Locke, Smoke Monster Locke (Smock?) and Locke in a wheelchair.

Some people are saying Jacob is in Sayid the same way Smock is in Locke. I don’t think so. But I am willing to predict that by the end of the season, Jacob will be in Jack. I think the Island is a big backgammon game between white and black. Locke is black. Jack is the logical choice to become his new foil. You heard it here first…

The lines I can’t get out of my head, but don’t understand:

“They are coming.” Spoken by Jacob as he died. Who are they?

“It worked.” Miles says this is the important thing Juliette tried to say. Is he telling the truth? What, exactly, worked? The bomb? I don’t think so.

Really looking forward to next week. I think my head is getting in the right place.

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We have a group that gathers every week to eat dinner and watch Lost together. Here are some random links to stuff we read or watched before the premiere. Some really thoughtful stuff on Lost and faith and some really funny stuff.

http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctmovies/2010/01/ct-at-the-lost-premiere-in-haw.html

http://www.newsweek.com/id/231794 http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s10/lost/tubetalk/a198286/qa-team-darlton-talk-lost-season-six.html

http://entertainment.comedy.com/2010/01/20/italian-family-lost-recap/

http://blog.zap2it.com/frominsidethebox/2010/01/lost-the-final-session—-live-blog-from-press-tour.html

http://www.theonion.com/content/video/final_season_of_lost_promises_to