Season Premiere, Initial Reaction to "LA X (Parts 1 & 2)"

WOW. After about 18 hours, and watching it for a second time, I'm still trying to process last night's episode. You would think that after about Five Seasons of an intricate and confusing Television Show, that it would be a little less confusing and hard to wrap your brain around in its Final Season. Nope. I am more confused now than ever before, which is not to say that I don't like where it is headed or that I don't have some theories on said-heading. The biggest thing that I feel coming out of last night's Season Premiere of LOST is that I am proud to say that I watch this show. Sure, sometimes it makes me want to bang my head against a wall, and sometimes I don't agree with the turns it takes, BUT. This show is fearless, and perhaps the most fearless Television Show to ever grace Network Television. It's not afraid to shock us. It's not afraid to kill of our main characters. Hell, it's not even afraid to make an ISLAND a main character, move it through space and time, create an alternate timeline, and then sink it to the bottom of the ocean. For that, I am proud, because LOST doesn't assume that I am not intelligent enough or that I don't have the patience to be challenged into venturing into the unknown. This is one of the many reasons that LOST is not just a Television Show. It is knowledge. It is infinite possibilities. It's not afraid to take risks, to take a chance, to teach us something about ourselves. And as much as I will be so sad when this show ends, I am glad that it's ending.

From Lostpedia

"It only ends once, everything else is just progress."

That being said, here are some of my thoughts, questions, and theories on last night's Final Season Premiere, "LA X (Parts 1 & 2)" (Keep in mind that I wrote some of these while watching, then formulated theories shortly after.):

Questions:

• Does Jack know that something happened, that something is different?
• What is Desmond doing on the plane?
• What exactly happened in 1977 after the bomb went off?
• Were those from 1977 flashed to present day with Ben and Sun?
• Did the bomb go off or did it cause the incident?
• Why is the island under water?
• How and when did the island submerge? Was it caused by never building The Swan?
• Why does Jack have blood on his neck when he's on the plane?
• Why are things before Oceanic Flight 815 different?
• How can Hurley see Jacob? Why not anyone else?
• Did Juliet forget who Sawyer was? Why?
• What did Juliet have to tell Sawyer that was so important?
• Where did Desmond go? Why did he disappear off the plane?
• Is Desmond still time traveling somehow? Was he even there?
• Where is Christian Shephard's coffin? What happened to his body?
• Why didn't the others kidnap Ben and (fake) Locke when they went to The Temple?
• Who is the leader at The Temple?
• Why did Juliet say that it worked? How does she know?
• If it worked, then why, and how are they still on the island?
• Did Juliet see the future somehow? 
• Why did Jacob give the guitar case to Hurley?
• What is the significance of the ankh?
• What did the paper inside the ankh say?
• What happens if Sayid dies?
• Was Jin planning a getaway for he and Sun when they got to Los Angeles?
• Why was the water in the pool brown?
• Why did they drown Sayid instead of healing him?
• Was Claire pregnant in the taxi?
• Why did Jacob tell Hurley to bring Sayid to The Temple if the others were just going to kill him anyway?
• Where does the "Man in Black" want to go? Where is home?
• Why was Richard Alpert in chains? Was he a slave on the Black Rock
• What did the others want to talk to Jack about?
• Is Sayid Jacob now? If not, then who is he?
• How are the island story and the off-island stories going to merge together?

Notes:

• In this alternate timeline, Jack is the one that's shaken by the turbulence when they're flying, and Rose is the one that assured him that everything would be okay.
• Jack seemed as if he knew something was going on, perhaps experiencing deja vu.
• Cindy gives Jack one bottle of vodka instead of two.
• Captain Seth Norris (Greg Grunberg) is heard making announcements on the plane.
• On the plane, Desmond is reading the book "Haroun and the Sea of Stories" by Salman Rushdie.
• It was a little annoying seeing Juliet insulting the hydrogen bomb like three times in a row. 
• I have no idea how they're still on the island, yet the plane never crashed. How does that work exactly?
• The way they did the after-bomb scene was really well-done. I totally felt like I couldn't hear anything, in fact, it kind of freaked me out a little.
• Is it me or were there about a million "Outback" commercials during this episode? Every time one was on I thought it was going to be Hurley's commercial for Mr. Cluck's. Also, Dr. Arzt harassing him on the plane about it was pretty funny.
• Hurley says that nothing bad ever happens to him. Interesting...
• Hurley saying "I've got a gun! And I know how to shoot it!" made me laugh endlessly. The way that he said it just made me think of him singing "I've got legs, and I know how to use them..."
• Locke and Boone talk on the plane. Boone tells Locke that if their plane crashes, he'll stick with him.
• Um, no, Boone, don't stick with Locke. It ends up getting you killed.
• Boone says that he went to Australia to get his sister out of a relationship, but she didn't need saving.
• Locke actually went on the walkabout.
• Jacob said "I was killed by an old friend who grew tired of my company."
• Sayid's Passport is Iranian, not Iraqi. I do not think this is a mistake.
• When Charlie was saved by Jack, he regained consciousness and said "Am I alive?" which is what Dominic Monaghan had written on his hand when he appeared at San Diego Comic-Con 2009.
• The DHARMA shark, Ezra James Sharkington was underwater when we saw the island.
• Also, the DHARMA barracks, pylons and the four-toed foot were seen underwater. 
• Bram is dead. I didn't really like him that much anyway.
• "I'm sorry you had to see me like that." Brilliant!
• I don't like that they brought Juliet back just to kill her off again, though her saying that "it worked" is interesting.
• People. Listen. Juliet didn't detonate a hydrogen bomb. She detonated its core.
• Rose isn't wearing her wedding ring around her neck. 
• Rose was reading a magazine on the plane that read "the truth is out there..." 
• Seeing dead Montand in the cave of The Temple was pretty awesome.
• The Temple looks more Mayan than Egyptian.
• Come on, Edward Mars. You can't be that stupid.
• Sun doesn't speak English.
• I'm very sad that Sayid is dead. He's my favorite original survivor of Oceanic Flight 815.
• Jack trying to save Sayid was much like when he saved Charlie after Ethan hanged him.
• I'm also kind of angry that Sayid, nor did John Locke get a proper death. I'm wondering where they're going with that.
• Of all the things that change, Frogurt is still annoying.
• Walt, Michael, Shannon, Vincent, Mr. Eko, Ana Lucia, Nikki, Paulo, Libby and the kids are not known to be on the plane, though Boone does mention Shannon staying behind in Australia.
• Claire is not seen on the plane either, but is seen in the taxi cab that Kate gets in when she's running from the Marshal, so it can be assumed that she was on the plane.
• I find it rather interesting that Desmond appears in the first half of the episode, then disappears, and then Claire appears out of nowhere in the second half. I'm not sure if this has any parallels, but it's just something that I took notice of.
• We finally get an answer as to what the circle of ash is.
• What the "Man in Black" says about John Locke is really sad, but also that he was the only one who realized that his life was better after he got to the island.
• Miles seems to know something about Sayid's body.
• John Locke in the airport seems a lot like himself when he first crashed on the island.
•  Perhaps Locke is one of Jack's patients and Jack does surgery on him so that he is able to walk again. That would be pretty cool.
• The address on Jack's Business Card is 8444 Wilshire Blvd. Apparently, if you look this up on Google Maps Street-View, a film crew can be seen, though it is not known if it is LOST related.
• I'm wondering if the chains in which the "Man in Black" refers to with Richard Alpert are physical chains or metaphorical chains.
• It seems as though John Locke's body will be possessed by the "Man in Black" and Sayid will be possessed by "Jacob" in some way.
• Sayid could be Jacob, but he also could be someone else.
• Even if "Sayid" is still on the show, it's not really him.
• So, I guess it is the zombie season, huh?
• I really hope that we get to see Mr. Eko again this season.
• The Flash "sideways" whooshing sound is different.
• This alternate timeline did not begin with the plane crash, it began with the incident.

I really didn't think that I was going to like this if they actually ended up in Los Angeles and the plane never crashed. I think that they figured out a way to make everyone happy. They didn't crash, but they're still on the island somehow. I'm very interested in seeing where this goes. In fact, I thought I'd have some sort of idea as to where the Final Season would be going, but I'm more confused now than ever.

"I'm going to need to watch that again..."