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."

1.14 Special

From Lostpedia

1. Walter Lloyd, named after Michael's father, with Susan's last name.
2. Walt uses his mind's eye and throw knife with perfection. From Lostpedia
3. "He's different. As long as we're here, I think Walt should be allowed to realize his potential." Locke
4. Susan wants to take Walt to Amsterdam, there is a painting in the apartment in New York. From Lost Virtual Tour
5. Sayid says that Rousseau's maps are a location on the island, not of the island.
From Lost Hatch
6. Michael says no one is coming, that they should stop making a home on the island, build a raft.
7. Walt reads comic book with polar bear, Michael throws it in the fire because he's not listening. Walt stares at it and the polar bear appears later. From Lostpedia
8. Brian Porter, moving to Italy with Susan from Amsterdam, want to adopt Walt.
9. Michael gets hit by a car, Pontiac Bonneville, after talking to Susan. From Lostpedia
10. Walt studies birds and bird crashes into glass door. From Lost Hatch
11. Susan dies of a blood disorder. She was only sick for about a week. Brian tells Michael he doesn't want Walt, to come to Sydney and get him.
12. "There's something about him. Sometimes when he's around, things happen. He's different somehow." Brian
13. Walt's nanny gives Michael a box in Sydney when he takes Walt. From Lostpedia
14. "He found his way back to you once, he will again." Locke
15. Michael gives Walt the box with the cards and letters he sent him over the past 8 years.
16. Charlie says Claire's diary says "I had that dream again, the one with the Black Rock that I can't get away from." He tells Sayid and Jack about it when they're studying Rousseau's maps.
17. Claire comes back when Boone and Locke are looking for Vincent.

Questions:

1. How and why is Walt special?
2. Did Locke transfer his ability to Walt when he touched him?
3. Does Michael think Walt is special?
4. Was the painting in the apartment done by Michael?
5. Did Walt make the bird crash into the window?
6. Did he make his mother sick?
7. Did he make the polar bear appear on the island?
8. Why did Susan want Michael out of Walt's life?
9. What do the dreams on this island mean?

Favorites:

1. "I am being punished?" Walt "What, working with your old man is punishment?" Michael "It feels like punishment." Walt
2. Kate and Charlie looking in Sawyer's tent. "Trick or Treat." Sawyer
3. Charlie hits Sawyer's wound, Sawyer hits him back. "You hit like a ponce." Charlie
4. Charlie reading Claire's diary.

Notes:

1. Shannon tries to make an effort toward Boone, but he wants nothing to do with her anymore.
2. Micheal tries to make an effort to treat Walt more like an adult, but he wants nothing to do with it.
3. Vincent wasn't supposed to be on the plane. Michael tells Walt he can have him even though it's Brian's dog.
4. Micheal decides to start building the raft.