Blown up by a meteor??!

Dear Arrow, Pearl and Hydra,

There are a few rules in place about this blog that I think we failed to establish to you, our readers, in our excitement and anticipation in the week prior to the Lost Premiere. We'll call that time BP (Before Premiere). In the times of BP, we decided that once Season 6 began, we would post in order (Hydra, Swan, Arrow, Pearl) alternating who goes first each episode. The first person each week has to post within the first two hours of having watched the new episode in their timezone, to make one of the posts each week a gut reaction.

This week, that person is me.

I think that aside from probably the Finale (my heart goes out to whichever of us has to post first that week; just my luck it will probably be me), this is going to be the hardest week to take on that role. Not only am I reeling from a new episode, new information, seeing old and new characters -- I'm also feeling incredibly overwhelmed at the very prospect of receiving something we've been waiting for for so long. There's always a lot of strange emotions around that moment you get what has been built up and anticipated for so long - presents on Christmas morning, the last book in your favorite series, seeing a friend or loved one you haven't been around in a long time - and this episode of Lost, the start of the final series, felt like that for a lot of us.

It's like what Arrow was saying - in fact, I am just going to quote you, Arrow, because I liked what you said so much:

"So if Season 6 of LOST is a roller coaster, the appreciate the moment we're at now: enjoying the view before 4 months of twists and turns that will probably leave us trying to hold in our lunch."

There have been a lot of naysayers recently; those people who stopped watching Lost around Season 3, or those who never got into it at all. I even saw on my twitter feed today someone posted, "I can't wait for this Season of Lost. Because then everyone will finally stop talking about it." All I have to say to that is that I'm sorry they missed out on this incredible experience we've all shared watching this show together. At the end of the day it's just a TV show, but I've bonded with my family, my roomates, and with friends all over the world through this show. It's something we all love; something we all share.

And all of this emotional mush was my very roundabout way of saying that THIS Lostie's "gut reaction" was much more about the emotional experience of watching this episode tonight rather than real insightful commentary. So bear with me, readers. I'm sure our other 3 writers will bestow all sorts of knowledge upon you in the coming days, but tonight we're going to talk about how Lost made us FEEL.

Like Hydra, I watched with a pad of paper and a pen. Here are the notes I took:

- Watching the 1-hour recap made me feel really nostalgic for the lives of these people we all feel like we know so well.
- Mr. Cluck's destroyed by a meteor? LOL. I'd forgotten.
- Jack's face on the plane in the very first scene = only 30 seconds in and already a huge WTF moment.
- All day I have been telling people I thought they were just going to replay Season 1 since the bomb "reset" everything (har har). When the plane was going through turbulence and Jack was talking to Rose, I feared for a second I was right. Thank god I wasn't.
- Desmond on the plane???
- Island under water???
- TWO TIMELINES???
- ARNST!!!

Favorite line of the episode: "I'm sorry you had to see me like that" -Esau/ManInBlack/Locke

I am finding that aside from using a lot of questions marks and exclamation points, my initial processing of the show is a very stream of conscience series of OMG's and WTF's. I definitely need more time to process this episode than my allotted two hours. But! I think the gut reaction is fun and makes for an interesting perspective (capturing the feeling accompanying our first viewings of these episodes) so I like this rule.

I guess the most insight I can give you is this:
Biggest questions I have so far are --
1. If (since) fake John Locke is Esau, where is "home" for him? (re: the line at the end where he says he wants to go home)
2. Who saved Sayid/Why did he survive/why didn't it work/what happened there?
3. Why was Desmond on the plane?
4. Are there actually two timelines running right now, and if so, are there two of each of these characters on the planet now?

And with this, I will leave you. I am waking up early tomorrow to get on a flight, coincidentally, and you can bet I'll be looking at the faces of everyone with me on that plane and judging who would survive on an Island and who wouldn't. As if we all don't do that already each time we fly.

Until next week,

The Swan