LOST 5.6 - "316"
Well, we're back on Craphole Island for the week, and in more ways than one... thanks to Ajira Airlines. Tonight's episode dealt with the return to the island by the Oceanic 6 after a meeting with the ever so creepy Eloise Hawking. I loved how we opened the show with Jack in the jungle, much like the first few scenes of the series in general.
The references to the Chronicles of Narnia continued to remain heavy as the "listening" station for the island was so appropriately named "The Lamppost". For those who aren't up to date on their C.S. Lewis, the Lamppost is what was used to find the way back to the wardrobe and vice-versa in Narnia, just like the station was used to find the island.
Anyways, back to important things. Eloise gave us a huge bit of information/exposition in regards to a connected series of electromagnetic pockets all over the world (Tunisia, we're also looking in your direction) along with the fact the island was always moving through time and space. Still, it did suck to be Desmond when she dropped the bomb that the island wasn't done with him. Poor Desmond... he should know the island always gets what it wants.
Jack's solo conversation with Eloise also dropped some major bits, especially considering the fact that John, dead from his own hanging, has to be the substitute for Christian on the flight... thus probably progressing John into "Ghost Christian's" role on the island, just like Christian did when they initially crashed (Probably why he was on the bender as well - intentionally killing himself).
We got some mysterious/cryptic stuff following that, especially with Jack's grandfather and Kate, who is now somewhow without Aaron (Let the theories fly!). Jack's grandfather is an interesting angle, and I know some are probably thinking he could be Jacob. He just so happened to have Christian's "death" shoes so that comes in handy for Locke, who has to replicate Christian's condition as much as possible. As for Kate, there is a whole slew of things that could have been done to Aaron - send him to Korea, send him to Australia, etc.
The airport tie-backs to the initial flight were also a nice touch (Sayid with the Marshall... Hurley as "Charlie" with the guitar, Ben as Charlie in the bathroom). Frank being the pilot was a predictable but nice touch as well, considering he was supposed to be flying the original 815 flight. His reaction to seeing the Oceanic 6 was priceless, and "We're not going to Guam, are we?" earns line of the night. John's suicide note to Jack was a pretty heavy guilt trip, although we will see the stages of John's journey leading to his death next week.
And instead of a crash... the plane "shifted" in time to meet up with the other survivors... in trippy DHARMA time. Now it's going to be setting things up for the "first" crash, in my opinion.
Next week... John's "final" journey.