***FAIR WARNING*** This write-up contains spoilers of last night’s LOST season six episode and it might contain random plot points that are found in many of the preceding seasons. Read on only if you have seen all of the previous seasons as well as last night’s episode in its entirety.

I absolutely love that LOST is back on again. It gives Tuesdays a raison d’etre. Not that I don’t love all the other components of a regular Tuesday, but when 9PM rolls along and all you want to do is veg out in front of some kick-ass TV, LOST is now there to give you that warm and fuzzy feeling.

While last night’s episode didn’t have the epic feel of last week’s three hour season kick-off, it certainly had me buzzing in anticipation. At least it did until I found out that it was going to be a Kate centric episode….god does she bother me…(that I’ll leave for another post) Either way, it provided a few decent moments and a great ‘aha’ ending.

If it weren’t for the inclusion of Claire in Kate’s side story, as well as her emergence on the island at the very end of the episode, I would’ve completely written this episode off as completely useless. I’m guessing that LOST fans all over were slightly frustrated with the pacing and reveals of last night’s ep since Damon Lindelof himself tweeted about the perceived fillerishness of the episode by hardcore LOST fans:

For those of you complaining of “filler.” Seriously. PLEASE WATCH NCIS: LOS ANGELES. I promise not to hold it against you.

There were two main things that were revealed in last night’s ep. The first is that Sayid and Claire have been infected by a virus that is essentially taking them over to the dark side. The second is that it appears that the sideways universe in which the crash survivors land at LAX is somehow connected to what is transpiring on the island.

The virus: Aside from a few strings that I can remember noticing in season four, this virus thing is completely out of left field. As of last night, Sayid is the first character that we know who is supposedly infected with this virus. Claire being the second. It seems that Sayid was infected once he was shot, then died, and was resurrected in that dirty water bath. Claire on the other hand, we have no idea how and didn’t know this was the case until the Japanese guy tells Jack. Thinking back, Claire’s subservience to Christian when John visits Jacob in season four is a clear indication that something foul is at play. It reinforces my belief that it all has something to do with the Man in Black and that he is the one ‘infecting’ people and taking them over to the dark side. The fact that the water bath is so dirty also leads me to believe that the Man in Black has dirtied the water in an attempt to spread this ‘darkness’ within the ranks of the Others. It will be very interesting to see what happens now that Claire has resurfaced on the island as a gun toting Rousseau-esque jungle person.

Off-island: Kate seemed to recognize Jack when she was escaping from the cops and the US Marshall in the cab… (did I image this or did it happen?) how awesome will it be if all of the characters begin to recognize each other and are then able to manipulate directly what transpires on the island? This is purely hypothetical but it does lend itself as a decent segway into how things are happening in LA in the sideways universe. Nothing here really happened but we did get to see Kate and Claire’s relationship off island and we can see that it might have something to do with what happened on the island. Since Kate stuck with Claire, took her to the adoptive parent’s house, and then took her to the hospital, I’m wondering if that is the reason that Claire and Kate meet on the island at the very end of the episode.

I am finding it very difficult to get inspired by this episode. I can agree with anyone that sees this episode as having a ton of filler but on the other hand, LOST is, and has always been about the small details and the slow burn. Either way, I can’t wait for episode four!

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