After months of speculation, the final season of Lost finally premieres...and leads to more speculation. Many theorized that the bang at the end of season five would undo everything so that the original flight would land safely. Others thought that nothing would happen. But how many of you correctly guessed that both would occur? Think of it like a beam of light hitting the surface of a pond. Some of the light will reflect away at a different angle, but a fraction of the light will continue on its original path. These are the two realities that are now presented to us in season six.

Actually, that's not strictly accurate. At first, we're led to believe that the original plane ride goes off without a hitch, but then we notice a few weird things. For starters, Desmond is on the plane where he wasn't originally. Boone is there, but Shannon stayed behind in Australia. And all the while, Jack is on the verge of remembering something that he can't quite put his finger on. And then there's the wound on his neck. Where did that come from? It's becoming clear that this instance on the plane is some sort of "What if?" universe, although not a "what if the island didn't exist" because we saw the island at the bottom of the ocean. Perhaps this is more like a "what if everything that happened on the island after 1977 (when Juliet detonated the bomb) never influenced any of these people's lives?" That's probably more like it. Yet there remains some strange behavior. As I noted, Jack almost remembers something but can't put his finger on it. But Rose and Bernard seem to know more than they let on. Yes, all these characters are technically strangers once again, but there's something familiar between them. For instance, when Sawyer facilitates Kate's escape, he seems to know what she's all about. You could say that he picked up on the clues presented to him, but I think it's a bit more than that.

Back on the island, though, things are pretty bad. It's now the present day for our survivors, but Sayid is dying from a bullet wound and Juliet is at the bottom of that pit, near her end as well. Sawyer makes his way to her as she dies and tells him that the plan worked. How could it have worked if they're all stuck here? These characters are not privy to the narrative, otherwise they'd know that a splinter existence is now out there. After that, we learn that the fake Locke (Jacob's enemy) is actually the smoke monster. The ashen circles on the ground are actually protection against him, and not a means to keep something else trapped. And fake-Locke is none too happy to see Richard, whom he beats then drags away. Was Richard once fake-Locke's prisoner, judging by a comment he made about last seeing him in chains?

Finally, Hurley follows Jacob's posthumous orders and brings Sayid to a temple where they're greeted by a whole new cast of characters, including the stewardess from the original flight. What she's doing here, I have no idea. Anyway, this new gang tries to heal Sayid by dunking him in a pool inside the temple, but this only succeeds in drowning him. Until the very end of the episode when Sayid sits up, very much alive. "What happened?" he says. The entire viewing audience is thinking the same thing, my Iraqi friend.

So what's going on with these two realities? How did Juliet know that the plan succeeded when she was very much in the unsuccessful reality, dying? Somehow she had knowledge of the successful reality, just like I suspect Rose, Bernard and maybe Sawyer are. Actually, in the fourth season premiere, Charlie visited Hurley in the mental institution, this being in a flashforward after Charlie was supposed to be dead. In response to this, he says, "I am dead, but I'm here." Does this mean that these flashforwards take place in this sideways reality? Was that Charlie a real live Charlie, the one that Jack just saved in this sixth season premiere? Yet at some point after the plane ride, Charlie also learns of the adventures on the island? It could make sense. Perhaps the two realities are bleeding into each other and eventually, all the major players remember what happened on the other side.

Since we don't have all the facts to support any wild theories yet, it's almost impossible to judge the story. However, the execution and acting remain top notch, especially in scenes where our beloved characters now are complete strangers. Locke and Jack's scene near the end is especially excellent. Locke makes some typically spiritual comments that Jack doesn't reject and Jack mentions that nothing is irreversible, alluding to Locke's spinal cord injury. Locke seems to accept that, as well. Unlike their time on the island, these bitter enemies now are accepting of each other's point of view, giving the clean slate presented to them. And maybe that's what this second chance reality will be all about. Maybe all these characters that led "pitiful lives" (according to fake-Locke) now have a second chance to do the right thing in their lives. Maybe that's what the show will amount to in the end. Maybe it's a long walk to a simple idea, that no matter where you end up in life, it's never too late to do the right thing.

Score