Lost: The Beginning of the End

I'm not going to go so far as to say the Season Four premiere of Lost was worth the wait because that was a really long wait, and I don't want to jinx myself somehow, but this first episode of the new season definitely delivered all the Lost-y goodness Ive been craving for months on end.

Is there a better way to kick off the fourth season of Lost than with a crazy high-speed car chase complete with zooming over fences and crashing into fruit stands? I think not.

Again I got some flash-forwards — this time concentrating on Hurley's experience post-rescue — and they're crazy. Literally. However, the show begins not with Hurley's flash-forward, but with Jack's as he watches the car chase on TV. Also, this flash-forward Jack is way more with it than the last flash-forward Jack was, and he mentions "thinking about growing a beard." So, these scenes are from before the bearded, alcoholic Jack days. Perhaps it's Hurley's funeral Jack attends later?

Now I know that it wasn't just Kate and Jack who were rescued: there's Hurley and probably the three others who make up "The Oceanic Six."

That guy Hurley meets in the mental institution, Matthew Abbadon is a creepy fellow. As is always the case with Lost, a name is not just a name. In Hebrew, Abaddon means 'destruction.' In Job 26:6; Proverbs 15:11 it means 'place of destruction,' or 'realm of the dead.' Many biblical scholars believe Abaddon to be Satan or the antichrist.

Awww . . . Sawyer shows his little softie side again, asking Hurley if he wants to talk about Charlie. "Holler if you need me." Heh . . . I'll holler for ya, Sawyer . . . heh.

The ladies gossip corner with Claire, Rose and Sun is pretty cute; Sun and Claire joshing each other about hospital birth versus island birth, Rose making reference to Claire rewarding Charlie with sex. Bawdy!

The image of the eye is one of the many common motifs in this show. Still, I jumped a mile when that eye popped up in the window as Hurley looked into Jacob's hut. Whose eye is that? And how does the building disappear when Hurley wills it away?

Holy cow, Jack was actually going to shoot Locke in the face! Locke's hurt little expression afterward was oddly comical, though. Maybe that makes me a bad person.

At the mental institution, Hurley paints pictures of an igloo and a bundled up person next to it. Is this just Hurley veering as far away from his tropical island memories as possible — or something more?

I'm curious as to why Naomi covered for the Losties on the phone with George. But I can't say I care that much.

Aw, watching Hurley's big ol' face crumple just breaks my heart. "I'm listening to Charlie. I'm listening to my friend."

And yet again there is a division into two groups. This time it's the Jack vs. Locke round, however, with repercussions extending beyond even the rescue from the island, as Hurley later apologizes to Jack for having chosen Locke's camp.