At long last, Lost begins its final season. Opening up where season five left off, we see the detonation of the nuclear device, Jughead, and its immediate aftermath. In many ways, the two rival theories about the consequences of the detonation are fulfilled, which should leave some fans pleased, some fans angry and casual viewers completely … well, lost.  Sorry, I just had to work that pun in.

Serious spoilers follow. Turn back while you still can or suffer the consequences.

The show opens with Jack back aboard Oceanic Flight 815 in what appears to be the moments before the crash. The plane hits turbulence and just as it’s about to tear apart — it doesn’t. It seems that Jack’s plan to re-write history worked. To prove this, the camera flies out the Jack’s window straight to the ocean floor, where we see the submerged ruins of Dharmaville/New Otherton and, not unsurprisingly, the foot of the statue.

But then Kate wakes in a tree on the Island, and quickly finds Jack and Sawyer, who are unconscious next to a giant crater. Except, it’s not a hole caused by a nuclear detonation — it’s instead the hole caused by the destruction of the Swan Station, still referred to by the cast four years on as “Desmond’s Hatch.”  Suddenly, it seems that the opening sequence was just Jack’s fantasy of what he wanted to happen.  In reality, the plan he took from Daniel Farraday failed.

Except, paradoxically,  it really didn’t. Each year since the end of season three, Lost has used different framing devices to illuminate aspects of the characters and the plot. The first three seasons used flashbacks to show how the 815 survivors eventually got to the Island — and season four used flashforwards to show how six of those survivors got off the Island. Season five followed one group of characters as they traveled through the Island’s history, finally settling in the Dharma Initiative era, while the Oceanic Six return to the Island in the present.

Now Lost is using two parallel and contradictory timelines as its framing device — one in which detonating Jughead caused the Island to be destroyed so that Oceanic Flight 815 never crashed, and another where “what happened happened” and the survivors are still stuck on the Island, now more than ever caught between Jacob and the Man in Black. Yet in the timeline where the Oceanic survivors made it to LA, the characters’ lives are still intertwined in ways similar to before — Kate escapes federal custody only to find herself in a cab with a very pregnant Claire, Boone and Locke meet and become acquainted on the plane, Jin and Sun are trapped in the horrible marriage that defined them in the early seasons, Jack still saves Charlie’s life (albeit in a different way) and Doctor Arzt and Frogurt are both still losers.

On the Island, the first portion of the episode is spent trying to rescue Juliet from the rubble, only for her to die in Sawyer’s arms before she can utter an important thing she needs to tell him. Meanwhile, Sayid is dying from the gunshot wounds he took last year, and the ghost of Jacob instructs Hurley to take Sayid to the temple to save him from his wounds. Somewhere along the line, Miles communicates with Juliet’s ghost and learns that her last words were supposed to be “It worked.” Suggesting, of course, that the detonation of Jughead was successful. Then Jack, Kate, Jin, Hurley are captured by the Temple of Doom Branch of the Others, who are lead by the Wise Teacher from the classic television series, Kung Fu. Who incidentally knows English, but insists on speaking Chinese, and whose official translator is a hippie version of Seth Bullock’s old buddy Saul from Deadwood. Sawyer and Miles are captured, too, but conveniently off-screen.

After discovering that Hurley’s guitar case contained a giant wooden Ankh, which itself contained a message to the Temple of Doom Branch of the Others from Jacob instructing them to save Sayid or suffer the consequences, the Wise Leader and Saul from Deadwood lead them into a giant pyramid-style temple where we find a spring that was once clear but now has been contaminated. Sayid is brought into the spring and submerged in the water — he wakes, but they have to wait until an hourglass stops before they can pull him out, which just so happens to drown him. Jack tries to revive him with CPR, but predictably fails.

Back at Jacob’s temple under the foot of the statue, everyone learns that John Locke is really dead and that Jacob is also dead. The weird cultists from last season storm the temple to take down the Man in Black in John Locke’s form, but are unsuccessful — this also gives us the first major reveal of the season, which is to say, the identity of the Smoke Monster. Not to spoil you or anything, but I will now be referring to the Man in Black in John Lock’s form as the Smoke Monster. Take what you will from that.

The Smoke Monster taunts Ben with the knowledge that John Locke’s one admirable quality was that he did not want to leave the Island, and that his last thought before Ben murdered him was “I don’t understand.” It seems tragic that Locke never got any answers, and as evil as the Smoke Monster is, he seems in some way sympathetic to John. One wonders if the vengeance he is clearly about to dole out is in some way partly on John’s behalf. In fact, I can’t help but wonder if the Smoke Monster is really the hero of the show, and that Jacob was just some self-serving douche bag who liked manipulating people to his own ends. We learn that unlike John Locke, however, the Smoke Monster just wants to go home.

The Smoke Monster goes outside, tells Richard Alpert that it’s nice to see him out of his chains, and then beats the living shit out of him. He tells all assembled — including Sun and a hairy-chested Frank Lapidus — that he’s disappointed with them. He then picks up Alpert’s crumpled body and heads off into the jungle, walking past Locke’s lifeless body. One is reminded of Locke in season one carrying boar on his shoulder in much the same way. Perhaps the Smoke Monster plans to eat him?

In the LAX timeline, we learn that things aren’t quite as normal as they appear. Oceanic Air has lost Christian Shepherd’s body — as well as John Locke’s suitcase of knives. At this point, Locke and Jack meet and learn of each other’s situation — Locke, of course, still being in a wheelchair. Locke offers some sage advice — the airline didn’t lose Jack’s dad, they just lost his body. Which makes sense, because one wonders if Jack’s dad’s ghost is still in thrall to the Island, even in this timeline.

Jack asks Locke how he got into the chair — explaining that he’s a spinal surgeon. Locke tells him that what happened was irreversible, that no doctor could help him.

“Nothing is irreversible,” Jack says. After considering for a second, he hands Locke his card and tells him that he’s welcome to come see him for a free consult whenever he wants. Locke seems to consider this, the spark of hope appearing in his eyes. One wonders if Jack and Locke will redeem one another in this timeline, when they clearly could not in the Island timeline. The thought of this makes one tear up a little bit, because one really loves these two characters and wants to see them help each other.

Back on the Island, Saul and his Temple of Doom Branch buddies tell Jack that they have something to say in private. Now completely and totally screwed up, Jack tells them they can tell him right there in front of everyone. The ToDB Others threaten to drag him away, causing Jack Shepherd to unleash a little of his own personal Jack Bauer on their sorry hippie asses. Just as things start to get interesting, Hurley calls attention to the fact that Sayid has somehow come back to life.

Except Sayid’s voice is a bit … different.

Lost.

I was desperately afraid that Carlton and Damon would hit the reset button with this episode — and they did. Yet, they also didn’t. The idea of two parallel timelines is an interesting device through which to end the show. Will the two timelines converge, or will they offer two very different sets of resolutions for our characters? In some ways this is a cop-out, but it’s also challenging and very satisfying — forcing the audience to decide on how they want things to end. I guess we’ll see more as the show progresses.

The revelation of the Smoke Monster’s identity, although not what the Smoke Monster actually is, was not a huge surprise, though I didn’t expect it this early. Locke’s death is even more tragic than before, but Locke’s potential rehabilitation in the other timeline offers some consolation. And Jack also has the opportunity for redemption, despite feeling responsible for almost everything that’s gone wrong in the Island timeline.

And is Sayid really back, or is Jacob now going to be walking around in his form, just like the Smoke Monster is walking around in Locke’s?  I guess we’ll find out soon enough.

All and all, much stronger and more character-focused than last season — I’m still a little iffy about the Wise Teacher and the Temple of Doom Branch of the Others, who I suspect will be around awhile. The two timelines are likely going to confuse a hell of a lot of casual and mainstream viewers, and for that I tip my hat to the Darlton Team for once again offering the most intellectually challenging show on mainstream television. Enjoy it while it lasts, because we may not every see something like it again.

This week’s show earns a much-deserved five out of five Walts.