Previously on Lost…

Season 2

With a Surprise in Every Box – Episode 2.1 Man of Science, Man of Faith

One thing the Lost creators know how to do is open a season properly. Where the first season stumbled a bit at the finish (sure they popped the hatch but what the hell is in it?), Lost didn’t waste time when Season 2 started up. In a move that would become a signature moment for the series at the onset of each new year, they dropped us in strange environs with a character we’ve never seen before – throwing off our bearings as we seek to re-establish contact with the show after a long summer siesta.

Where are we? Who is that strange guy on the bike? What’s up with the vintage Mama Cass soundtrack, and what does it all mean?

That’s where we found ourselves in the opening moments of Season 2. What appeared to be a cool, retro apartment or just another trip in the Way Back machine thanks to the flashback device, became the answer we’d pondered all throughout the break. Desmond, a mysterious dude who kept appearing in Jack’s flashback, was the secret in the hatch – trapped there for years to mind the shop and potentially serve his role in a grand scientific experiment.

This intro was significant because it added so many new layers to the mystery of the island. The DHARMA Initiative suddenly became a huge driving force. What were they doing on the island? What were they studying, and where had they gone? Their eerie underground Epcot Center with the archaic computer that needed resetting every 108 minutes posed more delicious questions that we were eager to chomp down on – and suddenly, with the simple reveal of a shaggy dude who called everyone “brother” in the box, we began to suspect sinister motives behind everyone and everything. The Others no longer felt like the biggest threat in this place and the island’s health suddenly felt vital to the survival of the planet. Not bad for a season opener.

I’m Not Stopping for Directions – Episode 2.17 Lockdown

By this point, we were under the spell of the mysterious Henry Gale aka Benjamin Linus, who apparently blew over to the island all Wizard of Oz style. Michael Emerson’s portrayal of Gale, a character that was only supposed to be around for a few eps, proved so electric that the creators wrote him in as the pivotal puppet master behind so much of the madness to come. Or is he the puppet? Later episodes would color definite shades of gray to Ben’s pitch black beginnings.

This episode may have focused on the growing alliance between Locke and Henry/Ben, but the key moment is the sequence where Locke gets pinned down beneath a crashing blast door. As Henry/Ben works to sever the juice and free Locke, a brief power failure turns the lights out on Locke. In the darkness, he spies a mysterious map, written in day-glo ink – on the ceiling, providing him with a cryptic map of the island, including references to other hatches, a temple and something called Cerberus – which in Greek mythology is the guardian of Hades. Could that be Old Smokey?

It was a huge moment for Locke whose wavering faith is reaffirmed, and a giant carrot for the hungry audience who suddenly had a mammoth mystery to chew on as soon as the high def screen grabs hit the Net.