Lost: Season 5 Premiere "Because You Left" Review

"You're gonna have to die, John."

-Richard Alpert

Season 5 of Lost starts off in 1977.  We see Pierre Chang (François Chau) filming the orientation video for the Arrow Dharma station, but is interrupted by a problem at the Orchid.  He orders the construction team to stop drilling any further towards a pocket of energy.  One of the men at the Orchid is revealed to be Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies).

In 2007, Jack (Matthew Fox) and Ben (Michael Emerson) prepare to start recruiting everyone to return to the Island, but news breaks of the murder at Santa Rosa and Hurley (Jorge Garcia) is the prime suspect.  Hurley and Sayid (Naveen Andrews) make it to a safe house, where Sayid tells Hurley to do the opposite of anything Ben tells him to do.  They are attacked by two men.  Sayid manages to kill both of them, but is shot with a sleeping dart in the process and they have to flee.

Kate (Evangeline Lilly) is approached by two lawyers with a warrant for a blood test of both her and Aaron (William Blanchette).  Kate refuses to let them in her house before fleeing with Aaron.

Sun (Yunjin Kim) is detained at the airport and confronted by Charles Widmore (Alan Dale).  They discuss their common interest, which turns out to be killing Ben.

Back on the Island in 2004, Daniel gets the Zodiac back to the beach just after the Island was moved.  The survivors are shocked to discover their camp is gone.  They are stuck with just the clothes in their backs.  Daniel takes Sawyer (Josh Holloway), Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), Charlotte (Rebecca Mader), and Miles (Ken Leung) to the Hatch and explains that they have become unstuck in time.  The flashes continue which move them to various points in time.  Sawyer attempts to get into the Hatch to get supplies from Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), but Daniel tells him that no matter what they do, they can't change the past.  Sawyer gives up and takes the group back to camp, except for Daniel, who stays behind and manages to get in contact with Desmond because the normal rules do not apply to Desmond.  Daniel tells Desmond to go to Oxford and find Daniel's mother to save everyone trapped on the Island.

In 2007, Desmond wakes up with a new memory and sets sail for Oxford.

Back in 2004, Locke (Terry O'Quinn), who was in the middle of a conversation with Richard (Nestor Carbonell), comes through the flash to find the Others have all vanished.  He witness the Beechcraft crash and ends up getting shot by Ethan (William Mapother) before the flash moves him through time again.  Richard finds him and gets the bullet out of his leg.  Richard gives him a compass for Locke to give to Richard the next time they run into each other because Richard will not recognize Locke.  He also tells Locke that he needs to bring everyone who left back to the Island and will only be able to do that if he dies.

What Works:

Season 5 if where Lost goes really off the rails with the sci-fi elements.  This was a very risky direction for the show to go in, but I think it works well.  It adds some chaotic danger to the Island and lets us see past events without flashbacks.  It's an awesome story element that hits the ground running here.  This could have been confusing to general audiences, but Daniel's explanations are solid enough, if a bit long, that I was never confused.

The acting is solid across the board, but the big standouts here are Josh Holloway and Jeremy Davies.  Davies has the most he has ever had to do to this point on the show and it's nice seeing him in a leadership role.  We get to see Sawyer's guilt and devastation come through due to believing everyone on the chopper is dead and him lashing out at Daniel is the most emotional moment of the episode.

Richard's conversation with Locke is extremely impactful because it seems like Locke really is dead.  Death is threatened to main characters on TV shows all the time, but that doesn't mean anything.  Now that we know Locke's clock is ticking, every second we have with him because all the more precious.

Off island, we don't get much, just a quick check-in with everyone, but the fight at the safe house is awesome.  I'm always up to see badass Sayid in action and he gets one of his best kills ever with the knives in the dishwasher.  Definitely my favorite part of the episode. 

Finally, seeing Daniel appear back in 1977 blew my mind.  I had no idea what it meant at the time, but I knew it was exciting and couldn't wait to see how we would get there.

What Sucks:

My only complaint about this episode is that it is very much a setup episode.  It's setting the table for the rest of the season.  It's a lot of check-ins and exposition.  It's necessary to do, but it doesn't leave a lot of room to propel the story forward and it left some characters with almost nothing to do.

Platinum Polar Bear

The Platinum Polar Bear goes to the most competent character of the episode.  For "Because You Left," this award goes to Daniel Faraday for getting the S.O.S. message out to Desmond.  This is Daniel's first time winning this award, which ties him for 18th place with Boone, Libby, Bernard, Alex, The Man in Black, Richard, and Tom.

Verdict:

"Because You Left" is a really solid season premiere with a great introduction to a complicated story element.  Holloway and Davies are great, we get some well done emotional moments, and an awesome fight sequence to boot.  There was probably a little too much setup for my taste, but it's a necessary evil in television.  Either way, this episode has definitely got it going on.

 9/10: Great