TVSquad

(S05E16/S05E17) "See you in Los Angeles." - Jack

I'm not really sure where to begin, but I think this is a pretty good starting point: holy crap. Just like every season finale before this one, Lost has once again left us all with our jaws on the floor and our brains on overdrive. This changes everything. The big question? How does it change everything? Is it January yet?

(S05E15) "I have a purpose now." - Locke

I can't believe how fast this season of Lost has gone by. There's probably a time-travel joke buried in that realization somewhere, but my head is still spinning from "Follow the Leader," so I'm not really in clever witticism mode. Honestly, I'm speechless. For the most part, this wasn't one of my favorite episodes of the season. But for me to be at a loss for words at one of Lost's sub-par installments - well that says something about the quality of this show. "Follow the Leader" was a lot of set up for next week's two hour finale and the events that have been set in motion (even though it seems they always happened) are mind-numbing.

(S05E14) "Well, I got some bad news for you Jack. You don't belong here at all. She was wrong." - Faraday

After listening to Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof ranting in last week's Lost audio podcast, I didn't expect "The Variable" to be this much of a game changer. Everything we thought we knew about the island, time travel, and course correcting - it all got turned upside down. I think it's safe to say that the 100th episode of Lost is going to be remembered for more than just its milestone significance.

(S05E13) "That douche is my dad." - Miles

I've been waiting for an episode like this. We've gotten close to nothing when it comes to backstory on the freighter folk and had it not been for the writer's strike, I'm guessing that "Some Like it Hoth" (or at least something Miles related) would have aired during season four. Last time we got any substantial info on Miles' orgins was "Confirmed Dead" and all that filled us in on was ghost whisperin' powers and his conscience - ripping people off doesn't come easy for him. We got a helluva lot more info this time around.

(S05E12) "Well... John, we don't even have a word for it. But I believe you call it 'the monster'" - Ben

Wow, I'm not quite sure where to begin. This wasn't one of the best episodes of Lost (for lack of a better term, it was safe), but I walked away from it feeling enlightened. It's not often that Lost leaves you with more answers than questions.

That being said, I still have a ton of f%#k&$g questions.

Remember a couple of weeks when we told you that Lost producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and ABC were holding a contest for fans of the show to give the season finale a quirky name? Every season finale of the show has gone by a code name: season one had "The Bagel" and last season was "The Rattlesnake in the Mailbox." What will this season's finale be called?

The winner has been revealed and it's ... "The Fork in the Outlet." Who knows if this will be literal (after all, what the heck does "The Bagel" have to do with the season one finale?), but I think we're in for something "shocking." I've never put a utensil in an electrical outlet before, but I did touch a light switch with wet hands once and got a jolt. Never again.

I kinda like some of the entries that didn't win, especially "The Droids You're Looking For," and "The Fifth Toe." Maybe they should have named it "Scotty, Beam Me Up," to tie in with J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek flick, also in May.

(S05E11) "Maybe there's something they can do." - Juliet

At the risk of sounding clichéd, I'm gonna say it anyway - all the pieces are coming together. While I didn't particularly care for any of tonight's flashbacks (personally, I've never really gotten into Kate at all), what happened on the island in 1977 was mesmerizing. It's looking more and more like the Oceanic 6 (plus Juliet, Miles, etc.) were directly responsible for, well ... everything.

(S05E10) "A twelve-year-old Ben Linus brought me a chicken salad sandwich. How do you think I'm doing?" - Sayid

Hands down, no doubt about it - best episode of the season. "He's Our You" was much more of a traditional Lost episode, in the sense that we had regular ol' flashbacks. There's been a lot of questions about Sayid (we haven't seen too much of him this season), and this was probably the most sensible way to do it - lay out his current predicament while flashing to all the moments that got him there. Who likes sandwiches?

(S05E09) "Dude, your English is awesome." - Hurley

We've had two weeks to stew on the events of "LaFleur" and maybe that's why I went into "Namaste" expecting so much more. That isn't to say that I was disappointed with the Oceanic Six/Left Behinders reunion. The simplest way to put it is that the nature of the narrative on Lost has forced the show to change so that these are the types of stories that are most organic to the plot now.

The flashbacks from the first few seasons are a distant memory at this point, and it's exciting because for a while now, we've been watching stuff that didn't already happen. Well ... technically it did since they're all in 1977 now, but you get what I mean. One thing is for certain - no matter how you slice it, three years is a long time.

(S05E08) "Yeah, thanks anyway Plato." - Sawyer

I think the best way to describe this episode was safe. Nothing crazy or out of place happened and you knew how it was going to end the second it began. Think of it this way - when we first started watching Lost, it was like dumping a giant puzzle onto the floor. At this point, the entire puzzle is assembled, and for the most part, we can almost see the big picture, save for a bunch of pieces that are still missing. "LaFleur" was one of those pieces.

We won't find the answer to this question on tonight's episode of Lost, but I've been wondering: who is the real bad guy in the Lost power struggle, Ben Linus or Charles Widmore?

On one hand, Ben has done so many evil things that it's hard to see him as a good guy, and killing John Locke last week was probably the ultimate proof that Ben-haters have to name him as the bad guy. But he has also helped the islanders at several points (though we still haven't found out if he's doing that for his own reasons), and is it possible that he killed Locke himself because Locke has to die but can't kill himself for some reason? It's going to be interesting to see Ben wake up from his nap on that bed and see Locke alive again (or will he be surprised)?

(S05E07) "I remember dying." - Locke

I was really excited for this episode. However, and it wasn't bad, but it turns out that the whole mystery surrounding John's alter ego Jeremy Bentham wasn't much of a mystery after all. The entire hour played out as a laundry list of confirmations - things that we either kind-of-sort-of knew based on past episodes or things that most avid fans of Lost assumed to be true anyway. If anything, it was a nice pat of the back because it's always a good feeling to think every now and then, "Hey, I do get this show!"

I'm a sucker for time travel shows. I loved it when Star Trek did it (all of the Star Trek shows did it, several times) and Back to the Future is one of my favorite films. So I'm really enjoying Lost this season, with it's time-tripping and skipping. But I have some problems with it, and so does Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings.

Jennings mentions on his blog that he thinks the writers have actually answered too many questions, which isn't a complaint that you hear from Lost fans too often. He thinks if they had left more plot questions, some of the things that happened in previous seasons "could now be explained as the actions of Future Juliet or Future Sawyer or somebody."

Jennings thinks it's smart that the show has the rule that you can't change what happened, because if something happens a certain way it will always happen that way. But I think the show is breaking that rule here and there.

(S05E03) "Because... he's one of my people." - Locke

I really need to get in the habit of taping my mouth shut while watching Lost because my jaw is always on the floor by the end of every episode. Time-traveling has added an entirely new dimension (literally) to the story-telling techniques of this show and the first three hours of this season have been some of Lost's best. The flash-backs always lacked a certain amount of tension because they already happened. On the flip side of the same coin, the same can be said about the flash-forwards because you know they're going to happen. But time-traveling has created this new ripple where nothing has permanence anymore, whether it happened, is happening, or will happen. This is mesmerizing stuff to watch unfold because everything becomes new the second Faraday, Locke, and Co. make a new jump. They may not be altering the ultimate outcome, but they are altering the moment.

(S05E01) "You're gonna have to die, John." - Richard Alpert

Time travel! The future is now! later! here! gone! beginning! ending! OK, I give up. Lost is back and the future is... well, we don't know what the future is. Or the past. Or the present. All we know is what they were, because now they're just one big time travelin' mess.

As with seasons past of Lost, the fifth chapter of TV's favorite mindf*ck opens by presenting an entirely new storytelling technique - one that demands equal parts patience, attention, and imagination. More than anything, it's a test for true fans because the casual Lost viewer (do they exist?) probably had a hard time moving from A to Z (worst metaphor ever - I know) in tonight's season premiere. That being said, this whole hour gave me my own bloody nose.