Pictured, left to right: Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Emilie de Ravin as Claire, Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Terry O'Quinn as Locke, Matthew Fox as Jack, Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, Michael Emerson as Ben, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Ken Leung as Miles and Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus. Photo Credit: Bob D'Amico/ ABC.

Read on for my live blog, edited with comments, for the first hour of Lost‘s season 6 premiere, aired February 2nd, 2010:

Previously on Lost: we learned that Jacob does actually exist (or, ahem, did actually exist) and that white-shirt Jacob has a black-shirt nemesis.  Also, Jacob went around touching all the Losties, and somehow maneuvered them all onto the island.  Back on the mainland, Ben killed Locke, but Locke apparently rose from the dead when his body returned to the island.  However, then we learned that reborn Locke was not really Locke at all, but Fake Locke, or Flocke.  Also, it seemed extremely likely that Flocke was really Jacob’s black-shirt nemesis.  Flocke tricked Ben into killing Jacob.  RIP, Jacob.  Meanwhile, Faraday convinced Jack to blow up a hydrogen bomb in an attempt to stop the plane from ever crashing, and hopefully bring all the passengers of Oceanic flight #815 safely to LAX.  Jack somehow convinced Kate, Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, Hurley, and Sayid to go along with this plan.  Yeah, it made no sense to me either.  Sayid got shot, and Juliet died horribly.  Also, Juliet set off the bomb, and the screen went white.  Then we had to wait eight months to find out what the hell happened.  After this two hour season six premiere, I’m still not quite sure.  But it sure is fun trying to figure it out.  On to the live-blog.

• We open on Jack, on a plane.  He seems like he just came out of a daze, and looks around.  A flight attendant comes to check on him, and it’s Cindy!  Cindy, who joined the Others, and takes care of the kids!  Ah, memories.  She asks him about his drink, and all of a sudden this becomes very familiar.  He repeats his line from the pilot episode, and Cindy replies in kind: “That’s not a very strong reaction.”  Jack: “Well, it’s not a very strong drink.”  So did we reset time, or what?  Turbulence starts up, and Rose is there.  She tells Jack that it’s normal, again, repeating lines from the pilot.  Jack offers to keep her company until her husband gets back from the bathroom.  This is all feeling very déjà-vu, but suddenly things change.  [Apparently, I'm an idiot, and very out of practice with watching Lost.  The lines are the same, but they were switched around.  It's all in the details, I guess.]  The turbulence stops!!!  Rose tells Jack that he can let go, as he has been gripping the arm rests rather intensely.  Jack: “Looks like we made it.”  Rose: “Yeah, we sure did.”  Then Bernard walks up, returning from the bathroom!  He tells his wife: “I almost died in that bathroom.  Now I know how the laundry feels when it’s in the dryer.”  Hee.  Jack gets up to go to the bathroom, after that appealing imagery.  Seriously, Jack?  In the bathroom mirror, he sees that he is bleeding on his neck.  How did that happen?  Why is that significant?  He then goes back and Desmond is in the seat next to his.  What!!!  How did Desmond get on that flight?  Jack assures him that the seat is empty, and explains that he has the window seat.  They both seem to realize that they look familiar, but neither can recall.  So did they not meet in the stadium in this reality?  Is there some kind of chain reaction/ butterfly effect due to the bomb going off, which puts Desmond on that plane?  They introduce themselves to each other, and then Jack is broody and contemplative, gazing out the window.  We then see the clouds and water outside the window.  The camera moves under the ocean, and along the floor, where we see that the island is submerged!!!  Including the three four-toed statue.  Cue the LOST title card.
• Now we see Juliet fall down the hole, all over again, and then she sets off the bomb.  Then we cut to Kate waking up on the island, in a tree.  She is freaked.  Um, can’t she climb trees really well?  Whatever.  She climbs down eventually, and she is in the middle of the jungle, and seems to have trouble hearing.  She calls “Hello!” and then runs into Miles.  Miles: “I can’t hear you.  Are your ears ringing?  What is it?”  Kate: “We’re back.”  Miles: “Back where?”  To the island and the present time, it seems.  They find the site of an explosion, and Kate explains that it’s “the swan hatch, after Desmond blew it up.”  Miles: “I guess we’re not in 1977.”  She finds Jack, and nudges him awake.  Wait, I thought he was on the plane.  What is going on?  He asks what happened, and where they are.  She tells him, and he’s still confused: “What?  They built it?”  Kate: “They built it.”  Sawyer comes out from somewhere and pushes Jack into the hole of the hatch site.  I can’t really blame him.  Sawyer: “You blew us right back where we started.  Except Juliet’s dead.”  Jack says sorry.  Um, yeah, that’s not really gonna cut it, Jack.  Too little, too late.
• Cut back to Jack on the airplane, and he is at the bathroom again.  What is going on with him?  He makes some small talk with the U.S Marshal.  The Marshal!  Then he almost runs into Kate coming out of the bathroom.  The Marshal leads Kate back to her seat, where food awaits.  However, he does not allow her to have a knife and fork.  Take note of his brain at this point, because later he loses it.  Sawyer walks by, and has an appreciative smile for Kate.  I’m sure that these scenes had the Skaters and the Jaters in a tizzy, but I’m neither, so no comment.
• Sawyer walks back to his seat, where he passes Arzt talking to Hurley.  Arzt is trying to convince Hurley do his Australian impression, from the Mr. Cluck’s commercials.  He asks Hurley how a young guy like him owns a corporation.  Hurley: “I won the lottery, I like chicken, so I bought it.”  Sawyer is sitting nearby, and he tells Hurley that he shouldn’t tell people that he won the lottery, as some people might take advantage of him.  Hurley: “Nothing bad ever happens to me.  I’m the luckiest guy alive.  Wow, things really did change for Hurley.
• Cut to a very different, and far less lucky, Hurley, sitting by the van with a bleeding Sayid.  Jin is there too, and he hears Sawyer yelling and goes to find the rest of the gang.  Also, Hurley Jin realizes that they moved through time.  When Jin finds the others, he tells them about Sayid’s condition.  Sawyer quips: “What do you say, Doc?  You got another great idea to save Sayid?  Maybe there’s a nuke lying around.”  It’s not funny, but it kind of is.  However, Sawyer is distracted from the blame game when Kate hears Juliet, and they all start digging.
• Back at the van, Hurley tries to stop Sayid’s bleeding.  He is not very successful.  He hears someone coming, so he stands up and yells that he has a gun, and he knows how to shoot it.  It’s Jacob: “Hi, Hugo.  Got a minute?”
• Cut to Sun and Jin on the plane. Oh, it’s a return to asshole-Jin.  He is annoyed that she is watching other people.  She says that they are so happy.  Subtext: unlike them.  He tells her to button her sweater.  Oh, the sweater-buttoning.  Sigh.
• Meanwhile, Locke reads the safety instructions card.  Boone tells him that he’s wasting his time.  Boone!  I keep thinking that he will vamp out and kill someone.  Boone asks what Locke was doing in Australia.  He tells Locke about helping his sister [whom we don’t see, but I don’t really mind] out of bad relationship.  Locke lies and says that he went on a walkabout.  Oh, Locke.  My heart breaks for you.  Boone is impressed: “I wouldn’t make it two days without my cell phone.”  He asks, “You’re not pulling my leg, are you?”  Locke: “No.  Why would I pull your leg?”  Well, I don’t know, Locke, but you might cause him to lose his leg.  Boone: “This thing goes down, I’m sticking with you.”  Aw, Boone is stupid in all timelines.
• Back on the island, we see Flocke and Ben at the scene of the crime.  Ben asks why Jacob didn’t fight back.  Flocke: “I guess he knew that he was beaten.  Ben, I want you to go outside and tell Richard that I need to talk to him.”  Ben: “Talk to him about what?”  Flocke: “That’s between me and Richard.”  Poor Ben doesn’t really seem to have improved his position by murdering Jacob—same song, different verse.
• Outside on the beach, Sun and Frank talk.  He fills her in on what he knows about Ilana and company: “They say they’re the good guys.  [In response to Sun’s disbelieving expression]  I’m not buying it either.”  Ilana tells Richard that Jacob invited them.  Then Ben comes out and says that everything is fine.  He says that John wants to talk to Richard.  Richard brings him to John’s body, and shoves him to the sand.  Ben is shocked.  Which he really shouldn’t be, since he was the one who killed him.  Hmm, Ben sure does kill a lot of people.  I should resist the urge to feel sorry for him.
• Elsewhere on the island, but presumably in the same timeline, Sawyer calls to Juliet: “Hang on, Juliet.  We’re coming.”  They try to move a beam off, so that they can get to her.  They are all pitching in, except for Hurley and Sayid.  I guess that they have all just given up on Sayid at this point?  He is bleeding to death too.
• Cut to Hurley and Jacob.  Hurley wonders how Jacob knew what would happen, but Jacob ignores him, and instead examines Sayid.  Hurley: “Hello!  Can you hear me?”  Hurley also points out that his friend Jin will be returning soon.  Jacob: “Your friend Jin won’t be able to see me. […]  Because I died an hour ago.”  So, Hurley’s talent for seeing dead people is certainly paying off.  Jacob explains: “I need you to save Sayid, Hugo.  You have to take Sayid to the temple.  […]  Jin knows.  Tell him to take you to the hole in the wall where he went with the French team.”  Hurley asks who his mysterious new friend is, and Jacob gives him his name.  Jin then shows up, and they move Sayid into the van, and then drive to the Swan Hatch.  Hurley: “Jin, if I was to ask you to take me to a hole in the wall where you went with the French team, would you know what I was talking about?”  Jin: “Yes.”  Hurley: “Good.”  Hee.  I love this show.
• Meanwhile, Sawyer is worried that Juliet is not making any more noises.  He tells Kate, “If she dies, I’ll kill him.”  Him, of course, refers to Jack, and if looks could kill then Sawyer would have got rid of the Doc long ago.
• Cut to Jack on the plane.  The flight attendant requests the assistance of a doctor over the intercom, and Jack volunteers.  Cindy explains that someone is in the bathroom, and seems to have passed out.  They try to open the door, but Sayid intercedes.  Sayid: “May I be of assistance?”  KICK and the door flies open.  Sayid is a very talented kicker.  Charlie is the one in the bathroom, and he is not breathing.  He is unconscious.  I guess the plane crash stopped him from overdosing.
• Sawyer is aware of the commotion, and asks what’s going on.  No one tells him.  Jack and company try to revive Charlie, but something is blocking his air passage.  Jack asks for a pen.  Before he gets it, however, he is able to dislodge the bag of drugs from Charlie’s mouth.  Oh, Charlie.  Charlie begins breathing again, and asks if he’s alive.  Jack, happily: “Yeah, you’re alive.”  Charlie, much less happily: “Terrific.”
• Back on the island, a chain has been attached to the van, and Jin drives away, pulling the beam off the entrance.  It works.  Sawyer goes down to find Juliet.  She’s bloody, and covered with debris.  She sees him, and asks where they are.  He tells her not to worry, and that he’s gonna get her out of there.  Juliet: “No, I hit the bomb, and you’re still here.”  He is shocked that she hit the bomb, and asks, “Why?”  Juliet did it for him: “I wanted to make it so you never came to this damn island.  It didn’t work.”  Sigh.  I guess Juliet lives up (or down) to her name.  Those Juliets do love to die for the men they love.  He says that he’s gonna get her out of there, and that they’ll be able to go home.
• Back in the van, Jack says there’s nothing he can do to save Sayid.  Hurley says that there is something he can do.  He tells them about Jacob.
• Then we cut to Ben and Richard on the beach.  Richard asks what happened in the statue.  Ben: “You wanna know what happened, Richard?  Why don’t you go inside and find out.”  Ha!  One of Ilana’s thugs grabs hold of Ben, and drags him along, saying that they’re going in, and Ben’s coming with them.  Ben enters Jacob’s house (?) and Flocke wonders why he’s there, and who that is behind him.  Ilana’s armed thugs (minus Ilana, by the way) make themselves known pretty quickly.  They ask where Jacob is.  Flocke says that Jacob’s dead: “I’m assuming that you’re what, Jacob’s body guards […]  Therefore there’s nothing left for you to protect.  You can go home.  You’re free.”  The men with guns don’t see it that way, and start shooting.  Flocke disappears, however, and one of the men picks up a bent bullet (shell?) from the ground.  It’s as if the bullet hit someone, but there is no one there, and no blood.  Hmmm.  Then, the  Smoke Monster comes in and attacks the guys.  Ben hides, as he is a survivor.  He is such a Slytherin.  The smoke monster kills them all, except for the bodyguard with the speaking role.  Said bodyguard made a protective circle out of ash [so that is why Jacob’s cabin was surrounded by ash!!!], which prevents Smokey for a time.  However, Smokey gets around it by making some nearby beams fall, thus knocking bodyguard off balance, and out of his protective circle.  Goodbye jerk with a gun.  I won’t miss you.  So, once the smoke clears, everyone is dead, except for Ben.  Ben stands up and looks around, and when he turn, Flocke is there.  Flocke: “I’m sorry you had to see me like that.”  What?!?  Flocke is the Smoke Monster!  Wow!  Also, best line of the episode, hands down.  So, Jacob and the Others were keeping the Smoke Monster, i.e. man-in-black, at bay, rather than working with it.  Interesting.
• Meanwhile, Kate calls down to Sawyer, asking if Juliet is OK.  Sawyer: “I’m working on it.”  He lifts her out of the rubble, and holds her.  It’s very sweet.  Juliet mumbles some nonsense about coffee, but maybe it wasn’t really nonsense.  I saw two tweets on Twitter which analyzed that scene as evidence that Juliet was experiencing both timelines.  @MediaObsessed tweeted: “@8arat The coffee thing was her seeing the other timeline, when she’ll meet him. It was her proof that it worked.”  @loquaciousmuse tweeted:  “Ohmygod we should get coffee sometime juliet was in pocket of energy and experienced both realities and knew it worked AHHHH #lost”  I’m totally sold on that theory, and so hope that it is truth.  Sawyer, however, has not concept of multiple timelines at this point, and tries to snap Juliet back to reality: “Juliet, it’s me.”  She asks him to kiss her.  Sawyer: “You got it, blondie.”  He is so clearly torn apart in pain in this scene.  Bravo, Josh Holloway.  She says that she has to tell him something, but as he waits expectantly, she falls silent.  It seems that she had died.  Sawyer cries, and tells her to tell him.  The sad music plays.  Jin, Hurley, Miles, Kate, and Jack look on, as Sawyer carries Juliet’s dead body out of the hatch.  Sawyer glares at Jack, and says, accusingly, “You did this.”  Uh oh.
• Back on the plane, Charlie is handcuffed, and not so happy with his savior: “You should have let that happen, man.  I was supposed to die.”  Cindy tells Jack not to take it personally.  When Jack goes back to his seat, Desmond is gone.  He asks Rose and Bernard, but they were sleeping.  Captain Norris’s voice comes over the intercom, aka Greg Grunberg, to tell them that they will be landing soon.  Rose: “Buckle up, we’re almost home.”
• We are then treated to a montage of shots, featuring all our characters.  Missing, however, are Claire, Michael, Walt, and Shannon.  The plane lands without further incident, and Kate gets nervous when she sees police boarding.  However, they are not coming for her, but for Charlie.  The bloody rock god glares at Jack on the way out.  Kate and the Marshal exit, with Kate still in handcuffs.  Sayid exits  the plane quickly.  Locke waits until everyone is off, so that he will get his wheelchair.  He shakes Boone’s hand goodbye.  Goodbye, Boone.  See you on Thursday in Mystic Falls.  Try not to kill any more witches before then.  Sawyer, Hurley, Rose, and Bernard all exit.  Jack nods at Locke as he’s put in the wheelchair.  Locke looks sad, which makes me feel sad.

So, that was the end of first episode.  What did you think?  I would love to read your reactions below.  If you want to read Part II of my live blog, you can find it here: “LOST: LA X, Part II”.