Hurley once again demonstrates that he can make great lines even better with his delivery on 'Lost'

Credit: Mario Perez/ABC

This is my second "Lost" recap to be posted from a film festival... the season premiere this year took place smack dab in the middle of Sundance... but the difference in terms of where the series is and how I approach these recaps is pretty profound.

I thought "Namaste" was a good episode, but not a great one.  More than anything, this was an episode designed to set certain things in motion, bring other things to a resolution, and launch whatever the rest of this season is going to be.  As a piece of stand-alone drama, it's almost useless, but on any show as mythology-heavy as this one, I contend you're going to HAVE to have a couple of episodes like this during the year.  It's inevitable.

The good part about tonight was that you could really hear the clear authorial voice of exec producer Brian K. Vaughan, particularly in the scene where Sawyer criticizes Jack for reacting instead of thinking.  It's a criticism that's been leveled against the series over the years, certainly, so it's a nice little meta-joke, but more than that... it's similar to some moments in "Y The Last Man," Vaughan's comic book series, in which his protagonist was finally called on some reckless behavior after maddening choice after maddening choice.  I like that Sawyer... oh, I'm sorry... LaFleur... put Jack in his place and really called him out.  It's interesting to see how well Sawyer and Miles and Jin and Juliet have adapted to being part of the Dharma Initiative.

Even more interesting?  No sign of Faraday at all.  Where is that broken-hearted little weirdo right now?

[more after the jump]

I've got a theory about why Sun didn't jump back with the others when they vanished off the plane.  Charles Widmore corrupted her.  Something's wrong with her karma, her soul, her whatever you want to call it, and now she can't be with the other survivors.  The Island doesn't want her anymore.  Whatever it needed from her is gone now, and now that she and Frank have arrived back on the Island in the present, my guess is things are going to be particularly hard on her.

Speaking of their return, how freaky was that scene with Christian, Jack's father?  Was there someone else lurking behind him in the cabin during the whole scene?  And if so, was it Claire?

Do you think that runway is what Sawyer and Kate were building back when they were moving rocks?  I'm pretty sure it is.  If so, was it built specifically so that plane could land because someone already knew it was going to crash?  Time travel gives me an eyeache.

I liked that the episode hit the ground running, picking up pretty much right where it left off two weeks ago.  There was a lot of ground to cover, and to be fair, it looks like they covered 99% of it.  I thought Sawyer's plan to incorporate them into the Initiative was pretty smart, and I really liked the way he handled the Sayid situation as well.  So far, Sawyer looks to have found his place, and he's handling himself fearlessly, confidently.  It's a good version of Sawyer.  Hope it lasts a little while, even after the purge.

Speaking of which... our survivors do realize that every single person who works for Dharma and lives on the Island is doomed to die in that mass grave, right?

Oh! Did you notice who we met tonight?  Heloooooooo, Radzinsky, Mr. "I Lived In The Swan And Pushed The Button Until I Blew My Brains Out" himself.  He was the guy who did all that artwork on the door inside the Swan station.  And sure enough... what's that model he's building?  And let me ask you something... if he designed The Swan and built the models of it, then why would he need to map every squre inch of it obsessively?

Unless, that is, he suspected that something extra was in there.

I think there are some big questions still pending:

(A)  Where the hell is Daniel?

(B)  What the hell is happening with Penny and Desmond?

(C) Who was in that second outrigger shooting at our people?

There were some very good Ben moments this week, including that great ending, but I get the feeling we're in for some serious chunks of Ben-time in the weeks ahead.  In the meantime, I'm going to wrap it up.  Sorry this has been a shorter one, but I still need to go sleep for a few hours, then get up and write some articles.

It's so great to have "Lost" back, even after that momentary hiatus last week, and it's nice to be back in the recap game.

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