Because You Left (S5X01)
Airdate: 21 January 2009
Written by: Carlton Cuse & Damon Lindelof Directed by: Stephen Williams
Running Time: 43 minutes
The commencement of a new television season is invariably a delicate juncture in a series’ history. It requires the creative team to turn a new leaf while simultaneously remaining faithful to the established concept, setting, and characters. For Lost, creator Damon Lindelof and his writers faced a particularly high-pressure set of challenges following the conclusion of Season 4. The fifth-season opener, titled Because You Left, attempts to navigate this precarious balance. While it succeeds in re-establishing the show’s momentum, it does so with somewhat less success than the previous season’s premiere, which had successfully shifted the narrative focus to the flashforwards.
The primary purpose of Because You Left is to establish the main narrative engine of the fifth season. In the fourth season, the show had ingeniously utilised flashforwards to juxtapose the survival of the Oceanic 815 crash with the characters’ lives in 2007. Here, the series pivots to time travel, a concept that had been subtly hinted at in previous episodes, most notably in The Constant. Arguably the best episode of Season 4, The Constant planted the seeds for this shift, and this premiere harvests them to drive the plot forward.
The episode could have opted for a more conventional approach by starting backwards in time before the fateful Oceanic 815 crash or moving forward to deal with survivors in 2007. Instead, it begins deceptively, hinting at normalcy only to reveal that the audience is actually on the Island, roughly in the 1970s. The scene is set in the home of Dr. Pierre Chang, head of the Dharma Initiative. He is just about to shoot orientation films for the various stations when he is called away to a crisis at the Orchid Station. There, workers have stumbled upon an unlimited power source that allows for manipulation of time. Among these workers is none other than Daniel Faraday, who apparently has already become a time traveller himself.
Another significant plot strand is set in 2004, showing the immediate consequences of Ben Linus’s actions in moving the Island. Sawyer, Juliet, Faraday, Miles, Charlotte, Bernard, and Rose have remained on the Island, but they quickly discover that moving the Island created bizarre side effects. Everyone is moving back and forth in time, depriving them of all their rations as they cannot remain in one place to survive. This logistical struggle adds tension to the supernatural mystery.
Locke, who had been the leader of the Others, is also affected by this temporal displacement. He ends up back in time, witnessing the crash of a Beechcraft. While inspecting the wreckage, he is shot in the leg by Ethan, who fails to recognise him. Locke is saved by another time shift during which Richard Alpert appears. Alpert tends to his wounds, explains his time-traveling predicament, and instructs him to bring the people who had left back on the Island. Crucially, Alpert reveals that the only way to do this is by dying, a chilling directive that sets up Locke’s ultimate fate.
Elsewhere, survivors head towards the Swan Station, hoping to find it intact with supplies. Sawyer fails to enter, but Faraday is more successful. He approaches Desmond, still guarding the station and pushing the Button, and leaves a message to contact his mother at Oxford University. Years later, in 2007, Desmond is vacationing with Penny on a yacht when he suddenly remembers the message and decides to follow the instructions. Faraday later notices Charlotte bleeding from the nose, suddenly realising that time travel might be fatal to everyone else on the Island as well.
In 2007, Jack accepts Ben’s suggestion to go back to the Island and bring Locke’s dead body with him. However, picking up other survivors proves difficult. Sayid has a brush with assassins in a safe house that leaves two people dead, while Hurley is caught on camera with a gun. Kate Austen, after attorney Dan Norton demands a maternity test over Aaron, decides to flee. Meanwhile, Sun confirms to Charles Widmore their mutual aim to kill Ben Linust.
Because You Left is a good episode, but it is not as good as previous season openers, nor is it as emotionally impactful or exciting as the Season 4 finale. The episode does not bring any major twists or groundbreaking secrets, apart from the confirmation of time travel. In some cases, such as the Sun and Widmore alliance, it seems repetitive, a connection that was strongly confirmed in scenes of Sun being held at Heathrow Airport.
However, Because You Left succeeds in its exposition. It is through the character of Faraday, explaining the time shifts and time travels to Sawyer, that the rules of the new season are set. He clarifies that time travellers cannot change the past and that time paradoxes must be avoided. Crucially, the episode posits that there will be no parallel timelines or alternative universes. However, the episode and the series itself are not completely bound by these rules. This is most evident in the case of Desmond, whom those rules do not apply to, allowing him to conveniently remember an encounter with time-travelling Faraday. This exception highlights the specific, perhaps mystical nature of the Island’s power, distinguishing it from the standard scientific time travel Faraday describes.
Ultimately, the episode serves as a solid, if imperfect, bridge to the complex mysteries of the fifth season. It prioritises establishing the rules of the game while delivering the character-driven moments that fans have come to expect. While it may lack the punch of its predecessor, it sets the stage for a final push of Lost’s narrative journey.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
==
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/ InLeo blog https://inleo.io/@drax.leo
LeoDex: https://leodex.io/?ref=drax InLeo: https://inleo.io/signup?referral=drax.leo Hiveonboard: https://hiveonboard.com?ref=drax Rising Star game: https://www.risingstargame.com?referrer=drax 1Inch: https://1inch.exchange/#/r/0x83823d8CCB74F828148258BB4457642124b1328e
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7 BCH donations: qpvxw0jax79lhmvlgcldkzpqanf03r9cjv8y6gtmk9