After an excellent recap episode, the Lost Survivor Guide, we get the first of 16 episodes in the “non-stop” season of Lost. Non-stop, I suppose, if you’re only counting 2007, but I digress.

I felt like “Not in Portland” was about as dense an episode of Lost as we’ve seen in this or any other season. First, it started with a flashback, which is always jarring and it introduced a whole slew of information and connections.

I sorta felt like ZeFrank should’ve appeared in between segments to ask, “Are the new viewers gone?” because they likely were. As great as the recap episode was, I think this episode either scared them off or has them buying episodes off iTunes as I type.

On to my thoughts, disjointed as always.

  • Not in Portland

    • I’m taking it on faith that the island is the home of this “Mittelos” company.

    Now I could be wrong and “Mittelos” might be the first stop in a whole chain of Dharma Initiative/Hanso Foundation front organizations, but from now on, I’m referring to the island as either “Not Portland” or “Somewhere in Oregon”.

  • Lineage

    • So Alex is the daughter or Rousseau and Benjamin Linus/Henry Gale? I’m not convinced yet.

  • Numbers

    • A4 on Juliet’s key card; 23 as the holding cell of Carl.

  • Bonnie & Clyde

    • I loved Kate and Sawyer the “couple” this episode. Him as the comic relief (the Wookiee reference, the sassing of Alex) and her as the muscle (she would’ve shot Aldo).

  • The Spanish Prisoner

    • The more we learn about Jack and Juliet - who seem to be opposite sex versions of one another - the more I’m convinced that they are both being conned in a Spanish Prisoner-style confidence game.

    Of course, cons like the Spanish Prisoner have been run by Sawyer before but Ben’s continued promise of freedom for both Jack and Juliet has me wondering: how many of The Others are there voluntarily and how many are held against their will?

  • A Brief History of Time

    • Hawking gets a shout out in book form to those paying attention.

  • The Bus

    • Who was driving it? Ethan? Alpert?

  • Repeated phrases

    • Why do I feel like we’ve heard these lines before?

    “Whatever you think I am, I’m not” -Juliet

    “We are the causes of our own suffering” -Brainwash/Torture video

I’m sure I missed a ton, since there was a ton to see. These are my thoughts. Leave a comment.

Until next week.

UPDATE: If you want to read someone who is consistently paying attention to all the minutiae, you’d be well-served to read RSL’s blog, Ostracons. He’s on top of every easter egg and plot point and blogs each episode.