It is the morning after the brilliant but mind boggling season 5 premier of Lost and I’m trying to make some sense of it all. I’ve known for quite some time now that the island was some sort of time travel device (organism?), but trying to figure out how it all fits together is making me dizzy.

Let’s start with the Oceanic Six. First up Sayid. When we last saw him, he was working for Ben as an assassin, eliminating Charles Widmore's men one by one for two reasons. One is to keep his friends both on and off the island safe. The other is to avenge the death of his beloved Nadia, who (according to Ben) was murdered by Widmore. So why is Sayid now so distrustful of Ben? Why does he tell Hurley not to believe a word that comes out of Ben’s mouth? There can only be one explanation. Sayid must learn that Widmore is not responsible for Nadia’s death and that Ben lied to him just to recruit him in his ongoing feud against Widmore. Let’s face it; Ben never says anything that is completely truthful. Does that mean Ben had Nadia killed? If Sayid did learn that Ben is responsible for her death, then how come he hasn’t killed Ben yet? It’s simple. He probably tried, but because the island is not finished with Ben, he can’t die. We’ll find out in a future episode.

How about Kate and Aaron? Who ordered the blood test to determine whether Aaron is her son or not? According to Sun, whoever knows the truth, doesn’t want to expose it to the world. They are clearly trying to get their hands on Aaron. Why? Simple… Aaron is special because he is the only baby to be born on the island in decades. This leads me to believe that it is Widmore who is after Aaron. The real question is what does he hope to learn from him? I could understand the interest in this miracle baby if Claire had conceived on the island and still managed to give birth, but she was pregnant before she crashed on the island, which is why Aaron was able to be born there. God, my head hurts.

We learned that Sun is hell bent to avenge Jin’s death (even though I think he is still alive) and she is willing to work with Widmore to kill Ben. The thing is this; in last season’s finale Sun said she blamed two people for Jin’s death. She blames her father and Ben. However it seems to me that she also blames Jack and Kate. A light bulb just went off in my head. It is not Widmore that ordered the blood test from Kate… it was Ben. Ben did this to manipulate Kate into going back to the island with Aaron. Wow… that makes perfect sense.

Let’s take a look at Jack and Hurley. Both have fallen apart since leaving the island, and both understand that the only way to set things right, is to go back. Jack is firmly on board with this notion and is willing to work with Ben to accomplish this. Hurley on the other hand, has known for some time that they have to go back, but yet is willing to risk everything by turning himself in to the police for murders he didn’t commit, just to stay out of Ben’s reach. This could be coughed up to the fact that Hurley is crazy, but the truth is that he is not. He’s actually probably the sanest person out of them all and he also serves as the moral compass for the rest of the castaways. Is Hurley really that afraid of Ben, that he would risk going to jail, leaving all the people on the island in danger? This just doesn’t add up. It seems to me that Hurley would be willing to do whatever he had to do to get back to the island and save his friends.

Outside of the Oceanic Six, Desmond is off the island and will need to go back as well. We learned from Daniel Faraday that Desmond is special and can traverse the perils of time travel better than anyone. Why Desmond has this ability is beyond me and I really have no theories to support it. As far as the freighter folks go, it is clear to me that each one of them has a past relationship with the island. I’m guessing that were three of the last people to be born on the island. Charlotte was definitely born there, but I’m not sure who her parents are. Miles is more than likely the son of Dr. Martin Candle (whose real name remains a mystery), the scientist from all of the Dharma initiation videos. This brings us to Daniel Faraday, the one person on the island who seems to know what is going on. Faraday has dedicated his adult life to the theory of time travel and seems to know a lot more about the island itself that he has yet to share. In fact, I think he knows so much because he too was born on the island and his mother is Mrs. Hawking, the very same woman who Ben went to see at the end of last night’s episode.

Faraday has theorized that the past can’t be changed. “If it hasn’t happened, it can’t happen.” I believe that when he says this he is either lying or completely wrong. The past was changed when Locke saved Juliette and Sawyer by killing those men. Who those men were I have no idea. My only guess is that the castaways have landed smack in the middle of the war between Dharma and the hostiles (the others). If those men weren’t from Dharma, the castaways are further back in time then I thought and perhaps those men were soldiers that work for Widmore from the first time he discovered the island. Who knows? Faraday has also theorized that it is the castaways themselves who are moving through time and not the island itself. I don’t believe this to be true however, as the island disappeared right in front of the Oceanic Six’s eyes. The island itself has to be moving. This would explain how the Blackrock (the ship discovered in the middle of the island the first season) got there. The ship was probably sailing on open water when suddenly the island appeared right underneath it. We also saw Faraday at the construction of the Orchid station. Does this mean he is older than we think? I don’t think so. I think what we saw was a flash forward of Daniel in the past. Trippy, I know.

This brings us to Richard Alpert, the seemingly ageless member of the others. He is not ageless, he is the only character (that we know of) who seems to be able to travel through time whenever he pleases. He was there when Locke was born. He visited Locke when he was a young boy and he also met Ben in the jungle when Ben was a kid. Each time we’ve seen him in the past, it seems like he is there just to confirm that the person he is visiting should be the leader of the others and be responsible for keeping the island safe. To me, Alpert is one of the characters that hold the key to all of Lost’s mysteries. He also seems to be the only one who understands… truly understands what is happening on the island as evidenced by his conversation he had with Locke when he gave him the compass.

That’s all for now. I can’t write anymore about the premiere because I feel like my head is going to explode like one of those dudes in the classic sci-fi flick Scanners. The one thing about Lost that I know for sure is that it is one hell of a ride and I will be with it until the bitter end.