The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for "Because You Left,? the season premiere from the fifth season of ABC?s ?Lost."

?Lost? returned for its fifth season with a solid pair of episodes. The first, ?Because You Left,? far outshined the second episode of the night, ?The Lie,? but overall, the return of ?Lost? has to be considered a high point in what has been a pretty lackluster year in television.

After a brief introduction showing the filming of the Dharma Initiative orientation tape, ?Because You Left? picks up with Jack and Ben at the casket of John Locke. Jack cleans himself up and seems to have fully committed to his new purpose: returning to the island.

After that, the episode jumps around almost as fast as the time phase changes occur. We see Locke witness the crash of Mr. Eko?s plane, and he gets shot in process of investigating. We see the remaining islanders, headed by an unlikely pairing of Juliet and Sawyer, get bounced back and forth through time like a ping pong ball. Kate gets served with a court order to determine her relationship to Aaron. We also get to see what Sun confront Charles Widmore, and Hurley and Sayid become a male version of Thelma and Louise -- sort of.

What I really like about this episode is the unusual parings of characters: Jack and Ben, Locke and Richard, Sayid and Hurley, Sawyer and Juliet. The cast has become a set of interchangeable parts, and on the most part, the acting has been up to the task of creating believable chemistry in relatively short scenes.

Overall, it was a fantastic start to the fifth season. So much was packed into that hour that I felt as disoriented as the survivors when time shifted around them.

What Worked

The time shifting was very well done and quite interesting. I am a sucker for time travel as it is, and this has been a consistent development since the middle of last season.

The Desmond/Penny scene is nice to see. We rarely see Desmond happy. He is obviously destined to be a key player in the resolution of this mystery, which means he probably has to die (you heard it here first).

What Didn?t Work

There was no sign of Claire in either episode, and very few scenes featuring Desmond, who is unaffected by the time shifting.

I really didn?t care for the opening which featured Dr. Chang. I?m sure that is an indicator that he will be prominent in forthcoming episodes. The technique was a bit too similar to the beginning of Season 2, which focused on a then unknown Desmond. Still, seeing Faraday pop up in the past saved the scene for me, so it really isn?t much of a negative.

Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

"Because You Left? was written by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. It was directed by Stephen Williams. It stars Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Jorge Garcia, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Michael Emerson.

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