It's All About You, Jack Shephard

I have contended from the beginning of Lost (and I will take it to the end), that this show, the reason they are all there, every part of what's going on, and the island itself all ties back to Jack. The first episode of the show starts with Jack and last night's episode, the return to the island, starts with Jack as well. They both start with Jack lying in the jungle like the picture above (though, amazingly, neither time do they remember the crash itself). But while this picture shows Jack fearful, hurt and confused about what happened, last night's episode showed Jack in a different state--reborn (more on this later).

One user on Twitter commented that the episode seemed surreal and I totally agree. It was like a dream in a lot of ways. Jack moved through the dark and found Kate in his bed (and shared one of the most passionate kisses on Lost). Jack found all these people on the plane. A flash happened and he ended up, unharmed, on the island. Everyone acted out their parts just like they were expected to do. Even Jack's search for something of his father's turned out so conveniently (though I wouldn't be surprised if that guy who gave Jack the shoes--who we're told is his grandfather, but I'm not sure I believe it totally--didn't know EXACTLY what he was doing, that he wasn't going on a bus to find Jack to give him the shoes himself). Everything about this episode just seemed surreal.

It was our first character-centric episode in a while and I happen to like these a lot more. I happen to also like Jack more than any other character because I, like him, am not into this sci-fi mumbo jumbo...but like Jack, I'm starting to believe. Regardless, we get a little background on Jack and his journey to the plane. Want to be that we have a few other episodes which describes what happened to the rest of the characters to get them to come? What happened to Aaron and why is Kate at Jack's house without him? What happened to Sayid that he's in handcuffs and going on this plane? Why did Sun leave the Church and then show back here? How did Hurley decide to come and bring Charlie's guitar as well? Maybe they all were coerced? Maybe someone they cared about had their life threatened (Aaron for Kate, Hurley's mom for Hurley, Sun's daughter for Sun)? How did Frank Lapides (I told you we'd see him again!) get on this flight of all flights? And, lastly, what happened with Ben?

The easy guess is that he went to go after Penny. This would seem to make sense. If that's true there are some questions to answer: Whose blood is it? What happened to Penny? What happened to Desmond? What happened to Penny and Desmond's son? And who beat up Ben? Maybe Desmond? Maybe Penny? Maybe Widmore? Maybe Sayid (and maybe that's why he's in handcuffs)?

Or another theory is that he went to go find someone else. Someone else who was on the original flight and was off the island. Maybe he was going to find Walt. And we all know that Walt can make stuff die by just thinking about it (ie- the birds he killed and maybe even his mother). And we all know that Ben can't actually die (or at least Widmore says so). So maybe Ben went to try to get Walt to come back and Walt took a lot of fury out on Ben. Just a theory, of course (as is what was Walt's special power? Maybe he can move through time on his own...).

Another theory. The other people in business class with the Oceanic 6 are trouble. One guy spoke up on line at the gate giving condolences to Jack for his loss. The other leads Sayid on to the plane. And the last one is certainly Ben. Even Mrs. Hawking says thinks you can't trust this guy. I think Hurley was right when he said that they he wasn't supposed to be on the plane. I think that the other three are a sort of Trojan Horse, sent back with the Oceanic 6 because they have an entrance to the Island. But I think they're going to the island to "open up the gates". On the plane, Ben is reading Ulysses, and while I never get the literary references on the show, I know Ulysses is intertwined with Odysseus...and the Trojan Horse idea came from Odysseus.

So why the Trojan Horse? I think that a lot of people want to get back to this island/never have left it in the first place. They want history to be changed. So they sent these people back to change history. Who else would be shooting at Juliet, Sawyer and the other people in that canoe? Why would Widmore allow Desmond to find Mrs. Hawking, know where she was all along, and not do anything about it? Why would Widmore fund Faraday's experiments? Widmore wanted to get back to that island and harness it's power more than anything. Maybe this is his chance to do so. They had no clue where the island was. They needed the Oceanic 6 to guide them back there.

And the Oceanic 6 all acted out the part. Jack brought Locke and gave him his father's shoes to help guide the way (I guess Christian was the one who guided them to the island in the first place!). Hurley brought Charlie through the guitar and Walt through the comic books. Sayid played the Kate role in handcuffs. And Jack and Kate were, well, Jack and Kate. And the big twist came at the end--they're back in Dharma time (which is I guess why we saw Faraday in the first episode helping out with the Hatch)!

So maybe their role is to change history. To change what happens to the island. To give Locke his rebirth (because he goes back to the island). To give Christian his rebirth (because maybe he's back on the island). To give Sun and Jin they're rebirth. To give everyone a chance to do it again and do it right and for Jack to be reborn with the knowledge that he wasn't supposed to leave. That he was supposed to listen to Locke. That he was supposed to be on the island. That it was his faithlessness and his father that caused the first crash (remember, he said right before the Oceanic flight crashed that everything would be fine) and his was his sudden turn of faith and his father's conduit that brought him back (oh those shoes). And that he had a greater purpose. And what that greater purpose is...well...hopefully we find out.