... About the "Oceanic Six"

I know what you're thinking, Reader, but you're wrong. I'm not obsessed. I'm just analytical. And last night, while trying to sleep, I managed to analyze myself into a satisfactorally convincing theory about what's happening on Lost.

Have I mentioned that I love this show? I. Love. This. Show. And last night's season premiere had everything I love about it - mystery, suspense, even my dearly loved CHARLIE! (And he looked soooooooo goooooooood! Even as a psychologically-created corpse he makes my heart flutter.) And, of course, Lost just wouldn't be Lost unless it was endlessly confusing. But I think I've made some sense of it. Ready? Go!

So Jack, Kate, and Hurley get "rescued" off the island, along with three unknown other survivors (my money is on Sawyer, Sayid, and Michael. Yes, I said Michael. Oh, how I loathe him. I also think he's the one in the casket during Jack's flash-foward at the end of last season, but that's a different theory). In last year's season finale, when a heavily bearded and inebriated Jack shouted, "We have to go back!" to Kate, we were meant to assume that the good doctor simply found life in civiliation so despeartely lonely without her that he would go to any lengths to be with her again. It was a sad future, one that our hero should never have to suffer.

And luckily, my fears about Jack's future were alleviated last night. Because as soon as Ana-Lucia's ex-partner asked Hurley if he remembered seeing Ana on the plane before the crash, I knew.

Only six of the survivors made it off the island. But that doesn't mean only six of the survivors survived. The idea of leaving no man behind has been an underlying theme of Lost since the pilot episode. Now, in these flashes of the future, we're seeing it again. Everyone else is still alive, still on the island, and when Jack and Hurley proclaim that they need to "go back", it isn't for their own salvation. It's to rescue everyone else. However, as demonstrated by the creepy dude who visited Hurley in the mental institution and asked if "they" were still alive, those on the island are facing mortal peril if they are ever found.

So what about the Oceanic Six? Why were they taken and no one else? Both Jack and Kate spoke to someone on the boat via Naomi's satellite phone. And, if Sayid was right about the intruders listening in on their communications, they would have heard Hurley talk to Jack over the walkie-talkie. The other three... we'll have to see. Ben already told Michael and Jack that even if they were to get off the island, they would never come back. But I think soon, perhaps by the end of this season, Ben will be proven wrong. At some point the show will split and show the survivors still living on the island, and the Oceanic Six desperately trying to get back to their comrades.

I. Love. This. Show.