There probably has never been a more appropriate title for a LOST episode than "The Beginning of the End," since the season 4 opener really seemed to me to be kind of like a "pilot" episode for the final 3 seasons.

Picking up exactly where season 3 left off, "The Beginning of the End" served to show how the LOSTies confront news of Charlie's death, but also news that the boat people were, in the words of Ben, "Not who they say they are."

As far as LOST openers go, it was the weakest of the 4 seasons. But honestly, knowing how mind blowing the first 3 season openers have been, how could it have been?

The episode packed a whollop of an emotional punch in seeing how the LOSTies, Claire and Charlie in particular, deal with the loss of one of their own. I was particularly moved in the opening scene when Hurley looks at Desmond pulling his boat in and realizes that Charlie isn't in it. And I was also moved (to almost tears) at Hurley's telling Claire about Charlie. Both great scenes.

And the humanization of Sawyer continues by his offer to help Hurley deal with the death. And in typical Sawyer fashion, he didn't protest too much when Hurley declined to talk about his death. Typical Sawyer, always burying things deep.

And how cool was that stuff with Jacob's cabin? Wha? Christian Shepherd's in Jacob's cabin? WTF? And that eye that appeared in the window??? Weirdness.

But my favorite stuff of this episode, surprise surprise, was all the stuff involving Jack and Locke. As I said earlier, this episode really serves as the pilot episode for the final three seasons. And I'm not sure where the Jack vs Locke theme is going to go, but it's very obviously going to factor in the final three seasons. Especially after Hurley apologizes to (future? present?) Jack about going with Locke. WTF happened on that island?

I like that we got a "smallish" answer in that "ghosts" can appear off the island. I think that's a fairly cool reveal and will hopefully play a huge role in Jack's "I don't want to go back" to "We *have* to go back" transformation in the flash forwards.

I also liked the addition of Matthew Abbadon (the creepy "Oceanic Airlines Attorney" that showed up at Hurley's mental asylum. As fans were quick to point out, Abbadon was the "angel of death" in the book of Revelations (I haven't corroborated this), so I'm interested to see how he factors into this. His cryptic "they're still alive" was perhaps my favorite moment of the night's episode.

Of course they're still alive. It's my guess that they were escorted off the island in the first wave and were told that the rest of the party would soon follow. But that once they got to the safety, their "rescuers" told them that they're keeping everyone else on the island and that if they made a stink about it, they'd hurt/kill everyone on the island.

But as good as the episode was, I'm reticent to call it a "great" LOST episode. I thought it was a "very good" episode, but not great. Some of my complaints...

Please, please, please, please don't turn Ben into a wise cracking, one-liner machine. He's the manipulator of manipulator, yet he was reduced to not much more than a spouter of one-liners in Thursday's episode. Please!!!

Knowing how season 3 left off, I thought that it was a logical choice to begin the season with Hurley. I think one of LOST's strengths is its devotion to all of their characters. But that being said, this was not Hurley's best episode. His season one "Numbers" episode and his season 3 mini-van starting episode were both better. This was more like season 2's "Dave" episode. It was a "B" episode. Not a bad thing. But it didn't have the BOOM/POW aspect that other season openers have had. And that was a tad bit disappointing.

And I was a little disappointed that after the end of the season build-up of the freighter people, we still didn't get our first glimpse of them until the end of the episode. Come on! Bring on the pain!!!

But those are my only complaints.

Here are some things to ponder:

I think Hurley's quest is mirroring the Old Testament Jonah story. I think Hurley is a very special person. In season 3, he closed his eyes and wished the island curse away, thusly starting the van. In the season 4 opener, he closed his eyes and wished away Jacob's shack when it appeared to him twice. In the season 4 opener, he closed his eyes and wished away Charlie at the asylum when Charlie told him that "the need you." He's denying a calling and is hiding in his asylum/whale. And he was wearing a red robe at the asylum, looking almost prophet-like...kinda like the way he looked when he appeared in Charlie's season 2 dream...AND there was an image on the chalkboard at the asylum of a fish attacking a boat, bringing to mind this image.

Why is Hurley "sorry" for going with Locke? Was it just a matter of being sorry that he abandoned his leader or was it a matter of something substantial happening with the Locke led people?

Why didn't Desmond go with Locke's team????????????????????? AHHHH!!!!!!!!! What's his episode going to reveal??????

That's all for now, folks. See you next week.

- Matthew Abbadon