Forget rabbits. We have gone to a new place and I love it. I've recapped the first two episodes separately; first off: Episode One – Because You Left

Arguably: best opening yet. Marvin Candle, aka Edgar Halliwax, aka Pierre Chang wakes up at 8:15 and plays us a Willie Nelson record. And hey, should we be surprised? This is exactly how Season 2 and 3 began. He's filming one of the famous Dharma Initiative Orientation videos. They had one of these that wasn't aired in a LOST episode, but was played at Comic-Con, and is now conveniently available on youtube. You can watch it here.

Sounds like Daniel Faraday as the cameraman, wouldn't you agree? But back to the first shock of Season 5: Daniel is there. In the past. As a Dharma Initiative worker. Is this part of the time skips the Island is experiencing now? Or was this a previous trip, perhaps when he wrote in his journal, "Desmond Hume will be my constant."? Do you have a headache yet?

We move to the (present? future?) year 2008, where Jack and Ben discuss Locke in the Hoffs/Drawlar funeral home. Jack utters, "How did we get here, how did all this happen?" Ben, in his usual maddening fashion, and naming the episode in the process, replies, "It happened because you left, Jack." Then Ben asks Jack if Locke ever told him what happened to everyone after the Island moved; when Jack says no, Ben (of course) replies, "Well, I guess we'll never know." But wait!

Move to 3 years prior, we see Ben turning that great donkey wheel of chance, a great white light, and bloop! Goodbye Island, so long. Then, extremely satisfying (for me, anyway), we see Daniel Faraday and random raft people sailing towards the Island, who see this great white light, but don't see the Island disappear. Dan utters the very intriguing phrase, "We must have been inside the radius". Okay, Dan knows WAY more than I thought he did. He assures Sawyer (remember he and Dan have never met until now), Juliet and everyone else that: "Their camp isn't gone; it just hasn't been built yet." Guess what?! We haven't even made it to the opening credits.

Daniel is my new favorite character. (I see a pattern – I love the characters that know the most about what's going on.) He compares the Island to a skipping record that is "dislodging us from time". Dan thinks it's just the people that are skipping, as opposed to the entire Island (which tracks since the Others aren't skipping with them).

We move to Locke, who has also time-jumped, and we see the crash of the Nigerian plane that held Mr. Eko's brother. (In the past, check.) [Maybe the Island or people jumped to that moment because it was a significant event – like Desmond pressing the button late that caused flight 815 to crash.] Locke is shot in the leg by Ethan, but is saved by … a time-jump. I say 'great.' Sawyer says: "Great."

Miles, Charlotte, Dan, and Juliet look for the hatch – which turns out to be a hole in the ground (in the future, check.) Dan tries to explain time travel to Sawyer (and us): "Can't change anything. If you tried, it wouldn't work. Time is like a string. You can go forward and reverse, but you can't create a new string. Whatever happened; happened." But…time-jump; hatch is intact (past, check.). Sawyer goes to the back door of the Swan Station to try to get Desmond to let him in, while Dan tries to remind him that it would be impossible since he and Desmond had never met in the past; thus they can't meet now, impossible.

Charlotte gets a nosebleed, great.

Dan realizes that he's written in his notebook that Desmond Hume is his constant, and goes to talk to him. Desmond does open the door in full quarantine gear, and Dan justifies their meeting as he tells Desmond, "The rules don't apply to you, Desmond. You are uniquely and miraculously special." He tells Desmond (hurry, white light wormhole approaches!!) that he needs to go to Oxford (if he ever gets off the Island), and find his mother. Her name is …

Time-jump.

We see Locke in the new time. He's wounded by Ethan's shot, but no worries, here comes Alpert to the rescue. Apparently Locke will tell him (later?) where he is and that he'll need a first aid kit. Also, Locke will run into Alpert in Locke's future, Alpert's past, so Alpert won't recognize him. (I'll give you a second to reread that sentence again.) Enter Locke's constant – the compass. The same compass Locke picks out of a lineup of things that Alpert presents to him as a very young boy. Alpert gives Locke the compass, and tells him to give it to him when he sees him again. Oh yeah, and the most important part – "the only way to save the Island is to get everyone back here." "How do I convince them", John asks. "You're gonna have to die, John." And… time-jump. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!! Down the wormhole we go.

In the more boring (future?) 2008:

Kate is being threatened by some lawyers to submit to a blood test to determine if Aaron is really her son. Who is behind this threat?

Sun is traveling to Los Angeles, and is waylaid by Charles Widmore at the airport. This partnership is making me very nervous. Their common interest, Sun reveals, is to kill Benjamin Linus.

Jack and Ben leave to try to round up everyone; they see that Hurley is suspected for killing a man outside of Santa Rosa Mental hospital (really the man Sayid executed).

Sayid brings Hurley to the safe house, and tells him to do the opposite of whatever Ben says. The safe house has been breached, and we learn why we should always place silverware sharp-side down in the dishwasher. Hurley gets himself into more trouble by hanging out over a balcony overlooking a dead guy, holding a gun. He helps a drugged Sayid to the car, saying, "We should have never left that Island!"

We finally get a 2008 Desmond sighting – he wakes up next to Penny at sea, and he realizes his dream that he had was actually a memory – he's got to go to Oxford, STAT!

Mindblowing!! So many questions!! Here are just a few, along with some general observations:

-Faraday hides his face from Marvin Candle at the beginning. Would Candle have recognized him? Or is this a trick for the audience?

-Why does the ISLAND disappear? Why not just the people? And while we're on that… why don't the Others time-jump???

-How does Marvin Candle know so much about the time travel dangers? He sees the outline of the donkey wheel in the schematic the worker shows him at the beginning. How does he know not to drill any further??

- And how does Daniel Faraday know so much about the Island time skippage? He claims he's been studying time travel his whole adult life – and more specifically, the Dharma Initiative. Was the purpose of the D.I. all about time travel??

-Why is Desmond so special that Dan can talk to him in the past? Why can Desmond's consciousness skip through time? Is it because he flipped that key under the Swan station right when it imploded?

General Observations and Cool things:

Dan's comparison to time on the Island being like a skipping record, and the Willie Nelson record skipping at the beginning.

Alpert telling Locke, "What comes around goes around", and "time is all relative".

Best quote: "Maybe if you ate more comfort food, you wouldn't have to go around shooting people." -- Hurley

Sawyer nicknames:
Charlotte – Ginger
Daniel – Wiz kid, Danny Boy, Dilbert
Himself – Ghost of Christmas Future

Your questions? Thoughts? General observations and cool things?