Because You Left

"Because You Left" is the first episode of the fifth season of the American Broadcasting Company's drama television series '' Lost''. The episode is the 87th episode of the show overall, and was written by executive producers/show runners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and directed by co-executive producer Stephen Williams. It first aired on January 21, 2009, on ABC in the United States and was simulcast on A in Canada. It aired immediately after a clip-show that recaps the first four seasons and aired back-to-back with the next episode, " The Lie".

In 2007, Jack Shephard and Benjamin Linus start their quest to reunite the "Oceanic 6". Hugo "Hurley" Reyes and Sayid Jarrah are ambushed at their safehouse. Sun-Hwa Kwon is confronted by Charles Widmore. Kate Austen and Aaron Littleton flee from their home after being ordered to submit a maternity test. James "Sawyer" Ford, Daniel Faraday, Juliet Burke, Charlotte Lewis, Miles Straume, John Locke, and the other survivors of Oceanic 815 left on the island erratically travel through time upon the island's move. "Because You Left" averaged 11.347 million viewers in the United States, and received good reviews, praising the writing and the unraveling of new elements.

Plot

In the late 1970s, when the Dharma Initiative has begun to build stations on the island, Dr. Pierre Chang (François Chau) begins to film the orientation film for the Arrow Station when he is informed of an incident at the construction site of the Orchid Station. Upon arriving there, he realizes that the workers have found the "unlimited" energy source that the Dharma Initiative has been looking for, which will enable them to manipulate time. As he leaves the station, he bumps into Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies), who is dressed as a Dharma construction worker.

After the island is moved on December 30, 2004, the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815, the freighter team, and Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell) begin to erratically jump through time – something Faraday likens to standing on a skipping record – while the Others are unaffected. The first jump takes them to the day when the Beechcraft carrying Mr. Eko's brother crashes onto the island. John Locke is shot in the leg by Ethan Rom (William Mapother), who has not yet met him and therefore does not recognize him. Meanwhile, James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway), Juliet, and the freighter team head to the Swan Station in order to determine when they are. A second jump brings the group forward in time to after the destruction of the station, while Locke is approached by Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell), who recognizes Locke and treats his wound. He informs Locke that they will be strangers at their next meeting, and explains that the only way to stop the erratic movements through time is to bring back everyone who has left the island, and to do that, Locke will have to die.

Another jump brings them to the past, and they find that the Swan station is now intact. Sawyer tries to contact Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick), who is inside, but Daniel asserts that the past can not be changed, and since Desmond did not know Sawyer already when they first met, Sawyer cannot be successful. No one answers, and everyone heads back to the beach. Daniel stays behind and knocks again, and Desmond emerges dressed in a hazmat suit, thus belying Daniel's original assertion. Daniel tells him that if Desmond's future self and the survivors of 815 make it off the island on the helicopter, then he should go to Oxford University and find Daniel's mother, in order to help the survivors. Another jump occurs just before Daniel can give his mother's name.

In 2007, back in Los Angeles, two lawyers deliver a court order to Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly), demanding a maternity test for her and Aaron, Claire Littleton's (Emilie de Ravin) son, whom Kate is raising as her own, but refuse to reveal their client's identity. In London while en route to Los Angeles, Sun-Hwa Kwon (Yunjin Kim) is confronted by Charles Widmore (Alan Dale) at the airport. She tells him that she wants to kill Benjamin Linus (Michael Emerson), a desire they seem to have in common. Ben and Jack learn from the TV that Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) has broken out, hindering Ben's plan to reunite the Oceanic Six. After his escape, Hurley and Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) go to a safehouse, which has been infiltrated by two armed men. Sayid kills the men, but not before one of them shoots him with two potent drugged darts, knocking him unconscious. Meanwhile, Ben and Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) have left the funeral parlor with Locke's body. On a boat in an unknown location, Desmond wakes up, having remembered what Daniel told him, and sets off for Oxford.

Production

Following a writing "mini-camp" to map out the fifth season, the premiere's script was written and filming began on August 19. Ausiello, Michael & Jensen, Jeff "Doc", (August 19, 2008)
Spoilers on ''Lost'', ''Grey's'', ''Dexter'', ''Smallville'', ''Gossip Girl'', and More!
", ''Entertainment Weekly''. Retrieved on August 28, 2008. Show runners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse wrote "Because You Left", and decided to put in the episode a setup for most elements of season 5, especially time travel. In order to avert implementing the time travel in a confusing way, the exposition of Faraday's theories was rewritten to start earlier and be more specific. While previous seasons had been filmed in high definition, this season premiere was the first ''Lost'' episode to be edited in it.

Lindelof stated that "When season five starts, you won't know when or where you are. And the way we tell stories will be different too", and confirmed that the "whooshing sound" effect will continue to be used as the transition for the new storytelling device. When asked if episodes continue to focus on specific and different characters, actor Jorge Garcia, who portrays Hurley Reyes, replied that "It's not as clear cut as it's been in the past. We don't have the moments where someone stares off into space and then we cut to something that happened in their previous life. They've gone in a slightly different direction as far as how they're telling the story and they're definitely trying to show what's going on with more people in every given episode." The script included scenes with all the main characters, including Desmond in the ending, because the writers felt that after a long break the audience would like to see every character again. Like the previous three season openers, the opening scene was meant to make viewers "not supposed to have any sense of where and when we are". But while the other premieres had the teaser connecting into the main plot of the episode, the writers decided to put a scene that would only return in the fourteenth episode, "The Variable". The time flashes were designed in a way that demonstrated both the castaways at the beach and John Locke in the jungle were "skipping" to the same time periods, and also to show that time travel was painful for the characters.

In regard to what Lindelof described as "the Zodiac boat with Faraday and the five people that have never spoken a line on show", executive producer/writer/show runner Carlton Cuse said that "I'd be a little bit more worried about the non-line speakers than Faraday", while Lindelof added that "things are looking up for Faraday" and "there is a monsoon coming." Regarding the background survivors in general, Carlton Cuse has responded that there is "a very tragic event that happens this season." According to Lindelof, Neil "Frogurt" (Sean Whalen), a background survivor who has appeared solely in the '' Lost: Missing Pieces'' mobisode