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WRITER's NOTE: There are spoilers in this column regarding the season premiere of “Lost.” So if you've Tivo'ed or taped and haven't seen “LA X I” and “LA X II” proceed with caution.

That unfathomable island.

Who knew there was a temple with healing waters, a monument to the mysterious Jacob and a fortress against his nameless nemesis? It seems the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 had covered every inch of the island, if not in one time period then in another thanks in part to the electromagnetic energy that allows the island to bump along through time.

The two-part season premiere of “Lost” on Tuesday did not disappoint. The writers gave us a glimpse of another layer of the mysterious depths of the island when Hurley takes a near-dead Sayid to the temple. Sayid, it seems, can't be revived but manages to blink back from the dead in time for credits to role. Dazzling and fun.

I love that Hurley's passage to the temple through heavy guard comes by way of a paper message found inside of a wooden symbol in a guitar case that Jacob gave him (in another time period). That's standard for a “Lost” plot: an answer wrapped in a mystery and yet hidden in plain sight.

The two-part episode follows the aftermath of the hydrogen bomb that Jack Shephard and several other survivors of the plane crash try to detonate at the Swan hatch to get out of the time period they're stuck in (the '70s) and back to the future.

Bad things happen. Juliette dies and that handsome charlatan and rambler, Sawyer, withers at the loss of his love. Sawyer's grief is laced with a murderous rage (he blames Jack) and compounded by the weight of her cryptic last words. It's one of my favorite episodes with Sawyer and a sign that this season will be a memorable one.

The producers announced the show would only go six seasons after a third season in which “Lost” seemed to be losing its direction. It's a show loaded with convoluted plots and story overhauls, so it was time to rein it in and give it direction. It's worked.

I like that the writers wove the story of bomb aftermath with the narrative of Oceanic Flight 815 before the take off and crash on the island. The tension works, and that past-present glimpse of the characters has been a handy tool for the writers of “Lost.”

I'm still wrestling with whether or not the bomb actually went off. I might have missed something. I mean, Jack and his posse were at the Swan hatch when they awoke. But it appears they traveled through time, once again. Juliette, from the grave and though the psychic Miles, tells Sawyer, “It worked.”

Favorite mystery revealed: What the smoke monster really is. It's Jacob's nemesis, or the guy sworn to kill Jacob, and he's taken the form of John Locke, believed dead. That revelation only created one more mystery, and it came when Locke/nemesis guy, leaves Jacob's lair and addresses Richard.

He tells Richard: “I'm glad to see you're out of those chains.” Then knocks the guy out.

I have a feeling that survivors of Oceanic Flight 815, the ones now tucked away in the temple along with the newly resurrected Sayid, will find a way off the island. Maybe that's more of a hope than a hunch.

I hope to see what sort of experiment or trial Jacob had planned for them, and if they're linked in some way beyond his beckoning to bring them back. I'm wondering how this will tie in with the island's origins, and how much of that will be revealed. Well, at least there's no mystery to the length of the show. The writers had one more season to come to some kind of resolution (or not) with these questions. If Tuesday's episode is any indication, season six should be quite a ride.

Post script: please send all theories on the origins of the island to Steve Wildsmith at steve.wildsmith@thedailytimes.com. The winner gets free tickets to see Mr. Wildsmith's death metal band, Hogzilla and the Screamers.

Darren Dunlap is a freelance writer and Weekend columnist for The Daily Times. Contact him at countybeat@yahoo.com. Feel free to inundate him with your “Lost” theories, ramblings, lessons on time travel and quantum physics diagrams.