And so it begins. Again.

Episode six not only felt like starting over, it also felt like the season finally, and in some ways literally, got off the ground. Yes, it opens with the now-iconic scene of Jack’s eye opening, and we pan out to see he’s lying in a jungly pile of green.

Yeah, we’re back.

After much impatience on our end, not to mention that of Ben and (in spirit) Locke, our favorite, core characters officially get back to where they once belonged.

In episode six, there was so much to sink one’s teeth into, it’s almost miraculous they were able to pack it all in. Where do we begin? Well, at the beginning of the end of the Oceanic Six’s off-island getaway (minus Aaron; we’ll get to that in a second).

The show had something for everyone: hot romance (how about that Kate and Jack kiss? Dayam!), reveals about Locke’s death, meaningful numbers, geography, mad scientist equations, WTF moments, unanswered questions, tears (OMG, that suicide note from Locke to Jack was a rough one), and even some laughter.  But one overarching theme was present throughout: are they effing nuts to want to go back? And it was a theme the Lost powers-that-be addressed with effective grace.

In a not-so-subtle reference to these characters’ willingness to blithely ignore life-threating warning signs, the clan follows church lady Eloise through a door marked “Caution, Do Not Enter, High Voltage.”  They arrive at a subterranean, vast room dominated by a giant pendulum swinging over a map of the world. It is surrounded by chalkboards covered in a scrawled snarl of calculus, geometry, algebra and scientific jibber jabber. And it’s here that we get one of the episode’s two true laughs:

JACK (to Ben): Did you know about this place?
BEN: No, I did not.
JACK (to Eloise): Is he lying?
ELOISE: Probably.

Thus begins Eloise’s rapid-fire enumeration of explications, numbers, charts and graphs. The whole thing strained my pause-button finger almost to paralysis. The Lost creators seem to cater to the obsessives; they know we’re going to rewind, pause, watch and rewind again. They know we avid watchers are looking for hidden clues and Easter eggs, and they love toying with us. Cut it out!

The sum of Eloise’s convoluted monologue that we learn how the troupe is going to return: yep, it’s another plane. Flight 316 from Los Angeles to Guam.

Now. I know Lost has never been predicated on believability. It’s science fiction of the highest order. But, miraculously, the show always manages to address our reluctance to suspend disbelief on an almost-psychic level.

Example: just as we’re all like “No way would crash survivors ever get on an airplane that’s bound to go down before reaching its destination,” the show speaks to us. Eloise says to Jack (and, by proxy, us): “Stop thinking about how ridiculous it is and start asking yourself whether or not you believe it’s going to work. That’s why it’s called a leap of faith, Jack.”

And if Eloise weren’t persuasive enough, it’s Ben who manages to win over Jack with a story of Thomas the Apostle. It boils essentially down to: seeing is believing, and soon you will see. Soon you will believe. So let’s get going already.

And wouldn’t you know it, they do. But not before tying up a few loose ends: Kate (mysteriously) rids herself of Aaron, Jack and Kate have that much-anticipated deep-throat kiss, Jack makes his peace with Locke (kind of), Hurley is sprung from lockup and Sayid (now a convicted criminal) is police-escorted onto the plane, Kate-style.

Another loose end is tied up once they’re on the plane: how in the heck are they going to end up on the Island? Enter pilot Frank J. Lapidus. Serendipity strikes again.

And almost as quickly as these are tied up, we get another “huh?” element added to the mix. Once Kate, Hurley and Jack are reunited on the Island, they are greeted by that unforgettable blue Volkswagen Bus. The driver emerges, gun pointed at them: Jin, decked out in Dharma Initiative gear.

Boom.

Up next: is John Locke really dead or what? Details at 9 PM Eastern, next Wednesday.