It’s no easy task trying to describe “”Lost.”” OK, we’ve seen people crash onto islands before (“”Castaway,”” anyone?), and there are plenty of sci-fi alternative universes floating around cable television. Yet few can boast millions of viewers and a handful of major awards to boot, not to mention an obsessed fan blogosphere. With more than 100 episodes, we’ll help you with what is important for season six’s premiere on Feb. 2. But just to warn you — here be spoilers!
Rediscovering ‘Lost’
Oceanic Flight 815 is a normal flight from Sydney to Los Angeles until it snaps like a Kit-Kat bar over the South Pacific. Fourty-eight strangers crash land onto a mysterious island, which is not uninhabited. While the survivors initially struggle against the Others, the two factions unite to drive away mercenaries, who also find the island. In order to save everyone, the island magically moves — weird, I know. While some survivors are bouncing through space-time, a lucky few are rescued and return to America as the “”Oceanic 6.”” Eventually, they decide to return to the island for various reasons by taking another plane. Unfortunately, half are sent to 2007, and the rest are whisked away to the 1970s. These survivors have a risky opportunity to reset time so that Oceanic Flight 815 lands safely. Problem: the solution includes a nuclear bomb. Season five ends with viewers unsure if the nuke is ever detonated. Talk about a cliffhanger.
Timeline tribulations
The writers of “”Lost”” manipulate time more than an “”X-Files”” fan-fiction devotee. They have created a spaghetti bowl of plots through flashbacks, flashforwards and parallel timelines. For season six, the crucial action will continue in 2007 and 1977. It is fairly safe to assume the two storylines will reconnect in the sixth season. However, the idea that “”what happened, happened”” constantly permeates time travel discussions, proving the Lost-ies cannot change the past. I doubt the bomb will reset time — this would make for a very dull show indeed.
The few, the strong: The survivors
The couple dozen individuals who survive the crash are the iron in the show’s bloodstream. By season six, the group is divided into those who want to leave the island and others who believe it is their destiny to stay. A few main characters are:
Jack – the de facto leader and doctor
Kate – a young woman on the run and the main source of sex appeal
Sawyer – typical southern bad-boy and con artist
Hurley – optimistic chubster with a history of mental problems
John Locke – paraplegic apparently “”chosen”” by the island
Not exactly your primitive natives
The Others are the island’s original inhabitors. Sometimes, they don frumpy flax-sewn clothes for jungle treks, but more often than not they exist in a little developed suburban neighborhood deep in the island. With the vengeance of mama grizzly bears, the Others have a specific procedure for dealing with newcomers: Infiltrate. Annihilate. Reestablish. Repeat. The key players for the local team are:
Ben Linus – the cunning leader of the Others in seasons one through four
Richard Alpert – an ageless adviser serving the current leader
Jacob – a godlike man who’s been hanging out on the island since the 1800s. But, like all gods, he has a nemesis, who comes in the form of “”the man in black””
John Locke – a survivor who is welcomed as the Others’ savior in later seasons. It appears that Locke is currently possessed by “”the man in black,”” who then manipulates Ben into killing Jacob
The interfering outsiders
From episode one, in which a random polar bear leaps between coconut trees, it is clear the island is pretty darn mysterious. Charles Widmore, a banished Other, wants to own the island and sends guns-for-hire and scientists out to find the island and seize it from Ben. What’s a decent TV series without a troupe of crazy scientists? Established in the early 1970s, the Dharma Initiative wanted to harvest the special properties of the island by building many testing facilities. That is, until the 1990s, when Ben gassed the entire initiative and returned the island to the Others.
Nothing says romance like a mysterious island
Kate loves Jack. Jack loves Kate. Kate loves Sawyer. If Sawyer is capable of emotion, then he loves Kate. Jack crushes on Juliet. Forced into 1974, Juliet and Sawyer live together, while in 2007 Jack fails at marrying Kate. Sigh.
Josh Holloway (Sawyer) stated that his character will more or less revert to his “”old self”” after the loss of Juliet. His “”old self”” had a major jones for Kate. The sexual tension between Sawyer and Kate is palpable when they first see each other in season five after years of separation. After all, Jack’s just the good guy, and we all know what happens to them.
Reasons to stroke your beard
Here’s a list of questions I’m hoping will be answered in the last season of “”Lost””:
Why do dead people prefer the island over the grave? Many actors with dead characters are slated to return for the final season. My theory is if “”the man in black”” created a Locke doppelganger, he probably can do the same for the rest of the Lost-ies.
What’s with the giant smoke monster and forest whispers?
What about Walt’s powers, Claire’s disappearance and the bizarre Egyptian statues?
The writers just might be killed in their sleep if these questions continue unanswered. J.J. Abrams, you have 18 episodes to account for all the excitement and mysteries for the millions of “”Lost”” viewers. Don’t disappoint us.
