Lost returns next week! [Spoilers!]

[Moliere]

I don't know what's a bigger turnoff, the fact that they using a shirtless Sawyer to advertise the show or that there will be a lot of "time shifting".    Maybe Hiro will land on the island.

The producers of "Lost" say the new season will emphasize time shifting along with Sawyer, the repentant con man played by Josh Holloway.
...
Cuse says there's even something in the show for people who aren't huge time travel fans. The first episode features a shirtless Sawyer.

[TiLT]

Lost has featured "time shifting" for a long while, but we only recently became aware of it. I've been fully expecting them to delve deeper into that concept this season now that it's out in the open. If I'm not mistaken, there is only one more season after this one, so we're going to start seeing the core mysteries of the island start to open themselves up very soon.

[Jeff]

Lost has featured "time shifting" for a long while, but we only recently became aware of it. I've been fully expecting them to delve deeper into that concept this season now that it's out in the open. If I'm not mistaken, there is only one more season after this one, so we're going to start seeing the core mysteries of the island start to open themselves up very soon.

Not only is there only one more season, both this one and the next (2010) are going to be short seasons, IIRC. 16 episodes each instead of the usual 24. Things should start getting pretty intense and revealing by the middle of this season. I'm very much looking forward to it. I think Lost is one of the best TV series ever aired, and probably THE greatest in terms of overall character development.

[Kevin Grey]

I think this season is 17 episodes to help compensate for what was lost due to the writer's strike last year. 

[CeeKay]

I think this season is 17 episodes to help compensate for what was lost due to the writer's strike last year. 

the lost Lost episodes?

[morlac]

I think this season is 17 episodes to help compensate for what was lost due to the writer's strike last year. 

the lost Lost episodes?

Indeed

[Mithridates]

I'm very much looking forward to it. I think Lost is one of the best TV series ever aired, and probably THE greatest in terms of overall character development.

I'm with you.  I think the story, the suspense and the character development have been sheer genius. 

[corruptrelic]

A new season of lost? WTF? Thought they said last season was going to be the last one!

[CeeKay]

A new season of lost? WTF? Thought they said last season was going to be the last one!

uh, you serious Clark?

[TiLT]

A new season of lost? WTF? Thought they said last season was going to be the last one!

You thought wrong.

[rittchard]

I am reallllly excited for Lost to come back on Wednesday.  I re-watched the entire season in Blu-Ray a couple of weeks ago, and it's such a great experience to watch them all at once, in high quality, and without the same week to week expectations.  I seriously think it's been some of the best TV I've ever watched, and I watch a ton.

Some tidbits I've read (hmmm some might be considered spoilers):

Spoiler for Hiden:

- it's not just going to be about getting back to the island, that's just a part of it

- they will introduce yet another different form of storytelling to go along with flash-forward and flashback.  I suspect this has to do with the island moving back in time

- the 4-toed statue will be back!  But no revelations this season

- more of the smoke monster will be revealed

- more ancient civ stuff revealed

- Michelle Rodriguez guests I think in the first ep; Hurley can talk to ghosts like the Asian guy, sort of

- Jin will be back in some form or another, but no scenes with Sun for quite some time.  Given the other things I've read, I'm guessing he did not die last season.

- Claire's fate won't be revealed til next season.

- more back story on the French chick, not necessarily played by the same actress (so probably a young version)

- more on the Black Rock ship revealed

- Michelle (Reiko Aylesworth?) from 24 is going to be on it, but I think only in the past; no idea what that meant

- some sort of happy ending in store, also not sure what that meant

[mikeg]

Can't wait, but honestly not expecting a damn thing.  They have let me down way too many years to truly expect much more than getting to Evangeline Lilly again!

[Caine]

damn, just reading your spoilers, rittchard, i am now excited again.  last season's shock moments really upped the ante.  i anticipate some interesting encounters with sayid and ben.  payback time, sucka!

[LoneStarSpur]

That was...odd.

Good to have it back, though! The first 'review' hour was hilarious with those two nerds talking about the show (didn't catch just who exactly they are).

Spoiler for Hiden:

"Lilly says "Hi".
Who was the woman who gave Ben 70 hours? She looked familiar.

[TiLT]

Spoiler for Hiden:

"Lilly says "Hi".
Who was the woman who gave Ben 70 hours? She looked familiar.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I believe she's the woman who appeared to Desmond when he got lost in time. We don't know much about her yet.

[LoneStarSpur]

Spoiler for Hiden:

"Lilly says "Hi".
Who was the woman who gave Ben 70 hours? She looked familiar.

Spoiler for Hiden:

I believe she's the woman who appeared to Desmond when he got lost in time. We don't know much about her yet.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Can't remember her for some reason. I guess she's Daniel's mother. I'm having a hard time remembering just when Desmond's time flipping stuff was happening earlier in the show. I thought it was before he got stranded on the Island and he and Penny were still together, but maybe it was after he was rescued?

[PeteRock]

Wait, does this show actually involve time travel?    I've never watched the series but have certainly been curious, however I thought it was more a modern-day Gilligan's Island with a bit of suspense, not Back to the Future sans Doc Brown.   

I've heard you either love it or hate it, and as I am looking for great TV series to add to my DVD collection I am curious, but cautiously apprehensive.  And the idea of time travel or "time shifting" makes me even a bit more skeptical.

[TiLT]

Wait, does this show actually involve time travel?    I've never watched the series but have certainly been curious, however I thought it was more a modern-day Gilligan's Island with a bit of suspense, not Back to the Future sans Doc Brown.   

I've heard you either love it or hate it, and as I am looking for great TV series to add to my DVD collection I am curious, but cautiously apprehensive.  And the idea of time travel or "time shifting" makes me even a bit more skeptical.

Don't worry. It's nothing like Back to the Future's time travel. In fact, you probably haven't seen much, if anything, like this ever before.

[LoneStarSpur]

Wait, does this show actually involve time travel?    I've never watched the series but have certainly been curious, however I thought it was more a modern-day Gilligan's Island with a bit of suspense, not Back to the Future sans Doc Brown.   

I've heard you either love it or hate it, and as I am looking for great TV series to add to my DVD collection I am curious, but cautiously apprehensive.  And the idea of time travel or "time shifting" makes me even a bit more skeptical.

I'm always hesitant to recommend something like this to someone because Lord knows people have such different ideas of what is entertaining  , but...

...the best I can say about the show is that I like the characters, care about what happens to them and hope that the writers let everything work out for them.

If you don't like the weird, don't bother. And it can be frustrating with how slow they dole out answers and those answers usually raise more questions.

Maybe rent season 1 off of Netflix or something.

[PeteRock]

And it can be frustrating with how slow they dole out answers and those answers usually raise more questions.

That's what I'm most worried about.  I like resolution, and when questions are answered with more questions I get frustrated.  I may see if a friend has the series so I can at least borrow Season 1 and see what I think.  But I certainly think it would be a risk to outright purchase the series on DVD as I'm not quite sure it's my particular brand of bourbon.

[rittchard]

I've heard you either love it or hate it, and as I am looking for great TV series to add to my DVD collection I am curious, but cautiously apprehensive.  And the idea of time travel or "time shifting" makes me even a bit more skeptical.

I think it's true that you either love it or hate it.  Or that you might grow to either love it or hate it as you watch the show.  Every season has been different enough that it's plausible you may be upset or happy depending on how much you liked the previous season(s).  I would highly recommend watching Season 1 and just see if you like the main characters.  If like some fans you just get into the characters, and feel like you are willing to go along with the ride anywhere they take you (that's me!), you can try the next seasons.  Most people felt the show lost its way a bit in Season 3 but recovered well in Season 4.  Personally having watched every season of the series "live" first and then on DVD again, I'd say every season has its unique charm and a few top notch eps with a few throw away ones in between.

As for the premiere last night, all I can say is.... whoa.  I get the feeling they are going to alienate some fans because they are going full bore with the sci-fi/fantasy elements.  I love that they aren't compromising, for better or worse.  I'm still processing the episodes, so much was going on and only some parts of it made sense to me.

Spoiler for Hiden:

So is the island moving in time, or just the people, or only select people?  Seems like it's the island since it vanished from sight, and yet from the people left on the island's perspective, it seems like it's just a certain collective.  Richard and the Others didn't seem to move with Locke.  Juliet, Daniel, etc rule out the possibility it was only Filght 815 survivors.

I love the concept of Desmond's "unique" ability to bridge time - though it does clash with the "rule" that you can't change the past.

Funny how the number of survivors, I mean fodder, seems to ebb and flow.  I was under the impression almost everyone save the core cast was dead after the Keemee massacre last season.  Then last night there were yet again a bunch of redshirts getting fried by the night arrows lol.

I did enjoy the Survivor-esque inability to start a fire

Hooray for Ana Lucia cameo!

Hurley's T-shirt was priceless!

Really enjoyed the last minute with Finola whatever her name is, she has a great presence.  It's almost like Judi Dench dropped in for a cameo.

[LoneStarSpur]

I think it's easier if you know from the get go that you're not going to be getting answers as quickly as you might like...after all you don't have to wait 6 months to find out what happens after the end of season 1.

It's not all brilliant stuff, but enough of it is to make it well worth my time.

[LoneStarSpur]

I've heard you either love it or hate it, and as I am looking for great TV series to add to my DVD collection I am curious, but cautiously apprehensive.  And the idea of time travel or "time shifting" makes me even a bit more skeptical.

I think it's true that you either love it or hate it.  Or that you might grow to either love it or hate it as you watch the show.  Every season has been different enough that it's plausible you may be upset or happy depending on how much you liked the previous season(s).  I would highly recommend watching Season 1 and just see if you like the main characters.  If like some fans you just get into the characters, and feel like you are willing to go along with the ride anywhere they take you (that's me!), you can try the next seasons.  Most people felt the show lost its way a bit in Season 3 but recovered well in Season 4.  Personally having watched every season of the series "live" first and then on DVD again, I'd say every season has its unique charm and a few top notch eps with a few throw away ones in between.

As for the premiere last night, all I can say is.... whoa.  I get the feeling they are going to alienate some fans because they are going full bore with the sci-fi/fantasy elements.  I love that they aren't compromising, for better or worse.  I'm still processing the episodes, so much was going on and only some parts of it made sense to me.

Spoiler for Hiden:

So is the island moving in time, or just the people, or only select people?  Seems like it's the island since it vanished from sight, and yet from the people left on the island's perspective, it seems like it's just a certain collective.  Richard and the Others didn't seem to move with Locke.  Juliet, Daniel, etc rule out the possibility it was only Filght 815 survivors.

I love the concept of Desmond's "unique" ability to bridge time - though it does clash with the "rule" that you can't change the past.

Funny how the number of survivors, I mean fodder, seems to ebb and flow.  I was under the impression almost everyone save the core cast was dead after the Keemee massacre last season.  Then last night there were yet again a bunch of redshirts getting fried by the night arrows lol.

I did enjoy the Survivor-esque inability to start a fire

Hooray for Ana Lucia cameo!

Hurley's T-shirt was priceless!

Really enjoyed the last minute with Finola whatever her name is, she has a great presence.  It's almost like Judi Dench dropped in for a cameo.

Spoiler for Hiden:

Daniel said he was trying to locate the Island in 'space/time' so I'm guessing the Island moved physically. Not sure why only a few of them are bouncing around in time. Daniel has something to do with it, maybe?

Riddick!

Hurley is so good. I hope the show ends pretty soon so that kid can start losing some weight!

[TiLT]

Spoiler for Hiden:

I like how the first episode confirmed one of my major theories about the show. I've been speculating for a while that there was time travel involved, but also that the time traveling here is completely different from most of the stuff we see from Hollywood. Usually, movies and TV involving time travel will go the Back to the Future route, where changes made to the past may lead you off into an "alternate dimension" where things turned out differently, leaving the original dimension intact. I theorized that Lost had only one timeline, and that paradoxes are impossible because the universe will force them to not happen. This means that even absurdly unlikely events will happen if their only alternative is a paradox. This was all confirmed in episode one of season 5.

I further speculate that the Others have traveled into the future to see how events unfold, which allows them to take a casual approach to danger. Once a future event has been witnessed by a time traveler who returns to an earlier point in time afterwards, that event MUST happen, no matter what. This is why Michael couldn't kill himself and why he could only die after handling the bomb. Christian Shepard, though his real role in all of this is unknown, had traveled to the point in time where the bomb exploded, and had observed the event (and gave a quick comment, as we saw in last season). When he returned, he was able to say with absolute confidence that this would happen, which again allowed the Others to easily manipulate Michael to go through with it.

Several other things throughout the show can be explained through this as well. We'll see how much the show tells us outright, and how much we have to figure out for ourselves in the end.

[Kevin Grey]

I think the rough patches of Lost probably would play better on DVD.  When it's "live" it's easier to be frustrated when a given episode doesn't move the show forward as much as you would like because it's at least a week to the next episode (and maybe longer). 

Also, in retrospect I'm fonder of the second and third seasons than I was at the time.  The second season ends up introducing some really great characters in Desmond, Michael, and Elizabeth, and while the fourth season is largely seen as a revitalization of the show, for my money they really got the ball rolling the last half of the third season.  And things are starting to fit together far more smoothly than I would ever have expected. 

Also, I just read the following interview with one of the showrunners and it's a great read that IMO gives me confidence that they really know where they are going:

http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2009/01/sepinwall-on-tv-lost-goes-time.html

[CeeKay]

I can't wait for the whole series to be out on DVD/Blu Ray, just so I can watch it all from the beginning and catch stuff that is hinted at but revealed much later.  I wonder if we're going to see Hobbit boy come back with all that is happening, and I hope we get to see Ben slap Hurley across the face just once.  On the plus side, with the deadline given hopefully the whole season won't be about getting the band back together.

[Caine]

i'm fully expecting someone to go in after the fact and piece together all of the seasons in a memento style edit, complete with all of the time hopping pieced together.  i loved the cameo's in this one, and the question regarding hurley's moments.  are they proof that he's really gone crazy, are they an occurrence of things he subconsciously figured out coming back to him via visits, or are they really a visit from the dead? 

can't wait til next week. 

[walTer]

Ok that was a lot of shit that happened in those 2 hours.

Wow.

I am so glad there are only 2 seasons left so they work to an actual end...whatever it is.

[TiLT]

Ok that was a lot of shit that happened in those 2 hours.

Wow.

I am so glad there are only 2 seasons left so they work to an actual end...whatever it is.

For once I'm starting to see the silhouette of the ending in the horizon. I suspect the island will have to be destroyed or "banished" somehow in order to protect the world. I fully expect Jack to die while accomplishing this.

[Moliere]

I really liked last week's episode. Here are some of my thoughts:

1) I am curious if the show is ever going to explain the nature of Jacob and the black smoke monster. Somehow the mere knowledge of and mention of his name gets Locke a free pass to visit Richard.

2) Interesting how Locke from the future traveled to 1954 to give Richard the compass so that Richard could give it back to Locke during his test as a child.

3) Desmond and Penny have a son and name him Charlie. What are the odds that this boy will grow up to be the actual Charlie that died on the island? [M. Night Shyamalan]What a twist![/M. Night Shyamalan]

4) Very cool the way Widmore was introduced as a young man on the island in 1954. Now we get to find out how he ends up broken away from the "Others".

5) No surprise that Daniel Faraday's mom is the woman in LA working with Ben. Weird how they had differing loyalties: Daniel with Widmore and the mom with Ben.

6) Miles had the funniest line when the time jumped at the end of the episode and Daniel was only asking if Charlotte was ok. "I'm fine too. Thanks for asking."

[TiLT]

3) Desmond and Penny have a son and name him Charlie. What are the odds that this boy will grow up to be the actual Charlie that died on the island? [M. Night Shyamalan]What a twist![/M. Night Shyamalan]

Pretty much non-existing, I'd say. Charlie had a big brother, remember?

5) No surprise that Daniel Faraday's mom is the woman in LA working with Ben. Weird how they had differing loyalties: Daniel with Widmore and the mom with Ben.

It's very very likely that Faraday's mom appeared in a different situation in this episode. She's probably the woman who took Faraday to the bomb and said she didn't trust him.

[Pong]

Moliere really needs to learn how to use the spoiler tag

[TiLT]

Moliere really needs to learn how to use the spoiler tag

Why? The thread title itself says that the thread contains spoilers, so people can avoid the thread if they're not up to date with the show.

[Moliere]

3) Desmond and Penny have a son and name him Charlie. What are the odds that this boy will grow up to be the actual Charlie that died on the island? [M. Night Shyamalan]What a twist![/M. Night Shyamalan]

Pretty much non-existing, I'd say. Charlie had a big brother, remember?

That doesn't have to be his biological brother. Remember this is Lost. They can twist time around and insert Desmond's son into the past to be raised by adoptive parents.

5) No surprise that Daniel Faraday's mom is the woman in LA working with Ben. Weird how they had differing loyalties: Daniel with Widmore and the mom with Ben.

It's very very likely that Faraday's mom appeared in a different situation in this episode. She's probably the woman who took Faraday to the bomb and said she didn't trust him.

I didn't think of that. It makes sense and creates the typical Lost twist of everyone already knowing each other and running into those same people and random moments.

[Teggy]

5) No surprise that Daniel Faraday's mom is the woman in LA working with Ben. Weird how they had differing loyalties: Daniel with Widmore and the mom with Ben.

It's very very likely that Faraday's mom appeared in a different situation in this episode. She's probably the woman who took Faraday to the bomb and said she didn't trust him.

Maybe Faraday is his own father!   

[TiLT]

5) No surprise that Daniel Faraday's mom is the woman in LA working with Ben. Weird how they had differing loyalties: Daniel with Widmore and the mom with Ben.

It's very very likely that Faraday's mom appeared in a different situation in this episode. She's probably the woman who took Faraday to the bomb and said she didn't trust him.

Maybe Faraday is his own father!   

No way would they let that happen. For one thing, it wouldn't fly on American TV. In addition, Faraday already seems to have deduced that she is his mother, hence his comments about her being familiar.

[Teggy]

5) No surprise that Daniel Faraday's mom is the woman in LA working with Ben. Weird how they had differing loyalties: Daniel with Widmore and the mom with Ben.

It's very very likely that Faraday's mom appeared in a different situation in this episode. She's probably the woman who took Faraday to the bomb and said she didn't trust him.

Maybe Faraday is his own father!   

No way would they let that happen. For one thing, it wouldn't fly on American TV. In addition, Faraday already seems to have deduced that she is his mother, hence his comments about her being familiar.

Yeah, I didn't think that would happen. However, it is possible that Widmore is Faraday's father.

[Pong]

Moliere really needs to learn how to use the spoiler tag

Why? The thread title itself says that the thread contains spoilers, so people can avoid the thread if they're not up to date with the show.

My bad, didn't notice the

Spoiler for Hiden:

in the thread title.

I should learn to read 

[Moliere]

Lost has proven that no one is dead unless you see them decapitated and then you personally burn the corpse. Even then they might find a way to bring the person back to life.

[Ironrod]

As soon as we saw those frenchies in that raft, I knew they were returning to the crazy french chick. I was disappointed that they couldn't use Mira Furlan to play her young self, but I suppose that would have been too big a stretch. I wonder if she will be back.