If you fell out of the "Lost" habit during the just-chugging-along-in-the-fog episodes of early last season, believe me I understand. But the ABC show got back on the rails last spring. And now it's time to get back on the train. Thursday's 9 p.m. season premiere - and especially next week's episode - are game-changers that will inspire a gasp or two from devoted fans.
These two episodes suggest that the writers actually have a destination in mind. Whether arriving will make the long journey worthwhile, I can't say. But the next few legs of the trip are highly entertaining, I promise. And not just because Sawyer calls Locke "Colonel Kurtz."
In last spring's explosive finale, we saw Charlie warn the castaways with his last breath (?) that the rescue ship is not what it seems. We also flashed forward to find an emotionally lost Jack in L.A., post-rescue, talking darkly about going back to the island. Both storylines get new chapters on Thursday, and blow up big time next week.
***SPOILER ALERT: SPOILERS AHEAD (SORTA)***
***STOP READING IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW ANY MORE***
****NOT THAT I CAN TELL YOU MUCH OR ABC WILL SEND A SPECIAL "RESCUE" TEAM TO MY HOUSE***
Between the two episodes, we get flash forwards involving half a dozen characters, old and new, that make very clear the story continues beyond any imminent "rescue," and that surviving the island does not bring peace - anything but.
We also get some very sharp in-the-moment drama on the island as the castaways prepare to greet the people from the ship in very different ways. Jack and his posse still believe in rescue. But Locke and the ever-scheming Ben both express the notion that something wicked this way comes. And when the "freighter" people start landing, things get interesting fast.
Did I mention the vintage Camaro? OK, that's not on the island, but in a flash forward.
The cast is the usual grabbag of acting skills, but Michael Emerson's utter self-possession as Ben (left) continues to amaze, especially since he spends most of these two episodes bound and covered with his own blood.
I'd like to tell you much more, but the letter ABC sent out with the DVD "kindly asks" that reviewers refrain from sharing, well, anything. They don't want any plot details released generally, along with a bunch of things they ask us not to mention in particular (XXX's are mine):
The Oceanic XXX
Any details about XXX's flash forward, or that he even has a flash forward
XXXXX
Who goes with XXXXX and who goes with XXXX
Any details about the four XXXXXXXXXXXX's back stories/flashbacks
As you can see, it's difficult to tell you much. Partly this is a kindness to folks who don't want to know anything before the show airs. And if ABC didn't run any promos giving hints at what's to come, I could almost believe that was the only reason for the Cheney-esque secrecy. But notice that all I can really tell you from the headline on down is: "Lost" is back, and it's good. So all this secrecy helps ABC keep the reviews on-message too. Sigh.
Of course, ABC has really good reason to want to stay on top of "Lost" publicity. After much fan backlash during the weaker passages of last season, the producers re-committed to the task at hand - and the network committed to three additional 16-episode seasons to bring the saga to its logical conclusion. Each of those three seasons was supposed to have an uninterrupted spring run - this year, in 2009 and in 2010. But the writers strike has already chewed up that plan like a polar bear gnawing on a slow-running castaway. Now we get eight episodes this spring and...well, let's hope we get eight more in the fall and then the remaining two seasons as planned.
As part of its launch strategy, ABC is rerunning the two-hour season finale on Wednesday night at 9, in an "enhanced" format which basically means there will be text and perhaps other kinds of information on the bottom half of the screen to help you keep up with the plot twists and turns. And Thursday night at 8, before the premiere, there will be a one-hour catch-up special called "Lost: Past, Present & Future" that even fans of the show will supposedly find "illuminating."
The Other Viewer in my house, burned by the disintegration of the "X-Files" mythology years ago, cheerfully mocks at my willingness to get sucked back into "Lost." But this time I really think they're going to do right by us. No, really!
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