Pre-Premiere Teases

After the long (so long) 8 month hiatus, a number of media outlets who a bit of advanced knowledge of the first few episodes have put out some teases/ cheat sheets of what we need to know before the fourth season premiere, or questions we may be asking a few episodes in. A couple of highlights are presented here.

Doc Jensen (ew.com)
Jeff Jensen today provided a cheat sheet of things from seasons past to remember heading into the premiere. A few of these are probably way off everyone's radar (including mine, hence my leaving them off the "previously on Lost" post on the main blog). Here they are:

• Dave Hurley's imaginary friend/loony-bin buddy, a tempting devil and the embodiment of his eating/control/fear-of-change/self-esteem issues. Last seen plummeting to his death on the Island. Was he real? Hallucination? Both? Freakin' questions. I hate them! I love them! Hold me?
• Camaro Car belonging to Hurley's father, passed down to the round mound of dude. Symbolic of daddy issues and struggles with hope and despair, idealism and cynicism, faith and faithlessness. It's an early '70s model, red with white down the middle, and blessed with a functional eight-track cassette player. Theme song: ''Shambala'' by Three Dog Night. I was never really a car guy growing up. But I think my son is going to be, and when he gets old enough to watch Lost with his old man, I bet he'll like Hurley's Camaro. By the way, my son's name is Ben. How weird is that?! (Answer: Not very.)
• Parapsychology If you recall the orientation film found in the Swan (see: season 2, episode 3), the Dharma Initiative was conducting experiments into ''parapsychology,'' or supernatural abilities that could include things like ESP, precognition, mental projection, and telekinesis. On a possibly related but probably tangential note, are you guys into ''The Secret''? You know: that Oprah-endorsed, power-of-positive-thinking/mind-over-matter self-help stuff that was something of a pop-culture sensation a year or so back? After watching Hurley will the Dharma bus back to life last season in the Tricia Tanaka episode, I kinda wonder if there could be a connection between ''The Secret'' and Lost. Might I have some additional thoughts on this matter in our TV Watch recap of the season premiere on Friday? I just might.
• ''Big Mike'' His mother knew him better as ''Mike Walton.'' LAPD partner of the late, not-so-great, dead-baby-haunted cop/vigilante/murderer/Christian Shephard booze buddy/Sawyer fornicator Ana Lucia Cortez. Rocks a mustache, as most cops do. Dude cops, I mean. Weird, huh? Is that a cop-code thing, these mustaches? Take my dad. He's a cop. And guess what? Tom Jensen has a mustache. I asked him about this, and after a long, baffled pause, he explained, ''Well, the reason I grew my mustache, was because I became a police officer when I was 23 and I looked like I was 15.'' He also suggested that since cops must adhere to strict guidelines about their appearance (short hair, no beards), they grow mustaches ''just because they can.'' Then Dad's trademark wit kicked in. ''I think we all want to look the same so that if anyone files a complaint against us, they won't know who to file it against.'' See! I knew there was a conspiracy! PS: My brother's name is Mike. He's kinda big, too. Coincidence? (Answer: Yes.)

The good Doc also relates the story about how reporting on Season 3 helped him cope with his wife's (thankfully) successful battle with cancer. He finishes his column with the following tease:

"In the season premiere, titled ''The Beginning of the End,'' you will meet a man who gets some bad news. His best friend has just died. The tragedy hits him hard, so hard that it threatens to imperil the meaning of his hard-fought survivor's life. But he makes a choice — a choice to live a life worthy of his friend's sacrifice. This will prove very difficult, maybe even impossible, and it will invite many unforeseen consequences. But it doesn't make his conviction any less true or the choice any less correct. If I didn't like this guy before, I love him to pieces now. He's a dude after my own heart. "

You can read the entirety of Jensen's column by clicking here.

Doc Arzt (UGO.com)

Blogger extraordinaire Doc Arzt, who claims to have seen the first four episodes of the new season, has provided what he calls a survival guide that characters on Lost may wish they have. I find these indecipherable at this point, but figured I'd throw them out there for you:

• A blackboard eraser. You never know when you may accidently leave behind even the most veiled symbol of where you’ve been. Particularly when you don’t want people to know you were even there. The subconscious has a mean habit of giving us up in what may otherwise be harmless doodles.
• A really strong leash. And I mean REALLY strong. Sheesh, the things some people keep for pets.
• A passport, some money, and a gun. Oh, and a quick way off the island.
• A damn good explanation for who you’re working for.
• A copy of “Women are from Venus, Men are from Mars.” But it doesn’t exactly say where babies are from? Does it?
• A couple of hammocks and pack of Zener cards.
• The uptight surgeons guide to “letting go.”

There are others out there, but this should do the trick. Check back on the main blog after the premiere for my recap.

The Secret of The Six

Welcome to the first post on my side blog, Lost Lover at Law: Spoilers. The question I posed on the main blog was this - what could this graphic, hidden in a flash frame on ABC's Lost Season 4 promo, mean about the future of Lost?



The spoilerific answer? Now, this is, as are most spoilers, based on rumors circulating on the internets. But here's my understanding of what the number six means...

Only six castaways will make it off the island with the freighter people Jack called in the season finale. Rumor has it this group will become quasi-famous, known to the world as "The Oceanic Six," the only people to have survived the crash that everyone else was previously told had no survivors.

We know, of course, who two of the six are. Jack and Kate, in the last scene of last season, made abundantly clear that they got rescued. So who do the message boards and blogs say the other four are?

Hurley, Sayid, Sun and Jin.

Now, again, this is all rumor. And I hope somebody has some of this wrong. But the only one of these that I particularly question is Jin. Here's why.

1. Hurley. Supposedly, the first episode of the new season, "The Beginning of the End," is a Hurley-centric flash-forward. That fact alone suggests Hugo Reyes is going home. Given the resources at his disposal, Hurley would be a good choice for someone to send home (i.e., he can provide the most help to those left behind). Also, when Hurley learns of Charlie's death, he may become so despondent that his traditional loyal sidekick personality may take a huge hit. Then it might just be every man for himself...

2. Sayid. If the rumors are to be believed, we'll learn the importance of "6" when Sayid, in another early-season flash-forward, says to somebody on the phone that he is one of the "Oceanic Six." This sounds like a plausible plot point to not be completely made up. On the other hand, Sayid very clearly told Jack before most of the survivors went to the radio tower that he would gladly give his life if it meant securing rescue. Does this seem like somebody who would leave when so many others are left behind? Wonder what's up with that...

3. Sun. Sun has more reason to want to leave the island than anyone. After all, if she stays, her unborn baby will kill her (and itself) in the next couple of months. Hands-down, if there is a moment of choice of who stays and who goes, it would be hard to imagine Sun not getting a lot of sympathy here.

4. Jin. Now this is what I don't like about the idea of Jin being the last of the six. If his wife and child are safe, sure, I know he'd want to leave with his family. But should they both get to go while so many are left behind? And for that matter, what about Claire? Desmond's vision was that she and Aaron would be taken off the island by helicopter if Charlie drowned in the Looking Glass. That was what made Charlie sacrifice himself. Now Claire doesn't get to go home? Uncool, future visions. Uncool.

So there you have it. The first big spoiler on my new secondary blog. Going forward, I won't post any spoilers here without letting you know about it at the Lost Lover at Law site, so please continue to read my posts there (and to contribute your comments, as well). Looking forward to the last 40% or so of the series!