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.