TVSquad

We've already discussed some of this season's letdowns, and now it's time for the good stuff. Even the pickiest Lost fan must acknowledge that season four was phenomenal. A lot of things could have gone wrong this season. The writers had to incorporate an entirely new timeline into the show, deal with strike-related delays, and ease another group of characters into a huge ensemble cast.

Instead of falling short of expectations, this season surpassed them. I probably could have devoted separate posts to each of the following highlights. As usual, please share your own praise for this season of Lost in the comments section. I didn't come close to covering everything that made this season incredible.

"Welcome to the war." Ben Linus utters those words to John Locke in one of ABC's Lost promos, gun in hand. Since day one, Ben claimed that the freighter folks were going to kill everyone on the island. The show's three-hour finale is only a few weeks away. What do these last episodes of the season hold for the island residents? Can they hold their own against Widmore's team of scientists and thugs? Spoiler Warning: Some details from promos, interviews, and podcasts are mentioned.

(S04E08) We're going into a five-week Lost hiatus, and I'm extremely thankful that this wasn't the season finale. "Meet Kevin Johnson" wasn't a bad episode, but I couldn't have waited until 2009 for a follow-up. This episode did have its moments. We learned more about the island's connection to its inhabitants, Michael's time on the mainland, and there was (at least) one death. That should keep us busy for the next month or so, right?

(S04E02) Watching "Confirmed Dead" was like watching my dream episode of Lost. People asked direct questions for once, some of which were answered within the hour! This episode was all about the Freighties--their lives back on the mainland, their connections to Oceanic 815, and, to borrow a phrase, their "primary objective."

Even if the Dead Like Me straight-to-DVD movie will only be released next summer, the first trailer already made its way to the world wide web. The quality of the trailer is not the great but it does give a good glimpse at what's in store for the reapers and introduces Sarah Wynter as Daisie and Henry Ian Cusick as Cameron Kane, the new head reaper.

Even if you haven't read the movie spoilers and news released over the summer, you will still grasp most of what is shown in the trailer even if George's narration doesn't give a lot hints.

Over the summer, I kept you in the loop as to the latest spoilers and info about the direct-to-DVD Dead Like Me movie. Since I last gave you news about the movie about three months ago and because the DLM posts here at TV Squad still get a good number hits, I thought it was time I check up on the movie status and see if I could get more dish. Thanks to the movie's IMDb page (it's been up for a while now but I had given up on it since usually IMDb creates pages before or during shooting and it hadn't done that for the DLM movie) I can bring you some news.

Thanks to Multichannel blogger Mary McNamara, we now have fresh casting news about the Dead Like Me movie. The blogger, who attended the MGM panel at Comic-Con, reports that MGM's Senior Executive Vice President Finance and Corporate Development Charlie Cohen confirmed that everyone, except Mandy Patinkin and Laura Harris, was back for the direct-to-DVD movie. That is old news for TV Squad readers. But what is new is that Cohen gave the names of the actors set to replace both actors.

(S03E19) The twists just keep on coming, don't they? A major mystery from Season One was solved, and even more mysteries were introduced. We got a closer look at the many layers of John Locke, who is smarter than his recent behavior might have indicated.

If you caught the recent episode of Lost ('Catch-22'), you may have already started scouring the web in search of clues regarding the little ditty Desmond sang during a flashback, while supping down copious amounts of wine.

The key to the song lies in Desmond's nationality. In case you hadn't noticed, he's Scottish (by the sounds of his accent, probably from Glasgow, possibly Paisley).

Henry Ian Cusick, the actor who portrays Desmond, isn't actually Scottish himself -- he was born in Trujillo, Peru. His father is Scottish, but he spent most of his early life in Trinidad and Tobago and moved to Scotland when he was 15.

The Daily Record, a Scottish newspaper, recently ran a feature interview with Scottish actor Henry Ian Cusick, who plays Desmond Hume on Lost. A shorter interview with Lost's Dominic Monaghan was included as well. Cusick mainly discussed his adjustments to living in Hawaii, but also shed light on how he came to have a bigger role in the ABC drama. Among the highlights:

• Cusick has a made a permanent move to Hawaii with wife Annie Wood and their three sons.

(S03E08) I cannot remember the last time two equally awesome episodes of Lost aired back to back, but here we are. "Flashes Before Your Eyes" was almost better than "Not in Portland." At the very least, it was more complex, and left me with even more questions than last week. I would even hesitate to call this a Desmond flashback episode. At first I thought I was watching a flashback within a flashback, but the writers of Lost had something far more mindbending in store for poor, tragic Desmond.