TVSquad

Ah, Season Four. You were so good to us, even though you were slightly shorted by that pesky writers strike. Lost wasn't as impacted as a lot of other shows because the creators had already gotten the okay to do three shorter seasons before any of this happened. Sure they lost a little bit of time, but not enough to have really impacted the show.

And Season Four gave us such pivotal moments. The introduction of the freighties, including some really good and interesting characters. The return of Michael. The identities of the Oceanic Six. An in-depth examination of what happened to them after the island in more flash forwards. The man in the cabin. Ben moves the island. And the identity of the man in the casket. So much happened in fourteen short episodes, but still that's not enough. To fill out the set, we've got two full discs of extras.

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.

(S04E12) I completely understand why Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse needed an extra hour for the finale. The first of three hours had so much information and moved to so many different locations, and I still feel like we've barely scratched the surface. It's going to be a long two weeks. That's all I have to say.

(S04E09) What a brilliant episode! At this point, I think all future Lost episodes should be either Ben-, Sayid-, or Desmond-centric. This episode had it all: tons of action, several big revelations, and more questions to ponder. Michael Emerson gave yet another award-worthy performance this week and showed off his action hero side.

Follow this link to join the chat. The full review is after the jump.

(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?

(S04E06) I didn't think it was possible, but the Lost writers actually found a way to make Ben creepier. All they had to do was add a "lovesick stalker" dimension to his personality. For a Juliet-centric episode, it seemed like we learned a lot more about Ben than the intriguing Dr. Burke. We also got some significant answers about who's behind the freighter mission--from Ben, of course. Perhaps the only thing Ben doesn't know is how to have a healthy romantic relationship.

DarkUFO, a Lost fansite, has found another instance of backwards speech in last week's episode. "Catch-22," a Desmond-centric episode, featured several of Desmond's psychic flashes. One of these flashes includes a message when you play the scene in reverse. The video clip (sound only) is available after the jump.

Backwards messages have popped up in Lost episodes before. Recently, "Not in Portland" had a scene that contained backwards speech (the Karl brainwashing video). An episode in Season Two is also rumored to include a backwards message from Walt. The backwards message from this episode actually uses dialogue from a later scene. As far as I know, this hasn't been done before. What gives?

Lost's Jorge Garcia has been nominated for an ALMA award by the National Council of La Raza. The organization, which acknowledges the work of Latinos in film and television, singled out Garcia for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes.

The actor is nominated in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Television Series, Miniseries, or TV Movie. He is up against Yancey Arias (Walkout), Mark Indelicato (Ugly Betty), Benito Martinez (The Shield), Tony Plana (Ugly Betty), and Miguel Sandoval (Medium).

Garcia won the ALMA award last year, so he is the man to beat. He also won a SAG award in 2006 for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for Lost. Eva Longoria will host the ALMA awards broadcast, which airs at 9pm ET on June 5 (ABC).

Lost co-executive producers Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis are spilling the beans about Season Three, or least hinting at what's to come. Horowitz and Kitsis co-wrote the upcoming Hurley-centric episode "Tricia Tanaka is Dead," along with several other Hurley flashback episodes.

Fans can expect this new episode to be relatively lighter than the intense Other storylines. The writers are also encouraging viewers to pay special attention to the last few minutes of the episode, a bold promise after last week's misleading ABC promos. According to Horowitz and Kitsis, the episode's events have been in the works for a long time.

The New York Post just posted an interview with Jorge Garcia, in which the Lost star reveals a few details about his upcoming flashback episode. "Tricia Tanaka is Dead" will be the first Hurley-centric episode since Season Two's "Dave." Garcia shared the following information about the episode:

• The actor is trying to not to worry about the show's relatively poor ratings.
• He believes that no lone factor is to blame for the ratings decline. The show's new time slot and division of the cast have been highlighted by critics.
• Garcia's flashback episode features Cheech Marin as Hurley's father.

Here's a vacation idea that will have your family planning an intervention and your internet friends jealous: Go to Hawaii. But, don't just go to the beach. Follow the Lost trail. You can visit most Hawaiian filming locations for Lost, thanks to this nifty little website created by some uber-fans.

For example, check out Hurley's golf course from Season 1 Episode 9. The fans are nice enough to take a whole slew of photos, and compare them to screen grabs from various episodes to prove that, yes, they did find the spot. They also write up a little bit about the location and about other films that were made there (Pearl Harbor, Jurassic Park and Godzilla share settings), as well as directions to the spot. Other cool locations include the place where Ana Lucia killed Goodwin, the rickety bridge in "Numbers", the waterfall where Michael goes after Walt, and the beach where Kate strips down to her bra and undies. You can search by episode or by geographical location. The guys behind the website have done a heck of a lot of scouting around and really know their episodes in order to take the photos they take. I dare you not to waste an entire afternoon on Lost Virtual Tour!

Did the recent death of a main character on Lost leave you wanting more? Maybe you have your own personal lostaway hit list? If that's the case, you're in good company. Tim Goodman, television writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, not only wants more deaths, he's got a list. Thirteen picks for who he'd kill, in order, and with a reason for each.

It's a fun article and I find myself in agreement with him on most of this. The one place we disagree is where Hurley is concerned. Goodman says, "You can't kill Hurley. You just can't." I'm perfectly fine with killing Hurley. It's not like he's doing anything on the island anyway. I'm sure Paolo, or the next mysteriously appearing new character, can say "Dude" and whip up a fruit salad. But maybe Hurley getting killed will finally serve as motivation for the characters to actually do something about their situation.

Jorge Garcia, who plays Hurley on Lost, will be in New York City's Times Square next Monday to celebrate the release of the Lost action figures. The dolls are of six characters during season one of Lost: Jack, Kate, Hurley, Locke, Charlie and Shannon.

We've shown you sneak peeks of several of the action figures here (and there are more pictures here). What we didn't realize is that the action figures also have voice chips that will broadcast quotes from season one episodes.

In case you're in NYC and you want to meet Hurley, you have to get a ticket here. He'll be signing boxed sets at the Times Square Toys 'R' Us from 4p-7p on Monday, Nov. 6.