TVSquad

I know, I know, so much Lost stuff today. But hey, tonight's the season finale and there won't be another episode until, what, next January? Here's a fun poster that someone creative made to announce tonight's "Battle For The Island." (Here's the larger version.)

I love the fine print at the bottom.

I love stuff like this. The Fine Brothers have created another clever Lost parody, Star Trek: The Lost Generation. It's a celebration of Lost and the new Star Trek film. The crew of the Enterprise somehow gets stuck on the Lost island and not only have to deal with Jack and Sawyer and Locke but also different versions (different doll versions) of themselves. There's an appearance by a few other time-travelling pop culture figures too.

OK, maybe "annoying" is too harsh, as I can see people being into recap shows if they're done well. Then again, if you're a big fan of Lost, then you've already seen this stuff and you're really aching for a new episode.

So did you enjoy last night's recap episode, or was it just an irritation to you? Do you welcome weeks where there's either a repeat or a recap so you can take your mind off of the show for a bit? Take the poll after the jump and leave your thoughts in the comments below.

I'm a sucker for time travel shows. I loved it when Star Trek did it (all of the Star Trek shows did it, several times) and Back to the Future is one of my favorite films. So I'm really enjoying Lost this season, with it's time-tripping and skipping. But I have some problems with it, and so does Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings.

Jennings mentions on his blog that he thinks the writers have actually answered too many questions, which isn't a complaint that you hear from Lost fans too often. He thinks if they had left more plot questions, some of the things that happened in previous seasons "could now be explained as the actions of Future Juliet or Future Sawyer or somebody."

Jennings thinks it's smart that the show has the rule that you can't change what happened, because if something happens a certain way it will always happen that way. But I think the show is breaking that rule here and there.

(S05E04) "I have to make them come back... even if it kills me." - Locke

And so begins the quest of Jeremy Bentham. That's been one of the real treats this season - seeing the Oceanic Six in the present while having their plot juxtaposed against the real-time (well... as "real-time" as real-time can get when you're time traveling) plight of those still on the island three years ago. The fact that we only saw Locke lay the foundation for his plan involving the Orchid to get everyone back was still mesmerizing. I love knowing what happens to him but not knowing the circumstances of his "suicide" and how he ended up in that coffin at Hoffs Drawler. Despite the lack of any more development on Locke's plan beyond what we got, this episode was still phenomenal - mainly because two people we've all been missing finally showed up again.

(S05E03) "Because... he's one of my people." - Locke

I really need to get in the habit of taping my mouth shut while watching Lost because my jaw is always on the floor by the end of every episode. Time-traveling has added an entirely new dimension (literally) to the story-telling techniques of this show and the first three hours of this season have been some of Lost's best. The flash-backs always lacked a certain amount of tension because they already happened. On the flip side of the same coin, the same can be said about the flash-forwards because you know they're going to happen. But time-traveling has created this new ripple where nothing has permanence anymore, whether it happened, is happening, or will happen. This is mesmerizing stuff to watch unfold because everything becomes new the second Faraday, Locke, and Co. make a new jump. They may not be altering the ultimate outcome, but they are altering the moment.

(S05E02) "There's no calling my father off." - Penny

Everybody lies. Some people enjoy the thrill of getting away with it ... and then there's Hurley. While this wasn't a traditional flash-back/flash-forward episode with one character as the focus (hard to say if those will ever be feasible again), this was pretty much a Hurley-centric hour anyway.

As the plot progresses this season, it's going to be interesting to see who becomes important (and who becomes irrelevant) to the ultimate endgame. That being said, we learned one pretty important fact in this episode:

Without Hugo in the mix, "then God help us all."

(S05E01) "You're gonna have to die, John." - Richard Alpert

Time travel! The future is now! later! here! gone! beginning! ending! OK, I give up. Lost is back and the future is... well, we don't know what the future is. Or the past. Or the present. All we know is what they were, because now they're just one big time travelin' mess.

As with seasons past of Lost, the fifth chapter of TV's favorite mindf*ck opens by presenting an entirely new storytelling technique - one that demands equal parts patience, attention, and imagination. More than anything, it's a test for true fans because the casual Lost viewer (do they exist?) probably had a hard time moving from A to Z (worst metaphor ever - I know) in tonight's season premiere. That being said, this whole hour gave me my own bloody nose.

As amazing as Lost is, I still hate it for one tiny reason - every time a new season begins, I get terrified that I won't "get it." If that happened, it would completely deflate my enjoyment of the show. While Lost has had its fair share of WTF episodes, most of them are decipherable after repeat viewings; season five's first two installments definitely fall into that category. It's like playing the sequel of your favorite video game - for the most part, the controls and game-play are the same, but there are enough changes that it still takes you a few hours to get a handle on it.

Last week's riveting Lost premiere brought the Jack-Locke conflict to an entirely new level. This time, all of the survivors (including some of the Others) were forced to choose sides. It wasn't an easy decision, and there were some surprising choices. Each side has its benefits and its drawbacks. Let's take a closer look at these new teams!

Many Lost fans are familiar with the show's frequent use of philosophers' names. USA Today has a very helpful rundown of all the philosophers used so far, as well as a character-based analysis of each one. A lot of the information might be review for devoted fans, but the article includes an "expert comment" section with some unique interpretations of the characters.

John Locke: The fictional John Locke describes himself as a man of faith. The real Locke was more of a man of science. USA Today's expert mentions that Locke the philosopher believed that "action is based on experiences," and that the show's flashbacks demonstrate that view.

I'm not sure if you've been reading Doc Jensen's Lost theories over at Entertainment Weekly's web site. The guy is obsessed (in a good way), and has come up with some very intriguing and plausible ideas on what is really happening on the island and what all the clues (the numbers, the names, how people are connected, etc) might actually mean. Not sure if I follow his logic with his latest theory though.

He's been thinking about the names and what they could mean in the overall picture. The people behind the show have said that the character names have not been chosen randomly. Each name means something (though I wonder what "Hurley" could mean. Does he vomit a lot? Is he really a baseball player?), and the name that especially intrigues him is the new character, Jacob, who we saw in a quick scene on one of the monitors wearing an eyepatch (if that was him, that is!).

Just when Lost should be regularly beating the competition - we're heading towards the three month break cliffhanger - the show is actually losing viewers. The episode the other night, where Eko was killed off, lost 1 million viewers from the previous week, and was beaten by CBS' Criminal Minds. (Brett talked about this last month.)

Wow, so 17 million viewers actually watch Criminal Minds? I've seen the show twice and didn't really see anything special about it. Are people that frustrated by Lost?

One part of the article I don't really understand though. It seems to have the attitude that the "a character is going to die" episodes of Lost should pull in more viewers, but why? How would you know that a character is going to die unless you actually watch the episode? The hardcore fans of the show and web geeks, the only ones who would know ahead of time that a death might be coming via web spoilers, they're watching the show anyway, so why would that matter? Why would a death of a major character bring a ratings spike? (Or am I totally missing the point here?)

A Lost fan named Ryan who lives in Hawaii (and used to host The Transmission podcast) keeps hunting for good behind-the-scenes video with his camcorder. He has posted a few clips on YouTube, including the filming of a flashback scene where Boone appears to be pushing Locke in his wheelchair. He also shows a few filming locations and gives some pretty informative narration. No spoilers, though.

If I lived in Hawaii, I would probably be doing the same thing. Oh, it would start out innocent enough but then I'd go off the deep end. I'd probably end up losing my job and Josh Holloway would have to get a restraining order against me.

Video is after the jump.

This is really odd. It's a promo for Lost from Channel 4 in England. I'm not sure quite what to make of it other than it seems to me that it has to be a promo for season one. I say that because A) it prominently features Boone and B) bits and pieces of Flight 815 are still strewn all over the shore. I just don't get why they needed such a weird ad for the show? What's wrong with the ones that air here in the States?

It has it's moments though. I thought it was funny when Locke and Walt were "conducting" the dance and the crazy organ music (I think that's what it's supposed to be). Plus, it was very telling that Jack and Sawyer were fighting over Kate. If all this sounds confusing, you can watch the video after the jump. Any other interpretations? Am I right in thinking this is an old promo?