TVSquad

(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.

In just a little over a month (Wednesday, January 21st can't come soon enough), season five of Lost begins on ABC. After a shortened fourth season (because of the writer's strike), fans have been salivating for answers after the absolutely insane three-hour finale.

Where did the island go? How did Locke die? And why the heck do the Oceanic Six need to go back?

Well... keep holding your breath for those answers. Fortunately, the Lost season four DVD will provide some respite in the meantime. While it won't be released until next Tuesday, 12/9, many of the DVD featurette extras have been made available online and we got our hands on a couple.

So if you feel like knowing what happens behind the scenes down in Hawaii, then you're going to want to see these clips. Plus, if you feel like being spoiled a tiny bit, I've also included a sneak peek from the upcoming season five premiere, "Because You Left."

OK, so we've all seen the latest episode of Lost and we now know who the Oceanic Six are.

Don't we?

There seems to be some confusion among fans as to whether we've seen the last of the six "survivors" (in quotes because who the hell knows what the end game will reveal). Up until last night's episode we saw that Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid definitely survived. Last night we were supposed to find out the last of the Oceanic Six. It was revealed that Sun survived too, but Jin died (possibly on the island, but that's another plot point to be revealed later).

First off, spectacular season finale. It was exciting, dramatic, gave us answers (and even more questions) and was just beautifully done all around. Easily the best season-ender in the short history of Lost, and one of the best season finales of any series, ever. Every character had something to do (loved Hurley in the van and Locke throwing the knife into Naomi), the editing was phenomenal, the music was just really well done (the ominous drums, the sad music with Charlie dying, etc), and Matthew Fox deserves an Emmy for this episode alone.

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!).