Roger Catlin | TV Eye

'Lost' Answers: Not Yet

Producers of "Lost" may have overestimated what its viewers what Michael Dawson means to the show. He was the one who sold out to the Others and shot dead Ana Lucia and Libby, pretty much wrecking Hurley’s chance for romance and any chance for us showing sympathy for him ever again, even if he did it all to find Walt.

Well Walt is OK and not talking much to his dad, who is visited by Others reps in the future so he can go back and be Ben’s spy on the boat.. He’s perfectly ready to detonate a bomb but when it counts down to zero, there’s no explosion, only a piece of paper that pops up that says "Not Yet."

Not yet is pretty much a metaphor for “Lost” since its makers are anxious to not yet let on too much information at once.

What we do know by now is the makeup of the Oceanic Six – the group of now quasi-celebrities who made it off the island from a plane whose death toll the world was told was total.

Who are the six? We Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Jun and apparently Claire’s baby Aaron in the mix (did I miss an episode? Anyway, the baby, is not very recognizable because the future off-the-island is necessarily bigger (and played by a different baby actor) than the one on the island. But he’s pictured among the other five in the promo as one of the Oceanic Six so there you have it. So that means Ben is not a member of the Oceanic Six, though he’s clearly out there in the future giving orders to his paid assassin Sayid.

The worst part of this stretch of generally strong episodes is that Penny’s dad is behind the murderous rescue boat, trying to get the island to capture its magic for a theme park or some such. It’s kind of a disappointing explanation. I liked it when things were still as nebulous as the smoke monster. But the speculation will continue unabated until there’s a new episode to watch in a month.

Forward and Back

“Lost” is getting more insidious by the week, playing its flash-forwards against its flash-backs to completely bamboozle viewers until the final scenes.

This time the focus was on Sun, and as it is every time it is, it was affecting and powerful (maybe it comes from reading all those subtitles).

Spoilers start here. In what is clearly a flash forward (Sun is identified as one of the Oceanic Six), she’s rushed to the hospital to give birth. Jin, at the meantime, is seen frantically trying to buy a stuffed panda to take to the maternity ward. It’s not until the final minutes we figure this is a flashback, to a time when he was a corporate guy trying to buy favor with an ambassador turned proud grandfather; he’d only been married to Sun two months by then.

In the future, Sun has her baby (a girl not a boy), Hurley, one of the other famous Oceanic Six, comes to visit and together they go visit Jin’s grave. So she’s the final member of the Six; Jin is not, which means Ben, seen alive in an earlier episode’s flash forward, is also among the six (the other three are Jack, Kate and Sayid).

Sayid and Desmond, on the boat, get some answers from the captain, who says it must have been Ben who faked the black box of Oceanic 815 and reproduced all its dead passengers at the bottom of the sea. They learn it’s Penny’s dad who is financing the boat. And they also see a janitor they recognize – Michael Dawson – Walt’s dad.

They figure out more of this next week when, the promos tell us, someone will die.

Someone in addition to Jin?

The Passion of Juliet

They're getting coy now on "Lost," making you think they may be flashing ahead and showing the final member of the Oceanic Six that got off the island when Juliet is seen talking about how she hates being a celebrity.

But then Big Tom enters the room and it's clear they're back at the Others compound back before the crash. She's being treated as a celebrity only because she's recently been enlisted to be on the island.

Juliet's complexities were seen in closer relief Thursday even as it showed her mystical ties to Ben.

While it's clear Ben recruited her to the island for more than her research capabilities, Juliet got involved with Goodwin, a very friendly Other whose estranged wife was also her shrink. Andrea Roth (who also portrays the long suffering wife of Denis Leary on "Rescue Me") portrays the fancifully named wife Harper Stanhope, who eventually threatens her about the affair.

But it is also she who suddenly appears (to us for the first time) in the jungle to warn Juliet as she joins the others in following those "rescuers" who are lying to everybody. She appears as easily as she disappears, amid the kind of whispery mystery that normally greets the smoke monster.

Meanwhile, Ben's explanation to Locke about what the hell is going on comes locked away in a wall safe on a VHS tape labeled "Red Sox." It shows (not very conclusively) that Penny's dad, Desmond's would be father in law, the ubiquitous Alan Dale, is trying to exploit the island for its many magical powers.

Really? Is that it? If so, maybe he shouldn't have taped over the game. 

Previews say that the sixth member of the Oceanic Six will be shown next week. Which means that Ben must be the fifth, after Kate, Jack, Sayid and Hurley.

Pain of the Flashback

Only just got around to watching this week's "Lost" and it is indeed a doozie, maybe even a game changer.

We're learning now for maybe the first time the time-changing properties of the island, when the scientist among the fake "rescuers" admits that the two days it took for Sayid to contact Jack to say they made it to the boat OK by helicopter, that time may be stretching longer than it seems.

After all, it is still 2004 and just 60 days or so since the crash of Oceanic Air 815. It is, in fact, Christmas eve instead of Leap Day eve 2008 (see how time stretches?).

Desmond has a violent reaction to what? the Electro-magnetic field on the island, forcing him to zap around in time, specifically back to 1996, amid a training fighting unit near Glasgow. He'd just broken up with Penelope and signed up like they used to do back in the 20th century, where the cliche was joining the French Foreign Legion to forget heartbreak (didn't work out so well for Laurel & Hardy).

What's really happening is that he's feeling the snap of the flashback. Rather than flit back in time, as the show does to better explicate each character, he's actually being jolted back and forth and it's doing a number on his head such that when he gets back to the present (er, 2004 on the boat) he can't remember anything -- Sayid, the helicopter guy, why he's in the Pacific, all of it. (Sometimes I feel this way about "Lost" in general after being away from it for a while).

Luckily, Fisher Stevens is there. (Now there's a sentence that might not have ever been written before).

Had Desmond had more memory he would have known better than to trust the guy who played the Indian scientist in the "Short Circuit" movies. But George Minkowski, as his character name is known, seems to have gone through the same time jumping problem as Desmond, and before he dies from it, manages to show the two castaways to the radio room, where they all go unmolested and Desmond places a phone call to Penelope. Just as he said he would back in 1996 when he jumped back there.

That Desmond might die from these flashbacks is something he'll now have to deal with. But his reunion phone call with Penelope was about the sweetest thing you've ever seen on the series.

Meantime, a friend writes to note the presence in one of Desmond's flashbacks, of another familiar face:

Weird seeing Alan Dale "alive" on 'Lost' tonight since (and in vaguely the same captain of industry role) he had/has died on both 'The O.C.' and 'Ugly Betty'.

If he starts jumping around in time as he does in series, he might have a third funeral here.

Weird Rescuers

New faces are always welcome on the island. Whether it's the Tailies or the Others, the new elements add a new dimension to the gang of familiar castaways on "Lost."

And what could be more welcome than the quartet of rescuers who finally showed their faces on the show Thursday? Except for the fact that they might not actually be rescuers. There is a fairly strong difference of opinion in this regard. Locke in particular is particularly adamant about it. "We don't want to be found," he tells one who parachuted in.

And there was something very familiar about this group. Ken Leung, who plays Miles had been the guy who was helping Junior out on "The Sopranos." Jeremy Davies, who plays the shaky Daniel Farraday, was in "Saving Private Ryan." Rebecca Mader who plays Charlotte, was in "he Devil Wears Prada" and the short time series "Justice." And greybeard Jeff Fahey who plays Frank Lapidus was in "The Lawnmower Man" and the ancient series "The Marshal."

Naomi was seen (in a flashback) leading the assembled team of mismatched experts. She was working for Lance Reddick, who I still think of as Corp. Daniels from "The Wire," but is now playing some shadowy guy named Matthew Abaddon, who was pretending to be from the airline last week while visiting Hurley in a future asylum.

Each had a flashback episode marked with specific locations worldwide from Massachusetts and California to The Bahamas; each had had a personal reaction to news of Flight 815 going down. Lapidus was supposed to be the pilot that day but wasn't; Antropologist Charlotte Lewis was searching polar bear bones in Tunisia. Miles Strom was a ghostbuster of some sort; Daniel a nervous investigator.

Turns out they were all after Ben, who was continuing to be a human punching bag (Sawyer beating him down this time). Ben tried to take out Charlotte in the episode by shooting her in the chest. But she was wearing a vest.

The plane had been found, according to news report early in the show, at the bottom of the Indian Ocean south of the Phillipines -- not on some island. All were being reported dead.

Hurley Moves Ahead

Any episode where Hurley takes center stage is a good one for "Lost."

But in the case of Thursday’s new episode, the first in nearly eight months, it was even more enjoyable.

Enough of his past has been explored in memorable past flashbacks to allow him to be the latest of the Oceanic Flight 815 survivors to get flashed forward. Like the others who apparently escaped the island – the Oceanic Six – he’s a little unsettled by the experience, freaking out when he sees (a vision of?) the presumed dead Charlie at a convenience store.

Before long, he’s hospitalized, visited by the next new police chief Cedric Daniels from "The Wire" (Lance Reddick who may or may not be a representative of Oceanic), and even by Jack, just embarking on growing his bad beard.

The role allowed Jorge Garcia to show a range of emotion, which continued when we went back to the island, where he had the sad task of informing Claire of Charlie’s fate.

The laid back dude is also taking charge. Having saved three abducted survivors from being held by the Others, he’s now defying Sawyer in his plans as well.

He was also lead to that weird cabin with the odd rocking chair guy that Ben and Locke had previously visited and nothing was any more clear this time around.

Still, initial reaction seemed mixed.

Said one friend:

Very satisfied from last nights episode. SO we learned 3 of the Oceanic 6 (Hurley, Kate, Jack) and that there could be more survivors but not known. Do you think they are on the island still or just part of some conspiracy? I hope Charlie keeps popping up – it was so sad!! Am curious about why Hurley said to Jack I should have never gone with Locke, can’t wait to see what that’s all about.

Overall very happy and already back to a better start than last year! I approve.

Said another, though: "I didn't think tonight's episode was particularly good. Not enough incident I guess."

But he added:

Don't know if 'Eli Stone' is any good yet but I do know the amount ABC is promoting it during 'Lost' is highly irritating and probably unlikely to decrease on future Weds. Maybe because I suspect that there's no degree to which a scripted show of X unshown episodes could be crappy enough right now to get itself taken off. Maybe not even if it absolutely tanked in the ratings. I hate George Michael too…

Back to 'Lost,' did you watch the replay of last season's closer with the pop-up captions? They were very witty I thought, referring to things like how they couldn't pop up during the credits and nicknames for types of show internet fans.

Actually "Eli Stone" did pretty well in its premiere, mostly because it followed "Lost," and maybe because they kept promising a special Oceanic Air ad during the new show.

The Oceanic Golden Ticket

It's understandable if your faith in Oceanic Airlines has been undermined.

After all, the one flight most people know about, #815, is the one that crashed en route from Sydney to Los Angeles, providing the basis of the series "Lost."

As a survivor of that crash, Dr. Jack Shephard was shown last year to have gotten a golden ticket from Oceanic, presumably as part of his settlement. It allowed him to fly anywhere in the world, at any time, as many times as he liked. He was using up his golden ticket, partly because he wanted to crash again (he hasn't been himself lately).

Now, the wholly fictional Oceanic is offering everyone else its golden ticket.

But to do so you have to keep watching ABC Thursday after the "Lost" recap show at 8 p.m. and fourth season premiere at 9 p.m. A promo will explain it all during the premiere of the legal show that follows at 10 p.m., "Eli Stone."

Most "Lost" fans will probably prefer to spend that hour shaking their head in wonderment and reflection.

But a golden ticket is a golden ticket. I'm tuning in.

'Lost' in the Comics

Fans usually scour frames of "Lost" for further clues to the prevailing mystery. Now they can look at comic books, too.

"Lost" references will now infuse a number of Marvel Comics titles, including Uncanny X-Men, Incredible Hercules, Thunderbolts and Wolverine Origins. Look closely and there will be a "Lost" poster here, the number 6 there and the slogan "Find Yourself" over there.

They're not so much vital clues as they are part of a marketing ploy in comic books that come out this week and next. But as fans anticipate the fourth season return Jan. 31, we'll take what we can get.

Buzzing 'Lost'

Its writers may be on the picket line, but that hasn't stopped every creative force behind "Lost."

On the network website there are all manner of short films to whet appetites, from previews that are maybe more revealing than you'd want them to be to one of those fast-moving summaries of the first three seasons that make the show more silly than it actually is ("Jack is seen playing football with Mr. Friendly; Mr. Friendly throws like a girl..").

And today, there's a new press release (sent via ABC parent company Disney) about the "return to the airways" of Oceanic Airlines, the wholly fictional carrier whose Flight 815 crashed in the series premiere.

According to the press release:

Beginning December 31, operations and flights to nine markets will resume, "Taking You Places You Never Imagined." Destinations include: Los Angeles, CA; Tustin, CA; Ames, IA; Miami, FL; New York, NY; Portland, OR; Knoxville, TN; Seoul, South Korea and Sydney, Australia.

"We are very eager to resume flying and apologize for any inconvenience our temporary closure may have caused our loyal customers," said Michael Orteig, President, Oceanic Airlines. "Oceanic Airlines is proud to be a top tier flight provider and looks forward to providing travelers with many more years of unparalleled service."

About Oceanic Airlines
In business for over 25 years, Oceanic Airlines is a major airline carrier and offers the highest caliber of service for international and domestic flights. Destinations include Los Angeles, London, Sydney and South Korea.

Pretty odd set of cities there -- Ames, Iowa (which only has a small private airport)? Tustin, Calif. (an Orange County city that seems to have no airport at all)?

Call the contact on the press release and all she'll refer you to a website FlyOceanicAir.com, a site that doesn't exist now, but supposedly will on Dec. 31 (presumably taking over the http://www.flyoceanicair.com site that looks real, but last week was still explaining that all flights have been canceled "due to financial difficulties in the wake of the Flight 815 tragedy" that occurred on Sept. 22, 2004 -- the date the show premiered.

Can interest be sustained until the eight episodes of the show actually start running on Jan. 31?

          

The 'Lost' Season Finale

Maybe you thought the flashbacks were troubling on “Lost,”  as they fill in the back stories of the characters who sometimes interacted before they found themselves crashed and stranded on the island.

But the flash forwards are much creepier.

As the two-hour season finale of “Lost” meant to tide us over for eight months unfolded, what seemed the least important storyline – what we assumed to be a flashback of Jack turning into a kind of mess, drinking and stealing his own painkillers and on the brink of bridge-jumping suicide – was actually a picture of his future.

In what is the first indication that at least some of them eventually do get off the island, the bearded former leader of the Oceanic 815 survivors found himself calling Kate (who has settled down with someone else – Sawyer?), whom he urges that they have to go back to an island, and in fact he longs to crash one more time.

Jack’s been taking flights around the world on the “Golden pass,” the airline has apparently awarded survivors of the crash once they were rescued. Mostly because he wants the planes to crash again, he tells her. “I pray I can get back,” he says. “We were not supposed to leave.”

It’s something that a bloodied Ben had told him as well – why does Jack want to get off the island so bad? What’s so important back in the real world awaiting him? His father’s dead, his wife left him for another man. 

And on the island, as the episode ends, Jack’s made connection on that phone Naomi had, and someone was about to come pick them up.

To make that connection, though, Charlie had to fulfill his destiny and shut down the jamming signal down in the underwater station Ben has kept secret (the two women who guarded it, Greta and Bonnie, had a shorter span on the show than Nikki and Paolo. He could have gotten out of the room where Mikhail was about to blow open with a grenade instead of shutting Desmond out. But maybe Charlie purposely didn’t save himself so the rest of Desmond’s vision could come true: Claire and the baby getting rescued. Before he drowns though he passes to Desmond some key information, also previously indicated by Ben (who, all of a sudden, is now apparently telling the truth): Naomi isn't part of Desmond's girlfriend's search team; that whole parachuting and boat story is a big ruse. For what we don't find out quite yet.

Charlie dead is a big moment for “Lost” but it could have been more of a bloodbath, as it seemed that Sayid, Bernard and Jin all seemed to have been executed. As it was, a whole lot of the Others got offed in the confrontation – seven by being blown up, three more, including Tom, at the beach when Hurley in his van made an unlikely hero.

Unlikelier still was Locke, rising from the apparent dead just as others (not “The Others,” I mean other viewers) accurately predicted, pulling a gun on Jack to prevent him from calling for help and getting off the island (something Jack will regret, apparently).

And unlikeliest of all was the person who urged Locke not to shoot himself when he found a rusty gun in the pit where he was lying, and by all normal accounts should have been dead. It was Walt for the first time since he disappeared at the end of last season.

A cute boy then, now he’s an ungainly teenager who looks about six years older.

As I said, flash forwards are a bitch.