Lost: it's time to be found

    ABC took a chance five years ago on a series called Lost.  Steeped in mystery, it was the ultimate serial.  The survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 find themselves on an island, where all sorts of unexplained things occur, from a paralyzed man who can walk, to a polar bear, to a smoke monster.  Not only that, each of these castaways had a story, and each week we got a piece of the puzzle.  It was extremely popular at first, then fans tapered.  Yet, except for arguably season two, the show has only continued to get better with age, as the flashbacks became flash forwards, the Oceanic Six got off the island and returned, many of the characters did a stint in the 70's, and time became completely unhinged.  Tonight, the final season of the show begins.


     When we last left Jack, (Matthew Fox, Party of Five) Kate, (Evangeline Lilly, The Hurt Locker) and Sawyer, (Josh Holloway) the love triangle had fought, but decided to detonate a nuclear device that could possibly stop the entire series from happening.  It appears that may have worked, as the show began on a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles, the characters kept talking about how they would awake on their plane on course if it worked, and the two part premiere tonight is called "LA X".  This is great news for Sayid (Naveen Andrews), who was bleeding to death, and to Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim, 24, Angel), a couple trapped more than three decades apart in time.  But what about the woman who actually set off the bomb and laid next to it as it went off, Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell, V)?  Is she dead?  She is not among the principal cast for this final season.

     Of course with Lost, nothing is certain.  Many dead characters are signed on to appear this year.  This has happened plenty of time before on the show, most notably with Jack's father, Christian (John Terry, Trauma), who despite having been dead when the flight left, appeared several times on the island.  But was it him, or the mysterious Man In Black (Titus Welliver, Deadwood), who possibly can appear as dead people, such as John Locke (Terry O'Quinn, Alias), who remains a main character despite his demise?  Other deceased characters slated to appear at least once this year, although in what form is unknown, include Charlie (Dominic Monaghan, FlashForward, Lord of the Rings), Michael (Harold Perrineau, Oz), Boone (Ian Somerhalder, The Vampire Diaries), Shannon (Maggie Grace, The Fog), Libby (Cynthia Watros, The Drew Carey Show), Charlotte (Rebecca Mader, Justice), Daniel (Jeremy Davies), Alex (Tania Raymonde, Cold Case), and even Arzt (Daniel Roebuck).  Also, rejoining the cast full time is Emilie de Ravin (Roswell), whose character, Claire, disappeared without explanation at the end of season four.

     I can't end this article without mentioning the other huge plot point left hanging from last season.  Locke, or perhaps the ghost of Locke, persuaded Ben (Michael Emerson) to kill Jacob (Mark Pellegrino, Dexter).  We also found out that Jacob visited many of the main characters in the past, although as to what purpose is unknown.

    The series also stars the wonderfully talented Jorge Garcia (Becker) as Hurley, my personal favorite character.  My other favorite character, Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) no longer stars, but will play an important role in the final season.  The show stars Ken Leung as Miles.  Joining the principal cast this season are longtime guest star Nestor Carbonell (Suddenly Susan, The Dark Knight), Jeff Fahey, and Zuleikha Robinson (The Lone Gunman).  Lost's sixth season will begin with a two hour premiere tonight at 9pm, and will air Tuesday nights through the spring.