Hurley

After another 8 month hiatus, Lost is back this evening, with a three hour premiere event. There is an hour long recap show at 8 EST, followed by the first two episodes of Season 5 – the aptly titled Episode 1 “Because You Left” and then Episode 2 “The Lie”. As you might have noticed, we’ve taken a bit of a hiatus as well – after the DHARMA Wants You ARG catastrophe we too needed a break! Navigating the minefield of spoilers that the Lost blogosphere has become is difficult (if not impossible), but we will continue to treat this blog and our weekly episodic posts as something to prompt intelligent conversation about our favorite show rather than ruin the intrigue far in advance for everyone.

That said, Season 5 is largely going to focus on the theme of time travel – as many of you can imagine – and Episode 1 is said to pick up immediately where Season 4 ended. Lindelof has said that when this season starts, we will not “know when or where we are” – and that the story telling device may change as well. Further, a number of the episodes will be more multi-character focused than we have seen in the past. We will see two new characters introduced in Episode 1.

Because You Left

ABC’s Official Show Description

Spoiler Alert

“The remaining island survivors start to feel the effects of the aftermath of moving the island, and Jack and Ben begin their quest to reunite the Oceanic 6 in order to return to the island with Locke’s body in an attempt to save their former fellow castaways.”

The first scene of “Because You Left” is supposed to start with a jaw-dropping opener, so make sure you don’t miss the first few minutes!

The Lie

ABC’s Official Show Description

Spoiler Alert

“Hurley and Sayid are on the run from the cops after stumbling into trouble at the safehouse; the island survivors come under attack by unknown forces; and an old friend offers some shocking advice to Kate in order to ensure that “the lie” remain a secret.”

We will not dig too far into this episode, given the implications of the episode title itself. I can say that a character we have not seen since Season 2 will make an appearance and there should be an extremely intense action scene.

Season Premiere Preview

Sneak Peeks

Sneak Peek 1
Sneak Peek 2
Sneak Peek 3
Sneak Peek 4
Sneak Peek 5
Sneak Peek 6
Sneak Peek 7

It’s pretty crazy to think there was a contention of people out there who thought that this particular episode was a let down after the season premiere - I could not disagree more. This episode rocked, and I cannot remember a better infusion of new characters into any show I have ever watched. I thought the acting was incredible, especially by Jeremy Davies as the character “Daniel Faraday” (is he really that awkward/goofy or is that just manipulation?) and Ken Leung as “Miles” (ghost whispering kicks ass, as long as it does not involve Jennifer Love-Hewitt). There is a ton to digest from this episode, but here are a few things I found interesting:

*A Little Lost Fandom Love: Lindelof/Cuse winked at us twice during this episode and most of you caught it - Locke asking “What is the Smoke Monster ?!?” when Ben was in secret-revealing mode and Locke again referring to Walt as “different, taller” - then getting sarcastically ridiculed by Sawyer

*Find815.com Tie-In: The beginning of the episode was a total overlay of what happened at the conclusion of Find815, with the discovery of the plane and the corresponding news coverage

*The New Characters: It is a bit premature to pinpoint exactly what is happening, but I picked up on two streams of thought coming from the excellent commentary that accompanied the post from yesterday:

A) Ben really does hate these people, and Michael could be his “man on their boat” - Makes sense because we have seen Walt but not Michael and it would be just like Ben to force Michael to continue carrying out his evil deeds to ultimately release he and Walt from the Island

B) We are in for a major twist and these people are on the Island to help Ben regain control (or at least Charlotte is) - Another distinct possibility given the all too convenient placement of Charlotte’s bullet proof vest and Ben’s thorough knowledge of who she was. And how about the DHARMA Polar Bear fossil? More theories on that?

Michael Abaddon is EVIL: So, now we know that Naomi was hired by Abaddon as the mercenary to lead all the misfits we met this week - but this episode takes me back to the conversation between The Dark Destroyer and Hurley from last week, when he asked “Are they still alive?” I initially thought he was referring to other survivors of Flight 815, but perhaps he was asking about his crew. I think it is becoming increasingly likely that the Oceanic 6 get off the Island without these new characters, given all the info we are getting fed about the helicopter and its inability to carry much weight.

That’s it for now - the only way this episode could have been any better is if Miles would have parachuted directly into Jacob’s cabin!

What a week for Lost. Seriously, I think that the season was kicked off with an urgency we have yet to see from the show, and definitely lived up to the hype (if that is even possible with the ABC hype-machine in full effect). Everywhere you turned this week, there was something about the show, and this episode in particular. Here is an overview of some of the more interesting occurrences:

*Christian Shepherd was definitely in Jacob’s chair - To make things even better, when that scene was originally shot, Hurley was the one in the chair and then Cuse/Lindelof changed it after the fact; read Jorge Garcia’s interview with Kristin from E! Online for more

*Abaddon - Not sure if you caught his name, but the corporate guy (originally posing as an Oceanic employee) that visited Hurley in the mental institution is CREEPY and his name literally means “destroyer, or place of destruction” - I am sure we have not seen the last of him

*Jack’s Downward Spiral - Being a serious fan of the good doctor, I think it is going to be compelling and difficult to watch how future Jack gets from where we saw him this week (to Hurley “WE’RE NEVER GOING BACK!”) to where we saw him at the end of last season (to Kate “WE HAVE TO GO BACK!”). I think we are going to see the Oceanic 6 tormented by the people they left behind in visions throughout these flash forwards, much like what we saw with the dialogue between Hurley and Charlie.

*Two Factions - At the end of last season I was seriously doubting Jack’s leadership after seeing his sad state of existence. But, I think we were thrown for somewhat of a loop this week when we see Hurley apologize to Jack in the flash forward for going/siding with Locke. I cannot imagine what happens to the group that ends up following Locke back to the DHARMA barracks

This episode would dictate that Hurley will play a much larger role this season and moving forward (Garcia’s acting in this episode was top notch!). On Thursday we should get some better indication of who the people are that show up to the Island and just how nefarious they may or may not be. I still believe there are two distinct groups looking to get to the Island - both for different reasons (one to exploit, one to protect), and that the people legitimately with Naomi are perhaps not “bad guys” at all. The six that get off the Island (Jack, Kate and Hurley are 3 confirmed) become part of some much larger conspiracy to either protect the identity of the Island or perhaps what happened to the people left behind.

As I write this post, there is extremely positive news breaking that the end of the writer’s strike is imminent. My basic understanding is that it’s likely we will get the entire 16 episode season this year based on the strike being resolved in the next few days - great for us and the show!

Video Courtesy of DarkUFO

This definitely contained many more characters than the previous episodes we have seen thus far (Hurley, Jin, Sun, Michael, Dr. Arzt), but aside from comic relief, I’m not really sure what to take from this mobisode, though it was written by Lindelof so maybe there is something here. Arzt mockery of Jack is probably the high point:

Hurley - Hey, if Jack says it’s a good idea, maybe we should, like, trust him.
Arzt - Why? You tell me. Because he’s a doctor? Is that what qualifies him for leadership here? How do we know he’s not a nut case? I want to tell you something. [leaning down and speaking quietly to Hurley and Michael] The other day I’m in the jungle, and I’m taking a leak, and Jack runs through the jungle, crying for his Daddy.

Enjoy!

As most all of you know, you can now find the first two Missing Pieces episodes on ABC.com. I would recommend watching them, if for no other reason than it’s new content and we are still a few months away from the premiere. You can find a brief summary below, along with my thoughts:

“The Watch” - This takes place just before Jack & Sarah’s wedding, and we actually get to see Jack and Christian having a functional, somewhat emotional, father and son moment. It’s interesting to see this dynamic between the two, given that the vast majority of what we have seen to date is turbulent at best. Christian gives Jack a watch that his father passed down to him on his wedding day, and unlike his father, Christian believes Jack is making “the absolute best decision” by marrying Sarah.

“The Adventures of Hurley & Frogurt” - This basically takes a 180 from the first episode. A funny, satirical exchange takes place between Hurley and Neil, referred to as “Frogurt”, a character that has been mentioned before, but until this episode never actually appeared on Lost. Nothing earth shattering here, but again, an interesting, condescending exchange. After seeing Hurley take some DHARMA Cabernet from Bernard & Rose’s tent for his picnic with Libby, Frogurt basically tells Hurley he needs to take the next step in his pursuit of her, or move out of the way so he can have his shot. Hurley let’s Frogurt know that he is well beyond “doing laundry” with Libby.

I’m not sure you can read into these too much other than for the sake of character development, but at this point I am interested in ANYTHING new related to Lost. We will continue to get one of these per week, leading up to the premiere for Season 4 in February.

-According to the LA Times, Lost is officially one of the top ten finalists for the Best Drama Emmy, as submitted on the basis of “Through the Looking Glass”

-Although the Emmy nominations will not be officially announced until July 19th, the Teen Choice Awards nominations have been released, and Lost basically cleaned house:

-Top Drama Series

-Dramatic Actor (Matthew Fox)

-Dramatic Actress (Evangeline Lilly)

-Choice TV Sidekick (Jorge Garcia)

-Choice Villain (Michael Emerson)

*You can place your vote here!

-Kristin from E! Online is reporting that there will be at least one new character cast for Season 4 and that no official word has been released yet about Harold Perrineau coming back.

And finally, have a happy and safe July 4th to those Lost Blog readers in the US!

I got an interesting e-mail from Lost Blog reader Adam this morning:

The other episode Ben mentioned a “Box” on the island. I was watching some of season one today and saw something interesting in the Hurley Episode “Numbers”.

When he tells Leonard he used the numbers to win the lottery Leonard tells him he has “Opened the Box”. Is this the same box Ben was referring to? Have the writers been planning the “Box” since season 1?

Let’s take a look at the conversation between Hurley and Lenny at the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute:

Hurley: I’m bad news to everyone around me. When I tell people that I think I’m the cause, they look at me like they think I’m nuts. They don’t believe me, but I know. Ever since I won the lottery with those numbers…
Lenny: You.. used those numbers to.. play the lottery?
Hurley: Ah.. yeah…
Lenny: You shouldn’t have done that! You’ve opened the box!
Hurley I what?
Lenny: You shouldn’t have used those numbers!
Hurley: Why not!?
Lenny It doesn’t stop! You gotta get away from those numbers, you gotta get far far away! Do you hear me!? No don’t you understand, you have to get away from it or it won’t stop!

I remember that when I watched this episode I thought “the box” was a figure of speech referring to the mythical “pandora’s box”, which when opened released all the misfortunes of mankind and forever changed the world which had previously been a paradise. But after Ben’s recent talk about “the box”, Lenny might start to seem quite a bit more credible…

Was Lenny talking about the same “box” that Ben used as a metaphore to explain the wonders of the island to Locke and if so, how is Lenny connected to the island? Will Ben’s “box” unleash a lot of misfortune? Is there a direct connection between the numbers and Ben’s “box”?

What do you think?

A few more old Lost flashback videos were recently published online by ABC. I’m starting to have a hard time keeping track of them, but according to TVSquad this is the 8th installment of the videos.

Jack

We start of with one of Jack’s old flashbacks where we found out that Jack’s dad, Christian Shephard has alcohol problems:

Hurley

In Hurley’s flashback we meet Hurley’s imaginary friend Dave and find out that Hurley might have caused an accident:

Sun & Jin

The Sun & Jin flashback takes us back to the time when the couple fell in love:

Charlie

In Charlie’s old flashback, we see how far he is able to go to fuel his drug addiction:

E!Online’s Kristin managed to sneak onto the Lost set in Hawaii to ask the actors about what we can expect from the upcoming episodes. There are some minor spoilers but nothing significant.

Featured in the video are Lost actors Terry O’Quinn, Michael Emerson, Yunjin Kim, Daniel Dae Kim, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Dominic Monaghan and Evangeline Lilly.

This week’s Lost episode titled “Tricia Tanaka is Dead” is a story about Lost’s friendly multi-millionaire , Hurley. As we have learned though, Hurley’s past is quite mysterious - he seems to be cursed by the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42.

Tonight we will find out more about Hurley’s past, and on the island Kate and Sawyer, who have escaped from The Others, are heading back toward their friends on the beach.

Spoilers

This is the official description of the Lost Season 3 episode “Tricia Tanaka is Dead”

Hurley’s discovery of an old, wrecked car on the island leads him on a mission of hope not only for himself, but for a fellow survivor in need of some faith. Meanwhile, Kate and Sawyer reunite with their fellow castaways, but Kate is still torn about leaving Jack behind with “The Others,” on “Lost,” WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 28 (10:00-11:00 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network.

Feel free to discuss “Tricia Tanaka is Dead” in the comments!