Matthew Fox in "Lost"
courtesy of ABC Television
"'Lost' Can Be Found"

Almost a year has gone by since we last encountered the "lost" souls of "Lost." There had been plans to start this year's run of the series in January and go straight through twenty-plus episodes a la "24", but that didn't happen. Something called the "writers strike" came along and blew those plans out of the water.

What we are left with are eight new episodes that will start airing on ABC, Thursday (January 31) at 9. Along with all the questions about the storyline itself is the issue of whether American audiences will still care. We viewers are fickle people and maybe too much time has passed, or maybe some new show has caught our fancy and led us from the temple of devoted "lostees." Only time will tell.

It is a fact that the last new episode of "Lost" opened up a Pandora's box of questions. In that barely recalled episode there was a scene at the last of the hour that featured Jack (Matthew Fox) telling Kate (Evangeline Lilly) they had to go back to the island. Holy moly, it seems this was a flash-forward scene rather than a flashback. We had never had one of those on the show before, that we know, and it shook us up big time.

Now we had to accept the fact that some of the people do make it off the island and or devoted fans that was a staggering prospect. Gone was the theory that the island was some sort of purgatory for souls earning their way into Heaven. Now it has to be a real place but one where the laws of nature do not apply.

It has already been announced that Michael (Harold Perrineau) will return this season, and if so can Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) be far behind. And how old and how big will Walt now be? The growing process stops for no man, not even for TV producers. And if Michael and Walt can return, what about Charlie (Dominic Monaghan)? The chat rooms are buzzing that Charlie may reappear in one form or another.

JJ Abrams and his crew have announced there are forty-eight episodes left until the end of the series. Thus they have a definite conclusion to all this in mind. That is a good thing and a bad thing for devoted fans. It means after forty-eight episodes no matter how devoted the fans have become the show will end. It also means that between then and now we don't have to worry about the show being cancelled.

Chances are a lot of you are going to be glued to your TV sets on Thursday night when "Lost" returns. For better or worse it is still one of the most fascinating shows ever offered. There's life left in "Lost" and for at least eight episodes this year you can watch the adventure move a few more steps closer to closure. Eight may not be enough, but this year that is all they are offering.
 

 

 

 

 

©2008 Jackie K. Cooper

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