12/2/2009

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As the premiere of one of primetime-television's most unique shows approaches, speculation rules over hard facts.

Justin Key

It ended with an explosion that not only rocked prime-time television but unloaded a whole slew of questions. Can you change the past or is a person's fate set? What effects will the atomic bomb that exploded less than a hundred feet away from half of the cast have on the show? Who the hell was impersonating John Locke?!?  
  
*Lost* started with a fairly simple premise in 2004 and has since grown to 5 seasons of intricacies, time-travels, and the supernatural. The sixth and final season of the critically-acclaimed ABC show is only two short months away, gaining more and more buzz as the premiere approaches.  
  
**What's To Come**The final season will air starting on Feb. 2, 2010 and end on May 18, 2010 after 18 episodes. The season premiere will go from 9:00 pm to 11:00 pm and every episode after will air at 9:00 pm on Tuesdays. In addition to the main characters, other prominent figures have been confirmed for return, suggesting a resolving of several long-lasting questions. Nestor Carbonell will be continuing as Richard Alpert, one of the most mysterious guys on the island. He'll finally get his own flash-back episode and maybe we can find out when this dude found the fountain of youth. Ken Leung will return as Miles Straume to continue his talks with the dead, Jeff Fahey to look lost and confused as Frank Lapidus, and Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana to answer *'what lies in the shadow of the statue?'*  
  
And the question that's been dangled in front of us for nearly two whole seasons may finally get some playtime: What the hell happened to Claire and why did she leave her baby in the jungle? Emilie De Ravin--virtually absent in Season 5--is signed on as a regular throughout season 6.  
  
Elizabeth Mitchell will be returning as Juliet, but only for a couple of episodes. I was hoping that she somehow survived (the same way that all the other characters would have survived the blast), but her full-time casting on *V* killed that hope a long time ago. Another fan favorite, Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond Hume, is not listed as a regular, but should be still be featured in the final season. Ian Somerhalder (Boone), Rebecca Mader (Charlotte), Dominic Monaghan (Charlie), and Katey Sagal (Helen) are also confirmed for guest-star and/or recurring roles.  
  
After about one-third into season 6, flashbacks will be no more. *Lost* will be working on one timeline, an ongoing narrative pushing to the big curtain-close. It's confirmed that answers to The Smoke Monster and the Tawaret statue will be forthcoming, along with a slew of 'other mysteries' (Walt being the weirdest kid ever, anyone?). Thought Sawyer was getting a little soft while playing house with Juliet in Season 5? Well, his old assholic self will return full-force in the wake of her death. And, of course, what will this mean for the Sawyer-Kate-Jack triangle? I'm willing to bet after the first few episodes fans will find themselves taking Twilight-esque sides. Personally, I'm Team-Sawyer all the way, unless the writers manage to pull Jack out of his three-season long slump.  
  
Besides some episode-titles and new-character profiles floating around the Internet, that's about it when it comes to confirmed expectations for *Lost*'s next season. As for the story-line? Everyone has been tight-lipped about it, but we can speculate, can't we? And that's just what fans have been doing since Juliet set that bomb off.  
  
**Popular Theories**  
  
Most theories fall into two main categories: they changed the future and they didn't.  
  
**Reset** At the end of the season 5, the Losties were on a mission that could only halfway start to make sense in the *Lost* universe: set off a hydrogen bomb to change the future/present by eliminating the original cause of Oceanic Flight 815 crashing on that troublesome island. If it worked, the sixth season could go in a variety of directions. Some think the opening scene will be them landing in LAX back in 2004 and following how their lives might have played out if they never ended up on the island. Others think their minds will be transported, so that they all have memories of being on the island with a strong urge to get back.  
  
The problem with this theory? Well, besides it being a big turn-off and potential cop-out, any reset will make a lot of the present story-line during season 5 seem irrelevant. Besides, technically, all through season 5 as we watched Locke and Ben be all mysterious, whatever became of 'The Incident' had already happened some 30-odd years ago.  
  
**Destiny** Remember when Sayid shot the boy-version of Benjamin Linus? Instead of everyone waking up to a Ben-less future, the event led to his healing by the Others in a ceremony that arguably made Ben into the complicated villain he is today. Or when Eloise shot Daniel Faraday? Somehow, killing her son was so important that she spent his whole life preparing him to be in a position to go to that island. Whenever 'past-changing' events happened they turned out to be essential parts of creating the present we have already been experiencing. It would be very *Lost*\-like for the blast to have changed nothing of the past, present, or future, and instead be the very event that causes the need for the hatch, thus fitting in with Oceanic 815's demise. In other words, everything happening just like it was always meant to. While the most *Lost*\-like option, it's extremely predictable and would mean that half the main-characters met the end of their story-lines with the detonation.  
  
Which one would I put my money on?**Neither....** ABC is being really keeping the hatch on this one. After searching the seemingly endless space of the World Wide Web, there isn't a legit spoiler in sight. Matthew Fox was long ago reported as being the only cast member to know the ending of the series, but producers state that he only knows information pertinent to his character. Not a single frame from the premiere episode will be used in promotions because any small snippet would immediately hint to the audience what direction they're going this season. When season 6 airs, it will be almost a year since the end of the last and it's unlikely that ABC will allow their Big Secret to be something people have been hypothesizing all the while. I expect something totally left-field while still incorporating elements of some of the more unavoidable theories.  
  
By supplying a cliffhanger that seems nearly impossible to account for while keeping the show's credibility, *Lost* promises to be intriguing as loyal fans put their trust in the producers and writers to make it all work. I highly doubt that all *Lost* questions will be answered before it's all over, but there should be enough to leave us all feeling satisfied.