Last Pre-Premiere Post

Well, folks, Lost's four-hour, two-night extravaganza begins this evening. As I mentioned in an earlier post, tonight ABC is airing an "enhanced" version of the third season finale, in which clues and observations like the one depicted here will pop up on screen. (Special thanks to Steve from New York who pointed me to the NY Times article from which I snagged the pic).



Also wrapping up this week is Lost's second online alternate reality game ("ARG"), entitled Find 815. Now in its fifth and final chapter, Find 815 tells the story of former Oceanic IT worker Sam Thomas who, despondent over the loss of girlfriend Sonya (a flight attendant on 815), continues his private search for the missing aircraft after Oceanic announces it has called off the search. Sam is aided by a series of mysterious, coded emails that appear to have been sent by an organization called "The Maxwell Group," which may be a reference to theoterical physicist James Clerk Maxwell. The first message, a photo of Sonya, contained four hidden text messages, "Christiane I," "Sunda Trench," "Black Rock," and "Tell No One." Sam followed these clues to Christiane I, a salvage freighter about to leave Jakarta, Indonesia, to search the Sunda Trench for the wreckage of our favorite long-lost slave ship, Black Rock. Christiane I and its captain, Mr. Ockham, were hired by the mysterious Oscar Talbot, who installed all sorts of strange electronic equipment. Talbot, it turns out, is employed by the Maxwell Group (which, it turns out, is a division of Widmore Industries), but has never heard of Sam. Sam earned a place on the ship when he repaired Talbot's chart plotter just as the ship was about to leave port. While at sea, Sam tried to tune in a portable radio, and picked up a live broadcast about the disappearance of Amelia Earhart. He then spotted a strange green aurora that lasted about a minute over an otherwise empty piece of ocean. Following coordinates he obtained through more decoded messages from the Maxwell Group, Sam commandeered the ship and, in the last clip to be released thus far, apparently found Black Rock.



The game is scheduled to end just prior to the season premiere tomorrow night. Meanwhile, the website for the Maxwell Group is currently nothing but a login screen that, if you try to get through it, tells you the authentication protocols are disabled until this Friday. Finally, it looks as though the login and password will be revealed during a fake Oceanic commercial that will air on ABC Thursday night during the premiere of its new series, "Eli Stone," which airs after Lost's premiere.



Finally, a number of minor spoilers have come out through the press this week. None of them are actual answers (heaven forbid), but rather teases for the new season. You can read about these teases on my secondary blog, by clicking here.