News, Notes, Questions

Happy Tuesday, Lostophiles. A few items to run through, including the biggest question (in my mind) from last week's episode, and the real-world outlook for the rest of the 4th season.

Question - Who is Ben's Man On the Boat?
The shock ending of "Confirmed Dead" was Ben's execution-avoiding announcement that he had a man on the freighter. This WTF moment got me to thinking, who could this person be? A few possibilities:

1. George Minkowski. Minkowski, who we've only heard as the voice on the satelite phones, was strangely unavailable when the search party tried to reach him. Could he have been spying for Ben? Since we don't know thing one about this new character (other than that he will be played by Fisher Stevens), I think this little moment of weird is not really enough to put George into the "likely" category.

2. Regina. The only other person on the boat who has been named. Other than her presence on the boat, there is nothing making her particularly likely to be the mole.

3. Mikhail. Our favorite late, great eye-patch toting Other seemingly died at the end of last season with a harpoon in his chest and a grenade exploding in his hand. On the other hand, Mikhail has cheated death a few times in the past (including getting zapped by the Barracks fence), and served as Ben's information gatherer when Flight 815 went down. Ultimately, however, it's not Mikhail's death that makes him seem unlikely to me, so much as the fact that he was busily trying to preserve the jamming signal in The Looking Glass until after Ben was captured, and thus unavailable to supply Ben with any intel.

4. Charlotte. The theory here is that Ben's shooting Charlotte twice in the chest (knowing she was wearing a bullet-proof vest) was meant to throw off people's suspicions. Add to that Charlotte's apparent familiarity with DHARMA polar bears and the island, itself, and we may be on to something. Also, she didn't seem to bat an eyelash when she saw Ben being dragged around by Sawyer and Rousseau, even though recovering him was her primary objective. Still, I think saving the mole reveal to the end of the episode even though Charlotte and Ben had been in close proximity for a while makes this one dicey.

5. Michael. Now, I don't for a minute think Michael Dawson (who will be returning to Lost this season) would willingly work to help the guy who turned him into a multiple murderer. But Michael was drugged and transported to the Others' fake base, and the Others did put a tracking implant into Claire when they had her in custody, so maybe Michael was bugged by the Others and doesn't know it.

6. Walt. The same logic as with Michael applies to Walt, but I don't think this is the answer. Walt scared the heck out of the Others, so I don't think they'd want to mess with bugging him. Also, if Walt just happens to be on the boat and much older, that will simply end up being too hard to explain (just don't ask me how Michael is on the boat but Walt is not).

The End of the WGA Strike
Yesterday, E! online ran the following quote from Lost's Damon Lindelof about determining how much Lost we'll see now that the WGA strike is wrapping up:

"As for Lost (pending the actual lifting of the strike, which we vote for on Tuesday), a game plan should begin to manifest by the end of the week. All I can say is that [co-executive producer] Carlton [Cuse] and I and the rest of the writers have every intention of making sure you guys get more episodes this season beyond the eight already completed. How many and how they will be aired is a conversation we'll be having with our bosses, but as soon as we've got a plan, we'll tell the fans first."

This morning, Lindelof went on to tell CNN.com that he felt fulfilling the original 16-episode season order was a real possibility.

Subsequently, however, Variety, Hollywood Reporter and USA Today all published quotes from Lindelof's producing partner, Carlton Cuse, who said the plan will likely be to complete a 13-episode season, a reduction of three episodes). Even though fewer episodes will air this year, the over-arching plot involving the freighter people will resolve itself, so we, the viewers, will not be left hanging all summer. The remaining three episodes will be tacked on to next season (or perhaps split over the next two seasons, which will then be slightly longer than originally intended.

I like this plan - it gives us more Lost (always a bonus) while also preserving the "every season is like one of the Harry Potter books" structure of the series. I think the only "casualty" we can predict at this point is that Rousseau's backstory, which the producers at one hinted may have been revealed this season if certain other elements could get squeezed in first, will likely wait until season 5. But, hey, we waited this long, and she's still a fun whacky character, n'est-ce pas?

Finally - For Whom I Write
A buddy of mine from www.lostusers.com, who posts under the tag "lightenupjack," asked in a comment to my prior post who my intended audience is for my recaps? As LUJ notes, you could argue, given the finer details I include every week, my audience is people who want to know the whole story but don't actually watch the show, and he wonders why I don't edit out the reporting aspect and focus just on theory and discussion (LUJ, if I misparaphrased, please chime in).

Here's my answer. Because Lost, more than any other show, find God in the details, I report on seemingly minor points because it allows the blog to act as a reference when we see these points in the future. Also, since it's almost impossible to see everything contained in every episode, the blog allows even avid viewers who may have missed a minor point to catch what I caught, even where those minor points still lack the context necessary to establish their ultimate importance.

Finally, I really write for me. What I mean by this is simply that by jotting it all down, I find I'm better able to remember details when they again surface and become relevant.

(and, ultimately, I write for all y'all).

Well, until after "The Economist" airs Thursday night, ta ta for now!