Previously on Lost...

As we return to Lost after a short, month-long break, I thought it would make sense to review where we've been this season, what we've learned, and where we left off.

Previously on Lost
On the bizarre island at the center of Lost, war is brewing between two mysterious factions. Caught between them are the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815. Those survivors have themselves broken into two rival camps. And now these divisions are about to come to a head.


The Others
First, there were the Others. Comprised of island "natives" once called "the Hostiles," at least one survivor of the DHARMA initiative, recruits specifically brought in from off-island, and indoctrinated abductees from the tail section of flight 815, the Others (as they were first called by Danielle Rousseau) believe they serve the interests of a godlike entity called Jacob. Jacob purportedly only appears to and reveals his will through Benjamin Linus, who has thus become the Others' de facto leader. At the end of Season Three, Ben dispatched the Others, under the leadership of ageless former Hostile Richard Alpert, to a sanctuary (and possible former DHARMA Initiative facility) called The Temple. Aside from the sudden appearance (and disappearance) of Other psychologist Harper to former Other Juliet, the Others have not been seen since. We've learned in flashback, however, that the Others have known for some time that a zealous billionaire named Charles Widmore has designs on the island, and would do anything to get there. To that end, they are prepared to defend the island, apparently at all costs.

Widmore's People
Widmore, on the other hand, has apparently convinced his own people that Ben is, in fact, the real evildoer to contend with. Both Widmore and Ben have, to different audiences, blamed each other for the phony wreckage of Oceanic Flight 815, which was planted in the Sunda Trench near Indonesia, along with 324 dead bodies. This fake plane caused the world to abandon the search for Flight 815, which prevented anyone but Widmore from finding the island. Meanwhile, Widmore dispatched the freighter, Kahana, from Fiji, to the general vicinity of the island. On board for this supposed rescue mission is an army of mercenaries (who scoff at the idea of rescuing anybody), and a science team assembled by the mercurial Matthew Abadon. That team consists of: Naomi Dorritt, team leader and general badass, who was the first to arrive on the island, parachuting out of a crashing helicopter, only to eventually die from a knife wound inflicted by John Locke; Fank Lapidus, apparently benevolent pilot extraordinaire who detected the sham flight 815 - a flight which he, himself, had originally been scheduled to pilot; Miles Straume, self-serving and manipulative gost whisperer who offered to falsely tell Widmore that Ben was dead in exchange for 3.2 million dollars; Daniel Farraday, theoretical physicist who seems to have perfected mentally projected time travel by harnassing energies like those found on the island, and who, despite social deficiencies and what appears to be a poor memory, seems to have an uncanny understanding of some of the island's stranger properties; and Charlotte Lewis, a cultural anthropologist who seemed completely unfazed when she happened upon a polar bear skeleton wearing a DHARMA Initiative collar at a dig in Tunisia. Miles remains in the custody of Team Locke. Daniel and Charlotte have undertaken several of their own missions, including the apparent disabling of a DHARMA chemical weapons plant called The Tempest, which they claimed Ben would use to kill everyone on the island to prevent the freighter people from arriving. Frank flew Desmond and Sayid back to Kahana where they learned, to their surprise, that Ben had installed as his spy and saboteur their former comrade, Michael, under the alias Kevin Johnson. Frank and his helicopter have since left the ship, presumably flying back to the island, and, while it was gone, Sayid revealed Michael's deception to the ship's captain. During their stay, Desmond learned that his beloved, Penny (Widmore's daughter) was unaware of the freighter but that she had been searching for the island in hopes of finding him there for more than two years.

Team Jack
Meanwhile, the flight 815 survivors are torn about how to respond to the freighter folk. Though nobody actually trusts the newcomers, Dr. Jack Shepherd believes it is in everyone's best interest to give these newcomers the benefit of the doubt in the hope that they would provide rescue. Following the initial schism into two groups, Jack was joined by Kate, Jin and Sun, Rose and Bernard, Sayid, Desmond and Juliet, as well as most of the unnamed extras from among the crash survivors. Kate briefly stayed with Team Locke until she confirmed that the freighter people knew who she was and her fugitive status, then returned to Jack's beach party, albeit far less trusting of their new visitors. Desmond and Sayid have gone to the freighter, and had been reporting back to Jack's camp via calls to Farraday's phone until the device apparently began to malfunction. Meanwhile, despite growing worry that the new arrivals may be there to harm them, Sun and Jin heeded Juliet's warning that she needs to leave the island within three weeks lest her pregnancy kill her, and decided to stay.

Team Locke
Initially, this group consisted of Locke, Hurley, Claire (and baby Aaron), Sawyer, Ben (who at the time was a prisoner), Rousseau, her long-lost daughter Alex, and Alex's ostracized former Other boyfriend, Karl (as well as two extras). After Locke failed to find Jacob's cabin (which seemed to have moved to a spot where Hurley enountered it), they took refuge at the DHARMA barracks, which they figured they could secure by means of the DHARMA energy fence. Initially they took Charlotte captive, but, at Sayid's urging, traded her for Miles, who seems to have confirmed that his people were to find Ben and then kill everyone else on the island. Ben's revelations of Widmore's plans and of placing Michael as a spy led Locke to release him, and Ben now lives among this group. Ben, however, convinced Alex (and Rousseau and Karl) that they needed to head to The Temple to find safety from the coming attack. While they were en route, they were ambushed by unknown assailants. Karl was shot in the chest, Rousseau was shot in the side, and Alex surrendered, announcing that she was Ben's daughter.

Flashbacks
There have been five flashbacks so far this season. In one, the freighter's science team was introduced. In another, Jin's past as an angry, brutal thug was revisited both to contrast his evolution as a doting husband and expectant father, and as a red herring suggesting Jin would soon leave the island. The third delved into Juliet's past, and revealed that her romantic tryst with deceased Other Goodwin was his extramarital affair, and that Ben, whose weakness appears to be his lust for Juliet, actually intended that Goodwin would die when he was sent to spy on the tail section. The fourth "flashback" involved Desmond's self from 1996 being pulled forward into his 2004 body and returned to 1996 in a continuous loop until the 1996 version of Daniel Farraday told him he needed to find a "constant" in both times that would enable him to orient himself. That quest eventually reunited him (by phone) with long lost love Penny, who confirmed she had been searching for him and vowed to find him. This flashback also teased the theories that would lead Farraday to join the science team on the freighter. Finally, we flashed back to Michael's post-escape story to learn that he became suicidal after his confession of killing Libbie and Ana Lucia alienated his son (Waaaaaalt!), only to learn that somehow the island would prevent him from killing himself. Enlisted by deceased Other Tom on Ben's behalf, Michael assumed the identity of Kevin Johnson and planted himself as Ben's spy and saboteur on Kahana, where visions of Libbie continue to haunt him.

Flash Forwards
Continuing in this new narrative structure that was first revealed in the season 3 finale, we have seen four flash forwards. These have taught us that the world believes that only 8 people survived the crash of flight 815, and only 6 lived long enough to find rescue. These "Oceanic Six" are Jack, Hurley, Sun, Sayid, Kate, and Aaron, who Kate raises as her own son. Kate stood trial for her crimes but was set free on ten years probation when her mother refused to testify. Hurley has been haunted by visions of the late Charlie telling him "they need you" and that he has to go back to the island. Sun gave birth to daughter Ji Yeon and, with Hurley, visited a gravesite for Jin which gives his date of death as the date of the crash. Sayid has become a James Bond-like super-assassin, taking out rich and powerful people on a list provided by Ben, who has also left the island. Meanwhile, Jack, who for some reason refuses to see Aaron, becomes first an alcoholic and then a drug addict who ultimately comes to agree with Hurley that the Six were not supposed to leave and will need to get back to the island.

What to expect when we get back
I'll post this over on the spoilers blog (though there are no true spoilers), which you can view by clicking here.