Season 5 preview

Yawwwn!!! Good morning, Lostophiles. I'm a bit groggy after hibernating since May (actually, "hiber" refers to winter - anyone know the prefex for summer?) but good news! Lost is only about 6 weeks away. As we approach Season 5, I thought I'd run through a preview of the information that has been unearthed. I'm not going to bother using the spoiler blog for this one, but be warned, there may be glimmers of spoilesque information here (don't worry, I'm not about to tell you any answers. Just developments). So, since forewarned is forearmed, consider yourself prepared.





The Poster

This is ABC's first promo poster for Season 5. A few observations:

• Clean-shaven Jack. I guess the beard gets shaved now that Jack knows his purpose.
• Desmond standing with the Oceanic Six. Although Des and Penny went into hiding and are not ostensibly among those who must return to the island, his appearance in the poster makes clear that the good Mr. Hume is still in the cast.
• The empty space on the island side. To the right of the frame, it's almost as though someone's missing (i.e., there' room for one more person). Could that be for Jin? Claire? Jacob? I don't think it's an error in composition.

Cast information

Take what cues you want fromt his information: Emilie de Ravin (Claire Littleton) will not appear in any episodes in Season 5. However, she is supposed to return in Season 6. What does this mean for the character of Claire? Is she, indeed, dead (and walking around as one of several island phantoms)?

Meanwhile, Daniel Dae Kim (Jin Kwon) has been filming in Hawaii. Supposedly, he will not appear until episode 4, but when he does, Jin's fate will be revealed (for those of you who forgot, Jin was last seen running towards the edge of the deck on the freighter when it blew up, and Sun believes him to be dead).

Of the three new characters left on the island in the season finale, two have joined the cast as series regulars this year - Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies) and Miles Straum (Ken Leung). What does the omission mean for Charlotte Staples Lewis (Rebecca Mader)? Is the mysterious Brit not long for this world? Or just a more minor presence?

Also joining the cast for a planned 4 episodes is Reiko Aylsworth (best known as the late Michelle Dessler on 24). Rumor has it Reiko will be playing someone from the Dharma Initiative - during their 70s/80s heyday on the island.

Promo

Here's the first promo that ABC ran for the new season (which some of you have emailed me you saw in movie theaters, as well)...

Did you see either of these things in the video ('cause I'm sure I did). 1) Charlotte digging up the Swan hatch, and 2) Someone in a DHARMA hazmat suit opening the door to the Swan station and holding Daniel at gunpoint? These are noteworthy for one very important reason - the Swan station was completely destroyed before Daniel and Charlotte arrived on the island.

The obvious implication is that the island (and everyone on it) traveled back in time to its own past. But then why did the island itself disappear? Are there two islands occupying the same space? How does that work? And is that in some way the explanation for how the Black Rock ended up in the middle of a jungle?

Finally, there is the clue from the launch video to the "DHARMA Wants You" online game. Although ABC canceled the ill-conceived game abruptly this fall, the opening video revealed that the scientist we've seen as Candle/ Wickmund/ Halliwax was, in fact, named Chang. He had a young child, and was able to communicate to the year 2008 that he knew that DHARMA was going to be wiped out. More interestingly, the cameraman (who could be heard but not seen) who sent Chang's message to the future sounded exactly like Daniel Faraday. Coupled with the images from the trailer above, the implication is quite clearly that Sawyer, Juliet, Locke, and the others on the island when it disappeared went back in time to DHARMA days. Time will tell...

Cool Title
I can tell you the most intriguing episode title I can remember is attched to the sixth episode of Season 5 - "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham." As this is the pseudonym John Locke chose before returning to the U.S. (and dying), this episode figures to be very, very interesting.

Premiere Date
Finally, when will Lost be back on the air? Wednesday (its original day), January 21 at 9:00 pm. This was its Season 2 timeslot, and probably the best place for the show.

That's all for now, Lostophiles. Until Season 5 begins to air (17 episodes without interruption), Namaste.