I Am DB

[Post updated August 2010 to replace outdated links]

Namaste, Lost fans. While I wish I were writing today because the final season of the show were upon us, I’m afraid we’re still a few months off. But we are close enough to detect echoes and whispers in the ether. It’s been a long hibernation, and now we’re ever so slowly nearing the waking hour. True Blood and Harry Potter helped my geekhood over the summer, and perhaps some of you have relied on Fringe or Flashforward for your trippy sci-fi fix.

Me, well, I skipped those shows for now and instead went back to the beginning of Lost. To refresh myself on all the mysteries and clues leading up to the final season, I’m re-watching the whole series. Ahh, nostalgia. The first time Sawyer calls Kate “Freckles.” Sun not speaking English. Boone not being dead. The first appearance of Ben, caught in Rousseau’s net and instantly elevating the show with his manipulative games. Sun’s pregnancy test revealing the show’s first mention of the name Widmore. And of course, the mysteries that are still unsolved. The two corpses in the caves. Whispers and apparitions in the jungle (Kate’s horse, Walt, etc.). Rose saying on the first night that there’s something familiar about the sound made by the “Monster” (a detail I had not remembered and now wonder about).

TITLE TEASE
So as Season Six looms a little closer on the horizon, what do we know? Well, we know that the season was originally slated for 17 episodes, but now we’re getting 18, allowing for a two hour season premiere. That opening salvo, which will take place in the aftermath of the explosion that closed out Season Five, is titled LA X. An allusion to Los Angeles International Airport, of course, where Oceanic 815 was supposed to land…and still may if Faraday’s plan – seized on by Jack – comes to pass. But the space before the X implies something more. X as in 10? X as in marks the spot? X as in incorrect, wrong, bad? X as in the Los Angeles-based punk band fronted by Viggo Mortensen’s X-wife?

The following two episodes are titled What Kate Does (a play on Season Two’s What Kate Did, in which we learned why she was wanted by the law); and The Substitute, an episode that is said to be Locke-centric.

Matthew Fox gave an interview last summer in which he said the beginning of the season would be “very surprising — and probably fairly confusing, initially, to the audience.”  Thanks for the warning, Matt. Because everything has been so crystal clear up to this point…

THE DEPARTED
A lot of the speculation for the final season focuses on what familiar faces from days past will be making a return. Given the potential for an alternate timeline in which the plane lands safely in Los Angeles, we could be seeing a number of old friends again. Here’s who we know will be back, though nothing has been said about when, how often or in what context (flashbacks, alternate realities, “real time,” etc.): Faraday. Juliet. Boone. Helen (Locke’s lady love). It’s expected that we’ll see Shannon, Charlie and Dr. Arzt (Season One’s victim of sweaty dynamite at the Black Rock), but they haven’t been confirmed to appear.

And other actors have indicated they’re eager and willing to return. Despite the stories that he was displeased with his character arc and asked to be released from the show, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje has publicly stated he’s ready and willing to pull duty as Mr. Eko. And Michelle Rodriguez showed up for an Ana Lucia cameo last season, so I’m sure she’d be up for doing it again. I’ve heard that Cynthia Watros and Mira Furlan – Libby and Rousseau, respectively – have turned down offers to return, which is a bummer… but I’ll believe it when I don’t see them.

The big question marks for me remain Michael and Walt. For my money, finding out the whole scoop about Walt – his powers, what the Others wanted with him, etc. – is something the show must significantly address. Malcolm David Kelly is obviously too old now to play Walt in a plane-lands-at-LAX-in-2004 timeline, but once we get back to what’s happening in 2007…don’t let me down, guys.

And Michael? If any of you have been to an AMC movie theater recently, you might have seen that their normally annoying First Look reel that precedes the movie has been playing a short feature promoting Season Six. No new footage or anything like that, just lots of clips and newer interviews with Damon and Carlton. But toward the end of it, the narrator says something along the lines of “we’ll finally learn the fate of all the Flight 815 passengers.” This is said over a montage of character close-ups from seasons past, including Charlie and Michael. Does that mean that we can expect to see those two again, or is it just deceptive editing? The show owes it to Michael – and to all of us – to bring him back and make up for the way they blew it with his return in Season Four. Harold Perrineau didn’t seem too happy with the way Michael was brought back and then dispatched so clumsily, but it sounds like he’d still be willing to return if they asked him. I hope we’ll see him again. I’m re-watching those last few episodes of Season Two now – when he killed Ana Lucia and Libby and brought Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sawyer to the Others…and man, Perrineau was great.

Another hint that I don’t know what to make of is the poster for the final season that was produced over the summer for Comic-Con. Take a look at the full version, and then close-ups, split into two parts: here’s the first half and here’s the second. It’s cool to see pretty much the entire series worth of regular players lined up like that, but are we to read into it that all those characters will appear in Season Six? And once again…where’s Walt? I do like that Locke appears with his back toward us…setting him apart from everyone else – fitting considering that Locke doesn’t seem to be Locke anymore. It’s got a nice Abbey Road, Paul-is-Dead touch to it. According to ABC, this is not the official poster for the final season. When that artwork is revealed, it will sport the tagline “Destiny Found.”

Oh, and speaking of unofficial posters, you gotta check out this series of seriously cool posters that were created by graphic artist Lost fans (click on any of them for larger versions and a complete explanation of how they came to be). They’re all sold out unfortunately, but there are still three yet to be released.

CHECKING IN
With all the anticipation over who will be back from the dead for the final season, it would be easy to overlook who’ll be back from the living. But it appears that three previously recurring characters will be onboard for full time duty as regulars. Nestor Carbonell, Jeff Fahey and Zuleikha Robinson will join up full time as Richard Alpert, Frank Lapidus and Ilana, respectively. And though this is old, old news, it’s still excites me to know that Claire will be back full time. Where the %@$ has that chick been?

BACK TO SLEEP
I will end this brief update – probably the briefest e-mail about Lost I’ve ever sent – with links to two recent articles. The first is an interview with Elizabeth Mitchell, Damon and Carlton as they talk about all things Juliet. The second is an interesting article about a Lost spin-off that is in the works.

Oh, and I have to add – it was great to see Michael Emerson – aka Ben – win an Emmy award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. He was robbed last year, so it was nice to see him get it for Season Five.

Tonight’s Episode: Live Together, Die Alone (Season Two’s finale. Damn, I better pick up the pace if I want to be caught up by late January…)