Lost 6.15: Across the Sea

Tonight's Lost is supposed to be heavy into the mythology of the Island.

We'll see Jacob, Man In Black 1.0 (or at least in the first version we saw him as) and guest star Allison Janney (CJ on The West Wing). I'm not sure what role she'll be playing. But I wonder how she ties into the past of Jacob, MIB 1.0 and the Island.

There will be very little of the main cast in tonight's show. Originally, it was reported that none of the series regulars would be seen in tonight's episode. But apparently, that's not quite true.

Also, supposedly there is a flashback seen to something we saw in an earlier season that will show us that JJ, Carlton and Damon knew what they were doing all along.

Don't forget to come back here after the show to chat about what we see and what we think could be coming up.

The episode was written by Carlton and Damon and directed by Tucker Gates.

Can't wait? Here are two sneak peaks of tonight's show:

Tonight on LOST: 'The Candidate'

This is ABC's official description of tonight's Lost episode, "The Candidate":

"Jack must decide whether or not to trust Locke after he is asked to follow through on a difficult task."

Here is how Brian interprets the promo on his excellent Lost...and Gone Forever blog:

Logic tells us that SmokeLocke is going to pick up right where he left off last week, heading to Hydra Island to reunite with his Candidates and to take on Widmore in “The Battle for the Island." Does Jack trust SmokeLocke? Of course not. Will he go along for the ride in an effort to try and understand SmokeLocke’s true intentions and figure out how to stop him? Most definitely. What is the “difficult task” that SmokeLocke tasks Jack with? The last time an episode description was worded like this, it was when SmokeLocke was convincing Ben to murder Jacob – could it be that this time it’s about Jack murdering Widmore? Maybe SmokeLocke promises to save all of his friends if he agrees to go along with him. Maybe he claims that the only way to save the Island is to go along with him. Either way, it’s going to be something that makes Jack question what his true purpose on the Island is, who he can trust, and what he should do. He’s going to be all alone in this decision, and it’s finally going to see if all that time spent staring out at the ocean paid off.

Time is getting very, very short for our favorite series. The Lost cast has wrapped shooting on Oahu; the producers have edited the two-hour finale, "The End," which will air on Sunday, May 23. We have heard that next week's episode, "Across the Sea," will be mythology-loaded and quite different from any episode of Lost that we have ever seen. And the series' penultimate episode that airs on May 18? Frankly, its title is so scary, so loaded, that I don't even want to mention it here.

Come back tonight and talk about "The Candidate" in the comments; I have a feeling there will be a lot to talk about. And don't forget, the ep runs a couple of minutes long, so be sure to set your recorders accordingly.

Tonight on LOST: 'The Last Recruit'

The cryptic title is "The Last Recruit" -- meaning, presumably, the last Lostie ostensibly to be recruited to UnLocke's tribe. [But don't hold me to that; I'm just guessing here.] ABC describes tonight's Lost episode thus: "Alliances are forged and broken as the Locke and Jack camps merge." We could have guessed this, of course, since last week's ep ended with Hugo, Jack, Sun and Frank arriving at Camp UnLocke, and with Jack staring at UnLocke in disbelief.

Yeah, the Doc had heard about the MiB taking on the resurrected appearance of Locke, but this was the first time Jack had actually seen his old frenemy's form as inhabited by Smokey. Jack having been the one who saw the real Locke in his coffin, and Jack having been the one who put his dead dad Christian's shoes on dead Locke's feet prior to loading the coffin on Ajira 316 (doing so under instructions from Eloise Hawking, and what was that all about, anyway?) -- well, it's understandable that the Doc would be having a mental moment where his Man of Science past is (as the Bible would say) "wrestling Jacob" in his Man of Faith present.

So (except for Richard, Miles and Ben, who are off on their own personal mission to kill Smokey) we've got our Losties more or less reunited now. Except, of course, for Sun, whose husband is once again the missing piece of the reunion puzzle; the kidnapped Jin is still at Camp Widmore over on Hydra Island. But since that is where UnLocke's crew apparently is bound for the next and possibly final skirmish, there is a good chance that Sun and Jin will reunite at some point soon. Maybe even tonight.

Or not. These Lost writers can be a cruel bunch, after all. Witness Desmond, who was kidnapped from his Long Beach hospital bed, drugged, transported back to the last place he wanted to go, tied up, subjected to a massive electromagnetic event in the name of saving the world (again), and now has been kidnapped once more by Sayid -- and thrown into a well by UnLocke. Poor Des! As Original Recipe Locke once told little Walt: "You're not having a good month."

I predict we won't will see any more character-centric flashes into the Sideways World during these last few episodes of Lost. Instead, I think we'll start to see many of our alt-Losties gathering, for one reason or another, at St. Sebastian's in LA-X. Alt-Desmond is giving little psychic pushes to them, as he did to Hugo -- or as in the case of alt-Locke, Des is giving him a great big smack with a Honda. Coincidentally, alt-Jin should be showing up at the ER with a wounded, pregnant Sun. It's about time for alt-James to make a reappearance with alt-Kate (our favorite fleeing felon and freckled femme fatale!) in police custody, too.

But when will we see alt-Juliet? According to ABC, Elizabeth Mitchell isn't listed among tonight's guest stars. Yet I can't help thinking that we'll see alt-Juliet as a doctor at St. Sebastian's (and, I'm betting, as Jack's ex-wife and David's mother), at some point soon. Surely she and alt-James will need to meet up, let the sparks fly, and plan that destiny-fated coffee date?

Remember that, as in recent weeks, Lost will run a couple of minutes long tonight and will be followed by Elizabeth Mitchell's new series, V.

And remember that next week -- for the only time in this final season -- we will not get a new episode of Lost. Instead, we'll get a repeat of the stellar episode "Ab Aeterno," revealing the backstory of that mysterious, ageless Island consigliere, Richard Alpert.

Come back to Losties Island tonight after the show ends, and comment on "The Last Recruit"!

Tonight on LOST: 'Everybody Loves Hugo'

Tonight's episode of Lost, "Everybody Loves Hugo," is obviously going to be Hurley-centric. There is a lot of fan speculation that we'll see Hugo's long-lost Island love, Libby (played by Cynthia Watros), returned to life and meeting up with alt-Hugo in Sideways World.

This episode promises to be reminiscent of the Season 2 ep, "Everybody Hates Hugo." In the flashbacks, Hurley uses The Numbers and wins the lottery, quits his job at Mr. Cluck's, and soon becomes convinced he is cursed because with his new money, everything in his life changes for the worse. On the Island, Hugo is given the job of supervising the food and supplies from the Hatch, and he worries that everyone will resent him for the decisions he has to make. In that same episode, we also are introduced to Libby, one of the Tailies who captured Sawyer, Jin and Michael after they lost Walt to the Others and were shipwrecked from the raft at the end of Season 1.

In Sideways World, we have seen alt-Hugo describing himself as the the luckiest guy in the world. In other glimpses we have seen him as a conscientious and kindly boss, though one with a more corporate persona than Original Recipe Hugo.

While things would seem better overall for alt-Hugo, it's likely that not everything will be perfect, just as nothing is perfect for any of our LA-X Losties. It will be interesting to see if he has any flashes of his Island life, and if he interacts in Sideways World with any more of his fellow 815ers.

Come back after the show ends and discuss "Everybody Loves Hugo" in the comments!

Tonight on LOST: 'Happily Ever After'

ABC's official summary of tonight's Lost episode: "Desmond wakes up to discover he's back on the Island."

And as Tweeted last week by showrunner (and co-scriptwriter, with Carlton Cuse, of tonight's ep) Damon Lindelof: "In one week, the conversation is going to change."

Taken all together, this means we can probably expect some real revelations from tonight's installation of Lost.

That title, for instance. Last week, in "The Package," we heard the phrase "happily ever after" from the sarcastic lips of killer-for-hire Martin Keamy, taunting poor English-less Jin as he was being duct-taped up in that walk-in fridge.

It appears that Des was drugged, put on a submarine and brought to the Island against his will by his formidable father-in-law, Charles Widmore. Obviously, as Eloise Hawking told Des at the Lamp Post station in LA, the Island is not yet done with him. Tonight's ep does not bode well for Desmond's "happily ever after" with his little family.

Widmore's apparently willing to sacrifice his already-rocky relationship with daughter Penny (and by extension, grandson Charlie) if it means saving the Island, and the world at large, from MiB. What's more, he expects Des to sacrifice too -- not just for his Lostie friends this time, but for the sake of Penny and Charlie's very existence. At least, that's what Widmore implied last week when he spoke to Jin about how Sun and their little Ji-Yeon would "cease to be" if MiB escaped from the Island.

Tonight, I hope we'll get at least some hints about how the alt-reality is connected to what is happening on the Island, and to the war that has now begun in earnest.

It will be fascinating to see what's happening in Desmond's alt-reality. Is he still married, and if so, is his wife still Penny? Does he still have psychic powers? Does he cross between realities, as he did in "The Constant" and "Flashes Before Your Eyes"?

Check back here as soon as the show ends to discuss "Happily Ever After" in the comments!

Tonight on LOST: 'The Package'

Tonight on Lost, "The Package" is a Sun/Jin-centric episode. But we'll see some other old, familiar faces too.

ABC's promo, which is marginally more informative than last week's, says:

Sun and Jin desperately continue their search for one another, and Locke confronts his enemy.

Since UnLocke's biggest enemy, Jacob, is now dead (though still hanging with Hugo in his very special, Obi-Wan Kenobi way), this means UnLocke must be confronting his other enemy, former Others leader Charles Widmore, who has arrived on neighboring Hydra Island, via submarine. Widmore is, as the enhanced version of "Recon" reminded us, "a very dangerous man," even if he is not a man who can turn into murderous black smoke. And just exactly what or whom has Widmore got locked up aboard that sub of his, anyway? Maybe his son-in-law Desmond, who's been MIA since S6's premiere ep, "LA X"? O Brother Des, where art thou?

That enhanced version of "Recon" also reminded us that in the S5 finale "The Incident," UnLocke told Richard (who at the time still thought this was John Locke, Jacob's anointed leader) that he would have to "deal with" the Ajira 316 survivors. In the "Recon" scene showing the Ajira massacre victims on Hydra, the subtitles noted that we don't know what happened to them.

But we can guess, can't we? We know who carried out another recent mass killing, at the Temple.

My personal belief is that this is why Richard has been so distraught and suicidal: not just because because he temporarily lost faith in Jacob, but because he has realized that he was complicit in those Ajira murders, which he had believed he carried out at Jacob's behest. Now he knows that he was unwittingly the instrument of UnLocke, a.k.a. the MiB or Smokey. What's more, Richard must be wondering if the previous mass killings we know he participated in -- the US Army brigade in 1954, and the Dharma purge in 1992 --- were not also instigated by MiB, masquerading as Jacob. No wonder Richard has believed he was in hell, or at least destined to go there.

Speaking of destinies: Are Sun and Jin destined to reunite tonight? Frankly, I would not bet on it happening -- not in the Island timeline, anyway. Though of course, we should see the Kwons together in the 2004 Sideways World.

But wait: Are the Kwons even married in that parallel universe? I'm not convinced that they are.

In the Season 6 premiere ep, "LA X," it was deliberately made difficult for viewers to see if either Sun or Jin happened to be wearing a wedding ring. In the few shots where their left hands were briefly in the frame, no rings were spotted -- not by me, at least. And at the LAX Customs desk where Jin was questioned about the illicit cash he was carrying, the female Customs agent addressed Sun by her maiden name, as "Ms. Paik." Hmmmm.

On the other hand, Jin still treated Sun in the same abrupt, domineering way that he did in the early days of the original timeline -- including that whole "button up your sweater" thing. Would he be that overbearing to his boss's daughter if they weren't married?

Maybe yes -- say, if Jin were Sun's bodyguard, anxious for her not to attract male attention. Or maybe yes, if the Kwons were already divorced and simply traveling together for some Paik business-related reason.

So: Check back here tonight, as soon as Lost ends, and tell us what you thought of the episode.

Remember, tonight's show again runs a couple of minutes long. It will be immediately followed by a new episode of V, starring Elizabeth Mitchell -- our late, beloved Juliet.

Tonight on LOST: 'Ab Aeterno'

The title of tonight's episode of Lost, "Ab Aeterno," is Latin ("Gotta learn Latin! Language of the enlightened," as Juliet told Sawyer in Season 5), and it means, more or less, "since the beginning of time."

Maybe we'll get a slightly different translation of the phrase from the man of the hour. This is a Richard-centric ep, and Lost fans are very excited, because "Ab Aeterno" promises to be mythology-heavy and full of disclosures about the Island, the good ship Black Rock, and the mysterious Mr. Alpert himself.

ABC's official promo is, like all its promos this season, impossibly vague: "Richard Alpert faces a difficult decision." Lost fansites are rife with chatter about expecting some good old-fashioned flashbacks, maybe even featuring Jacob and the Man in Black, instead of a flash-sideways this week.

That flashback possibility seems quite likely, if only because this is Richard we're talking about, and he's got tons of history we don't know yet -- thanks to being apparently ageless, which he says is Jacob's double-edged "gift." Also, actor Nestor Carbonell, who plays Richard, has been hinting that this episode will carry lots of juicy reveals.

UPDATE: Be sure to set your DVR or VCR to run past the usual hour, because Lost's "Ab Aeterno" episode will run six minutes longer!

Tonight on LOST: 'Recon'

It's been a long, long three weeks since "the Substitute," the episode where we last saw Sawyer, but tonight the drought ends.

Previously on Lost, a bitter, angry, grieving James Ford was signing up with Smokey in the cave where all the candidates' names and numbers were scrawled. James himself, you'll remember, was No. 15. UnLocke asked him if he was ready to "get the hell off this Island," and James' response was: "Hell, yes." Thereby making himself Recruit No. 1 in the Man in Black's army.

The official ABC promo line for "Recon" is: "Locke tasks Sawyer with a mission." What kind of a mission? A reconnaissance mission to Camp Jacob, would be our guess.

But "recon" can have more than one meaning. And since we're talking about our favorite con man here, it's entirely possible that Sawyer will recognize just what kind of con man UnLocke is and what kind of evil he represents.

In that case, we're betting Sawyer will become a double agent, just the way his beloved Juliet did when she joined the Losties and pretended to be Ben's mole for the Others.

Meanwhile, we're also going to see what James' life is like in Sideways World. I'm going to go waaay out on a limb here and guess that we're going to see the biggest change yet. That in the parallel reality, maybe James Ford never became Sawyer the con man at all.

In "The Substitute," we found out that alt-Locke and his father, Anthony Cooper, were on good terms -- presumably meaning that alt-Cooper was not the conscienceless criminal who stole his son's kidney and then pushed Locke out an eighth-floor window, leaving him paralyzed. Locke was still in a wheelchair, yes, but apparently Cooper had no connection to whatever accident befell him.

So if Cooper's not the bad guy of that scenario...maybe he wasn't the man who ruined the Fords' lives, either. Maybe young James grew up without the horrible, psyche-scarring loss of his parents and the ambition to become a con man named Sawyer.

The James Ford we saw on Oceanic 815 in "LA X" seemed like a pretty relaxed guy, not like a murderer on the run. It'll be interesting to see what he's like tonight, for sure.

LOST: 'Dr. Linus' recaps and reax

The redemption of Ben Linus -- who'd a-thunk it? And for once, an episode that answered more questions than it raised. Here's a roundup of today's recaps and reaction to "Dr. Linus"...more to come later, so check back this p.m.

Ryan at Zap2It

Cindy at Television Without Pity

Brian at Lost...and Gone Forever

Kristin at E!Online

UPDATE: Doc Jensen at EW.com.

UPDATE: Jen and Liz at WaPo Lost Central.

AFTERNOON UPDATES: William at TV Guide

Maureen at the ChiTrib

Noel at AV Club

Mike at NYT Lost Watch

AND ONE MORE: Todd at LATimes Show Tracker

Tonight on LOST: 'Dr. Linus'

O bliss! O joy! It's time to party with the Artist Formerly Known as Henry Gale. Yes, it's a Ben-centric episode, and those are always extra good.

Tonight's episode of Lost is called "Dr. Linus." Here's the official ABC promo line: "Ben deals with the consequences of an uncovered lie."

The obvious follow-up to that is, "Which lie?" Because with Ben, you know, there are just so darn many lies he tells that we have totally lost track of them. Last we checked, he was up to about 167 fibs, untruths, whoppers and dodges, and that was just in Season 3.

We found out in "The Substitute" that alt-Ben is a teacher of European history at the same L.A.-area high school where alt-John Locke is teaching biology and coaching girls' gym. The only other thing we know about alt-Ben so far is that he is pretty darn snippy about maintaining the coffeemaker in the teachers' lounge. (Woe be unto him who fails to remove the old filter so Ben can make a fresh pot.)

Don't know about you, but we are praying that tonight he has a run-in with science teacher Leslie Arzt, so they can snipe at each other with lines like: "That's Doctor Arzt to you, Benjy!" and "Well, that's Doctor Linus to you, Leslie!" Of course, we have no actual evidence yet that Dr. Arzt even teaches at that school, but wouldn't that be a cool cameo?

On the Island's timeline, we know that Ben last week fled the Temple in terror, after realizing Sayid had gone over to Smokey's side and so had killed both Dogen and Lennon, who were floating lifeless in the Temple's healing pool. This week, we'll probably see more of Ben looking for Ilana and her little band of Jacobites, including Frank, Sun and Miles, who have escaped the Temple via the secret back door, and who presumably will be in the jungle, hiding from UnLocke and his tribe.

With the Temple breached, there are no longer any safe places on the Island that we know of. Will our Losties perhaps retreat to an abandoned Dharma station, there to await the arrival of whoever it is that Jacob predicted is coming to help them battle the Man in Black?

Lost fans, bloggers divide on 'Sundown'

It's been a while since we've seen Lost fans so sharply disagreeing about an episode as they've been doing this week, over the Sayid-centric "Sundown."

Some critics, bloggers and commenters clearly loved the episode's bad-ass action sequences and its dark, ominous depiction of Sayid turning to the Dark Side of the Force. Some didn't like this one so much -- although not the way they hated, let's say, "Stranger in a Strange Land," aka The One About Jack's Tattoos, guest-starring the simply awful Bai Ling. Nor was the ep reviled as much as "Exposé," aka The One With Nikki and Paulo.

Here's a roundup of "Sundown" recaps, with a range of views that are pro, con, and somewhere in between:

EW.com's Doc Jensen

WashPost's Lost Central

Zap2Lost and Zap2Lost Course Corrections

Slate's TV Club

ChiTrib's The Watcher

The AV Club

NYT's Lost Watch

Lost...and Gone Forever

LOST: episode 6-06, 'Sundown'

Tonight's Lost episode, "Sundown," is summarized by ABC: "Sayid is faced with a difficult decision, and Claire sends a warning to the temple inhabitants." Which seems to indicate it will be Sayid-centric. Which mean Episode 6 breaks the S6 pattern of mirroring Season 1, and it won't be a Sun/Jin-centric episode, as expected. Which, considering the title is "Sundown," is kind of a big tease.

We can probably expect to see more of the Temple and its inhabitants, along with whichever Losties are still there. But with Kate, James, Jack, Hugo, and Jin gone, that just leaves Miles and Sayid. Sun, Frank, Ilana and Ben were heading to the Temple, the last we saw of them.

If the episode does focus on Sayid, what will his Sideways World be like? We know he got to LA with every intention of finding Nadia, his long-lost love. Does he find her? Will his alt-life be better, overall, than his Jacob/Island-affected life has been? (It could hardly be worse.)

We'll see. Come back when the show ends and we'll talk about it here, in the comments.

Brian's new theory of LOST

Over on the LOST...and Gone Forever blog, Brian has an interesting new theory of the Island, inspired by what he saw last week in "The Substitute." It involves what he's guessing to be the long and tangled history of Jacob and the Man in Black, aka Anti-Jacob.

"The best part of it all?" Brian writes. "I’m sure this entire theory will be thrown out the window by the end of next week’s episode."

True, but this is still a fun read. No spoilers, just theories -- and lots of 'em.

Recapping 6.04: 'The Substitute'

Watch with Kristin's "Lost Redux: Ummm...Did We Just Find Out What This Whole Show Is About?!"

And, if you like spoilers, she has an interesting tidbit here.

And what day after Lost, would be complete without Doc Jensen's insight?

Here's The Washington Post's dueling analysis. They have a 2 p.m. Wednesday chat (Central time). After that, there will be a transcript.

Also, there's already a clip from the next episode, The Lighthouse:

Doc Jensen's 'Lost: 10 Burning Questions'

Over on EW.com, Doc Jensen's got his list of 10 questions that must be answered in this final season of Lost, with some revealing commentary from show runners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.

One biggie: "Who are Jacob and the Man in Black?" Well, that is "kind of the driving question of the whole season," says Carlton. He adds that it comes down not only to the conflict between the two adversaries, but to a huge metaphysical issue about "what is the fundamental nature of man. Is man good or is man evil?"

Homework to prepare for the next episode

Yep, that did say homework. But it's totally fun.

Doc Jensen at Entertainment Weekly is suggesting we rewatch two episodes to prepare ourselves for the next episode.

He says we should watch Tabula Rasa" from season 1, "What Kate Did" from season 2.

Lost producers announce season finale date

The series finale will air Sunday, May, 23.

Yep, we'll all be there.

Round up of tidbits ...

Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lily say they're done with TV after Lost.

Doc Jensen: Let's talk about 6.

Doc Jensen: How it ends (maybe).

Doc Jensen: A shot at recovery.

SPOILER ALERT: Terry O'Quinn spills something he's not supposed to tell.

LOST: It only ends once...

...Anything that happens before that is just progress. (Or so sayeth Jacob.)

And so it's finally Groundhog Day, aka "The Beginning of the End." Tonight at 7 Central, ABC will air "The Final Chapter," a recap hour -- followed at 8 by "LA X," the two-hour premiere of Lost's sixth and final season.

Check in here and join in our discussion after the show, and follow LostiesIsland on Twitter for more tidbits.

While you're waiting for tonight's magic hours to begin, read how the Washington Post's Jen Chaney and Liz Kelly contemplate the end of Lost days over on their "Lost Central" blog.

Think, too, about what "LA X" might mean. Sure, it's air-traffic code meaning Los Angeles International Airport, the destination of Oceanic 815.

But what of that space between the A and the X? It's no accident, that space.

If you asked Daniel Faraday what X means, he would say it represents an unknown variable. Perhaps that's what the X in this "LA X" stands for: the unknown. The X factor. The mystery.

For five years, Lost has been our favorite pop-culture conundrum. We've all loved being trapped on Mystery Island, even when it felt as if our heads might explode.

For five years, we've had questions. This year, it is promised, we'll get answers.

But we still have 18 hours of storytelling to go. And until those 18 hours are over, we're on board with what Jen and Liz say: It's about relishing the journey, instead of the destination.

One new frame of LOST S6 footage...

There's a new Lost promo out (No. 16, if you're keeping track), and mostly it shows things going...backward. Are we talking timeline reboot here? Sure seems like it.

But the notable thing about this clip is that it includes one whole frame of new Season 6 footage.

The new image is of Claire holding a serious-looking gun, looking like someone Sawyer might call "Blondie Bad-Ass." Certainly is something we've never seen our little mama do before!