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!

iTunes Releases "Lost Tracks" Based On Characters

I'll just post what TV Guide says. What do you think about their selection for each character? Do you have a better suggestion?

Lost fans, need another way to express your devotion to the show? Buy their music!

Check out our Lost Episode Recap of the final season's premiere: "LA X (Parts I and II)"

iTunes has launched six exclusive seven-track collections inspired by characters from the ABC drama (called "Lost Tracks"). Songs range from Bon Jovi's "Bad Medicine" from Kate Austen's collection to Marvin Gaye's "Can I Get a Witness" from John Locke's selections. A playlist of "Dharma's Tracks" features head-trippers like Tina Turner's "Acid Queen" from The Who's Tommy, Three Dog Night's "Shambala" and "Dharma Lady" by Geronimo Jackson, a fictional musician in the show's mythology.

Check out all the playlists below:

Kate's Tracks:
"Cherry Bomb"— The Runaways
"Crazy" — Patsy Cline
"Jack of All Parades" — Elvis Costello
"(I Know) I'm Losing You" — Rod Stewart
"Another Nail in My Heart" — Squeeze
"Bad Medicine" — Bon Jovi (Watch the video)
"Somebody I Used to Know" — Squeeze

Sawyer's Tracks:
"Hair of the Dog" — Nazareth
"Bad Moon Rising" — John Fogerty
"You Got That Right" — Lynyrd Skynyrd (Watch the video)
"Farther Along" — Flying Burrito Brothers
"Walk Away" — The James Gang
"Strutter" — KISS
"Love Ain't for Keeping" — The Who

Locke's Tracks:
"Can I Get a Witness" — Marvin Gaye
"Listen to Me" — Buddy Holly
"Memphis, Tennessee" — Chuck Berry
"Lost Highway" — Hank Williams
"Mannish Boy" — Muddy Waters
"I'd Rather Go Blind" — Etta James
"I Put a Spell on You" — Nina Simone (Watch the video)

Hurley's Tracks:
"The Seed (2.0) " — The Roots
"C'mon and Love Me" — KISS
"Jesus" — Velvet Underground
"Call Me Names" — The Specials
"Goodbye Girl" — Squeeze
"Shangri-Las" — The Kinks
"Fresh Feeling" — Eels (Watch the video)

Charlie's Tracks:
"Gasoline Alley" — Rod Stewart
"Less Than Zero" — Elvis Costello
"I'm One" — The Who
"Going Underground" — The Jam
"Dirty Boots" — Sonic Youth (Watch the video)
"Lady Godiva's Operation" — Velvet Underground
"Empty Pages" — Traffic

Dharma's Tracks:
"Dharma Lady" — Geronimo Jackson
"Shambala" — Three Dog Night
"Hot Burrito #2" — Flying Burrito Brothers
"The Acid Queen" — The Who (Watch the video)
"The Pusher" — Steppenwolf
"Heaven Is in Your Mind" — Traffic
"Bell Bottom Blues" — Derek & the Dominos

More questions answered -- sorta

I hesitate to put the spoiler tag up for this post, but if you click on this link to E!Online's Watch with Kristin, you'll see some about who is coming back, who they are trying to bring back and some questions that will be answered. Josh Hollway, Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof talk a little about season 6 and the show in general.

There are no spoilers about the plot.

Here's an example from Cuse:

Obviously, you can't answer every single question, but some things like the numbers—
No, obviously, if we said nothing about the smoke monster, if we said nothing about the numbers, we would be killed, but we believe that we recognize what the major questions are, and we will be providing some answers to those questions.

The 12th Day of Lost-Mas

Here's the 12th day of scoop from Watch With Kristin at E!Online:

Helena: [Re: Locke Serves Up a Jaw-Dropper] I'm so glad to hear there's something good in store for Terry O'Quinn. Will he be a big player this season?
Locke/Terry is more important than ever in season six (and, yes, will serve up a jaw-dropper) and as boss Carlton Cuse told the Hollywood Reporter: "Jack and Locke have always been at the center of the show, that dilemma of faith vs. reason, and the conflict between those two characters has been there since the beginning. It's very exciting to bring that relationship to its conclusion." Terry has never been more commanding (nor terrifyingly awesome) than this season. I smell Emmy!

Josh in Michigan: Any chance Maggie Grace's character, Shannon, will be back on Lost for the final season?
According to my sources (including Maggie's rep), Maggie still has not shot anything new yet for Lost, and is not expected at the season premiere party in Hawaii later this month. As you've probably heard by now, we will see Ian Somerhalder (Boone) again on the new season, and as I mentioned in the first day of Lost-mas, Maggie's absence will be explained by a change to Shannon's backstory. It's pretty surprising!

Lee: When you refer to a Lostie, do you also use that term for what we know to be Others?
In one instance during Lost-mas, I used the word Lostie for someone who was not on Oceanic Flight 815.

Francesca: Are most of your spoilers in Lost-mas about the beginning of the season or the season as a whole?
The beginning. This may or may not explain some of the confusion about seemingly conflicting scoop on other sites that some of you have asked about. I have been asked not to give scoop too far out so that hopefully you fans can still let the series unfold in a way that will surprise you. As many of you know, I try to tease without giving too much away, because I know many of you don't want to be truly spoiled. (On that note I apologize for the Lost-mas Sayid headline that concerned many of you, but I believe you'll understand when you see the episode.)

Alex: [Re: Where?s Desmond?] OMG! I hope they don't kill Desmond off. He's one of the consistently good characters on the show, plus his performances are very good.
Des rocks! So far I see no need to worry, but it's wise to pray for all the characters you love this season. It's the end, so anyone can go.

Kat: [Re: This Scoop Is a Matter of Life and Death] I bet Hurley tries to kill himself. We already know he has some depressive tendencies.
That's not who I'm talking about.

jk fan: [Re: Who Is the New Big Bad?] It's Shannon's brother (Ian Somerhalder).
Yes, and we'll find out he killed someone's wife. Oh wait, sorry...Wrong show!

Heidi: [Re: Arresting Development] I'm guessing Charlie for drugs, Sayid for murder/espionage, and maybe Sawyer for being a con artist.
One of your guesses is right.

What should we expect in the final season?

So, what exactly will happen in the season premiere?

It's hard to say where it will start and where it will go from there.

But, Watch with Kristin at E!Online, has a few tidbits about what kinds of things we will learn this season. (This is spoiler free. Just let's us know that we will get answers ... It just doesn't tell us what they are.) She says:

1. There Are Answers. Finally, now that we are down to the very last season, Team Darlton is able to give the fans what they've been waiting five season for: answers! Who is the smoke monster? What is the Island? Why are they all there? It's all down to the wire now, and I can tell you that in the first two hours alone of Lost's sixth season, there are more "answers" to the show's huge mysteries than there were in all of last season. Even if you've fallen out of this series, you will want to tune in to the end to see what it's all about. And for you fans who've followed all along, you will not be let down.
2. Terry O'Quinn Is Front and Center. Remember a few seasons back when Terry complained that John Locke's storyline was small, meek and misguided? Well, if only he could have seen then what is ahead for him in the final season: a stronger, more intense and more commanding storyline than Terry has ever had on this series. T.O.Q. just plain rocks, and the twists he will take this season will make you scream out loud.
3. It's Like a High School Reunion Without Having to Worry Whether You Look Fat. As you are well aware by now, nearly all of the Losties we've loved and lost (Dominic Monaghan, Ian Somerhalder, Rebecca Mader, just to name a few) will be back in some capacity for season six. It is a pretty awesome welcome-home party, with new connections you might not have guessed.

Rumors about who will be back for Season 6

NOT A SPOILER BECAUSE IT'S A RUMOR!


File this under "Oh Please Let it be True:" Rumor has it that Dominic Monaghan (aka Charlie) will be back for four episodes.

And then Emile de Ravin (Claire) will be back for the full season and that Maggie Grace (Shannon) will return for six epsiodes.

No deals have been made, according to Watch with Kristin at E!Online. But is that true or are they just saying that?

I've wondered how they can reset everything (if they indeed do) without bringing back the original cast.

Stay tuned.

What character who died do you want to see most next season?

Are we going to learn more about Smokey?

Watch with Kristin at E!Online gives us some SLIGHT SPOILERS for an epsiode airing at the end of April.

Mrs. Hawking and Daniel Faraday are both coming back for "The Variable" on April 29 (which just so happens to be the series' 100th ep). Also present are Penny and Charles Widmore and Charlie Hume (not to be confused with Charlie Pace).

As for the variable itself, it will almost certainly tie back to the equations and notations from the blast-door map we saw in season two, which included such bon mots as "Geological composition likely to cause magnetic disturbances/interference with weather project," "Primary nexus of Cerberus-related activity" and the infamous Valenzetti equation. Come on, who else wants a monster-centric ep? Remember, the only rule about flashbacks is that there are no rules.

Before the end of the season, Smokey is totally gonna get himself some backstory!

SPOILER: Someone is getting offed before the season ends

UPDATE: Look at the bottom of this post to for a list of five names. One of the five will die. Don't read if you don't want to know.

A "major character" is dying on Lost, reports Kristin at E!Online.

She says this a a real death like Shannon or Charlie. Not like Locke's death and resurrection.

It's not Kate.

Apparently the actor/actress who's character is dying didn't find out until last week.

Any thoughts on who it might be and why?

According to Spoilerfix.com the character who bites the dust is one of these five: Ben, Sawyer, Daniel, Jin, Miles

Recapping 5.06: "316"

Check out Doc Jensen's episode recap, which is called Keeping the Faith. The literary references keep coming. He probably has one of the most in-depth analysis of the show out there.

They're back. Back where they belong. Back where we want them to be. Nearly 21 months after Jack first bellowed ''We have to go back!'', the Oceanic 6 (minus Aaron, and don't ask why, or else Kate won't kiss you) finally undertook the perilous journey back to the place they never should have left — back to The Island, back to their ''mythic estate,'' to borrow a phrase from James Joyce's Ulysses, which last night's episode had the audacity to namedrop. For now, we only know of three who successfully fell to Earth — all the way to The Island's Dharma Initiative past, no less. There's Jack, blinking awake as he did in Lost's very first episode, this time looking not hopelessly lost, but gloriously born again. There's Kate, whose motivations for making the return trip were deliberately kept from us (all the better for a future flashback episode, my dears).

And here's what E! Online's Watch With Kristin had to say: (At the bottom of the page after you click the link, there are a few spoilers. Don't read anything after the notable quotes section, if you prefer to view Lost with virgin eyes.)

• Easter Eggs: (Attention, English professors: Next time you're trying to explain "intertextuality" to your students, just bring up Lost, and they'll get it right quick...)


• Ben was reading James Joyce's Ulysses, which is, of course, a psychedelic Irish novel that had a few Easter Eggs of its own and was based on the ancient myth of Odysseus, a lost sailor who is kept from his love, Penelope, by a series of wildly unbelievable but nonetheless thrilling adventures.


• Commenter Jules tipped us off to a C.S. Lewis nod: "Did anyone notice The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe reference with the Lamppost Station? They came out of the wardrobe at the lamppost, and it was where they knew they could get back to their world."


• Christian Shephard's white shoes/black shoes situation continues the show's flirtation with those constrasting colors.

And The Washington Post has this analysis. (They have a chat at 2 p.m. Central Time. Will post when it ends.)

Are viewers being misdirected about Aaron?

Are the clues that point to Aaron's sinisterness really a miscue meant to distract us?

That's what Doc Jenson at Entertainment Weekly proposes.

Check it out.

Hurley tells Jack that he's been spending his days hanging with Ghost Charlie on the Santa Rosa lawn. He also says Charlie has a message for Jack: ''You're not supposed to raise him.'' We immediately get interpretation from Hurley — ''Do you think he means Aaron?'' Given Jack's intensifying anxiety about becoming a husband to Kate and father to Aaron, we are inclined to bite on Hurley's altogether reasonable analysis — just like perch chomping on bait.
...
Teary-eyed Claire gets in her face and yells: ''Don't bring him back, Kate! Don't you dare bring him back!'' And then Kate wakes up. Yep, it was a nightmare, though clearly, we are supposed to take it seriously as an omen. Again, given the context of both the scenes, it is sensible to assume that Claire is talking about Aaron. Or is she?

Two warnings from two spectral entities about a specific person never referred to by name, only the deliberately unspecified pronoun ''him.'' In both cases, the ''him'' would seem to be Aaron. But what if they were referring to someone else? Look again at the warnings, but ignore the ''he'' and instead note the verbs:

''You're not supposed to RAISE him. Don't BRING HIM BACK, Kate. Don't you dare BRING HIM BACK.''

My theory? Jack isn't being dissuaded from raising children. And Kate isn't being beseeched to keep Aaron away from the Island. No, both of these characters are being told the same thing: They are being warned against resurrecting a dead man.
You're not supposed to raise him ... FROM THE DEAD. Don't you dare bring him back ... TO LIFE.

Perhaps you think I'm nutty. Maybe you think I'm projecting onto the show instead of decoding the show itself. If so, well, what else is new? But if you think I'm onto something — or at least game to entertain this something that I'm onto — you may now be wondering, Okay, If Charlie and Claire were begging Jack and Kate not to facilitate a resurrection, whose resurrection are we talking about?

Cast in Other Roles: Dominic Monaghan

Dominic Monaghan, aka Charlie, is returning to TV.

But on another show.

He's signed up to guest star on Chuck, says Entertainment Weekly's Michael Ausellio: "In what marks his first major TV gig since Lost, Dominic Monaghan has signed on to guest-star on NBC's Chuck as -- stop me if this sounds familiar -- a free-spirited British rock star targeted for death by a shadowy group of evildoers."

Will he back back on Lost? Monaghan says: "That's more of a question for Damon Lindelof. I don't really have a huge amount of control over that. I had a great time on the show, and I think Charlie is a character that is definitely missed. I know a lot of people on the show -- myself included -- get asked a lot of questions about when he's coming back. The general public seems to think he's on his way back at some point. But that's something for Damon to answer. All I can really say is if it was the right thing, of course I'd go back."