Loyola Greyhound

Issue date: 2/26/08 Section: Arts & Society

Media Credit: MCT campus The "Lost" cast returns for a fourth season, complete with comebacks of old characters and new plot lines.

We are now a quarter of the way through "Lost" Season 4, and even veterans are wondering if the show's title refers to the viewers state of mind every Thursday night at 9pm. With more questions being raised than answered how is JJ Abrams going to tie together what seems like an innumerable slush pot of plots, characters, settings, and even a giant four toed stone foot?

Sadly the answer is far simpler than any of us really want to admit. He will. Somehow Abrams and the writing staff will bemuse and frustrate us with more and more unanswerable enigmas until finally one day everything will be made clear to us. Then our televisions will spontaneously combust.

For an avid viewer, commercial breaks and the fifteen minutes following the shows conclusions generally consist of half-cocked talk of predictions that hold little weight. This has nothing to do with the general intelligence quotient of a "Lost" fan. Actually, I have found that a large majority of watchers have something meaningful to say. The problem lies in the myriad of information one would have to retain from the previous three seasons in order to accurately for see something in the future. For example last week I felt that the "Oceanic Six" could have remained on the island for years instead of months (thinking that Kate's son could be far older), but then this is simply not possible because Kate had not aged. Get what I am saying? Neither do I, but that is the beauty of "Lost" speak.

One of my dark horse predictions that have not yet been deflated is the possibility of clones. Enter the emergence of a voice modulated Ben at the conclusion of episode three. Could this have been done to throw off the viewer until his face is revealed? More than likely, but a few clues give me a little hope. Enter the mysteriously unaged Richard. Two things could explain this; first the island really does have a power to alter human chemistry, or somehow the research being done could in some way alter human biological make up. Enter the rampant baby snatching and bizarre abductions of the first two seasons.

There actually are far more creditable sources on "Lost" than anyone on this campus. This is not so bold of a statement being that every week an Entertainment Weekly writer discusses each episode in depth and excavates fairly conclusive "spoilers." Like a drunk academic at a High School reunion "Lost" writers frequently make obscure literary references that can make monumental sense, or no sense at all. One that actually does work, via EW, is the role of Charlotte. Ben pompously enters into a quick speech as he claims that he knows who exactly is on this boat, and what they want. In the process he states Charlotte's full name. Charlotte Staples Lewis. C.S. Lewis. Interesting, but how does it fit? In the second book within the "Chronicles of Narnia," the return to Narnia happens through water. Charlotte officially comes onto the island after she cuts herself free from a tree and lands in a small lake. Emerging, her face is aglow.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools