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Lost returns on it's 5th season today, the significance being that the ultra popular drama is on its second last season since the show is set to end with 6 seasons in total. Lost had begun with the intention of being a mini-series, intended to only span a few episodes and to have the now main character Jack die in the first episode after having lead the survivors to safety.

Due the the popularity, the show was extended while in production and has since become further bloated to fill an ABC contractual agreement to span 6 seasons instead of the original 4 that J. J. Abrams, the show's creator, had intended. To view the videos, scroll to the bottom to skip.

Lost season five begins where season 4 left off. The main survivors having been rescued from the Island after the freighter was destroyed, and their helicopter crashed. They were picked up by Desmond's girlfriend, Penolope Widmore, who had been looking for Desmond since he left her. The 5 Survivors make it back to Los Angeles hiding the secret that several survivors (namely Locke, Sawyer and Juliette) had been left behind on the island, when it mysteriously disappeared after Ben, Dharma Iniative traitor and all around mysterious figure and island spokesperson, went about turning a "Donkey Wheel" to send the Island back in time and make it disappear.

I know the above description sounds a little crazy, especially if you haven't been following the show and believe me it's getting as ludicrous and crazy as it sounds - yet despite all it's shortcomings and jumping the shark, it's still fairly entertaining enough to keep you watching. Season 5 will feature a variety of things including a long-delayed explanation on the mysterious four toed statue found by Sayeed Sun and Jin, as well as details on what happened to the island and what happened to the John Locke, who was shown as dead in the season 4 finale and apparently going under the name Jeremy Bentham. Also the show will deal with the island, which is now having trouble with time consistency and keeps jumping randomally through time causing severe problems for those on the island as the past and present start to intermix and conflict.

Season 5 Episodes Video Sneek Peak

Watch Lost Season 5 Episode 1- Because You Left:


Part 2



Part 3





Watch Lost Season 5 Episode 2- The Lie Episode Clip:


Part 2





My theory on what's going to happen is that Ben moved the island back in time, hence why the island ceases to appear where it does - perhaps it has since moved to where it is now. They will probably use this to show what happened on the island back in the time of the Dharma initiative and how Rousseau came to the island and maybe even how the Black Rock, the 17th Century slave ship, managed to get there as well. The island will have a problem as mentioned with time travel and it will start to threaten the inhabitants that were left stranded on the island. This means that Locke and Sawyer and the rest of the 'others' from Ben's camp will be facing events from the past that threaten to kill them. They will most likely find out about how Ben killed the Dharma Initative and other secrets like how the island has been moved before. Meanwhile all the off-island characters will seek to get back on the island, Jack will be pressured by Ben to return to the island with all the castaways - and Ben will hire a lawyer to scare Kate into thinking the government or some agency is out to confirm whether the baby she is taking care of is hers, which we of course know is Claires and not really Kates. Kate will then be prone to running away, as she always does, and will join Ben and Jack in getting back on to the island.

Now it's your turn - what are your Thoughts, Conspiracies and Ideas where the story and show is heading?

Labels: jj abrams, locke, lost, season 5

Posted by James at 12:18 PM | Permalink | Comments

Leaked Plot:
The episode begins with a flashback to the 1950s, where John Locke's birth mother is revealed to have been a teenager who was dating a man twice her age, much to the anger of her mother. On a rainy night, Emily runs out screaming at her mother and gets hit by as passing car. She is taken to the hospital, where she mentions that she is pregnant, causing the hospital to go in to a frenzy as they try to deliver the child. The child is born, and whisked away as it is premature - the mother upset at her child being taken away exclaims that his name is John. A few days later the mother (Emily) is seen with her mother, and regrettably gives the child up for adoption. A man is seen behind the glass of the hospital room, clearly interested in the child but not directly related. Emily's mother mentions that she has no idea who the man is, although it appears that she may have had some interaction with him.

A few years pass, John is approached by the unknown man (Smiley?) and is given a test where he is to pick out items that belong to him. John at first seems to pass, but picks up a knife much to the disinterest of the man, who claims to be testing Locke for a special school admittance. The man gruffly tells John that he failed and that the knife was not his, and leaves.

Back to the present, Sayid and Desmond witness the captain and one of his men arguing and fighting over how Ben could have known his identity. The fight continues and Michael, who has been helping Ben by spying on the freighter, is attacked by one of the men, and is almost killed when the gun locks causing it not to fire. Meanwhile on the island, Locke, Ben and Hurley set out to find the cabin not realizing each had been following the other. Upon realizing that they're lost, John Locke decides that they should settle to camp where they are. He has a dream in which he is told to find a Dharma Initiative member named Horace, who was building a cabin for him and his wife and reveals that he is dead. He tells Locke to find him (Horace) and then to find someone he refers to as 'him'. Locke awakens to see that Ben is watching him and has noticed that he is dreaming, the 3 set forth to find the cabin based on the location of the dead bodies that Ben had buried in a shallow grave, and where Ben had left Locke to die after shooting him at the end of season 3. They find the cabin, and Ben tells Locke that he will not enter because the island has rejected Ben, and now is the time for Locke to embrace the island since it seems to desire him more. Hurley out of fear and disgust remains with Ben, leaving Locke to enter the cabin - where he finds Jack's father and Kate (Jack's step-sister). Locke is confused but finally asks him how to save the island, at which point a long and awkward pause occurs. Locke leaves the cabin, having been told what to do to save the island, that is to 'move the island'.

On the freighter, the captain has been shot, and a few men are assembled to take the island by force and to kill everyone. Sayid obtains a boat with the help of the captain and sails back to the island to rescue anyone he can. The men approach the island, where upon a transceiver indicating the location of the men is disabled on a GPS system was dropped for Jack and those with him to find and follow.

Labels: cabin fever, lost, plot

Posted by James at 5:44 PM | Permalink | Comments

Without a doubt, the most popular television shows seem to use some very obvious plot and medium devices to encourage the viewers to continue watching. Shows like NBC's stellar hit Heroes and Fox's Prison Break use these in moderation, while ABC's breakout hit Lost (now approaching it's 4th season) makes heavy usage of various devices that have long since been abandoned after much usage in the golden tv era of the 1950s and subsequent 1960s.

Cliff-Hangers
You've definitely seen them, if not heard of them. But cliff-hangers are the bread and butter of television executives. They're what keep viewers tuning in each week, each month - heck each season, to a particular show. Cliff-hangers in short, are those little surprises that tv shows throw in so that you'll continue watching to find out. There's several variety of cliff-hangers, but the most obvious are what I not-so-cleverly refer to as the Major and Minor cliff-hangers.

Minor Cliff-Hangers
The minor cliff hangers are what get you initially interested in a show and help to further the plot along within the current episode. It's the dilemma that comes up after a few minutes, the small choice or problem that the characters have to deal with in that particular episode. Let's take Heroes for example.

In the Heroes episode Distractions, there are several minor cliff-hangers - the first of which comes when alter-ego Niki/Jessica (Ali Larter) manages to break free of her prison cell and escape. Almost immediately this takes us in to an ad-break. And therein lies the reason for this, to keep the viewers interest long enough that they will sit through the ads and continue watching, rather then flipping the channel to something entirely different. Heroes makes moderate usage of this, and it constantly throws in minor problems that will quickly be resolved after the ad breaks are done. Things such as how Hiro will get access to a room. After the ad-break it becomes clear that he will manipulate time to enter through, and so forth. Minor cliff-hangers are always solved shortly once the show comes from an ad-break - only to be replaced with a new minor cliff-hanger (in this episode, he get's kidnapped by some mysterious figure) --> Back from the ad-break, and it's revealed it was his father. They repeat this ad-nauseum, until.. the last 3-5 minutes of the show.


Major Cliff-Hangers
At about 3-5 minutes at the end of most shows, we end up with a plot roller-coaster with questions earlier asked answered. But near the end, a major problem needs to be realized. Something substantial. In Heroes, Lost and Prison Break you end up with an amazing discovery that is yet unrealized to the characters - but of course known to us as the 3rd party (as viewers we see the larger and bigger picture). In the particular Heroes episode, it was the fact that the cheerleader's (Hayden Panettiere) father was in actuality another major character.

The most interesting aspect of cliff-hangers is that the more readily a tv show uses them, the more successful they seem to be. Lost which is celebrated as one of the most successful TV shows ever to grace prime time television - is possibly the most heavy user of cliff hangers. The show uses somewhat major cliff-hangers to actively keep the audience glued, only to do this again and again at every ad break. It seems that this sort of bait-and-hook tactic would get old, but for some reason with Lost it doesn't seem so. But that may have a lot more to do with the fact that unlike Heroes and Prison Break, which have stuck to a more realistic schedules, Lost appears to be going on intentional hiatuses so as to pace the show and ensure that viewers don't get tired with the antics of Jack and the lostees.

Labels: dissection of a mainstream tv show, heroes, lost, watch heroes online, watch lost episodes, watch lost online, watch prison break online

Posted by James at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Comments

Long time since I last posted, but I have some juicy information for Lost Fans. The folks over at ABC have begun discussing platform and advertising models surrounding prevention of piracy and promotion of their own content. And thankfully, they have apparently decided to start showing full seasons of their shows on a special ABC platform website that will unveil sometime in the 3rd Quarter of 2008. Rumour has it that they will start off the new platform will all 4 season of ABC's mega-hit show Lost. The fourth season of the popular drama starts in 1st the Quarter, and by the 3rd quarter of 08, the 4th season would have completed allowing for all previous seasons, with the latest season to be available for viewing on-line.

ABC, among other stations, have already experimented with streaming their television shows online - but they generally offer a limited supply of episodes that are kept only temporary online for viewing. It seems ABC is taking a risk and upping the ante by potentially putting up an entire syndications worth of episodes, albeit with a currently unknown advertising business model in place of the standard television commercial breaks. Regardless, this is a step in the right direction and I genuinely hope they are successful. I started watching Lost a few months back, and I'm just about done the first season - so something like this would definitely be helpful to acquire new viewers to old series.

Labels: abc, hanso, jack, kate, lost, sayid, shawn, watch lost online, watch tv shows, watch tv shows online, who is lost

Posted by James at 6:08 PM | Permalink | Comments