Lost (spoilers)

[matt35mm]

Before 2004, Evangeline Lilly was a virtual unknown, having done almost no professional work to speak of as an actress.

WHAT?  She was the spokeswoman for the #1 Chat Hotline in America!  Acting her ass off in those commercials seen nationwide!

 

[Chest Rockwell]

What's worse is those aren't really all that attractive.

[Ultrahip]

Check this shit out!

[MacGuffin]

Best Buy exclusive!

Lost (Season 2) with an exclusive bonus disc containing "Reckoning," a complete 43-minute episode that catches viewers up on Season 2 through a narrated series of scenes from previous episodes. Other features on the bonus disc include:

*Lost on Location: "What Kate Did" and "The Other 48 Days" — behind-the-scenes looks at the making of two episodes, including cast and crew interviews. Gives the fans a chance to see just what it takes to make Lost a reality.
*Deleted scenes
*2 deleted-scene Easter eggs hidden in the menu

[MacGuffin]

Eko of a Traffic Arrest

The Lost crew certainly know how to find themselves in traffic court.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who plays the possibly deceased drug lord-turned-faithful button pusher Mr. Eko, was arrested early Saturday morning in Waikiki, becoming the third cast member from the hit ABC show to be arrested on a traffic violation in the past year.

The 39-year-old Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who also starred in Get Rich or Die Tryin' and Oz, was picked up at 2:25 a.m. for disobeying a cop and driving without a license, after which he spent six hours in jail before posting $500 bail. He is scheduled to appear in district court Sept. 26.

The fact that Akinnuoye-Agbaje was on the island of Oahu at all is a pretty decent indicator that he'll be showing up for Lost's third season, despite his having been down in the hatch with Desmond and Locke as an electromagnetic force of indeterminate origin tore through the space and subjected everyone else on the island to a bright white light and a high-pitched noise.

Some of Eko's fellow Tailies haven't been so lucky. Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros, who also got more than a glimpse of the inside of a Hawaiian jail last year after being arrested on DUI charges, were both killed off of the show in May, victims of Michael's stop-at-nothing plan to find Walt.

Watros, who played mental patient/pretend-clinical psychologist Libby, and Rodriguez, who portrayed the surly Ana Lucia, failed sobriety tests within 15 minutes of each other Dec. 2 on Oahu's Pali Highway. Both were taken into custody and released on $500 bail.

But while Watros pleaded guilty to one DUI charge in January and received a fine and counseling and had her driver's license suspended for 90 days, Rodriguez had racked up two speeding tickets in Honolulu and was on probation for two driving-related incidents in Los Angeles. She ended up pleading guilty and opting to spend five days in a Hawaiian jail and cough up a $500 fine rather than do 240 hours of community service.

Back in L.A., Rodriguez admitted she had violated the terms of her probation and was sentenced to 60 days in county jail. Due to overcrowding and the fact that she was a nonviolent offender, however, the Fast and the Furious star was only locked up for four hours and 27 minutes on May 25 before she was sent on her merry, yet hopefully slower, way.

Lost's creators denied that Rodriguez's legal woes had anything to do with her character getting bumped off. Then again, if they reacted every time a cast member violated a law, there'd be no one left to discover just what the Others are up to. Except Walt, that is. He's too young to drive.

Per the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, at least six other castaways have had run-ins on the mean (and usually slow-moving) streets of Hawaii:

Sawyer: Josh Holloway paid $153 in fines for going 53 miles-per-hour in a 35 mph zone Sept. 21, 2005.
Charlie: Dominic Monaghan has had two speeding tickets that have ended up costing him $324 in fines. A citation issued Mar. 10 for driving without a valid license has since been dismissed.
Sayid: Naveen Andrews had to shell out $122 after breezing through a 45 mph zone at 70 mph Oct. 15, 2004. He then topped himself Mar. 9, 2005, going 70 in a 35 mph area. Andrews pleaded no contest and paid $232.
Boone: Ian Somerhalder was lucky to not meet the same fate as his Lost character after going 42 in a 25 mph zone. He shelled out $202 and landed a role in the wi-fi horror flick Pulse.
Steve: Flashback denizen Christian Bowman was fined $112 for going 53 mph in a 35 mph zone. He wrote a letter to the court and the citation was reduced to 48 mph.
Michael: Harold Perrineau Jr. got a ticket for having no car insurance and no safety check. Case dismissed after the actor was able to produce proof of insurance.


We think it's about time ABC cuts its losses and commissions a bus to ferry the large cast around.

[MacGuffin]

'Lost' soul mates
By Bill Keveney, USA TODAY

BURBANK, Calif. — Lost's second-season finale — "Live Together, Die Alone" — might be a good motto for the men who wrote it.

Longtime friends and executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof are at the center of the success of the third-season ABC drama (which returns Wednesday at 9 ET/PT). Their spinning of the tale of plane-crash survivors in an isolated world, and their miserly parceling out of clues to the island's mysteries, enthrall millions.

The creative partnership — forged by a call to Cuse when Lost's co-creator J.J. Abrams had to ease away to direct Mission: Impossible III— works because of, rather than despite, their contrasts on many levels.

Cuse, 47, who gave Lindelof his first TV writing job on Nash Bridges, is the mentor — tall, wearing a crisp oxford shirt and jeans, with an authoritative voice made for voice-overs. Lindelof, in Cuse's office as they review a script, is younger (33) and shorter — the protégé in jeans, purple T-shirt and Yankees cap. He has what he calls a "hyperbolic" nature, tempered by Cuse's calm.

Cuse, father of three, is the early bird, ticking off his tasks as the sun rises. Night owl Lindelof, sleep-deprived as a new first-time father, works in the wee hours. Both write, frequently together.

Lindelof enjoys spending three hours breaking down scenes in the editing room. Cuse is the problem solver, working out details with producers in Hawaii, where Lost is shot.

"We have complementary talents," Cuse says. But "we see the show very similarly. There's very little we don't fundamentally agree on, whether it's the direction of the show, the aesthetics or the stories we want to tell people."

The prospect of bringing an island world to life once terrified Lindelof. Now, they both say, the show has become its own entity. Cuse says it guides them like The Force in Star Wars. Lost "is bigger than us," says Lindelof. "It's like, when one of us has an idea, we feel that's what the show wanted us to do."

The Force obviously is with them:

•Lost has achieved cult-worship status, marked by numerous books and fan websites, with broad enough appeal to draw an average 15.4 million viewers (down 4% vs. Season 1) while facing No. 1 American Idol part of last year. It won an Emmy and Golden Globe for best drama; Abrams won a directing Emmy.

• It's the most popular ABC show on iTunes, with more than 8.5 million downloads. Sales of Season 1's DVD have topped 1.6 million copies, trailing only 24's first season among drama series, and the Season 2 set was No. 1 in sales for the first full week of September. This summer, Lost experimented with a multimedia Web hunt called The Lost Experience.

• The series spawned a wave of serialized mysteries that feature large casts, unite strangers or touch on otherworldly elements: Invasion, Surface and Threshold last year; Jericho, Heroes, Vanished and The Nine this fall.

To remain a success, Lindelof and Cuse say they need to make sure the characters come first. So far they've succeeded, says author Stephen King, whose apocalyptic The Stand influenced Lost.

"They're great storytellers," says King, a fan. "Very few TV show creators seem as able to convey the sense of awe the unknown causes in us, and the hold it has on our imaginations."

From conception to sensation

The concept for Lost— an island drama with elements of Castaway and Survivor — was devised late in the 2004-05 development season. Alias' Abrams, skilled in action and suspense, was set to make it. With the time constraints, Lindelof, an up-and-coming writer with an interest in sci-fi and comic books, came on.

He was "completely in sync" with Abrams, says Bryan Burk, a longtime Abrams associate who heads Lost's extensive post-production from the Disney lot. At their first meeting, "he walked in wearing a Star Wars fan club T-shirt. We're like, 'Hey, how are we not best friends already?' "

"Damon has an incredible sense of story," Abrams says. "We immediately clicked in terms of the importance of character and emotion." Presuming Lost was the longest of long shots, the pair decided to make the pilot they wanted, breaking traditional casting and plot rules.

The critical and audience reception confirmed others wanted it, too. But Abrams was taking on his first feature film directing assignment, and overseeing Alias and more pilots. And Lindelof was spooked by the looming challenge. "I quit the show three times," he says.

Cuse talked him out of leaving and eventually joined the show.

Lindelof "was suddenly, in my absence, besieged by all this stuff. Carlton provided the bolstering he desperately needed," says Abrams, who wrote Wednesday's premiere with Lindelof, and hopes to direct an episode this season. "They've taken the show we created and continued it in a way that I really admire."

"Initially, I thought it would be Damon the pure writer-artist-auteur, and Carlton would bring skills from having run so many shows successfully," ABC entertainment chief Steve McPherson says. "But it's like they morphed into one person. They seem to do everything together."

Hammering out the plot kinks

In the writers' room, decorated with pictures of Hawaii and the show's cast — with one board featuring photos of departed characters, under the heading R.I.P. — Lindelof is chatty, giving his fellow writers an update about caring for his month-old son, Van, and the toll it takes on sleep: "I'm reacting like five minutes after things happen."

After a few minutes of chatter, Cuse tries to get the staff focused on the season's eighth episode.

"Yeah, kids are great, all right," says writer Adam Horowitz, drawing laughs by gently mocking Cuse's businesslike transition.

As writer Edward Kitsis lays out the episode, broken down into five acts on a dry-erase board, Lindelof and Cuse do much of the talking. Lindelof free-associates more, as Cuse crystallizes points of the discussion. The episode is part of a season the producers say will offer more romance and adventure, examine the dynamic of Us vs. Them and — in one of their many cryptic references — play with our conceptions of time.

During the hour-long meeting, pop culture and literary references are tossed about. The discussion caroms from Peggy Sue Got Married to An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, Star Trek: The Next Generation, A Christmas Carol, Eyes Wide Shut and Wonka bars.

Lindelof is a fount of pop culture details; Cuse knows science facts. "Carlton is the guy you'd want to be on the island with," Lindelof says. "I would be entertaining at the campfire."

In one scene, a knotty problem is suddenly solved by a character switch that both stokes a new romance and stirs jealousy. Cuse says later, revisiting The Force metaphor: "As we were working toward a solution, the show told us what needed to happen."

As Lost's plentiful religious references might suggest, both men seek spiritual meaning. Lindelof approaches from a Jewish upbringing, with Cuse having been raised Catholic.

On this day, Lindelof and Cuse are dealing with elements of seven episodes, including revisions to a script they are writing together. As they head to an editing room to assess a scene from the second episode, a visual-effects coordinator walks up with a laptop to show a riveting season-opening sequence. Abrams comes out of a room where he's reviewing scenes from his new series, Six Degrees, and the three watch intently. "That's cool. That's crazy," Abrams says.

Later in Cuse's office — which features two old Dodger Stadium seats, numbered 15 and 16 (from the infamous sequence 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) — they review their script, then discuss another one with fellow producer Jeff Pinkner.

On most days they're together only about half the time, splitting up duties. "He trusts me to do the things I do, and I trust him," says Lindelof, whose nearby office is a Lost mini-museum, with Mr. Eko's "Jesus stick," a concert poster for Charlie's band Driveshaft, and a model of Oceanic Flight 815 — angled downward.

The trust extends to their experienced colleagues. "In the same way that Damon and Carlton and Bryan trust me to be in the jungle supervising and executing the show, I trust them to do the final cut of the show," says Jack Bender, who oversees operations in Hawaii.

But organization only goes so far when plotting a series with no specific end date. Cuse and Lindelof, signed through the end of this season, say they can see the show concluding after five seasons, but they know it could go longer considering TV's economics.

Regardless, they have "a superstructure" set up that they think will keep the story on track, and a definite endgame. But that doesn't mean this TV entity will stop evolving. "We're putting this puzzle together, but there's no picture on the front of the box. And people keep adding new pieces, but they still have to fit together," Lindelof says.

[Pubrick]

i kept waiting for the part where they reveal damon lindelof and carlton cuse are in fact lovers. that's the way to end a fluff piece.

[Ravi]

Shit, the season premiere is this week, isn't it?  I'm only on disc 4 of season 2.

[Fernando]

Shit, the season premiere is this week, isn't it?  I'm only on disc 4 of season 2.

Nope:

Wednesday, October 4 at 9/8c
"A Tale of Two Cities"
SEASON PREMIERE

You have plenty of time.

[MacGuffin]

You have plenty of time.

But it's taken him 20 days to get to disc 4:
http://xixax.com/index.php?topic=6100.msg232068#msg232068

[Ravi]

But it's taken him 20 days to get to disc 4

I'm watching as much as I can on the weekends.

[MacGuffin]

The shadowy Others take charge on 'Lost'
By William Keck, USA TODAY

OAHU, Hawaii — Who are The Others, and what do they want with Jack?

It's the most precarious predicament looming over Lost as the hit ABC drama that is averaging 15 million viewers a week returns tonight (9 ET/PT) for a third season of island mystery and adventure.

This balmy August day, star Matthew Fox (Jack) is seated in his trailer, having just wrapped an emotionally draining season-premiere scene, another pre-plane-crash flashback with his character's former wife, Sarah (Julie Bowen).

The earlier part of Fox's week was spent shooting island scenes of being trapped like a mouse by The Others, the treacherous tribe so far portrayed as dirty, barefooted, heavily armed hillbillies. He'll spend much of his time under control of The Others before the series goes on hiatus after a Nov. 8 cliffhanger, then returns in February.

Despite his character's fragile mental state, Fox, 40, can crack a smile. Sprouting whiskers he intends to grow into a heavier beard as his character remains in captivity, Fox says, "I honestly think it's going to be the best year yet. I can tell by the way the producers are talking about the year ahead that the show's going to do a lot of things it hasn't done.

"And philosophically, it's going to touch on some cool issues."

After spending much of last season down in a gloomy hatch pressing a button to stave off a cataclysm, Jack now will see his buttons pushed by The Others. "The Others specifically want something from Jack," says Fox, adding that his character will be on the verge of losing his mind. "Jack is somebody who is obsessed about his need to control situations, and suddenly somebody else is pushing the buttons."

The situation will be a challenge for all the crash survivors who were captured, executive producer Carlton Cuse says. "Each of the characters has their own experience in captivity. They have to restart their lives again in a brand new society. Jack doesn't know where he is or what's happened to Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway). He doesn't even know if they're alive."

Throughout Season 2, the muddied faces of The Others began revealing themselves through the jungle's heavy brush.

But hints along the way, such as Kate's discovery of fake beards, costumes and makeup in a locker, indicated that their villainous ways were not as they seemed.

Michael Emerson portrays the crafty Other who assumed the identity of Henry Gale as he taunted Jack and Locke (Terry O'Quinn) as their captive last season. Now a series regular, Emerson reminds viewers to heed the foreshadowing line his character spoke to Michael (Harold Perrineau) in the season finale: "We're the good guys."

"Not only does he believe that, but it's probably true," Emerson says.

Dressing for success

Tonight, The Others will unveil their new fall wardrobe. And don't expect them to be living in what producers dubbed "Yurtville" — that primitive community of skin tents where Michael was reunited with Walt and that was discovered abandoned by Sayid (Naveen Andrews) in the finale.

"The viewers will be introduced to a surprising, civilized new setting. It appears we've been on the island a long, long time," Emerson teases.

When it comes to revealing specific plot points, the cast and producers turn evasive. They're hoping to re-create the "holy mackerel" moment achieved in last season's opener when the contents of the island's hatch were revealed: A man, Desmond, was living in a souped-up subterranean apartment. "The first five minutes of Season 3 we really think is going to blow people's minds," Cuse says. "I think we have come up with something that is compelling and surprising."

Adds Holloway: "It's so awesome. It's epic. ... They're using part of an existing set and adding on to it. The location is so secluded and gives you a feeling of isolation, which is the magic of the show."

As the season progresses, island flashbacks will provide viewers with more information on the actions of The Others since the crash of Flight 815. "One of the things we're exploring this year is how we tend to objectify people in society that we don't know anything about," Cuse says. "We start to see what the world might look like from The Others' point of view and what their view of our people might be."

Says Fox: "For two seasons, the audience and these characters have vilified these mysterious Others. In one fell swoop, we're going to be thrust into 180-degree switch of perspective in looking at the situation from their point of view."

Humanity and love?

Emerson, who shares scenes in the premiere with Lilly's Kate, says Henry will become more humanized by revealing his true name (a name "I never would have chosen," he says). And he'll be involved in a romance of sorts. In fact, he says, "themes of seduction and rejection will predominate this year."

It may be no coincidence that Jack, Sawyer and Kate, the players in one of TV's hottest love triangles, ended up on The Others' most-wanted list. "The love story is a part of it," Cuse says. "The Others have been observing our characters, and (the three) will be pretty surprised to discover that."

But the love triangle that launched almost right from the series debut soon will crumble when Kate chooses between Sawyer and Jack, and Jack meets the mysterious Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell).

Like so much on Lost, the newcomer's name is no coincidence. Shakespeare's Juliet, one of literature's greatest romantic figures, fell in love with a handsome member of an opposing clan.

Already conceptualizing a long run for Juliet, Cuse says, "It will be really compelling when we get her first flashback story and find out who she was off the island."

Though Fox acknowledges Jack still has feelings for both Kate ("on some deep level") and ex-wife Sarah ("you'll see that unresolved stuff with Sarah put to bed"), he is looking forward to seeing whether Jack and Juliet evolve into a great love story.

"The circumstances in which these two people meet are far from romantic," he says. "But what she brings into Jack's world creates an interesting vibration."

Eager to return to his real island family — wife Margherita, their daughter, Kyle, 9, and son, Byron, 4 — Fox exits his trailer, thankful that his own captivity has ended for another day. He immediately is intercepted by a production assistant who hands him a sealed envelope with the next top-secret Lost script. Slapping the envelope, the sly Fox looks over his shoulder and teases, "Wouldn't you like to see this?"

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*READ AT OWN RISK*

'Lost' returns in fine form despite flaws 
* * * 1/2 (out of four)
By Robert Bianco, USA TODAY

The best is back.

Not quite at its best, mind you. I prefer Lost when it's less claustrophobic and more optimistic than it is in Wednesday's much-anticipated third-season premiere. But whether you love this episode or not (and some assuredly will), there is just something about the show's sweep, reach and audacity that lifts Lost so far above the run-of-the-mill norm, it might as well be on its own island.

If you doubt that claim, all you have to do is watch the astounding opening segment of this episode, written by Lost co-creators Damon Lindelof and J.J. Abrams. In one eye-popping five-minute stretch, they and director Jack Bender encapsulate the show's signature style and appeal: the contrast of beautiful scenery with hideous events, the note of tension that plays under even the most seemingly benign behavior, the images that seem to be one thing and turn out to be another, and the characters who cry out for further exploration.

Though there are many characters worth exploring, most of them will have to wait for another week. Tonight's tightly focused outing stays centered on Jack (Matthew Fox), Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and Kate (Evangeline Lilly), who are being held captive by Henry Gale (Michael Emerson) and The Others — which is where we left them at the end of last season.

Separated from each other, the captives respond in ways fans have come to expect. Jack is aggressive and proactive, determined to fix the situation as quickly as he can. Sawyer is insolent. And Kate, who has gone through a bad stretch, is defeated.

As if they were trapped in a particularly intense episode of The Prisoner, or maybe Planet of the Apes, the three captives face a bizarre array of tasks and punishments as they are set upon by captors whose behavior seems inexplicable. Secrets are revealed, escape plans are made, but the overriding tone is one of despair.

Though all three endure physical torments, the torment of memory is reserved for Jack, the show's nominal hero and our surrogate on the island. At a low point in his island stint, Jack flashes back to a low point in his life: his divorce from his wife (Julie Bowen) and his conflict with his father (John Terry).

With so few characters on display and so little interaction with the rest of the island, tonight's premiere may be smaller in scale and more scenically confined than some would like. The advantage, though, is that you ease back into the show without needing to remember exactly where you left off.

And where was that? When last we saw them, Michael had retrieved Walt from The Others — his reward for leading Jack, Kate and Sawyer into a trap — and the two of them headed off the island. Hurley had been sent back to camp to warn the castaways to keep their distance; Sayid, Jin and Sun were exploring uncharted island territory; and Locke, Eko and Desmond were dealing with the consequences of destroying the hatch, their fates still up in the air.

Even with so many castaways sidelined, this is a fine start for a great series, yet it does raise red flags. After a season where he seemed to be outsmarted at every turn, it would be nice to see Jack win one again for the team. Yes, we want him to be a fully drawn human with flaws, but he's in danger of becoming all flaw and no hero.

What's more, while myth and fantasy are a large part of Lost's appeal, the writers have to be careful not to let the intricacies of the myth overwhelm the show. The don't-go-there template is not X-Files; it's Alias, a series that became so entranced by its puzzle and its villains that it let the main characters vanish behind them.

We're not headed down that road yet. But even the best shows have to be wary of what's ahead, and ready to step back.

When a show is this good, we can't afford to let it get lost.

[RegularKarate]

First Five minutes?  Total Twilight Zone... loving it....

[A Matter Of Chance]

This whole thing was great, so was the promo for next week's - "I WANT THAT BOAT!!!"

[modage]

yeah it was awesome.  the way Juliet kept talking to Jack i wanted him to punch her face in.  i dont care what they reveal about her character down the line, i'll hate her forever for this.  i think the episode would've been even more awesome had when she said she was coming in to feed him again he had done the exact same thing and tackled her again and tried to escape.  it would've shown that he's CRAZY DRIVEN like in the flashbacks.  oh well!