'Lost': Who are the Oceanic Six?

Let the theorizing begin!

Actually, anyone expecting major revelations along the lines of "What's in the hatch?" were probably disappointed by "Lost's" fourth season premiere. Titled "The Beginning of the End," the episode didn't establish any new directions for our favorite castaways that weren't already introduced last season.

Instead, we got a bit of a breather, which gave the characters time to deal emotionally with the events of last season's finale. Hurley gave a nice speech memorializing his pal Charlie (Dominic Monaghan). In a show that has myriad dangling plot threads, dozens of major characters and just 48 episodes left to bring it all to a satisfying conclusion, you have to admire the fact that they took this hour to commemorate a dead character. It was a nice character moment and it seemed to have a lot of feeling. One thing "Lost" has never been afraid of is reaching for the big emotions. It may be safer to appeal to the mind, but sometimes the heart needs to be fed too.

Not that Charlie is completely gone, mind you. 

The flash-forward we saw last May appears to be a trend, as this episode featured Hurley in his post-island life back in a mental ward. And just as he once saw visions of his imaginary friend Daniel, poor Hurley is now seeing Charlie. But this time Charlie appears to be working as an advocate of sorts for the island, almost begging Hurley to return.

We should also take a moment to puzzle over the appearance of guest star Lance Reddick, formerly of HBO's "The Wire." Though he presented himself to Hurley as an attorney for Oceanic Airlines, I don't think I'm going out on a limb to say that there seems to be more going on with him than meets the eye. I'm sure we'll see more of him, though with that piercing stare and creepy, knowing half-smile, I'm not sure I want to. His appearance, combined with Jacob's scary shack in the jungle, makes me wonder if "Lost" is leaving the sci-fi behind in favor of out-and-out horror.

The episode's biggest unanswered question, of course, is who are the rest of the Oceanic Six? We know Jack, Kate and Hurley got off the island, but who are the other three? The person in the coffin, no doubt. But what about Michael and Walt? If you're a credit reader, you'll notice that Harold Perrineau, who plays Michael, is back in the opening credits. Though he didn't make an appearance in this episode, my money says he's on that freighter with the rest of the so-called rescuers.

It appears we'll find out for sure next week, when we'll finally get to meet these freighter people. The "Lost" community needs to hurry up and come up with a shorthand name for them, similar to The Others or The Tailies. How about the Freighter Fakers? The Not Penny's Boaters? I'm open to suggestions.

And I would be remiss if I didn't call attention to one of the worst ideas ABC has ever attempted with its real-time pop-up commentary that ran with the rerun of last May's season finale on Wednesday night. Across the bottom of the screen, a constant stream of text, mostly describing the action above it, served to distract and at times infuriate viewers. What were they hoping to accomplish with that? I only made it through 10 minutes before I went screaming for the DVD. Maybe it's a tactic in the ongoing writers strike? If their goal is to make reruns completely unpalatable to watch, they may have found the magic touch.

-- Patrick Day

(Photo courtesy ABC)

Comments

[Sheldon Wiebe]

I think you're not quite right about this being a place holder to let the Losties deal with big emotions.

Lots of new directions opened up. Matthew Abbaddon's name for example - Matthew means favored of God, while Abbaddon, is an angel of the abyss [interesting, no?, and who is he, really?]

Then there are several other big new questions, like: what the heck was Christian Shepherd doing in Jacob's rocking chair? Why can't the Oceanic 6 tell the truth about their time on the island? Why does Hugo/Hurley now regret siding with Locke? [And if he stayed with Locke's Losties, how did he get back to L.A.?] What's up with hallucinatory/vision Charlie?

It seems to me like lots of new directions have been started in the season premiere. But maybe that's just me.

[sal]

The popups are a test for when the program goes into syndication and reruns. The popups are intended to help the casual viewer follow along. I don't think the popups or syndication will succeed. Casual viewers are not likely to put in the energy to follow the complex plot.

[David Markland]

I'm pretty sure Hurley's imaginary friend was Dave, not Daniel.

But yes - the pop up text was annoying, but mostly because they hyped that it was going to be full of clues and trivia and it was merely pointing out what Lost viewers who've kept up already know.

[Kate]

Lance Reddick is currently of The Wire, not formerly.

[emily]

I disagree about the popups. I am a big fan, have watched since season 1, and I found the Wednesday night rerun with the popups amusing and helpful. I didn't really want to watch the Through the Looking Glass (season 3 finale) over again front to back, but I needed the refresher... the popups made it easier to multitask, working on the laptop while halfway watching the finale. And some of the commentary was funny. Some of it was stupid, sure, but as long as that stupidity doesn't make it into actual dialogue or plot, I'm fine.

[shinki]

As someone who stopped watching Lost due to the insane level of pseudo-hidden maybe hints, I can't imagine watching it again without the text at the bottom for reintroduction. I can appreciate that it was annoying to people who enjoy coming up with their own ideas about the hints/not hints ("sometimes a cigar is just a cigar"), but for someone who thought he might give Lost another chance, the subtitles were essential.

[John Bard]

I'm hoping that Charlie is still alive! We never saw him "die" conclusively - he could have swum out of the porthole and made it to the surface. So maybe Hurley's hallucination is actually real?...

[Colin Campbell]

"The episode's biggest unanswered question, of course, is who are the rest of the Oceanic Six? We know Jack, Kate and Hurley got off the island, but who are the other three? The person in the coffin, no doubt. "

Patrick -- the Oceanic Six are CELEBRITIES! Was the "funeral" Jack attended a funeral for a celebrity? No!!! If that WAS an "Oceanic Six" member in the coffin, it would be as well attended as, say, the funeral for Baby Jessica, or Amy Fisher... someone who had been in the headlines (and was stopped for autographs) would not, so quickly, be completely unmourned and forgotten.

[Patrick Day]

David: You are correct. Hurley's unseen friend is indeed named Dave.

Kate: You are correct. Episodes of "The Wire's" final season are still airing, although they've long since finished filming them. I think I was being too smarty-pants for my own good.

Colin: I'm not so sure you are correct. The death was notable enough to make the L.A. Times, so there was obviously something noteworthy about it. But still no one showed up.

[tvTheories]

Lost on tvTheories has five of the six as Hurley, Jack, Kate, Jin and Sun. Got an anonymous little birdie leak from someone. Who could the last one be?

shinki - no way Charlie is still alive. I'm surprised he stayed on past season 2.

[AA]

I think the sixth person is Clare's baby . . . Kate is obviously not in jail for killing her father. Did she asume someone's identity to get off the island scott free? It would explain who she was going home to during the ff conversation with Jack.

[JoJo]

My money's on Ben for the coffin. But also, Desmond's vision was of Claire and Aaron being rescued, so...?

[John]

I agree that the person in the coffin is not one of the six. A small obit in the LA times means nothing. Look at the media. Even an old has-been like Buttafuco (spelling?) makes the news when he does something dumb. Can you imagine NO ONE going to his viewing? And no funeral? Doubt it.

Also, the guy who interrogates Hurley never asked Hurley if he met Anna Lucia on the Island. He mentioned the airport and on the plane. Seems part of the "secret" is that the island is not to be mentioned. "secret" being whatever it is that Hurley was not supposed to "tell" about.

[Peter]

I do not watch network shows as a rule. The adverts are just too annoying and too long. However Lost is a gem. It's the kind of show I wish HBO had replaced Deadwood with rather than Boring from Cincinnati and endless going to the therapist shows.
I've watched all seasons of Lost online, without adverts and was surprised how well it worked on ABC.
As for needing to know what the hatch is or who are the rescuers, I really don't care. Why Hugo is still FAT is far more interesting. The real story arc is watching the struggle of hero types in Lock and Jack. And the Sawyer-Jack rivalry and why are these 2 men so darn stupid at telling Kate how they feel? Flying an airline called Oceanic invites trouble so why did they not fly AA or Quantas? There's more to Lost than those I mentioned, too many to mention.
As for Charlie I was so pleased when he died. The actor irritated me with his British cod acting. The weakest link. When he died I cheered. I hoped in Season 2 he'd die from an overdose sadly he did not.
Great show and network TV at its very best. HBO should dump their writers and go head hunting.