‘Lost’: Who are the Oceanic Six?

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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