Lost without LOST

This is about the time each week I'd be posting my recap of the prior night's episode of LOST. I'm feeling bereft. How in the heck are we supposed to wait NINE months for our fix? I may be forced to buy LOST: The Complete Seasons 1-3. It's $99 at Amazon. I have Amazon gift coupons that total $50... Hmmm--should I? While perusing some of the season one recaps at Lostpedia, I was surprised at how many moments I had no recollection of. I've seen every episode, but really didn't become rabidly hooked until last season. Perhaps brushing up on the series mythology might not be a bad idea...

I'm not the only fan who could stand to pay closer attention to what's happening on the show. Reading comments posted on Celebritology's Dueling Analyses, I was amazed at how many people watch the show, but don't actually WATCH the show. How else could you explain some of the inane theories and assumptions?

One of the common misconceptions was that Jin is alive. This may very well prove to be the case, after all the common wisdom in serial dramas is "No body, no proof." But the commenters made their assumption based on the fact that Jin appeared in a flashforward scene this season. Uh, no he didn't! Ji Yeon was cleverly written to appear that Jin had survived and was one of the Oceanic Six, but while Sun's scenes where she was giving birth to their baby were indeed flashforwards, Jin's scenes were all flashBACKS. There were numerous clues planted within--the reference to it being the year of the dragon (which occurred in 2000-1 and will occur again in 2012-12), the late model cellphone (OK--not a huge clue there...I had my cellphone for years before upgrading to a newer model...), the fact that Jin was employed by Mr. Paik, Sun's father (Do we really think he'd go through everything he went through on the island and then go back to work for that rat bastard?!!). But if that wasn't enough, his tossed off remark to the nurse about having children: "Don't rush me. I've only been married two months" was pretty conclusive. That and the fact poor Sun had to give birth alone. Do you think if Jin survived and made it back to civilization he wouldn't be around for the birth of his daughter?

One idiot went as far as to insist Jin had to be alive because there weren't any flashbacks this season, only flashforwards. Oh really? Confirmed Dead had flashbacks for each of the new freighter characters, The Constant had Desmond flashing back and forth through time, The Other Woman contained Juliet's flashbacks to her relationship with Goodwin prior to the crash of Oceanic 815, Meet Kevin Johnson featured flashbacks of what happened to Michael after he and Walt got off the island and Cabin Fever consisted of flashbacks of John Locke's premature birth, life in a foster home, troubled teenage years and physical therapy post-fall. No flashbacks this season? Do you even watch the show?

There are others who are completely convinced that Jin is history. I'm not saying he's alive, I'm not saying he's dead. We probably won't know for sure until NINE months from now! But those who hold out no hope are relying on fallacy involves that is the LOST curse: seemingly, when an actor involved with the show gets pulled over for a DUI, they are then axed from the show. While it would be a noble sort of morality undertaken by the producers to institute their own form of punishment for what is reckless and dangerous behavior, it's more likely that the DUIs aren't the CAUSE of the elimination from the cast, but more likely the RESULT of being cut. If the producers of the show are so adamantly against those involved in DUI that they would FIRE them, why would they have hired Michelle Rodriguez in the first place? She had multiple DUIs under her belt before she came to be one of the Tailies! That being said, it's not looking good for Daniel Dae Kim in either case...

The other twisted theory having little basis in fact is that Charlotte is actually Ben's long lost Annie. Okay--so let's shoot this one down:

Ben met Annie when he first moved to the island in the late 60s/early 70s. Charlotte was born in 1979.

Ben and Annie seemed to be about the same age. Charlotte is about two decades younger than Ben.

Juliet was told by Harper that she looked just like her (referring to Annie) and Juliet is blonde while Charlotte is a redhead. There are a lot of similar looking characters on LOST: Juliet and Penny and that chick that Sayid shoot in The Economist. But Charlotte and Juliet look nothing alike.

Also, when Ben meets up with this alleged long lost love of his, what does he do? He grabs a gun and shoots her! Hardly a romantic reunion. Another theory was that Charlotte is Ben's daughter with Annie. Maybe, but if she is his daughter it's obvious he's not aware of the fact (We like to think the duplicitous Benjamin Linus wouldn't commit filicide--although he didn't do much to prevent Alex's death...) and there's little that Ben isn't aware of. He knew Charlotte's full name, birthdate, the schools she attended...He has files on everybody!

So while that may clear up some confusion for some people, here's a list of things I'd like the writers to clear up for me before the show's conclusion:

1. What happened with flight attendant Cindy and the two kids that the Others kidnapped in Season One? We saw them again at the beginning of Season Three...Now that Locke's the new leader of the Others will we be seeing more of them in Season Five?

2. We will get more info on the Libby - Desmond - Hurley connection? Libby was in Santa Rosa Mental Hospital at the same time that Hurley was first institutionalized there (although he doesn't appear to remember her being there) and Libby is the one who sold the boat to Desmond. We got to see Cynthia Watros back as Libby haunting Michael briefly, but will we get more of those overlapping stories filled in?

3. Why did the Oceanic Six choose Boone, Libby and Charlie as the other three initial survivors of the crash? I'm pretty sure we'll get the reasoning behind that in Season Five...If we're lucky we might even get some Ian Somerhalder flashbacks or maybe he'll show up with Dominic Monaghan to haunt Hurley...

4. Explanation for this odd gap in the timeline: Rousseau shipwrecks on the island in 1988 and soon after gives birth to Alex who is kidnapped by the Others a week later. Ben raises Alex as his own daughter for the next 16 years--but the Purge which wiped out the Dharma Initiative and put Ben and the Others in charge of the island didn't occur until December 19, 1992. So what was up with Alex for those four years between 1988 and 1992?

5. Speaking of Rousseau, we never got much of her story. Sadly it looks like we never will...But her fellow castaways contracted some kind of sickness. Is this the same sickness as affected some of the (grossly underutilized!) freighter people like Fisher Stevens and Zoe Bell? The same sickness that Claire was inoculated against when the Others captured her? The same sickness that Aaron contracted briefly?

6. What's Widmore's connection with the island and what is his connection with Ben? Was he once an inhabitant?

7. What's the deal with the never-aging Richard Alpert?

8. What happened with Daniel Faraday and the last round of Losties in the Zodiac? And if he survived, what will happen to him now that Desmond, his constant, has been rescued?

9. Speaking of Desmond, he hasn't had any flashes since The Constant. What happened to his premonitions? Will they return in Season Five? Will Desmond return in Season Five? God, I hope so!

10. Charlie told Hurley in The Beginning of the End, "I'm dead, but I'm also here." Is that a reference to time travel? Is Charlie alive in another space-time continuum? Is that the explanation for Christian Shepherd and Claire and Mr. Eko's brother? My friend Peter is sure that the writers will come up with a logical explanation for their appearances. Like time traveling through wormholes in the space-time continuum is soooo much more logical than ghosts...

What questions would you like to see answered before the show wraps up in May 2010?