Tonight is “the beginning of the end” for ABC’s LOST. The brainchild of JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof kicks off its final season at 8 p.m. eastern with a one-hour recap show followed by the two-hour season six premiere.

Similar to last year’s model, I will cover any new information, tidbits, revelations and, well, everything LOST I can find either online or through comments made by series producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse after every episode. I will do my best to avoid any series spoilers (I do my best to avoid them for myself as well) and only offer insight that analyzes and explains in better detail what new questions or answers (and there will be many this season) the viewers will come across in the final season.

Now onto the Season Six premiere and what we can expect in the final season of LOST.

Knowing the answers to every question probably covers most of what everyone wants to know about LOST. Both Lindelof and Cuse have confirmed that several major series questions will be answered this season. However, viewers should be made aware that there are several more that won’t. Both producers have stated that while it is in their every intention to satisfy the entire audience, the questions pretty much fall into one of three categories:

a. Major to the story and will be revealed.
b. Open for interpretation.
c. Not major to the story, but apparently important to the audience and won’t be answered.

That list sounds a bit more bold than the producers put it, but the point still stands: there are questions that matter and questions that do not. The truth is: Lost has been analyzed, critiqued and broken down beyond the casual fan’s understanding. There are, simply put, things that do not matter though the audience believes they do. I won’t go into what those questions are because a lot of it dwells into areas that would take far too long to explain and, besides Cuse and Lindelof, no one really knows how much will be answered.

Eleven of the eighteen episodes expected for the final season have already been produced (the others are being produced right now) and you would think that at that point the actors would even know what’s going on, but we can’t say for certain how accurate that is. With the exception of Matthew Fox (Jack Shepard), who’s been given a special access pass to the last scene of the series in preparation for his character’s development in the final season, the producers appear to be the only ones with clear knowledge of how the series will come to an end.

My fear, and I’m sure many others share the same sentiment, is that LOST will have a ho-hum series finale. A Finale that sort of just ties up some loose ends here and there because the bigger mystery had already been resolved in the episode before. That doesn’t seem to be the case as actors on the series have expressed confusion even this deep into the production process. That could be both good and bad for the audience, but my thinking is true LOST fans will appreciate knowing that even at eleven episodes, no one will truly know what the heck is actually going on. That gives me hopes for a finale that will be even more epic that this series premiere.

The newest Final Season promo released Sunday night on ABC hints at questions being answered. For those that prefer not to know what’s going to happen, I’ll avoid spilling the beans on what we see, but that won’t stop me from telling you what John Locke says (I promise it won’t spoil anything for you).

When speaking to a particular Lostie (I’ll keep the name to myself in case this ruins any thoughts you might have about last season’s cliffhanger), John Locke states the following: “What if I told you I could answer the most important question in the world?”

Do you feel it? It’s almost like he’s talking to us, the viewer. Lostie replies: “And what question is that?”

Hey, you want to know as much as this Lostie does, right? What is the most important question in the world? It’s simple really and gave me goose bumps just listening to it. Locke takes a beat, looks off to the side, and takes a deep breath (ok, he doesn’t really do all that, but we need some dramatic prose here), and says:

“Why are you on this island?”

I think this is the point where someone chimes in with /endthread or some sort of internet lingo that pretty much, to all intents and purposes, deems the entire discussion over. The end game as JJ Abrams so famously put it time and time again on his previous series Alias.

It’s the question we’ve all been wanting to know since 48 passengers crash landed safely on this mysterious Island. Why are they there? Did someone choose them (see: Jacob’s List)? Did someone orchestrate their arrival (again, see: Jacob meeting with Losties over the course of their lives prior to 2004)?

It all comes down to Jacob, the man or being that somehow is the leader of the Island. No one knows who he really is except for maybe the ageless Richard Alpert (that’s a mystery the producers confirmed will be answered), the Man in Black (is this the smoke monster? Is he John Locke? More questions that the producers confirmed will be answered) and the Ajira Flight 316 passengers known mostly for their code phrase: What Lies In The Shadow of the Statue?

Whoever Jacob is it’s going to take some interesting storytelling to find out as one of the two major cliff hangers to end season five showed Benjamin Linus stabbing him and “John Locke” pushing him into flames. We can safely assume that the Man in Black succeeded in killing his nemesis, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in watching Lost over the past few years it’s that no one is dead until you actually see them die. Even Paulo and Nikki were still alive when they were buried underground.

The final season is expected to showcase the return of many old names to the series. As I’ve said before, I won’t reveal names as to ruin who you might see, but just assume you’ll see some names you never thought could pop up again. Despite this interesting revelation, there are names that won’t make an appearance. One cast member that became a popular fixture in season five won’t be returning, though the producers refuse to acknowledge who that might be. Also, because everyone always asks, the producers have stated several times that they will not negotiate a return of Cynthia Watros (Libby Smith). “…We don’t really consider, honestly, Libby’s story is incredibly tangential to the principle action on the show,” said Damon Lindelof.

So while there are thousands of questions fans hope will be answered, diagnosed and explained with extreme detail, the reality is: they won’t. Instead, Lindelof and Cuse will focus on what they feel tells the central plot of the story and leave the rest to the audience to decide.

Despite this news, there’s no doubt that the final season of LOST will be amazing. To the fans that have sat and watched since the opening scene on Jack’s eye to the white flash blast across the screen: Enjoy the ride and the final season. May all of your questions be answered in the time allotted for the show.

4815162342