Are you ready? ARE YOU READY?!?!?! Ten Things to Do to Prepare for the Lost Premiere

Hello my dear friends -

It has finally hit me.

Lost is back. LOST IS BACK!!!!

Its return is only 3.25 days away as I write this... Good God, I need to prepare. And it is my duty to prepare you all as well.

So here's what you must do before the premiere this Thursday at 8 PM EST (for those of us in the U.S.):

1) Re-watch the Season Three finale. ABC is playing this two-hour episode again on Wednesday night at 9 PM EST (so as to not overlap with American Idol). However, in the bottom third of the screen there will supposedly be random information about the episode, the cast members and the production of the show--kind of like Pop-Up Video back in the day on VH1. I just watched the finale again two weekends ago with Miss M, who commented afterward, "I wouldn't have remembered 90% of that." It's been eight months, people! Refresh your memories! I will indeed watch it a fourth time this Wednesday because I'm so curious about this "enhanced version," as ABC is calling it. If you don't want to watch it with all that crap at the bottom or can't catch the finale airing on Wednesday, you can also see it online here on ABC.com (they have several HD streaming episodes online for free right now, by the way).

2) Re-read my original Season Three finale write-up, and my Things I Noticed Upon Second Viewing post. Remember the nerds who blew up the newspaper clipping that The Mad Doctor was reading in the finale? Yeah, I didn't think you did. There are things in my posts that were impossible to catch by simply watching the show on TV like a normal person, so make sure that you have fully reengaged yourself before the premiere.

3) Get yourself hyped up by watching the trailer for "The Beginning of the End" (S4Ep1's title). Yeah, there are minor spoilers, but it's worth it.

I'm seriously tearing up... oh, Locke--I will come with you! I will stay on the Island! (Oh, right. I'm not on the Island. I'm sitting here in my condo under ten layers of clothing, in a place that's much colder and more boring than the Island. Details.)

4) Watch the Orchid Station video that was shown at the Comic-Con convention this past summer. It's not a spoiler--in fact, I think it contains some pretty critical clues as to what in the heck is happening on the Island:



5) Now read the analysis of that video.


I think that's all a completely sane fan of the show would need to do to prepare for the premiere. However, if you are like me and need to take your fandom to the next level, here are a few more things for you:

6) Read this article in USA Today... click on the pictures at the top of the page to refresh your memory about where each character stands. There are no spoilers in that feature; I have clicked through all of the profiles. The article that is slightly lower on that same page does have one minor spoiler near the end, so if you really don't want to know anything, don't read it. It was something I already knew.

7) Check out some, if not all, of the "Missing Pieces" videos on ABC.com. These are never-before-seen short clips that, in some cases, add depth to the story line. Three of them stood out to me: 1) "King of the Castle" is especially interesting, and confirms my belief that it could be Benry in the casket in "Through the Looking Glass" (S3 finale). 2) "Room 23" reveals that the Others did indeed have Waaaaaaalt in the techno-rave-Clockwork-Orange room, and that he has freaky powers. 3) "The Envelope" makes me really wonder what is in, uh, the envelope.

8) Try to play the Find815.com game. Or, cheat, and read what it took everyone playing the game a really long time to figure out (that's the route I chose). Damn, that game is intense!

9) Check out the crazy map of all locations related to Lost. The guy that did that (apparently his name is "Dudu") is my freaking hero.

10) Be extra nerdy and write in the Lost font!

(Shout-out to FC for providing me with the map and font links)


And finally, let me remind you all once again to be vigilant about staying away from most articles and web sites that cover the show. There are spoilers everywhere, and I unfortunately already learned some things that I would've rather had be a surprise. I was even reading about the freaking video game and there was a slight spoiler in that article?!? So, you can never be too careful. We've only got eight episodes to enjoy, and as you know, I learned the hard way in Season Two that it really sucks when you know what's going to happen beforehand.

Remember that the first hour of the premiere is a recap of all three seasons, and that the premiere also lasts a few minutes longer than 10 PM EST, so set your Tivos/VCRs accordingly.

Now, on to the most important thing--when can you expect my first write-up of Season Four? Hmmm, that's a good question. Now that I'm a full-time writer, you might think that I could get my humongous posts done a bit earlier than I did in years past. However, all the free time in the world wouldn't change the fact that some of the things I depend on for my posts (transcripts, analysis of screencaps, message board posts) don't hit the web immediately... and it still takes me 12-14 hours to do one write-up... and I still need to do things like eat, sleep, walk my dog and go to the gym and whatnot. So I can't make any promises except to vow that, as in the past, my write-ups will always definitely be done the morning before a new episode airs... meaning Wednesday mornings for the next seven or eight weeks (not sure what I'll do about the last episode before the effects of the strike kick in). However, if you want to know exactly when I post, you can pull in my RSS feed or sign up for emailed posts in the column to the right, and that way you will be notified when a new message goes up.

With that, I'll leave you for now. I'll probably write a mini-message on Thursday morning... but otherwise, I'll see you back here after the premiere...

It feels good to be "officially" back! As the ad says below, the wait is over.

- e