Ever since Lost debuted back in 2004, the networks have sprinkled their Fall seasons with any number of genre fair looking to bottle that same lightning. And, for the most part, none have come close to finding their Lost, X-Files or Twin Peaks. I think these shows that instantly capture the zeitgeist before paring down to a carefully cultivated cadre of fans who would follow the show down whatever dark rabbit hole it travels, are few and far between. It’s as if mankind hasn’t the mind strength to tackle these brain benders but once a decade.

So, knowing the end was coming and that the Fall schedule would likely be chock full of another round of also-rans (Threshold, V, FlashForward, Heroes, etc.), I had the sneaking suspicion that my last Lost post would be truly bittersweet. What the hell else was I going to write about, aside from my standard nonsensical ramblings about family and whatnot? Who wants to read that, anyway?

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Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now

Adventure gamers who thought their treasures were lost to the ether of time owe Telltale Games a heaping helping of praise. During the last six years or so, the developer has resurrected many beloved properties that vexed our membranes way back in the mid-1990s, with rock stars such as Guybrush Threepwood and, of course, Sam & Max, earning their own continuing series of adventures. As Telltale opens the curtain on Sam & Max’s latest adventure (Season 3 just kicked off this week with Episode 1: The Penal Zone), they’ve also packaged the entire second season, Beyond Time and Space, for release on the Wii, a platform that, because of its unique control scheme, seems to welcome these point-and-click adventures with a little more grace than the other console powerhouses.

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Is it just me or are these weeks flying by with reckless abandon?

Seriously, with the three-hour series finale looming on May 23, we’re only four episodes away from “The End.” And it seems like it’s only just begun.

I think a lot of this might have to do with the scheduling. For the first few seasons, “Lost” ran on Wednesdays. It made for a nice Hump Day spell. You looked forward to it all week, and when the hour was up, the weekend didn’t seem that far away. Then they moved the show to Thursdays and the wait between episodes seemed interminable.

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A lot to chew on this week. Let’s get Lost.

I mentioned last week that I had a sneaking suspicion Desmond was the “package” Widmore ordered, when he described it as a “who” and not a “what.” After all, Henry Ian Cusick has been listed prominently in the credits since the Season 6 opener, meaning the producers weren’t going to waste our intrepid time traveler on a blink-and-you-miss-it cameo conversation with Jack. So, it was just a matter of time before Dezzie popped up, and as soon as he arrived at the tail end of last week’s episode, I knew we were in for a satisfying hour. Desmond’s episodes are always in lock-step with Locke’s; they’re always heady with the mythological beats, and they always plumb the emotional depths that are so core to this tale.

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No fancy opening this week. We’re just gonna’ get Lost!

Well, that settles it. We’ve almost exhausted the sideways trips per character, with the exception of Hugo. In two weeks, we get an episode titled Everybody Loves Hugo at which point balance will be brought to the force and my guess is that the last 7 hours will be focused on the end game. Speaking of which, the title for the two-hour finale (airing on Sunday, May 23) has just been released. Fittingly, it’s called The End.

So, here we got a twofer, showing Jin and Sun in their LA adventure – an episode that once again served the needs of the story by moving chess pieces around while also sending us a bit backwards in the sideways tale to show us how Jin ended up on ice.

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It’s official. We’ve hit the halfway mark of an 18-hour season. And I can’t think of a better way to crest the hill than with the long-awaited Richard Alpert back story, Ab Aeterno, which not only fleshed out everything there is to know about this ageless stranger but also stands as easily one of the two or three best hours of this show. It was that good, and if the finale can come close to matching the emotional and mythological crescendos hit here, then we are in for a real treat.

Before moving into the meat of the show, I wanted to touch on one of my usual off-topic tangents. I was reading late last week that all signs point to this being the final season of 24. There is some chatter that it may move to NBC but I think that’s an outside chance – an audible that will only be called when NBC clears pilot season and sees how their deck is stacked for next year. The conventional wisdom seems to point to the show making the jump to the big screen.

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Well, this was unusual. I’m a Sawyer fan. And I’ve made it abundantly clear in these posts that when you strip away all the mystery, mythology and smoke monsters, what truly compels us to follow Lost is the intricate character dynamics. We love some of these people, and loathe others. And we’re dying to see how their lives turn out and how the various threads pull together – especially over the last few weeks.

So it’s a complete shocker to me that I found a Sawyer episode completely boring. Now, each season, I always look forward (with tongue firmly in cheek) to the requisite Kate episode – knowing we’ll chase our sour with the sweet. But Sawyer eps usually deliver – mainly because I love the character and it’s always fun to see his latest con. And while this episode helped to lay the framework of his newest (and most dire con), I can’t help but feel that the sideways stuff did nothing to develop the off-island storyline. It felt like filler and a time killer and with only 10 episodes left, that feels like the wrong play. That being said – next week we dive into the Richard Alpert mythos so I’m chalking this up as a slight speed bump.

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I think I know where these alternate timelines are going. At the beginning of the season, it was reasonable to assume that everything we saw on the island was part of the straight chronology – the timeline we’ve been following since the very beginning. So, Oceanic Flight 815 crashed on the island. The pilot was eaten. Hatches were cracked. Tailies were found. Tailies were killed. Secondary islands were discovered. Others became DHARMA became original Others. Shacks rocked. Donkey wheels were spun. Everything got groovy as we did the time warp back to the 70′s. Jughead blew his stack. Jacob lived. Jacob died. MiB Locke began assembling his army. Sawyer called someone tubby. All that happened in one constant timeline – no matter where the island happened to pinball to.

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Publisher: W!Games
Developer: W!Games
Genre: Turn-Based Strategy
Release Date: Available now

One of the retro perks of our newfangled Wi-Fi enabled world is the resurrection of the proverbial “family game night”. Once upon a time, we whiled away our evenings chasing down loot and struggling to build a Monopoly to the detriment of our beloved family members. And then, when TV and console games beckoned, it looked as if the traditional board game was destined to a purgatory of moth-balled closets and dirt mall swap meets. Well, the more things change, the more they stay the same – and as services such as the Xbox Live Arcade and PSN began to flourish, smaller developers realized that they could utilize the instant connectivity afforded by the Internet to breathe new life into faded board game archetypes. The question is, does Greed Corp. have what it takes to take its place on the crowding shelf of new online classics such as Catan and Carcassonne?

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Like another famous castaway, I write to you one-handed, having just had a wisdom tooth extracted with nary a coconut or sentient volleyball around to comfort me during my recovery. Halfway through what should have been a very routine extraction, the oral surgeon offered me the bravery prize. When they start cracking wise like that, you know things aren’t going 100% according to plan.

Anyway, I made it through without a tear shed, knowing I had a night of ice cream and “Lost” in my future. And as we hit Episode 6, just two episodes away from the hump, it feels like the pieces are falling into place. The game board seems set and Lindelof & Cuse have everything in place as we rush head-on towards the end of this rare event – a densely mythological, heavily serialized show that’s being allowed to lower the curtains on its own terms – at the best possible time.

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About a week ago, I found an article on EW.com in which Matthew Fox and Evangeline Lilly announced their post-“Lost” plans. That got me thinking: how about dreaming up some future career marks for some of my favorite “Lost” cast members?

Before hitting that proverbial wish list, I’ll cover Fox and Lilly.

According to Fox, he aims to ape David Caruso and turn his back on TV for good. After a successful run on “Party of Five,” followed by his arc on “Lost” (his character was originally written with Michael Keaton in mind), he wants to explore the Hollywood hills and make his mark in the movie biz. While I think that’s a decent plan – to trade on his goodwill from this show – I’m not sure Fox has exactly what it takes to be the strong leading man on the big screen. While I like the dude, there’s a dryness to him (think David Duchovny) that works better when establishing a long-running character. TV seems to fit him just right. Besides, we’re still basking in the Golden Age of television drama. I’d take “Friday Night Lights,” “The X-Files,” “Lost,” “Millennium,” “Battlestar Galactica” and countless other shows rather than most multiplex fare any day.

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Last week I made it abundantly clear that I am not a Kate fan. She just has a knack for dragging the story down. Sure, once upon a time I thought she was 8 miles of eye candy, but that stretch of road is way behind me. Give me the dearly departed Juliet any day of the week. This week we got a heady dose of mythology-expanding goodness. With that said, we have a lot to chew on, so let’s dive right in.

The perfect salve for a Kate episode is a Locke chaser. It seems like the writers know well my disdain for Freckles and her so-called life, so they always make things right with my world, season after season. And often the Locke episodes don’t disappoint. In fact, they are usually heavy on the mythological sweep that hooked us in the first place. And last night was no exception – with some big answers provided – assuming we are to believe the guy revealing them, which might be a pretty tall order.

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Previously on Lost…

Don’t panic. This happens every year.

I’ll get into it in detail below, but after last week’s slam-bang premiere, which kicked off the season in style and simultaneously left our minds stirred, shaken and blown – we were bound to get that patented Lost letdown where the writers stop for a spell to get everyone’s bearings straight. It’s akin to setting the chess board – they need a little bit of exposition to get the characters pointed in the right direction – especially considering this is the final lead-up to the end game.

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Previously on Lost…

The beginning of the end.

That’s what ABC’s crack team of sales weasels have been billing last night’s season premiere. And based on what we’ve seen, they may be right – or they could be way off. After all, there seemed to be ample evidence to support that we may just be watching the End of the Beginning. After all, our intrepid brand of heroes eventually made their way to their original destination, LAX, as spoiled completely by the Title Card.

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Previously on Lost…

Season 4

Time after Time – Episode 4.5 The Constant

What elevates a show like Lost is the character development. Sure, what draws me in is the mystery, but over time we have truly grown to love and loathe these characters. They’re indelible. Love ‘em or leave ‘em, we’ll never forget ‘em.

And that’s the beauty of the show – as crazy as things get, we are always grounded by our ragged group of Everymen (and women) who are confronted with the surreal and supernatural. It’s the same core tenet that Stephen King has found such sweeping success with – take normal people and throw them against the abnormal. As long as the characters are written and performed well, the viewer can accept anything.

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