Lost: The Halfway Point

It came just in time.

That's how I, and, I think, a lot of other loyal Lost fans felt about "Ab Aeterno," the ninth episode of Lost's final season. Being the ninth hour of the 18 hour-long season, the episode also served as a landmark of sorts, a suitable hook to keep us interested and (yet again) an inherent promise of more answers to come.

That such a hook was needed is nearly unquestionable. For all but the most blindly loyal Lost fans, this season has been, well, not really disappointing, but perhaps underwhelming, at the very least not what ABC has been cracking it up to be. The flashsideways have been met with mixed reviews, the acting retains some of its season six hamminess and, while the plot has moved forward, it has done so in ways that are perhaps too subtle for the stakes. That isn't to say there haven't been a good many bright spots this year (more on those later), but the excitement factor was certainly low for a show promising us high octane thrills and cerebral revelations.

And, speaking of that, it was beginning to look like those revelations would never come. For a season supposedly chock full of answers, the only real reveal we had received was that unLocke is the smoke monster, and we figured that out in the first episode of the year. I believe I shared the emotions of many a fan when I began to wonder if the writers were going to hold on us.

Then came "Ab Aeterno," the most dramatically and mythologically satisfying episode of the season (and, on the mythological side, of the entire show). Nestor Carbonell's Richard is terrific, and boom, boom, boom, we clear up the mystery of Alpert, the Black Rock, what the smoke monster really is, the broken statue and even the purpose of the island itself.

The most encouraging thing about the episode was that it didn't feel contrived. With so much to answer in so little time, the writers could easily have defaulted into expository mode, clearing up vast swaths of myth with dense explanations by those in the know. Instead, they took the time to provide one of the series' better crafted narratives, allowing you to really feel for Richard while at the same time thinking, "Oh, so that's how it happened!"

And, complaints aside and "Ab Aeterno's" top dog status notwithstanding, there have been other good moments this year. "Lighthouse" and "Dr. Linus" both provided viewers with poignant flashsideways (with "Lighthouse's" Jack-centric arc hinting that things in the flashsideways may not be as they seem) and serviceable-to-good on-island drama. Probably the best constant plot point of the year is the candidate mystery, which has turned out to be one of the show's better driving forces.

But, of course, there have been flat moments as well, like the predictably boring "What Kate Does" and the fact that when the show should have been at its most expansive, half of the cast was trapped in a temple courtyard for about five episodes (season three cages, anyone?).

Regardless of all of that, "Ab Aeterno" left me energized and hopeful for the remainder of the season. Therefore, I'll leave you with a couple of roundups, one summarizing the season up to this point and one looking forward to what we should hope for/expect in upcoming episodes.

Season Six Pros And Cons (so far):

Pros:
Juliet is dead.
The flashsideways do not appear to be a useless element of the show.
The candidate mystery is going strong.
We are getting some answers.
Jack is heading down a great arc towards redemption.
Hurley's power is more clearly manifesting itself.
Jacob has been at work.

Cons:
Kate is alive (sorry, I had to). Also, many of the most beloved characters have died by now.
The flashsideways, while of interest at times, are not as satisfying of a narrative device as the flashbacks or flashforwards.
The acting is still a bit hammy
Are we getting enough answers?
NO DESMOND (this one is the worst).

What To Look For In The Final Nine Hours:

As I said previously, "Ab Aeterno" represents a reiteration of the age old Lost adage: We are going to explain this to you. Presumably, this episode should signal a shift into answer mode - probably not in the barrage we were presented with last week, but in a steady stream in which the juiciest bits are saved for last.

Lost is notorious for attempting to trick its viewers into believing that more questions have been answered than actually were, so don't view the latest episode as a be all and end all to your Lost queries. As a guide, take a look at this article that I wrote at the beginning of the season about Lost mysteries that still need to be cleared up.

In it, you'll find some encouraging news. We can essentially cross Richard and the Black Rock off the list entirely. We're also making a dent in the "overall mythology" category, although additional information about who/what Jacob is as well as all of the Egyptian imagery still needs to be addressed. I also think that Richard's origin story more or less served as a de facto explanation of the Others' origin, but more work is required there too. Same thing with the numbers.

On the other hand, the five other categories (What's going on with Christian, Aaron, Walt, the flashsideways, and the Dharma Initiative) remain virtually undiscussed. All three of the aforementioned characters have been conspicuously absent, with Walt not even warranting passing reference. The flashsideways will presumably not be addressed til the very end of the show, so that's OK, I suppose. But the Dharma Initiative... oh boy. That's something else altogether.

The way the writers have handled the DI is quite possibly my least favorite treatment of a Lost mystery. We know almost nothing about them beyond the fact that one offshoot of the team was looking into time travel. Everything else remains a mystery, and it's one that the writers do not seem ready to address. No word on how they found the island, no word on what their other studies were, no word on their continued interest in the island (remember the food drops?), and, most importantly to me, still no word on the Initiative's implied ulterior motives. Will any of this be addressed? I'm really not sure.

Nevertheless, the coming episodes promise to be interesting. First of all there's the expectation. While the hook of mysteries solved is obviously a huge reason to keep watching, we are now getting ready to see events really come to a head. Widmore and unLocke are preparing for a showdown, and a confrontation with Ilana can't be too far behind. The fates of both Sayid and Claire are in question too, and, perhaps most enticingly, Lost fans have begun to get that creeping sensation that character death is near.

Think about that for a second. The writers have held off for a long time. Not only has a main character not been offed yet, but, with the exception of Juliet, not even any significant minor characters have been killed (and Juliet was practically dead before the season even began). While season one had to wait for introductions before the killing could begin and season four waited until the end of the season to unleash its havoc (though from episodes nine through 14, we saw the demise of Carl, Danielle, Alex, Keamy and *sniff* Michael), the other three seasons drew blood very early, with Shannon getting shot in episode six of season two, Eko getting beaten to death by Smokey in episode five of season three and Charlotte dying of what seems to be a time-travel-triggered brain aneurysm in episode five of season five. We are now halfway done with this season, and none of the main characters have thrown off the mortal coil. One of them is bound to do it soon (my money is on Richard or Sayid).

The other reason to look forward to the final episodes is the casting. Please be aware: I promise I won't reveal any plot spoilers (I don't know any myself), but if you don't want to know about past characters who will be appearing in upcoming episodes in some fashion, skip the next four paragraphs.

While we've seen a few familiar old faces in the flashsideways (most notably Charlie, Arzt and Charlotte, but also Ethan, Helen, Liam and others), casting announcements are telling us that the majority of appearances are yet to come. Charlie is slated to appear in more episodes, as is Boone, and there are several other deceased characters who will be making an appearance, including Shannon, Anna Lucia, Libby, Michael and, best of all, Daniel.

Also, different press releases have revealed which characters will get their own centric episodes in coming weeks. This week it will be Sun and Jin, two weeks from now it will be Hurley, and in between those will be (squee!) Desmond! With these announcements (and the announcement that the third to last episode will feature Jacob and the Man in Black) we can be sure that things are going to get pretty interesting.

We can also start speculating about the five remaining hours not currently aligned with a character. If Lost's past season finales are any indication, the last two hours are probably not going to be character centric, leaving us with the episode right before the finale and the episodes two and three weeks before that. Who these episodes focus on is important. It seems likely that at least one of the characters (likely Jack) will have more than one centric episode, but there are still four main characters (Ilana, Frank, Miles and Claire) who haven't gotten their own episodes this year. My money is on Frank and Ilana getting at least a sizable chunk of an episode each (particually Ilana, whose backstory is begging for an explanation). The other episode will then be a repeat.

However, I could be very wrong. Even if a character like Jack ends up getting the episode before the finale, it seems weird that two of the show's least iconic characters would take up episodes so close to the end. However, they must be choosing their episode emphases carefully these days, as the central character will determine much of that hour's story.

Whatever the remaining disappointments, dramatic reveals, casting questions and mystery hopes, it's clear that the show isn't out of the woods yet (nor should it be). But then again, do we really want it to be at this point? One element of the Lost experience that has become more fascinating over the years is the high level of risk with which the viewers invest themselves in the show. Think of it this way: by the end of the show, Lost will be the equivalent of 121 episodes long. If you watched every episode on TV once, you would be watching for four days and 21 hours. Assuming you slept and did nothing else, it would take you a whole week to finish.

And that's just one time through. If you are among the hardest of hardcores who watched the show from the beginning and then watched each season again on DVD before the next one came out, you're dealing with totals ranging in the area of 355.5 hours (14.8 whole days, or 22.2 waking days!). And that's without watching favorite episodes over again or rewatching the last week's episode before the new installment. The point of all this is that even for a newcomer like myself (seasons one through five twice over, with part of season five on TV, plus season six online), this is a significant investment of time. While shows that aren't inherently mysterious may end unsatisfactorily, you can still enjoy the ride. While Lost has been mostly great over its run, you're essentially betting the farm on the end of the show because that's what provides the show with meaning. It's kind of exciting not knowing how your gamble is going to turn out.

Then again, wouldn't it just suck if it ends poorly?