LOST Returns! (there will be spoilers)

The biggest event in television history happened last night and because I believe everything I hear on television, I thought that there would be a two hour season premiere.

So I decided to have a premiere party; a few close friends, some Doritos, Dharma Initiative beer (which turned out to be Taproom 21, Red Stripe and Bud Light, of all things), and a lot of excitement as we gathered around the television hoping at least ONE thing from last season would be answered.

ABC lied. There was no 2 hour season premiere. The first hour was a recap of the last 3 seasons. If you're a real fan, you've been watching. If you're not, it will be awfully hard to catch up. And did anyone else see the Pop Up Video last season finale they played on Wednesday? What did you think of that? The consensus around the telly last night was that it was annoying.

So, once we got over the disappointment of losing an hour of our finale, we got back to excited that it was finally on! We see an interstate police chase. When the police chase the car down, out jumps Hurley. The police tell him to get on the ground. He tries to outrun them. He doesn't make it. We find out only 6 returned. The police question Hurley back at the station, he sees water crashing through the viewing glass, with Charlie trying to swim in, "They Need You" written on his hand. The officer who tried questioning him says he could put him in the mental institute and Hurley hugs the angry cop (who was Anna Lucia's partner once) as we flash back to the Island, where everyone finds out Charlie died, Hurley sees Jacob's house - and possibly Jacob - meets up with Locke, who gets the cold shoulder from everyone but Hurley. Jack and company finally meet up with Sayid and company and Locke. Jack tries to shoot Locke in the head, but Locke apparently carries a gun with no bullets.

Now we flash forward again (or is the island now the flashback of the current, present story?) to Hurley in the mental institute, a creepy black guy (Lance Reddick) is trying to get him to a "better place", but Hurley gets suspicious. Before the guy leaves, he asks, "Are the others alive?" Hurley jumps up and runs away, screaming that the guy is bothering him. Creepy black guy sneaks off as if he was never there.

Hurley sees dead Charlie, who tells him that he's trying to avoid his responsibility, but Hurley makes him go away. Back on the island, Hurley chooses to follow Locke, trusting Charlie's warning, along with Claire and the baby, Sawyer, Rousseau, Alex, Karl, and Ben. Everyone else stays with Jack, although Kate worries that Sawyer doesn't. Jack and Kate go back to the plane to meet the person coming to save them.

Flash forward to the future, Hurley is shooting hoops, not missing and Jack shows up. Although he claims to want to know how he's doing, he's really there to see if Hurley "told". Hurley says he didn't, but he thinks the Island wants them to go back. He also apologizes for going with Locke, saying he should have stayed with Jack.

Now, I didn't tell the sequence of events the way they happened, just how I remembered them, mainly to bring up some interesting points. Now, I haven't gone to all of those LOST sites that popped up when the series began in a long time (although I did get a "happy birthday" email from The Fuselage), but I have not lost that sense of trying to figure out what the hell is going on. While last night's premiere felt more like a commercial for the show and brought up more questions and no answers, we still sat around trying to figure things out like:

1. Who are the 6 that returned? We know that Kate, Jack and Hurley are back, we presume Claire is (and would they count baby Aaron as one as well?) because of Desmond's prediction, but who else? And if only 6, what happened to the others AND the Others? Are they all now just the Others?

2. What is Hurley supposed to do? How did Hurley, who went with Locke, end up rescued when they were going to hunker down at Camp Others? Why is dead Charlie trying to get him to go back? Who is creepy black dude?

3. If Hurley is sorry he went with Locke, what in the hell happened when those people came down. At the end of last year's finale, Jack says they never should have left the Island. Yet something terrible must have happened to the people who wanted to stay if Hurley is sorry he went with Locke. Which one is it for frak's sake?

4. If the people who found them weren't searching for them and wasn't Penny, why are they there?

5. What exactly happened with Locke? Will he be the next Ben?

6. Who is Jacob and why is he also in Hurley's imagination? (I have to admit, I jumped when the eye popped up in front of the hole Hurley was looking through and then again when he ran for the hills only to find himself back at that spooky cabin.)

We all sat in silence staring at the screen as the word LOST flew towards us, knowing that's how we all felt: Lost. We didn't learn anything more - yes, it was nice watching the characters and getting excited about the story and seeing Jack almost shoot Locke in the head - but this did us no good because we have to come back next week and pick up on a story that is only 8 episodes long at the present time and as chock full of information as the previous 3 seasons have been.

I am glad they have an ending date. The storytelling this season, while lacking information, was crisp and didn't drag even as they withheld infomation. Season 3 had many more episodes that dragged as the show tried to work out what it's future would be. Once they knew that there were only 48 episodes left (three short seasons of 18 episodes that play back to back with no breaks) ,they were able to put the story in perspective and now, the writing for the premiere makes me think they are back on track.

If you haven't gotten into Lost, I recommend you record the current season and just do marathon sessions of the first 3 seasons. I think it would be worth your time to do so.