It's difficult for me to try and discuss Lost.  Just the mere though of Lost still being months away from premiering makes me curl up into the fetal position.  It's sickening.  I want Lost.  I need Lost.  This being the case, I've found that the best route to go is to ignore the show altogether.  Pretend like it doesn't exist.  If I can do that, then everything is OK.  However, this is difficult to do when Lost news begins to arrive, especially when said news is about the direction the writers are taking with season four.  Today, I read this quote from Damon Lindelof discussing the flash forwards and flash backs they'll use for season 4: “Every week will hopefully be a guessing game as to not just who will be focused on, but when we're focusing on them.” 

Lost's season 3 finale was an incredible piece of television made only stronger by the reveal that what appeared to be a flash back was actually a flash forward.  Now that these flash forwards will be integrated into season 4, though not exclusively, Lost's writers have a big, shiny new toy to play with.  That audiences won't be clued in on whether or not the action away from the island is a flash back or flash forward is clearly a great storytelling mechanism, but I didn't think the writers would go about it like that.  I just assumed that the mystery of the “when” was a one time only season finale deal because it was such a meticulous and perfect misdirection.  How could they keep it up over a full season? 

Apparently, they'll try.  We have to assume that in some episodes the audience will know early on whether we're going into the past or into the future.  To keep every one of the flash backs/flash forwards a mystery of “when” is going to sacrifice the storytelling and give the writers too narrow a window to distribute the necessary plot points.  A lot of thought had to go into concealing the time period in last year's finale, and it will be near impossible to keep up on a week-to-week basis.  However, if they can pull off a few episodes in which the audience has no idea when a story is happening, it's just another weapon in the already stocked arsenal of the Lost writers. 

Man, season 4 cannot come soon enough.


-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
Source: IGN
(Image Courtesy of ABC)