Lost Discussion Group: He's Baaaaaack!

I'm excited for Michael to come back, because I do think it will be interesting to see how the ramifications of his actions play out (assuming he comes back in the island-present, and not just in some kind of flash-whatever) -- however, I'm *more* excited to see Walt come back, because clearly he's more integral to the mythology of the show. I want to know why the Others decided to let him go, and what kind of tests they were doing on him, and what his real powers are.

Speculation about how Michael and Walt return might also require speculation about how time passes on and off the island. It's only been a few weeks (at most?) since they sailed off into the sunset -- that hardly seems like enough time to get in contact with anyone and for Not-Penny and Co. to come back to the island. Unless of course, there's some weird time-shifting going on. Still, if I wanted to bet, I'd say they were intercepted. And that Michael will get his redemption arc after all. But I also think that was his funeral in the season 3 finale.

WAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLTTTTTTTTTTTT?!!!?!

James, I agree that shutting down LDG is a good idea...its just to long until the season is back. Its depressing, I now apply a Sopranos approach.....just forget that it exists for 6 months and than when we get in the 2 month range of new episodes start not being able to sleep or eat in anticipation!!!!!!

I think there's a decent chance that Michael doesn't come back on the island at all, but is rather part of the flash-forwards that take place after everyone else is off the island in the future. This would have the added salutory effect of allowing Walt to be on the show without it looking like the island accelerates puberty.

Interest does seem to be waning, but I don't know if last week was just an outlier or not. Most of the LDG posts usually involve only 10-12 original posts, and the rest are just cross-questioning. Besides, now that even the summer shows have previewed, what else is there to talk about until September? Though I would still like to see some "How would you rearrange Network X's schedule" posts.

On the other hand, on this subject, I have already mentioned what I think: Walt and Michael were sent off by Ben to a Hanso boat (Naomi/Not-Penny's) waiting offstage (as part of my intentionally crashed 815 plot). I think that all the Losties will be picked up by the Hansos and kept in a brig until Walt/Michael help them escape - back to the Island!!, where they will hide out in The Ruins, etc. Any hatred of Michael will be slightly tempered by his helping them escape the Hansos and Ben's reveal that everything Michael did was according to his plan.

Now, for those of you not leaning my way, Lostpedia's timeline, http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/Timeline , has Walt and Michael leaving on 11/27. The season finale was on 12/23, but more importantly, Naomi's helicopter arrived on 12/17. Is the three weeks between 11/27 and 12/17 long enough for M & W to run into some type of civilization, and then Hanso to send a boat into the general area of the island (not that Hanso told the boat crew why they were going there, as Naomi apparently does believe the Faux 815 cover story)? I'm leaning towards no. On the other hand, is the mere 8 days between the Flame going hostile on 12/9 and Naomi arriving on 12/17 believable for Hanso to get together a combat force and ship it to the Island to investigate potential Hostile takeover? I don't know if that's likely either.

As to future Michael? Who knows. If anything, I'd prefer he remains out of the picture, leaving us to wonder if he died on the Island (whether by Hanso, Others, or vengeful Losties) or was whacked by Hanso so they could take custody of Walt, in the short term. Besides, it would make Michael's sudden appearance to spring them from the Brig all the more surprising.

Michael is the one character I grew to extremely dislike. I was kind of happy to see him go, but I like the character of his son, Walt, because he seemed to have some mystical connection to the island. Michael deserves to come back and pay for his sins -- big time.

Disliked characters. Shannon, Michael and Charlie and in that order. I didn't mind seeing any of them go.

This where I think things are going:
Michael will have his redemption arc. But when Walt finds out about what Michael did to free them he will desire to remain on the island with Locke and company. Rose will tell Michael that she will care for him. Michael leaves the island with Kate, Jack, and selected others who desire to leave because he is the only one who knows how to exit the island. Meaning that the confrontation of season 4 centers on the deaths of most if not all of the hostiles on the boat. Michael then hangs himself because he cannot return to Walt and the guilt he feels for killing Ana Lucia and Libby. This is the straw that breaks the camel's back and Jack stops feeling sorry for himself and finds a way back to the island in order to return and right whatever was left undone. Jack and others including Kate will return to the island and help Locke finish his mission culminating in Locke becoming the sacrifice that the island demands and Jack achieving his quest to "save" those who are left. The island remains and some choose to stay (Bernard and Rose) while others return to restart their normal lives. Juliet will be reunited with her sister, Sayid with Nadia, Kate and Sawyer might choose to stay, Jin and Sun return and confront her father for his part in the island (and blackmail him most likely), and finally Desmond is reunited with Penny and they confront her father and his part in the island and come to a very satifying resolution.

So in summary, I have no idea what is actually happening on the island or what the final conflict will be...but I think this makes sense for where the general story is going post future reveal.

Where is Chaddog? Is he takingthe summer off?

Can we have a moratorium on speculating who's in the casket? We don't know anything, won't know anything for the next seven months, and all of this guessing will spoil the suspense of the show when it comes back on.

Unrelated 24 news: (Spoilers ahead) Since there will be a female president next season, wouldn't it be nice to have a female super-villain, maybe Cate Blanchett?

Sadly, work has been kicking my tail all summer....not a bad thing, mind you - all that free time earlier in the year allowed me time to ponder Lost on slow days at the office.

I'm really excited about Michael returning, and I have to agree (since it's part of my theory on Naomi's boat as opener of season 4) that Michael is on the boat, along with Walt (who was thus able to "astrally project" himself to Locke and warn him to kill Naomi in a ill-fated attempt to prevent the call to the boat).

I don't think the show has to address Walt's growth, really - kids grow up, we all can suspend our belief enough to get that. And Michael doesn't have to appear in flashforwards, either. In fact, I'm fond of the opener of Season 4 being another episode like the season 3 closer, only in reverse - we think we're in some version of the future, but we're really in the past. Or present. Oh, who really knows?

James - while I'd be saddened if LDG left, I understand if you need a break for a while. One HUGE question though - isn't today the start of ComicCon? Isn't there supposed to be some MAJOR hints about next season revealed by Lindelhof and Cuse at ComicCon? Why aren't you there?

chaddogg: Our intrepid LA reporter, Rebecca Winters Keegan, is at ComicCon, and should be filing reports on time.com any second now, if she hasn't already. She'll be on the Lost sessions, among other things.

By the way, chaddogg, glad we could guilt you into posting again. (I thought you might take the Kristen Bell bait in the Gossip Girl post as well.) Work -- pffft!

Chad, I just wanted to make sure you were not lying in a ditch on the side of the road somewhere wondering when help was coming. I'm glad to hear it was only work holding you back.

Thank you, Keith, for your concern.

James, I saw Rebecca's general article on ComicCon, but when is the specific Lost session? Would you allow her to guest blog over here on Tuned-In with the big news?

(I've never considered myself a fanboy before, but at this point, I'm kinda wishing I was in San Diego, just for the Lost session.)

P.S. Did anyone see the preview/trailer for the Lost video game over at EW.com (in true James fashion, I should add, an affiliate site owned by Time-Warner)? Looks pretty impressive...

Chaddogg: Having checked in with Rebecca, I hear that the Lost session was yesterday, and that other than the Harold Perrineau announcement that ended up coming out at TCA, it was underwhelming in terms of actual news. But I'll ask if she has anything worthwhile she wants me to post for her.

Not what I heard, using your sister site of EW.com....apparently there were a few significant points (http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2007/07/comic-con-param.html#more)

- Jack and Claire will likely find out they are half-siblings.
- We'll find out why Ben went to the Losties side of the island in the first place (I thought it was to get Jack to perform the surgery on him, but maybe I'm wrong)
- BIG NEWS: The Kate/Jack scene from the end of the season finale does NOT take place at the end of the series/story. (Means that the flashforwards may tell us how Jack got back to the island and got his groove back?)
- Libby's backstory will be explained this season, and she may have been a Dharma employee.
- According to Cuse/Lindelhof, these are the questions fans should be asking (almost a perfect set up for LDG, no?):

1. Who is in the coffin?
2. Who is on Naomi's freighter, and what do they want?

Libby's backstory? Coffin? Ship? More to the story beyond suicidal Jack and free in the real world Kate? So MUCH to talk about!

I'm in the middle of putting up a post for discussion. But just to be contrary:

* "Big news"? Seriously, hands up, who thought that the scene with Kate and Jack was the endpoint of the Lost show? It seems pretty unimaginable that you would, in the middle of the series, tell your fans that the series would end with its protagonist in utter despair, and that you would spend the next three seasons finding out how he was irredeemably destroyed?

* The coffin? The freighter? I'm not sure we needed Cuselof to tell us we needed to be asking about them, since the Lost fanbase started asking about them more or less at 11:01 p.m. the night of the finale.

Not to jump on you, I just think that what I've seen qualifies more as teasing discussion fodder than news. But, then again, this is Lost we're talking about.

Just wanted to say that i never saw last weeks LDG up, i dunno if it got pushed to the previous screen or what but i looked on wed and thurs and didnt see it assumed james was off for the week.
I too would be sad to see it gom there have to be more questions we can bat around. I think this is just enough lost to keep me thinking about it but not so much that i just WISH THE DAMN SHOW WOULD BE BACK ON!!!! I think the LDG strikes a nice balance.