Last week ABC's Lost returned for six new post-strike episodes, and I was certainly ready to get back on the island. Last week's episode (spoiler warning if you haven't watched last week's episode!) revealed that Sayid began working for Ben because someone affiliated with the dastardly Charles Widmore (whose British accent keeps going in and out) had murdered Sayid's long-sought-after true love.

It was interesting to learn a little more about Sayid, and I do like his story lines, but after thinking about what happened, I realized that slowly but surely all of the female characters on Lost have kind of faded into the background. At this point the main plot seems to be about the creepy, manipulative Ben Linus and his mysterious battle with Charles Widmore. All the women on the show are now either pregnant, being a mother, or busy mooning over a man (or two).

Kate (Evangeline Lilly), who was such a kick-ass character in the first season, has become torn between two lovers as if she were in a soap opera (complete with false pregnancy scares!), and honestly, both Jack and Sawyer have become somewhat annoying this season. I still have a fondness for Sawyer (yeah, he's smarmy, but at least he admits it!), but he seems to have been relegated to the role of a buffoon.

All photos by ABC/Mario Perez

What about the other ladies of Lost? Well, Claire (Emilie de Ravin) has been largely missing, and she never really had much to do besides take care of her possibly freaky baby. If the flash forwards are anything to judge by, she won't have much to do in the future, either. Sun (Yunjin Kim) has triumphed over adversity in the past, but now her whole story line involves getting off the island so she can give birth (and possibly fearing for the mortality of her husband). … continue reading

The reviews are in — and they're practically gushing in their praise ("Oh. My. God." is how one reviewer put it). Tonight, at long last, we're finally getting back to the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815, led by emotionally scarred antihero Dr. Jack, and their weird, creepy, epic battle with the mysterious forces on that unplottable island that wreak havoc with women having babies (or something). I can't wait!

Sure, there are some downsides to the return. Even though Lost on Thursday nights is now going to be an oasis of newness in a strike-parched winter, it's only going to last for eight episodes. Sob. (Thankfully, by then Battlestar Galactica will be back!) And the long-teased gay character has never appeared. Maybe this will be the year, but I'm not holding my breath.

So to while away the hours until I'm back on the island, here are some photos from tonight's episode, "The Beginning of the End." I haven't read any spoilers, so I can't actually offer you any hints as to what's going to happen. But feel free to speculate away in the comments!

Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) looks surprisingly happy

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Last week, ABC announced that Lost will return Jan. 31, airing Thursdays at 9 (yes, that's currently Grey's Anatomy's spot, but new episodes of Grey's will soon run out because of the writers' strike). Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof considers the time change a great move because it means the show won't have to compete with American Idol.

Here's a new trailer for the fourth season — this one is a little longer than the teaser released last week: … continue reading

They say everyone has a twin. Maybe every time you're out at a particular bar or restaurant, someone mistakes you for some other girl? I used to go to a club and every now and then, random women would come up to me and say, "Hi, Kim!" Who the hell was Kim? I never did find out.

My current twin doesn't so much look like me as think like me. Exactly like me. You know who you are. When you and your twin are both famous, we end up with this: a list of celebrities who were separated at birth.

Evangeline Lilly and Jessica Biel
They can star in a new series called Lost in 7th Heaven

Salma Hayek and Penelope Cruz
Am I the only one who was confused which one was which all the way through Bandidas? … continue reading

ABC has announced plans for the Lost "endgame."

That's definitely what the show feels like to me lately: a game, one not unlike Myst and Riven, both of which eventually annoyed me. The "maybe they're really dead" hints in recent episodes are not cool, so I hope the eventual answers will feel like actual solutions rather than cheats.

There will be 48 more episodes of Lost — three uninterrupted 16-episode seasons. That means the final piece of the puzzle will be revealed during the 2009–10 season, and the total number of episodes will be 120. Great: Now I'm thinking about what all those numbers might mean. Speaking of which, did you know someone's keeping a blog that tracks the Lost numbers? And there are plenty of websites that analyze the numbers. Just looking at this stuff makes me feel crazy, like that guy in the Darren Aronofsky movie Pi. … continue reading