Entertainment

10 REASONS WHY ‘LOST’ IS FOUND

Lost” is the thrill ride the show was in season one – and not a moment too soon. A new sense of direction has given the show a clear focus and the ratings are back up. “Lost” now ranks in the top-10 behind Fox’s “American Idol,” “House” and “Moment of Truth.”

Here are 10 reasons why we love “Lost’ again.

1. This season is living up to last season’s near-perfect finale: We saw the Losties out-ambush The Others and they were expecting to be rescued. The finale ended one chapter and started another in a tantalizing way. And the new season has reciprocated.

2. We learn Jack’s fate: The finale introduced the flash forward and showed us Jack’s (Matthew Fox) slide into alcoholism when he leaves the island. “The flash forward is part of an overall plan for the show,” says Damon Lindelof, co-executive producer. “Season 4 is about who gets off the island and the fact that they need to get back. Season 5 is about why they need to get back, and season 6 is about what happens when they get back.”

3. We know who survives: Season four introduced six survivors: Jack (Matthew Fox); Kate (Evangeline Lilly); Hurley (Jorge Garcia), and Sayid (Naveen Andrews). This “Oceanic 6” make it off the island, but one will die – exactly who will be revealed this season. “We’ve made a choice to focus on the characters that fans have loved since the beginning – Jack, Kate, Sawyer (Josh Holloway), Locke (Terry O’Quinn), Sayid and Hurley,” says Lindelof.

4. The new characters are great: What tangled web will they weave? Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies), is very nervous physicist and Miles Straume (Ken Cheung) is an angry ghost whisperer. Cultural anthropologist Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader) manages to still look lovely hanging upside down from a tree. And Frank Lapidus (Jeff Fahey) is the pilot who was supposed to be flying Oceanic 815.

5. Jack and Locke are rivals: Jack’s lost leadership of the island to Locke, after a minor coup, promises tense clashes. We think Ben is still running the show, especially since we now know that he has a spy on the freighter. “Nefariousness is in the eye of the beholder,” says Carlton Cuse, co-executive producer. “If you are Benjamin Linus, everyone is nefarious, except for you.”

6. Sayid teams up with Ben: The folks from the freighter are allegedly more dangerous than the Others ever were. We know that Sayid works for Ben in the future, and Hurley’s helping Locke trick Jack and Kate.

7. We get more episodes: Lindehof and Cuse were only supposed to do 8 episodes of “Lost.” Now that the writers’ strike is over, they’ll do 13. Episode 7 will conclude with a cliff-hanger, after which the show will take a month-long break. “There will be very significant mysteries answered in the seventh episode,” says Cuse. “The eighth episode is non-traditional and the start of something new.”

8. More sexual tension: The love quadrangle between Jack and Kate, Kate and Sawyer, and Jack and Juliet promises delicious complications, with Jack telling Kate he loves her, Sawyer asking Kate to shack up with him on the island and Juliet saving the day for Jack.

9. The show travels: “Lost'”s opening graphic now includes the reflection of a city in the water. “We’re taking the show off the island this season, to places like Berlin and Tunisia,” says Cuse.

10. There is an end: J.K. Rowling convinced Lindelof and Cuse to set an end date for “Lost.” “When we heard her say that she was only writing seven [Harry Potters], we were inspired,” says Lindelof. “Franchise shows like ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ don’t need to have a beginning, middle and end. They can bring in new doctors, nurses and patients, but shows like ours need to have a place to go.”

LOST

Thursday, 9 p.m., ABC