The Official "Lost" the series discussion

[Deberg_1990]

I figured I would start a thread for this and see what happens....there seemed to be quite a few viewers on the board for this show the past few weeks.....I like the direction the show is taking so far......episode 3 tonight at 7 central on ABC....

[KingPriest2]

DEAD 'LOST'

By MICHAEL STARR


April 7, 2005 -- THE actor who plays Boone, killed off on last night's "Lost," isn't happy about becoming the first casualty on one of TV's hottest new shows.
"Pretty devastating," Ian Somerhalder tells Entertainment Weekly. "The week [before] I got the call [telling him the bad news], I started looking for a house in Hawaii.

"Now I'm looking for a house in Venice Beach."

Boone died last night from the injuries he suffered after the small plane he was investigating fell out of a tree.

Somerhalder, who played the preppy trust-fund baby, tells EW he understands why "Lost" creators J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof killed off his character.

But he also says they "boxed themselves into a corner" by revealing that someone was going to die — making him and his castmates anxious about which one of them might be the one.

"We really didn't appreciate that. They already fooled the audience twice," he says, with the apparent deaths of Shannon — which turned out to be a dream — and Charlie, who was revived using CPR.



"It's like 'Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me three times, I'm going to stop watching your show.' "

Somerhalder, 26, tells EW he was on a wine-tasting weekend in California last January when he got the bad news from Abrams and Lindelof. "Thank God I already had four glasses of really good pinot in me," he says.

His angst is understandable, considering that "Lost," along with ABC stablemate "Desperate Housewives," is the season's most-talked-about new series.

It's been averaging around 16 million viewers a week and becoming the watercooler show in telling the tale of survivors of a plane crash fending for themselves on a mysterious island.

But "Lost" executive producer Carlton Cuse tells EW that killing off Boone was a necessity because it will affect Locke (Terry O'Quinn) — Boone's father figure — and Jack (Matthew Fox), the island's doctor.

"It was a narrative imperative that we kill Boone," Cuse says. "It sets in motion a chain of events leading to the season finale."

Fans of Somerhalder can take some solace that Boone isn't completely gone — he'll appear via flashback in the two-hour season finale May 25.

"I'll always have a place in Hawaii," Somerhalder says. "Trust me — life is great. And you know what? This show has made it that much better."

EW's story on "Lost" hits newsstands tomorrow.

[KingPriest2]

The Lost Language of Jin
by Angel Cohn




Daniel Dae Kim



Ever since the Lost castaways crash-landed on ABC's airwaves, the drama's fans have struggled to sort the heroes from the villains. Actor Daniel Dae Kim, who plays Jin, knows his Korean-speaking character has fallen into the latter bunch because of his domineering attitude toward Sun, his on-screen wife. However, he hopes viewers will warm to Jin as more of his backstory is revealed. Here, TVGuide.com rings up the 36-year-old thesp — previously best known for his memorable guest spots on 24, Angel and ER — to see how he's adjusting to life as a series regular.



TVGuide.com: Have you a favorite crazy theory about the castaways' predicament?
Daniel Dae Kim: I like [the idea] that they are all dead and in purgatory — that they are there for a reason and they have got to seek some kind of salvation.

TVG: How does your role as Jin compare to playing evil attorney Gavin on Angel?
Kim: There is a lot more room to explore the depths of the character. Gavin, as much as I loved him, was more of a functional role. He was there to serve [the villainess] Lilah and provide a foil for her. Jin is a character in his own right, and we're going to watch him develop and grow.





TVG: We finally got more of Jin's backstory in the "... In Translation" episode.
Kim: I think that was a real key to his personality. I think when you see the way his father is, you see the humble beginnings that he came from, you are really seeing his true nature. The Jin that we are seeing on the island has been corrupted by Sun's father and the things that he's been forced to do while he's been working for him. For me, it was a nice reminder of where Jin is going. He's heading back to his roots.

TVG: By leaving Sun?
Kim: For the moment.

TVG: Do you read fans' Internet postings about Lost?
Kim: I used to, but I started realizing that I was taking their comments personally — both good and bad. I needed to distance myself [for the sake of] what I wanted to do with the character.

TVG: How has the response been from Korean viewers?
Kim: I've heard a lot. I'm happy to report that the response has transformed into being very, very positive all around. Initially, I got some negative feedback about the character being stereotypical, but I asked everyone to be patient. I think the patience is starting to be rewarded now. Jin is very far from a stereotype now [that] you understand the specifics of his life and his history. To me, that's the furthest thing from a stereotype.

TVG: Good point.
Kim: I think the Koreans by and large are proud to see themselves represented on the screen. Not just Koreans, but Asian-Americans. There aren't that many well-developed Asian characters on television anywhere. I would argue that Sun and Jin are among the two most developed in the history of television. I'm really proud to be a part of that. I'm so grateful to the producers for taking a risk and putting characters who aren't even speaking English on a prime-time network TV show. It was a huge risk. But I think it has paid off for all of us.

TVG: How hard is it to switch back and forth between speaking English and Korean?
Kim: It is one of the biggest challenges I've ever had as an actor. This is the first role I've ever had where I've been asked to speak Korean. I've had to go back to square one and learn how to approach my character, and my preparation takes a little bit longer than it usually does. That said, it has been a really rewarding challenge; I am so honored to speak the language of my ancestors. It is a way for me to get in touch with my roots and acknowledge that part of me.

TVG: Will Jin complete that raft before the end of the season?
Kim: I think that's a good bet. I think that will be a very important story line as we complete the season.

TVG: Jin is isolated because of the language barrier, but have you personally bonded with your cast mates?
Kim: Absolutely. We all get along really well. The people that I am meanest to on the island are Harold Perrineau [Michael]and Yinjin Kim [Sun], but they happen to be two of the people I'm closest to off camera. It is ironic how that works.

TVG: Are you one of the musical members of the cast?
Kim: I'm afraid I am. Though I'm not nearly as accomplished as Naveen Andrews or Terry O'Quinn. I'm learning guitar, and we get together and just play whenever we can. We bring our guitars to the set and, in between takes, we'll just pick a tune and go.

TVG: Sounds fun. What kind of music do you play?
Kim: I like a lot of alternative rock from the '80s and '90s. I grew up on the Cure, the Smiths, New Order and R.E.M. But because we all play acoustic guitar, we all know the folk songs from the '70s. I was playing Crosby, Stills and Nash with Terry on set. Naveen is like a human jukebox — if you ask him to play any song, he'll play it for you. If you know the lyrics, you've got a band.

TVG: Charlie has his band, Drive Shaft. Maybe Jin should start one, too!
Kim: Yeah, the Lost Boys. [Laughs]

[KingPriest2]

De Ravin: 'Lost' in transformation
By William Keck, USA TODAY
BURBANK, Calif. — It's the most highly anticipated on-screen birth since Rosemary delivered her satanic surprise back in the 1960s in Rosemary's Baby.

"We tried to make it look as realistic as possible," says Emilie de Ravin of her character's delivery scene.
By Dan MacMedan, USA TODAY

Now, after appearing ready to pop in the pilot episode in September, Lost's Claire will at long last give birth Wednesday (8 ET/PT, ABC). But to whom — or to what? That's the question on the island on which she is marooned with 47 other plane-crash survivors.

Australian Emilie de Ravin, who has played Claire Littleton with the aid of expanding pregnancy pads, has heard every fan theory about what might be growing inside her character's womb.

"I've heard the baby's the devil," says de Ravin, 23. "That it's more than one baby; that it's not a baby. What do they think it is — a dog?"

To be sure, this is no normal pregnancy. Through story lines and flashbacks, we have learned:

• Claire, a resident of Sydney, became pregnant by her boyfriend, who left her.

• A psychic warned Claire that she alone must raise her baby or else the child would be a danger to others. The psychic then booked Claire on the doomed L.A.-bound Oceanic Airlines Flight 815, explaining that he had located a set of adoptive parents to raise her child.

• Claire was kidnapped by the island's violent mystery man, Ethan (William Mapother). Claire escaped unharmed; when he came after her again, Ethan was shot dead by Charlie (Dominic Monaghan). But she has amnesia, so she has no memory of her time with Ethan, and his motives remain unclear.

Before shooting her delivery scene, de Ravin consulted her two older half-sisters, who shared their memories of giving birth. There was also an on-set obstetrician to guide her through the process.

"We tried to make it as realistic as possible," says de Ravin, a former ballet dancer and regular on the sci-fi series Roswell and BeastMaster. "I hope it looks good."

The actress has had more luck in the love department than poor, lonely Claire. De Ravin sports a diamond-encrusted heart around her neck and an impressive art-deco-style diamond engagement ring on her finger.

Both are gifts from fiancé Josh Janowicz, 23, an actor who played a sexy priest in Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Janowicz's proposal, after a three-year courtship, came as a complete surprise.

It was the kind of sweet moment Claire never seems to enjoy — aside from that imaginary jar of peanut butter Charlie offered her early in the series.

The proposal "happened New Year's Day in Melbourne," de Ravin says. "It was very impromptu and very sweet." As for when the couple will wed, that's about as big a mystery to de Ravin as any on her show. "His family's in Wisconsin and mine's in Australia, so we might just end up eloping."

In the meantime, de Ravin has been the cast member most reluctant to stay put in Oahu, Hawaii, where the show shoots. She has racked up thousands of frequent-flier miles by paying for her own airline tickets to return to the home in Burbank, Calif., she shares with Janowicz and their poodle, Bella.

Flying to and from Hawaii once or twice a week, de Ravin does her best to clear her mind of the horrific plane crash that landed Claire and the others on their mysterious island. "I just try not to think about that. Plus, I keep telling myself it would be too clichéd if something like that happened to any of us."

[KingPriest2]

Published April 6, 2005


(ABC)
Meet Charlie: Dominic Monaghan plays a has-been musician on the ABC series "Lost."

It's not too late to jump into 'Lost' this season


By Tim Greening
Gannett News Service


"Lost" is the kind of drama that immediately grabs viewers by the throat and doesn't let go - except when it goes into reruns for weeks at a time.

Now that we have new episodes, 16 million viewers can breathe a sigh of relief.

ABC's serial drama, which airs 8 p.m. Wednesdays, has spawned a rabid fan following, which debates and speculates the show's many mysteries over water coolers and on Web sites. If you'd like to be one of them, but haven't been watching, you can still catch up.

The premise centers on a group of plane crash survivors and how they adapt to the mysterious island they've found themselves on.

"Lost" creators J.J. Abrams ("Alias," "Felicity") and Damon Lindelof ("Crossing Jordan") have thrown a curveball into the storyline, though, giving the island an "X-Files" type of supernatural vibe. There are only hints at this, however, leaving fans to speculate wildly about what's really going on.

Also, the show has a unique storytelling structure. Scenes of the characters adapting to their surroundings, not to mention their new neighbors, are interspersed with flashbacks revealing the back story for each character, all of whom have a dark secret.

Here's a recap of the important plot points, to date:

The plane was headed to Los Angeles from Sydney, Australia, and broke apart in midair. We don't know why.

There were initially 48 survivors, but the show focuses on 14. About half of them live on the beach to keep a signal bonfire alive; the others live in caves deeper in the jungle, where there's a water source.

Before being killed by a mysterious, unseen creature, a pilot said the plane was a thousand miles off course at the time of the crash, so any rescue parties will be looking in the wrong place. Not all of the survivors know this, as the reluctant leader, Jack (Matthew Fox), didn't want the others to lose hope.

Their only radio, taken from the plane, has a weak battery. When they tried to send a message, they found the frequency was dominated by a repeating distress signal in which a French woman pleads for help and says, "It killed them all." From the counter that precedes each message, they figure it's been broadcasting for 16 years.

There are wild boars on the island, which makes sense, and polar bears, which doesn't, deepening the mystery.

There is also an unseen entity that appears occasionally to growl and shake the treetops. Only one character (Locke, played by Terry O'Quinn) has seen it and lived, but he's not talking.

Besides animals, they are not alone. The French woman from the distress signal is still alive, armed, half-crazy and living in the jungle. She was part of a scientific expedition whose boat shipwrecked on the island.

A census taken by Hurley (Jorge Garcia) revealed there was one more person on the beach than was on the plane's manifest, a mysterious "Ethan," who was already living on the island but mingled among the group unnoticed. When found out, he kidnapped the pregnant Claire (Emilie de Ravin) and hanged Charlie (Dominic Monaghan), though Jack was able to revive him.

Days later, the still pregnant Claire wandered back into camp with no memory of anything since the crash. Ethan returned to get her and was ambushed, but Charlie shot him before they could get answers.

On the last new episode (March 30), Locke dreams of a small airplane crashing in the jungle. He thinks it's a sign, and he and Boone go looking for it.

They find the plane at the top of a tree. Boone climbs up into it and finds it's a heroin smuggling plane with a corpse inside it, along with maps and a radio. As the plane teeters, Boone gets to the radio and turns it on. A voice responds. Boone says, "We are the survivors of Oceanic flight 815."

What the voice said next is the subject of much fan debate: according to the closed captions, the response is "There are no survivors of flight 815." But many fans believe the voice either said, "We are also the survivors of flight 815" or "There was no flight 815."

The plane crashes to the ground. Locke takes the injured Boone to camp, then disappears to the hatch they've previously unearthed but been unable to open. As he yells, "I did what you asked of me!", a light comes on inside.

And according to TV Guide, Claire's going to give birth to her baby tonight. TV Guide online is also reporting that "Lost" will air its season finale May 25 - a two-hour season finale that will air opposite ratings juggernaut "American Idol."

ROLL CALL

Jack

• Played by: Matthew Fox.
• Back home: U.S., surgeon.
• Skills: Medicine, martyrdom.
• Dark secret/guilt trip: Testified against his alcoholic father, also a surgeon, for operating under the influence, which resulted in a patient's death. Dad went to Australia and apparently drank himself to death.
• On flight because: He was returning to the States with his father's body.
• Island job: Doctor, the group's reluctant leader.

Kate

• Played by: Evangeline Lilly.
• Back home: U.S., some kind of criminal.
• Skills: Brave, resourceful, good with a gun.
• Dark secret/guilt trip: Her exact crime is still unclear, though we know she participated in a bank robbery that was actually a ruse to get into a safety deposit box, which contained a toy airplane. We don't know its significance.
• On flight because: While she was hiding in Australia, a federal marshal arrested her and was bringing her back to justice. While dying from crash-related wounds, the marshal warned Jack that Kate is dangerous and can't be trusted.
• Island job: Volunteering for search missions and ratcheting up the sexual tension with Jack and Sawyer.

Locke

• Played by: Terry O'Quinn.
• Back home: U.S., cubicle drone at a box company.
• Skills: Extremely resourceful; he's a good hunter/trapper. He's also the character most attuned to the island's mystical qualities.
• Dark secret/guilt trip: While hunting boar, he came face-to-face with the mysterious tree-shaking creature and lived, but the others (not to mention viewers) know nothing about the encounter. Also, he and Boone discovered some kind of underground hatch they haven't told the others about. After two weeks of digging, they have it unearthed, but they haven't been able to open it.
• On flight because: He was returning home from vacation in which he'd hoped to go on a walkabout in the Outback. He was denied participation because before crashing on the island, he was a paraplegic. He was cured somehow, one of the show's more intriguing mysteries. On the last new episode (March 30), his legs started to fail.
• Island job: Besides his hunting skills, he seems to know some deeper meaning about what's going on and has helped Charlie kick heroin and Boone get over his obsession with his stepsister.

Hurley

• Played by: Jorge Garcia.
• Back home: U.S., lottery winner, fast food employee. There's a hint of a troubled past before that.
• Skills: Comic relief.
• Dark secret/guilt trip: In Los Angeles, he won the lottery with a mysterious set of numbers that may be cursed and keep turning up on the island.
• On flight because: Returning home after seeking out the source of the numbers, a man who had been living in Australia but committed suicide.
• Island job: To be genial and helpful.

Charlie

• Played by: Dominic Monaghan.
• Back home: England. Bass player for Driveshaft, a defunct one-hit wonder.
• Skills: Plays bass.
• Dark secret/guilt trip: Addicted to heroin, which he started to kick in the seventh episode.
• On flight because: Returning to the States after unsuccessful attempt to get his brother to reform the band.
• Island job: Take care of Claire, the pregnant chick.

Sayid

• Played by: Naveen Andrews.
• Back home: A former soldier in Saddam Hussein's Republican Guard.
• Skills: Knows a lot about electronics, mechanical devices and torture. Also very smart and level-headed.
• Dark secret/guilt trip: While a soldier, he defied orders and shot his boss to save a childhood girlfriend from execution. She escaped then, but we know she died later.
• On flight because: We don't know.
• Island job: Trying to build a working transmitter for a distress call and cozying up to Shannon.

Sun and Jin

• Played by: Yunjin Kim (Sun) and Daniel Dae Kim (Jin). No relation.
• Back home: Korea. Sun is the daughter of a wealthy industrialist. Jin is the son of a poor fisherman.
• Skills: He's good at catching fish and building boats; she knows herbal remedies.
• Dark secret/guilt trip: Jin's job included violence, which he refuses to tell Sun about. She was planning to leave him just before boarding the plane in Sydney but changed her mind.
• On flight because: The pair were delivering gifts to her father's business associates in Sydney and Los Angeles.
• Island job: He shares fish with the group and has just joined Michael in building a raft. She tends a garden.

Boone and Shannon

• Played by: Ian Somerhalder and Maggie Grace.
• Back home: Boone is the son of a wealthy wedding guru. Shannon is his stepsister.
• Skills: Boone said he's a lifeguard, though he nearly killed a woman by improperly performing CPR. She's pretty useless.
• Dark secret/guilt trip: They always had a weird jealousy vibe, like they were romantically involved once. Turns out they were, but they're not related by blood, only by marriage.
• On flight because: Her latest con was a supposedly abusive boyfriend in Australia who could be paid off to leave her alone. Boone paid him but figured out it was a ruse and was taking Shannon back home to Los Angeles.
• Island job: Boone has become Locke's right-hand man; Shannon's stilted French has helped them translate some materials from the papers Sayid took from the French woman.

Michael and Walt

• Played by: Harold Perrineau and Malcolm David Kelley.
• Back home: U.S. Michael is a struggling artist who works construction to pay the bills. Walt is his estranged son whose mother took him away from Michael when she began her globe-hopping career.
• Skills: Michael's good at building things; Walt has an odd clairvoyant link to animals.
• Dark secret/guilt trip: Walt burned the raft his father built because he didn't want to leave the island. Only Locke knows this.
• On flight because: The mother, who was living in Sydney, died; the stepfather didn't want custody, so Michael was taking him back to the States.
• Island job: Michael is the engineer and is building a second raft.

Claire

• Played by: Emilie de Ravin.
• Back home: Australia. Pregnant, jilted girlfriend.
• Skills: Getting kidnapped.
• Dark secret/guilt trip: When her boyfriend left her, she consulted a psychic, who pleaded with her not to put the baby up for adoption, saying great danger would result if she didn't raise the baby herself.
• On flight because: She backed out of an adoption deal at the last second and returned to the psychic, who put her on a plane to Los Angeles.
• Island job: Being in distress.

Sawyer

• Played by: Josh Holloway.
• Back home: U.S. Con artist.
• Skills: Hoarding supplies.
• Dark secret/guilt trip: He adopted the name of a scam artist who seduced his mother and bankrupted his father, causing his father to shoot her and then himself. Sawyer vowed to find the man one day and kill him.
• On flight because: We assume he was just returning home. Another con artist convinced him the man who destroyed his family was living in Australia. Only after fatally wounding him did Sawyer realize it wasn't the right guy.
• Island job: Though he usually only acts out of self-interest, sometimes he shares supplies he's hoarded.

http://www.lsj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...0322/1055/news

[KingPriest2]

'Lost' Writer Tells All ... or Not
(Thursday, April 07 06:02 PM)
By Kate O'Hare
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) "What else can I tell you that I can't tell you?" says Javier Grillo-Marxuach, a writer/supervising producer on ABC's "Lost." "That should be the motto for all interviews about 'Lost.'"
For weeks, fans speculated on which of the hit castaway drama's large cast of characters - survivors of the doomed Oceanic Airlines Flight 815, which crashed on a deserted island -- would die, as hinted at by series creators J.J. Abrams ("Alias") and Damon Lindelof.

In the Wednesday, April 6 episode, the unlucky soul turned out to be rich-boy Boone (Ian Somerhalder), who succumbed to injuries sustained when the crashed light airplane he was exploring slipped off a cliff edge. Boone and fellow castaway Locke (Terry O'Quinn), a former paraplegic turned island mystic, found the plane, loaded with heroin-stuffed Virgin Mary statues, while following Locke's visions through the jungle.


In an e-mail on April 7, Grillo-Marxuach quips, "He's dead? I better start watching that show. We established Boone as Locke's mentee for the very specific story reason of showing Locke as a character who has the capacity to attract others to his peculiar vision of the island. When the time came to test that vision, killing Locke's newfound 'son' figure was a natural place to go. Now Locke is going to have to deal with the consequences of following his vision and how that brings him into a mano-a-mano conflict with Jack over leadership of the island."
Jack (Matthew Fox) is a surgeon who has become the survivors' unofficial leader. His fury over losing Boone, and his realization that Locke lied about how Boone was injured, sent him into the jungle declaring that he would talk to Locke about the "murder" of Boone.

This plot twist also means that Ian Somerhalder is out of a job on the hottest new show of the year -- although industry trades report he has signed a one-year talent holding deal with ABC and Touchstone Television for a possible series next year.

"It's a terrible thing," writes Grillo-Marxuach, "when you have to part ways with an actor you like, who brings his A-game to the show and has given you really fantastic performances. But when you are doing a show like 'Lost,' which demands that you constantly remind the audience of the life-or-death nature of the characters' predicament while crafting a long-term epic narrative, you sadly have to kill people from time to time.

"Boone's death serves a long-term dramatic purpose, and we are lucky to have had Ian Somerhalder bring that character to life and, ultimately, give him a memorable send-off that will continue to pay off through the length of the season."

In an interview conducted over lunch on March 30, Grillo-Marxuach admits that the passengers did indeed cross paths before getting on the plane, but he will "neither confirm nor deny" that the crash was not exactly accidental.

"But the fact that everybody met each other before is something we're really threading into it," he says. It's the eternal question posed by Echo & the Bunnymen, it's fate up against the will. But as long as people ask those questions, we're very happy over at 'Lost' labs. That's what I call it."

With his last series, "Jake 2.0," having been axed just before Abrams and Lindelof hired their writing staff, Grillo-Marxuach came in very early in the process in the spring of 2004. He says he and fellow writers Paul Dini, Jennifer Johnson and Christian Taylor, were sent off to start fleshing out the characters.

Grillo-Marxuach recalls, "Damon would come in and say, 'Draw three names out of a hat, and that's going to be your character for the next three weeks. You have to develop their backstory.' So we would go create something for the characters, bring it back to the room and workshop the ideas with Damon and J.J. A lot of the backstories actually developed out of those sessions.

"Jack's backstory pretty much survived intact from what we first talked about in there. Hurley's changed a little bit. Sawyer's is very similar. Sun and Jin were born out of an idea that J.J. pitched and we developed. So a lot of the long-running strands of the show were born during those six weeks."

On "Alias," many fans track Abrams' use of the number 47, which recurs in the episodes. On "Lost," it's a different equation.

The number to watch on 'Lost' is not 47, it's 23," Grillo-Marxuach says. "Oh, yeah, and we've got 815, but 23 is also a very important number in the mythology of 'Lost.'"

During the whirlwind casting, many things changed, including rock-star Charlie morphing from middle-aged to mid-20s when Dominic Monaghan was hired. Sometimes, though, casting didn't change the character. That's the case with Vincent, the golden Labrador retriever belonging to boy Walt (Malcolm David Kelley).

"The dog's a girl," says Grillo-Marxuach. "I think that's probably the best-kept secret of 'Lost.' Lassie was a boy, and we're following in the great tradition of canine transgendering in television."

While Lassie's long coat hid the fact that she was a he, it's a bit harder to conceal what a dog has -- or doesn't have -- if it has a short coat.

"Yes," Grillo-Marxuach says, "and yet somehow we've managed."

Other mysteries include the polar bear from the pilot (explained, more or less, as a manifestation of Walt's powerful imagination), the unseen horror that tramps through the jungle, occasional appearances by the island's other human residents, and the buried hatch found by Locke, which appears lit from within.

"Everything is going to have a rational explanation and a sci-fi explanation," Grillo-Marxuach says, "until we decide to tell you exactly what that is. That's what's going to help us walk that tightrope for however many years the show has.

"The show will end when we tell you what the island is. On the day we say, 'The island is on the back of a cosmic turtle,' then you'll say, 'OK, done with that.'"

[KingPriest2]

'Lost's' Dead Man Talking
April 7, 2005

The rumors were finally laid to rest Wednesday night on "Lost," as Boone Carlisle, the first main character to become a casualty, was killed off in an episode fans will surely be talking about for weeks to come. We caught up with Boone's real-life alter-ego, Ian Somerhalder, on the set of "Good Morning America," where he said he's still feeling the sting of leaving one of TV's most popular shows.

"In a very strange metaphorical sense, it happens to everyone," Somerhalder said. "After a second, it kind of goes away and you realize all the good things that come out of it, if there are any."

Ian revealed that producers told him of his impending death a few weeks ago. And it seems that he may not be the only one leaving the ABC hit show.

"That wasn't a call they wanted to make, but they're great," Somerhalder insisted. "I just think they're going to be making a lot more of those phone calls."

While Somerhalder hinted of more impending castaway peril, the question on fans' minds remains: was the crash that took his life really an accident?

"It was purely an accident," Ian told us. "If you want to call it murder by accident then I guess that kind of works."

You can catch the men of "Lost," in this week's Entertainment Weekly

[KingPriest2]

Lost’ death surprises by being predictable
Viewers expected more of a twist from hit drama

Jack and Sun (with Michael, shown) fought for Boone's life, but apparently lost the battle.
COMMENTARY
By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper
MSNBC contributor
Updated: 9:28 a.m. ET April 7, 2005In the end, the much-hyped death of a major character on ABC's hit plane-crash drama "Lost" was surprising only because it was so predictable.

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Since its fall debut, "Lost" has thrown viewers twist after twist. Mild-mannered Hurley turned out to be a millionaire. Cool Kate was a bank robber, and maybe worse. Mysterious John Locke had been paralyzed until the crash cured him. And stepsiblings Boone and Shannon had, uh, the kind of sibling relationship a lot of us suspected only went on between Greg and Marcia Brady.

So when show creator J.J. Abrams started telling the press that he was going to kill off one of his 14 main characters before the season's end, no one seemed safe. Readers shared many of their thoughts with us, and almost everyone was suggested as a possible corpse.

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It was fairly unanimous that main character Jack (Matthew Fox) was safe. Not only was he the island's only doctor, but he seemed to be central to all plotlines, the little universe's non-elected leader. His semi-girlfriend Kate may have her own dark past, but she seemed fairly safe too, although many readers weren't too fond of her. (In a birthing scene on Wednesday's episode, she at first seemed about as useful as Prissy from "Gone With the Wind.")

Viewer speculation focused almost instantly on minor characters, helped by a quote from actor Josh Holloway in TV Guide where Holloway dropped a hint that the doomed character was one whose plotline wasn't developing.

If there'd been Las Vegas betting on "Lost," that quote alone would have pushed the odds heavily towards Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), if only because it's tough to develop your plot on an English-language show when you're only allowed to speak Korean. Other prime suspects included Charlie, the formerly drug-addicted rocker, and single dad Michael.

Another plane crash
But then came last week's episode, in which the island's Dynamic Duo, Locke and Boone, set out on an adventure inspired by a vision of Locke's. He'd seen a small plane crash on the island, then seen his companion Boone streaked in blood and mumbling. Then, as visions seem to do on Mystery Island, Locke discovered that at least part of his vision was true: A small Beechcraft plane had crashed on the island and was hanging high in the trees.
Reisig &Amp; Taylor / ABC
Ian Somerhalder's Boone may have found a way off the "Lost" island after all.
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As viewers learned in that week's flashback, Locke had been used by a person he thought cared for him. His wealthy father, who'd never been in his life, befriended him only long enough to convince his son to donate a kidney to him, then shut him out of his life again.

Now on the island, in his new life, Locke and Boone had become friends. Locke wanted to know what was in the crashed small plane, and he himself couldn't climb into it. Yet he'd seen the vision of a bloody Boone, he had to suspect that this part of his vision would also come true. Yet much in the same way that his father sacrificed him to get what he wanted, Locke sacrificed his young friend, sending Boone into the plane without telling him what he'd seen. And of course, the plane came crashing down from the trees, injuring Boone badly. As Locke dragged a bloody Boone back to doctor Jack, last week's episode ended, and the speculation heated up.

But now instead of going for the obvious bet, many viewers figured the show was feinting one way and would actually go the other — that Boone being so badly injured made him too obvious a candidate for the grave. Surely, they felt, some of the island's magic would save him and another, less obvious character would lose his or her life.

CONTINUED: Is he really dead?

[KingPriest2]

‘Lost’ death surprises by being predictable

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< Prev | 1 | 2Just too obvious
They had ammunition for that way of thinking thanks to multiple feints in last week's episode. As the episode focused on Locke's past, viewers saw him pre-wheelchair, and witnessed numerous falls and moments that could have caused Locke's paralysis. Yet each time, he got up and walked, the mystery of what took his ability to walk remaining just that, a mystery.

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"Boone won’t die — they did the same thing a couple of months ago, advertising that somebody was going to die, and it turned out to be someone we barely knew, if we’d known them at all," wrote one reader to MSNBC.com.

Said another "Boone being hurt so badly as we are nearing the season's end makes him a blatantly obvious choice. And there is nothing blatantly obvious about 'Lost', except the continuing mysteries of the island."

Ironically, the obvious choice ended up being — well, not so obvious.

It's of course still possible that Boone might not be dead. Viewers are still clucking that evil Ethan, who was shot multiple times by Charlie earlier this year, is just too evil to be killed by regular bullets. And the island might have healing powers — it apparently gave Locke back his ability to walk.

With the birth of Claire's baby son at about the same moment that Boone slipped away, it's also possible there could be some kind of soul transfer or rebirth cycle going on. Although it's more likely that Claire's son has his own well-developed plot planned out — rumors abound that he's either the savior or the antichrist, based on the ominous behavior of an Australian psychic.

Killing off a main character, even a secondary main character such as Boone, is jolting for any show. Still, on a show like this one, it's likely that such a monumental event will only open up more and different directions for the plot to go.

It was apparent from the preview that Jack blames Locke for Boone's death, and it's obvious from his wrenching tears last week that Locke also blames himself. The two have been island leaders up until now, their confrontation is certain to shake and divide the island.

Earlier in the episode, not knowing her brother was dying, Shannon told new love interest Sayid that she would always feel something for Boone, but that she didn't love him in a romantic way. She's sure to be devastated by the loss regardless, but those words are likely to ring through her mind as she grieves.

Even characters that barely interacted with Boone are sure to be affected, as his death brings home the danger of the island to all of the survivors.

Maybe by creating a fairly straightforward death, the show's creators are reminding viewers that anything really can happen on this island. After all, in a world full of twists, the ultimate twist is a straight line.

Gael Fashingbauer Cooper is MSNBC.com's television editor

[KingPriest2]

T minus 1 hour

New episode tonite.

[Frazod]

New episode my ass. Looks like a flashback retread.

[Dartgod]

Originally Posted by frazod

New episode my ass. Looks like a flashback retread.

Yeah, what a bunch of crap.

[wilas101]

I guess we're witnessing the first crappy episode of the series.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by Dartgod

Yeah, what a bunch of crap.

And this "what if you" narration can suck my ass, too.

[Michael Michigan]

Originally Posted by frazod

And this "what if you" narration can suck my ass, too.

So--I shouldn't bother?

[siberian khatru]

ABC sucks balls. Did the same flashback crap with Desperate Housewives last Sunday.

I thought flashback episodes died with the 70s.