Lost Season 4 Prep Guide

Lost Season 4 begins Thursday, January 31 with the first new episode in nine months. In case the long hiatus has left you a little unsure of just where things stand, here is a quick guide to get you back up to speed.

Anyone who had a pulse and a TV tuned to the correct station surely remembers the revelation of the Lost Season 3 finale. There really is a way off the island and at least Jack and Kate will be able to use it. Unfortunately, Jack in the future will not think that leaving was such a good idea. The other unfortunate revelation is that Desmond's premonitions turned out to be true and Charlie's only future appearances on the show will be ghostly (perhaps wet and backwards) or in flashbacks.

The issue of pregnancy still hangs over the heads of many of the flight 815 survivors. We know that no woman who has conceived on the island has survived the pregnancy. Juliet has confirmed that Sun is pregnant by Jin, which is good news for their relationship but bad news for her survival. Kate appears to be pregnant as well, presumably as a result of her time in Sawyer's cage. Any other woman on the island may be at risk from the same fate, as birth control is sure to be in short supply among the survivors.

It appears that Ben has been truly defeated as ruler of the island people. His great persuasive abilities were not enough to keep Locke out of the way or stop Jack from bringing yet more outsiders to the island. On top of that, it appears that his overbearing parenting style has driven his daughter away for good. However, Ben still holds one advantage - his ability to commune with the mysterious Jacob.

Locke may be on the upswing again. After being shot point blank by Ben, Locke appeared to be out of the picture for good. But it seems the island was not done with its favorite puppet yet. Thanks to a pep talk from a new (and probably the last) vision of Walt, Locke climbed up out of the mass grave and commenced causing trouble in the name of The Island. He finally found it within himself to kill when the interloping Penelope first used the satellite phone, but when Jack took over the phone, Locke backed down and slipped back into the trees with vague warnings about how wrong everything was.

Jack is at the top of his game. He took on the mantle of leadership and rallied the other 815 survivors. His plan worked, well enough if not perfectly, and he finally made contact with the outside world. We even know that he won't remain lost for much longer. It would seem that everything was going right for him if we hadn't seen a glimpse of his drug-addicted, Pacific-hopping future.

Season 4 will bring us an island in chaos. There are many potential leaders, but none that is clearly the best. Who will eventually win control of the island: true-believer Locke, rational Jack, overbearing Ben, or the mystical, mysterious Jacob? Or will the new arrivals from the freighter ruin everything? We will get our first clues to these answers when Lost Season 4 begins Thursday night.