Tips for Season Five of Lost

Call them New Year's Resolutions if you'd like, but considering the questions and quandaries of Lost fans old and new, let's face it: the folks behind this popular television series have to throw us a bone or two! We all know the show is called Lost, but that doesn't mean we should all be completely lost while watching it! Here are some suggestions for the writers and producers for the fifth season of ABC's Lost.

Explain Something . . . Anything.

The people behind Lost need to do their viewers a favor and explain . . . anything. Explain how the island disappeared into thin air. Explain how and why Locke died. Explain what Benjamin Linus did to "hide" the island, or how he wound up off the island. Tell us what happened to Claire. Better still, tell us how Claire and her and Jack's dead father wound up in that cabin in the woods that mysteriously appears and disappears seemingly at its own will. Explain something; explain anything! Lots of viewers are getting a little tired of the series' insistence upon leaving us wondering, "Wait . . . what?"

Leave the Dead Dead . . .

It seems like the only thing that happens more often than death on Lost is surprise resurrections. Mr. Friendly showed up stateside when Michael was sent back to the mainland. Jack and Claire's father showed up on the island. Different castaways have had visions involving other-- very dead-- castaways. It's a wonder that little island isn't running wild with dead people, or hosting the next zombie soiree. Here's hoping the writers and producers of Lost manage to leave at least some of the deceased characters dead. Otherwise, we'll never believe them when they kill off another character. It's becoming a perpetual, "Oh no, I love that guy! Oh wait . . . he'll be back" situation.

. . . Except Charlie.

Okay, I know I just finished saying that the dead should be left to rest in peace. But it's also pretty certain that some Lost fans will lose it if they don't get a Charlie-fix in some way, shape, or flashback. This past season, we've already seen Oceanic-Six-Hurley plagued by visions of the deceased Charlie. The writers can't just let that one go. They'll have to at least figure Charlie into some hallucination scene, or incorporate him in some heart-wrenching flashback. But fans need Charlie like Charlie needed those Virgin Mary statuettes. And that's a pretty strong fix.

Don't Forget About Desmond.

Yeah, great, Desmond and Penny finally found each other again. I'm sure by the start of the new season they'll be off basking in the sun enjoying gazing into each other's faces lovingly for hours on end. And as disgusting as that might sound, it would be even more disgusting to not let us see maybe a tiny bit of it. At least let us know what Desmond is up to! Seeing as Daddy Widmore is on the prowl searching for they mysterious island Desmond was stranded on for so long, it would be very negligent of the writers not to have Desmond used as some pawn in tracking down his happily abandoned home-away-from-home. Not to mention the fact that a lot-- I mean a lot-- of female fans would never forgive the show's writers and producers if they didn't get to gaze upon Des' handsome face one more time. That's not a fan base you want to mess with, brother!

Bring Back the Smart Jack!

Does everyone remember in the first season of Lost, when Jack was smart and helped organize the chaos of a plane crash? Do we remember the Jack who kept people safe by keeping his head, who saw through the charade of Benjamin Linus' earlier act of being an innocent parachute-accident victim? Does anyone remember this Jack? Let's hope we return to some Old School Jack, because the Jack of late-- the Jack who always, always, makes the wrong decisions, from not believing the importance of inputting the numbers to (apparently) the decision to leave the island-- is getting . . . well, a little kill-off-able. Enough with the leaders who are incapable of leading people anywhere, except towards certain death! Hopefully the first few episodes of the new season will knock some brains back into Jack, sober him up, and get him back to his smart-guy roots.

Season Five of ABC's Lost premieres on January 21^st, 2009 at 9/8 Central. Tune in to see the return of your favorite characters (and to see if the producers take any of these suggestions)!