"Lost" Review: Don't Get Left Behind...Or Ahead

It’s days like this that make me love this job…

I can proudly tell you that today I saw the first two hours of the new season of “Lost.”

But that’s about all I can tell you…

And not just because I’m sworn to secrecy by ABC, but also because I’m really not sure what happened. I guess that’s the disadvantage of watching it before it airs. No Doc Jensen recap.

But even with his help, there would still be SO many unanswered questions...

Basically the premiere picks up where the finale left off with Ben turning the wheel to move the island. And as you’ve probably already guessed, the key to the location of the island is not where, but when…

Now everything I know about time travel I learned from “Back to the Future,” so Daniel Faraday’s (Jeremy Davies) string explanations are WAY over my head. But what I can tell you is that bad things are happening on the island and if Jack (Matthew Fox) and the rest of the Oceanic Six don’t get back there soon, then Sawyer, Juliet and the others are going to have REALLY bad things happen to them.

And I have never been able to figure out the deal with Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), so I didn’t even try to understand that part (Yes, Desmond is back.)…

Amidst the confusion of the island, there are some pretty cool moments. Sayid (Naveen Andrews) goes Jack Bauer on some bad guys. Ben (Michael Emerson) is, well, Ben, which is always cool in a creepy way. And even though his life is in danger, Hurley (Jorge Garcia) manages to bring a little humor to the situation. The best moment is in part two of the premiere when he confesses to his mother the lie the Oceanic Six have been telling for the past three years. As he recaps the story for her, he confesses that he “never really understood” the whole button thing with the hatch—an obvious wink to viewers who complained about never getting it either.

Plus, we see more than one person come back from the dead (sort of) including someone I never dreamed we’d see on “Lost” again. And Richard (Nestor Carbonell), the ageless Other, is back to confuse us even more…

And there’s someone else that I’m sure I was supposed to recognize but didn’t (since I only recently became a Lostie) that will play a key role in Ben’s plans to get the Six back to the island. Hopefully, Doc Jensen will clear that one up for me when the episode airs.

For the record, I thought the episodes were solid even though they’re nothing like we’ve seen from “Lost” before.

Just make sure you’re paying attention or you might get left behind…or is it ahead?...

“Lost” premieres with a two-hour episode Wednesday, January 22nd at 9 p.m. on ABC…

Photo Credit: Florian Schneider & Bob D'Amico/ABC