SueTube – Let’s talk TV with critic Susan Young

“Lost” creator Damon Lindelof made no bones about it in January: He wanted to announce an end to “Lost” and he didn’t want to go much past 100 episodes – the golden number for syndication.

Damon figured that meant that “Lost” would end either next season or possibly the season after. Instead, “Lost” will bow out in the spring of 2010.

The hitch is that both Damon and ABC got what they wanted, because the seasons will be abbreviated. There will only be 48 more original episodes of “Lost.”

Starting with the 2007-08 season, ABC will begin airing the 48 remaining original episodes. The episodes will air uninterrupted over three seasons (16 episodes each season), with the series concluding in 2009-10 with what the network is calling a “shocking finale.”

“In considering the powerful storytelling of ‘Lost,’ we felt this was the only way to give it a proper creative conclusion,” says ABC entertainment president Stephen McPherson. “I always said that we would allow the series to grow and give viewers the most compelling hour possible. And, due to the unique nature of the series, we knew it would require an end date to keep the integrity and strength of the show consistent throughout, and to give the audience the payoff they deserve. ”

We, of course, means Damon.

Damon and Carlton Cuse have signed on to complete the series.

“This is a bold and unprecedented move for ABC,” said Damon and Carlton in a prepared statement. “We always envisioned ‘Lost’ as a show with a beginning, middle and end. By officially announcing exactly when that ending will be, the audience will now have the security of knowing that the story will play out as we’ve intended.”

Now we know why Desmond likes to call everyone “Brother” on “Lost.”

Turns out that after a drunken spree to avoid marrying his girlfriend Ruth, Des wakes up to find Brother Campbell in his monk frock ready to take him away to monk-land.

Sure he’s found his true calling, Des is ready to take on the robe when Ruth’s brother finally tracks him down and punches him in the snout. Des gets smashed on monk wine and gets booted out of the monkery. But not before we have a little scene between Des and Brother Campbell, who tells him he’s destined for greater things.

On Brother Campbell’s desk is a picture of the brother and Ms. Hawking. If you remember, she’s the soothsayer who was working at the store where Desmond goes to buy an engagement ring for Penny during his flashback/dream after he turned the fail-safe key.

She knows all about his timeline, which went wonky after he turned the key. She tells him he has to stay the path or else everyone’s going to die. Besides, she tell him, fate has a way of “course-correcting,” which is why Des seems destined to be saving Charlie for the rest of his island stay.

CHARLIE AND DESMOND

But now we’re wondering about the girl who parachuted out of the helicopter (???) into the forest. Des thought for sure it was his beloved Penny, but we don’t know this girl.

But she knew Des. She mumbled his name right before she passed out, or died.

Do we have a new person on the island? Probably not. But we do know there is a way on and off the island if the castaways only had a submarine…or a helicopter.

Next week looks great with a Sun-centric episode.

You can’t trust what the promos say, but it was interesting that tonight’s episode of “Lost” ended with the narrator telling us that the countdown to the end was coming.

This seems to confirm what creator Damon Lindelof said in January about next season being perhaps the last for the mysterious drama.

Just a little tangent here, but did anyone else get a little teary when Sawyer and Kate came together? While we’re talking about Sawyer, we’re glad he’s back with the nicknames. Three Men and a Baby…

In any case, it seems that the writers are trying to toss a few bones to fans and critics of the series. We loved it when Sayid finally said what we’d all been thinking: Give us some answers about this island.

Tonight, our suspections about Juliet were confirmed: She’s no good.

DON’T TRUST JULIET NO MATTER HOW LONELY SHE LOOKS

She was brought to the island to “create life where life is not meant to be,” she’s told. Women who try to have babies die here. So the Others snatch the children of those unfortunate enough to land on this rock.

The Others can cure cancer. So, why did they need Jack to take out a tumor? Apparently, Jack’s not the target after all. The targets are mother Claire and mother to be Sun.

After learning about Juliet’s plan with Ben (and that comment about “after all we’ve done to them”), we know nothing good is about to happen to our castaways.

Remember that Goodwin, Juliet’s lover, was killed by Ana-Lucia after she realized he was probably an Other and not a tailie as he tried to portray. Goodwin, you’ll remember, snapped the neck of Nathan – a guy Goodwin said “was not a good man.”

And hats off to the writers, who gave us a lot of tidbits, but left the larger mysteries of the island still buried.

They also presented a few new questions like why is it better to arrive unconscious? And why was Danielle Rousseau able to have a baby on the island? We also heard the theme of good and bad people once again, as Jack tells Juliet that the crash survivors are “good people.”

I’d also like to think that Jack hasn’t really been taken in by Juliet and is just playing along until he can figure out here game. But if that’s the case, why did he let her treat Claire? Is it because he some how figured out Ben and Juliet’s game?

Ah, the plot just keeps on getting thicker.

It’s baaacck.

We’re talking about the black smoke that smotes the bad guys and scares everyone else. Tonight, it chased down Kate and Juliet. Juliet says The Others don’t know what it is either, they just know that it can’t get past their super-shield fences.

What’s the flash? What’s the gear noise? How can black smoke be so stinkin’ loud?

Oh, and Sawyer’s a good guy who is about to be a papa – even though he doesn’t know it. Turns out the woman he conned and dumped is pregnant, and that she and Kate had a close encounter of the mom kind in the Before Crash world.

And Kate’s got second thoughts about boinking Sawyer now that she knows Jack and Others played peep show.

The interaction between Hurley and Sawyer always makes me smile. But I’m beginning to be so over Locke. We know that Locke is the key to the island. But does he have to be such a jerk about it?

What was that pious speech he gave to Kate about how he tried to tell them what a good person she was, but they had the rap sheet and aren’t quite as forgiving and forgetting about the past.

When are the Others going to get smoked?

And does anyone trust Juliet? I’m with Sayid about the trust factor.

J.J. Abrams has long professed his love of “The Twilight Zone” and, while he didn’t write this week’s episode, you knew this had to have his stamp of approval.

Creator Damon Lindelof has said that some characters only exist to serve other characters, and that seems to be the fate of Nikki and Paulo.

On one hand, we had the little “Zone” homage about how this wicked couple pays dearly for their crimes. On the other, we have another view of the events that have unfolded since the crash.

But what I thought was the most significant scene was between Ben and Juliet in the hatch, monitoring Jack and plotting how to get Jack to do the surgery on Ben.

Paulo knew that Jack, Kate and Sawyer would be kidnapped by The Others. Interesting.

Nikki stumbles out of the jungle, falling down in front of Sawyer and Hurley

In any event, the episode ended in typical “Twilight Zone” fashion with the two getting buried alive – a just punishment for two murderers.

And now we’ll find out how Sawyer, and Charlie, will pay for their role in kidnapping Sun after Charlie confessed all to Sun.

Sun slaps Sawyer after finding out he is the one who kidnapped her.

Next week, Sawyer gets slapped with the reality of being selfish, while Kate and Juliet spend some quality time together.

The week after, Jack returns to the Lost tribe and brings Juliet with him.

I don’t trust Juliet, and I think she’s still playing a game on Jack with the help of Ben. But maybe that’s just me.

Let’s discuss.

I’ll get this out of the way right now: I’m enjoying “Lost” again, but “Heroes” is still my fav.

And why, you might ask?

Because on Monday, “Heroes” managed to cover so much territory, yet it never bogged down and never seemed crowded. And by the end, questions were answered and more questions popped up.

First, we get chills knowing Malcolm McDowell, Mr. Clockwork Orange himself, is the mysterious Linderman. We also discover that Mama Petrelli not only knows about her cheerleader granddaughter, but may have engineered her escape.

We also learned that good Ali Larter can sometimes overpower bad Ali Larter.

And just how cool was it when Ando came to save the day for Hiro? Or when Mohinder confronted Sylar when we all thought he was fooled – only to have the tables turned on Mohinder?

But the juiciest part for “Felicity” fans was seeing delightful Ian Gomez as Linderman’s curator.
You go, Javier Clemente Quintata!

Next week, Sylar and Peter face off in a fierce battle.

Which leads us to tonight’s episode of “Lost” and what-have-we-learned.

We got a little bit of frolickin’ fun on the beach, with Sawyer getting shut down on the nicknames. Luckily, it will just be for a week.

But more importantly, we learned that The Others aren’t from the Dharma Initiative, that The Others were on the island before Dharma and that the “Lost” writers sometimes feel like they have to hit us over the head with certain images.

Like the kitty-cat.

Yep, we saw the long, lingering shot of the cat when Sayid approached the house. We saw it again when the cat scratched the hidden trap door, tipping off Sayid as to where another Other was hiding. And we saw it again on the lap of the woman Sayid tortured in his flashback.

So did we HAVE to show the puddy-tat one more time as Sayid left the blown-up island building?

We get it. Cat significant.

Oh, and there are horses and cows on the island. And eye-patch guy isn’t all that nice.

Still, a good show and one I’ll be watching until the end.

Oh, and I loved the whole nickname bit with Sawyer, but my favorite line was when he said to Nikki (Kiele Sanchez) “Who the hell are you?”

Who indeed.

Funny you should mention hope, Dino-Ray, because right after I read your post I got next week’s episode of “Lost” in the mail.

Like Pavlov’s Dog, I jumped on it.

It’s all about hope and Hurley, with a nice little flashback to Hurley getting deserted by his dad played by Cheech Marin. (Hey, that’s not a spoiler).

Anyway, Sawyer’s back in fine form, tossing out a record-breaking number of nicknames. We’ve also got some sweet time with Jin and Sun, and good times with Charlie.

Finally, a feel-good “Lost.” And there’s even a nice bone for those of us always looking for a little mythology tidbit.

Check it out. We’ve found our “Lost” again.

DANIEL DAE KIM, JORGE GARCIA, JOSH HOLLOWAY AND THEIR DHARMA FRIEND

So what have we learned in the past two episodes?

We found out that turning the key is Desmond’s destiny, and that his girlfriend Penny’s sinister dad has a picture of a polar bear in his office.

Stop tweaking me, Lost writers.

Then last night we have sort of a Jack-centric episode that jerks us around about how Jack got his tats and what they mean. It was a like a bad SNL skit about Dancing with Wolves: Jack is man who walks with us but alone?

Get off the island, man.

Also, we find out that Alcatraz is just some island where The Others work and apparently, when they aren’t working, they live in some comfy suburb with regular backyards where teens gaze at the stars at night.

That is, when they aren’t being killed by the elders for crossing the line.

And the stewardess from Flight 815 likes looking at Jack caged up.

Get me back to my peeps on the island. I want Sayid, Hurley, Jin, Sun and Locke. And I want Sawyer, Kate and Jack back with them

And next week, could Charlie be the next character to move on to the next world?