Getting ready for "Lost" week

Break out the McCutcheon whiskey! The blog is officially celebrating "Lost" week starting Monday, which yes, might be a bit of overkill considering the show hasn't been on hiatus THAT long.

But for "Lost" obsessives, five weeks is an eternity. I mean, since Rousseau and Karl got capped in the last pre-strike episode, I've been holed up in a dank room, maps strewn everywhere, trying to find my way back to the show. And the shaggy Jack beard ... well, I can't actually grow a beard, but folks, I guarantee it's a desperate scene. Also, it's probably no coincidence that since "Meet Kevin Johnson" last aired, I've been getting some messy nosebleeds. Where is my constant? WHERE?

Anyway, next week we have a planned interview with Jon Lachonis, a.k.a. Doc Arzt, a rabid "Lost" blogger who recently teleconferenced with show creators Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. Adam Reinhard and I will also be talking about potential future developments via our "Commercial Interruption" breakdown and counting down our favorite "Lost: Holy Crap!" moments. I'm sure a few more wrinkles will be tossed in for good measure, as both of us have been dissecting older episodes during this little respite. Either way, feel free to get the ball rolling on any of these ideas by leaving a comment or two.

But I won't leave you empty-handed through the weekend. That aforementioned teleconference is making the Internet rounds, and you can find some detailed scoopage at TV Guide, the Chicago Tribune and Doc Arzt's blog, among other places.

Some of the more interesting revelations from Lindelof and Cuse (slight spoilers may be involved):

On the last line of dialogue: "We need a little bit of wiggle room, but the last scene has definitely been determined. There would have to be some major shift in both our mindsets to back off that. That's what we've been working toward for a couple years, even before the [2010] end date was announced."

On any regret about the show's end date: "We've been lobbying for the end of the show since the first season of the show. And it has not at all been [a case of,] 'Be careful what you wish for.' Our mindset at the beginning of Season 3 as the characters were all locked in cages, versus the end of Season 3 where we began to answer questions, was so radically different. The feeling we have is one of lightness as we work toward the inevitable end point ... Anything is possible, but if Carlton and I ever say to you, 'We're starting to regret an end date,' it means we've been replaced by cyborgs or zombies or something."

On what books "Lost" fans should be reading: "Continue reading the Bible."

On potential deaths: "There are definitely some very large and seismic events that will happen to our castaways between now and the end of the season. By the end of the season some people's fates will be clear and others will not be so clear."

On what to expect for future episodes: The smoke monster "will be in the first episode back," and there will also be "a healthy dose of Jacob" before the end of the season. Also expect more of Penny, Charles Widmore, "compelling events" involving Claire, Rousseau possibly not being dead (?) and the origins of the four-toed statue.

And finally, there's this wonderfully convoluted stream of thought from Lindelof:

"There might come a time in the show where the word 'flash' becomes irrelevant. If you think about what we've done this year, there is the story on the island, which we perceive to be the present, then the story of the Oceanic Six, which is happening off the island in the future. But if we were to switch perspective ... and suddenly we were off the island, focusing on the Oceanic Six trying to get back [to the island], that would be the present. And what was happening back on the island would be either a parallel present, possibly a future, possibly a past, who knows. So when you hear that 'whoosh' noise [that indicates a time change], the question becomes, where does it take you? And so hopefully, if we do our jobs right in the finale, in the eight months in between the season finale and the season premiere next year, the audience will once again be asking, 'What the hell are they going to do in the season premiere?'"

That should whet the ol' island appetite. "Lost" is back Thursday at 9 p.m. CST.

-- Thomas Rozwadowski, trozwado@greenbaypressgazette.com