The Tail Section

From the Jan-11 issue of TV GUIDE; lot’s of things we already know but read carefully, definitely a few things here and there that will peak your interests.

Admit it. Five weeks without LOST have left you feeling desperate—like “Uh-oh, the alarm in the hatch is sounding and I can’t remember the numbers to punch into the doomsday computer” desperate. Never fear: ABC’s addictive hit is back with new episodes starting January 11. To prepare, you don’t need to pore over old ones looking for diose hidden Easter eggs. (Besides, you’ve already done that. Many times.) Instead, we’ve put together a cheat sheet to pivotal plot points from the past, along with a sneak peek at how those mysteries will shake up the survivors’ future. Tension with the Tailies: Mistaking Shannon for an Other, Ana Lucia killed her. So it’s not a shock that the fuselage folks have been a little apprehensive about the tail-section survivors joining their camp. Those feelings intensify on January 11 when the imposing Mr. Eko learns Charlie’s got a Virgin Mary statue, and demands the recovering junkie show him where he found it. That means a trek back to the downed Beechcraft full of heroin and a dead Nigerian “priest.” “Eko [is] connected into the story of the drug plane,” says executive producer Carlton Cuse. “People are curious about where that plane came from. We’re gonna explain that.” And what’s Eko been up to with that big stick he’s always carrying around? Reveals executive producer and cocreator Damon Lindelof, “He’s carving Scripture on it.” Remember the monster? We last saw it in May’s season finale, when it appeared as a slithering mass of black smoke. “We will be seeing the monster in the January 11] episode,” Lindelof says. Indeed, one character will have an up-close-and-personal encounter with the thing—so viewers will get a better, longer look, too.

Where’s Wait? At the end of the November 30 episode, Michael sat down at the hatch’s computer and got a shock: a message addressed to “Dad.” Is it really from his missing son, Walt? Or might it be the handiwork of the deadly Others who nabbed him? Our lips are sealed, but we’ll get closer to an answer when someone makes a chilling return in the January 18 episode.

When will we see more of Jack and Sawyer? With so much attention paid this season to introducing the Taiiies, several fan favorites have gotten short shrift. That’s about to change, producers promise. “We’re really going back to the roots of the show,” Cuse says. That means upcoming episodes focusing on Sayid, Charlie and Sawyer (look for Deadwood’s Kim Dickens to play another woman from the con man’s past in February). And on January 18, we’ll finally learn some of the problems that plagued Jack’s marriage to Sarah—and why that’s bad news for any romance with Kate.