Who are the others? A bunch of barefoot hillbillys into stuffed animal bondage. That is about all we learned about the dread others tonight as Michael headed off in an ultimately anti-climatic search for Walt in the fifth episode of LOST Season 2, '... And Found."

Clearly, LOST has recalibrated itself back to the frustratingly slow 'drip' of information akin to season one; what will no doubt be the hallmark of the LOST formula. More on that later... now for the recap:

First impressions: Ana Lucia calms down a little bit, and we even get to see Jin silently mock her uber-tude. All in all, those who hated her in previous episodes should find her temperature approaching "Just right", and those few who actually liked the reenactment of grrrl fight: too bad.

Plot points: Sun LOST her wedding ring; we found out how Sun and Jin met; Sawyer's shoulder is starting to present some complications; Mr. Ecko is one cool dude; the Others have feet of steel; Libby's mystery machine is a radio; and last but not least, Kate began to show some signs of distress over the questionable fate of Sawyer!

A kinder (kinda) and gentler Ana Lucia reveals she is not married although Sawyer thinks she's well suited for it. (My wife wants to know what that is supposed to imply.)

"...Hello ...can you repeat your transmission ... We're survivors of oceanic flight 815!"

Hurley was convinced that Vincent ate Sun's wedding ring, so they shared a comical moment debating the virtues of animal feces treasure hunts.

When we met the man who almost stole Sun's heart, the suave Mr. Lee, the dog turd reference almost seemed allegorical.

Jin came face to face with the Other's handy-work. (Poor Goodwin.)

We discovered that the Others are very dirty and do not wear shoes. They either have not discovered the fresh water on the island, or they just got done making wine.

No doubt the big reveal was Jin's email address on his resume. (Boy, somebody is going to be pissed.)

Okay, time to sound off. LOST is in seriousjeopardyy of jumping the shark. I love LOST. It took some time for me to give in and actually watch it last year because let's face it, the concept at first seems to be pretty mundane. And there were moments last year where you were saying, yeah this is pretty mundane. Then there would be one of those "OH, MY, GOD!" Moments where you would be like, I HAVE TO TUNE IN NEXT WEEK! I MUST! IT IS THE PURPOSE OF MY LIFE! Out of the five episodes of LOST so far this season I would say that only the first two had that kind of impact on me.

It is sad as well to note that the teaser for the next episode of LOST actually says that someone is going to die. There was actually nothing else in the episode of LOST that would bring me back, at all. Michael broke off his search for Walt so there is no impending-one-man-against-an-army-of-Others confrontation in the wings! Imagine: Instead of the cheap death trick, Abandoned is really about Michael's refusal to back down against the odds. He struggles over the crest of a hill and finds a huge outdoor compound which runs into some major industrial looking structure built into the side of a mountain with a Gigantic Dharma logo above the entrance. But he doesn't care about that. He is just here to get his boy back. For the next couple of episodes, we let the audience sweat it out until Michael comes strolling into camp. Maybe with Walt at his side, maybe not. But for sure he has a story to tell. Nah, let's just have him walk back to camp and give up.

The fact that the geniuses behind LOST are reducing themselves to relying on what has become a prime-time drama cliche to get people to tune in, is really kind of demeaning to the show. I'll be putting that promo up in a few hours so you can see for yourself. In my humble opinion, making killing a major character a part of the running formula of LOST is a mistake. It generates a lot of discussion, for sure, but who is going to say they were brought to LOST because they heard that major characters get killed offoccasionaly.

Essentially, we got a whole lot of info that fleshed out character aspects which really didn't matter. And no, the lame 'It will make sense later' staple LOST excuse is no longer holding water. It is time for the emperor to get his ass dressed. After 28 episodes, LOST still gives the impression that it has a bigger story to tell, but no ambition to tell it.