It's not very spoilery.. only a few details like the new cast members and some stuff about Ben.
http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jan/29/forcast-stormy-lost/
By Walt Belcher of The Tampa Tribune
Published: January 29, 2008
TAMPA Fasten your remote control devices; it's going to be a bumpy ride.
"Lost," the riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, returns for an eight-episode run beginning at 9 Thursday.
It will be preceded by an hourlong recap of the story so far.
Fans of the ABC thriller can't wait to get back to the mysterious island where the survivors of the crash of Flight 815 are still trying to sort out polar bears, smoke monsters, secret hatches, the remains of an apparent mind control experiment gone awry and a dark, mean-spirited group called the Others.
Romantics in the audience are craving more of the Jack-Kate-Sawyer triangle. Will she end up with good boy or the bad boy? Hold that thought for the 117th and final episode, due sometime in 2010.
In fictional "Lost" time, the survivors have been on the island less than three months, but in fan time the adventure started in 2004.
The first half of the fourth season begins tonight. Thanks to the writers strike, the second half of this season may be postponed until the fall (or later).
For a while during the third season, it looked as if "Lost" had lost its way. The story got bogged down with a six-episode "miniseries" in the fall of 2006 involving the capture and torture of Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Jack (Matthew Fox) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway). New crash survivors Paolo (Rodrigo Santoro) and Nikki (Kiele Sanchez) seemed to come out of nowhere, and their stories were a waste of time.
It didn't help that ABC split the season into two parts. After the fall burst of episodes, there was a long break during which a quarter of the audience wandered off.
Creatively, the series found its way during the end of third season and ended with a cliffhanger that set the course for a finale that is 48 episodes away.
A year ago, ABC agreed with "Lost" executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse to end the series after three more seasons of just 16 episodes each.
The original plan for this fourth season was to show 16 new episodes without repeats, as Fox does with "24."
However, only eight episodes could be completed before the producers ran out of finished scripts, so the series faces an abrupt end to Season 4 in late March.
What can we expect from these "elite eight" that begin tonight? Here's what we know:
A new threat arrives on the island, a group of strangers who are very dangerous, says actor Michael Emerson, who plays Ben Linus, the creepy leader of the Others.
"There were two camps on the island, and now there will be a third, strangers who are more terrifying than anything you have seen before," he said in a recent telephone interview.
"Sympathies will be rearranged," he adds. "There is a new enemy that will cause new alliances and strange bedfellows."
By the end of tonight's episode, the castaways are split into two factions — one group led by Locke (Terry O'Quinn) and the other by Jack.
There will be some new faces in the cast, presumably from a freighter that was anchored offshore in the closing episode of the third season (last May).
In that cliffhanger, Ben warned Jack not to call the freighter for help. "Hopes of rescue will be dashed," Emerson says.
Among the newcomers are Jeff Fahey, 55, a film actor last seen in the movie "Grindhouse"; Fisher Stevens, 44, who has been in numerous films ("Short Circuit") and TV shows; Jeremy Davies, 39, who played Charles Manson in the 2004 remake of "Helter Skelter"; Lance Reddick, who has been in numerous TV series, from "The Wire" to "Law & Order"; Ken Leung, 38 ("Rush Hour," "The Sopranos"); and Rebecca Mader, 27, a British actress who was in the short-lived 2006 Fox drama "Justice."
Emerson says he has filmed scenes with several of them. All he can say is "characters they play are challenging and serious and very dangerous."
In addition to flashbacks, there will be flash-forwards this season. In the cliffhanger ending last May, a flash-forward revealed that thoughtful, hunky doctor Jack and sexy fugitive Kate had made it off the island. But, darn it, Jack, is telling her they have to go back.
"This fast-forward device is a stroke of genius," says Emerson. "None of us in the cast except Matthew and Evangeline knew that was coming. In my script for the finale, those scenes were blank pages. The first time I saw it was when it aired. The future segments open up some interesting and incredible opportunities."
Fox has sad that viewers will begin to see other castaways who got off the island.
The many online sites devoted to the show are buzzing that there are clues that only six make it — and that is why Jack and the others who do escape are feeling so guilty about what happened.
In a fast-forward tonight, Jack is seen drinking a morning cocktail while watching TV coverage of Los Angeles cops chasing a speeding car. We learn the driver is a fellow castaway who, like Jack, is haunted by what happened on the island.
The Michael Davidson character, played by Harold Perrineau, will return. Michael was last seen in the Season 2 finale sailing off into the island with his young son Walt (Malcolm David Kelley).
Reportedly, Michael will be the key to a cliffhanger at the end of episode 8.
Ben may not be all bad. Emerson says Ben may yet become "a character that has heroic dimension."
He says it hasn't been easy being labeled "that creepy guy from 'Lost,' " because in most of his stage work he has played comedic roles. "I'm really a nice guy," he says. "But this role probably means 'creepy' will be on my epitaph."
"Most of the time I've been cast as the funny guy or the dopey guy or the wise guy," he says, noting that he did making a lasting impression on some TV viewers when he played a serial killer on "The Practice."
He says Ben will have to go through some pain before we learn whether he is vindicated.
"He is caught in the middle of a war, and it's not clear yet who the enemy is yet, so we shouldn't rush to judge his behavior," Emerson says. "I have hope that he will eventually do the right thing, but like all the other actors on this show, I am at the mercy of the script," he says.
For a quick catch-up on "Lost," see "Everything you need to know about 'Lost' in 8 minutes, 15 seconds" on ABC.com.
I'll watch it later.