According to Lindelof, "Season 4 is about who gets off the island and the fact that they need to get back. Season 5 is about why they need to get back, and season 6 is about what happens when they get back." Meaning there's going to be a lot of sitting around on that island throughout the rest of this season. Sure we've had some flash-forwards, but it feels like you're going to see Locke cooking breakfast for some time to come. Plus they've run out of eggs, so I hope everyone enjoys pancakes. Although they must realize it's getting slow, because Cuse added, "There will be very significant mysteries answered in the seventh episode. The eighth episode is non-traditional and the start of something new."

Remember how bad Season Three got last year? People were proclaiming the death of Lost everywhere, and the ratings were plummeting. Then all of the sudden it got better right at the end, and everyone cheered and said it had regained the magic. Well, we're several shows in, and it's already showing signs of sputtering again. We're bored with the whole fate of those left behind, the new Freighties are sort of boring, with the slight exception of Jeremy Davies. We're mired in squabbling that seems to repeat from episode to episode, the Dharma Initiative remains a big unanswered mystery, and it's just the Jack, Kate, Locke and sometimes Hurley & Sawyer show. If you think it's boring now, just wait. Lost takes a month-long break in a two weeks, then returns with the wacky episode 8. We hope it's not just another empty hatch.

The Wussification of Kate. Kate starts out as a tough girl on the lam from the law. She's ready to run into the jungle, face down boars, and crawl into hatches at the drop of a hat. Dressed in jeans and tee, she's prepared for anything. But when she is captured by the Others, she's forced to wear that filmy dress. Ben wants Kate to "look like a lady." Is this because Ben's messing with her mind, or because the writers want to tailor Kate into a more "feminine" character? In other words, is the the above clip about Ben finding a way to shame Kate or the show titillating viewers who want to see Evangeline Lilly in a skimpy frock? It's probably a little of both, but I fear it's weighted towards the latter. In any event, the moment when Kate stares at her new self in the mirror is way too "Very Personally Yours" for this writer's comfort, especially when Zeke whistles at her, then adds an ominous, "He's waiting." (For men, or women too young to have encountered VPY, it was a menstrual education pamphlet that told schoolgirls about the wonders of womanhood and Kotex pads.) The fact that the scene gives me the heebie-jeebies speaks to its effectiveness, yet it leads right into another criticism of the show.

Women=breeders. "He's waiting." There's something ominously sexual about that statement. Ben and his band of followers are obsessed with reproduction, given that the island seems to have rendered its inhabitants infertile. In order to follow that storyline, the female characters are either new mothers (Claire), pregnant (Sun), possibly pregnant (Kate, after a little caged delight with Sawyer), or working on getting women pregnant (Juliet). Um, hello? Some of us believe that biology is NOT destiny and would like some strong female characters who aren't defined by their breeding status. Or at least let us have the old Kate back. She may be wearing pants again, but she's gone all wimpy, locked as she is in the Jack/Kate/Sawyer soap opera triangle (or quadrangle, now that Jack and Juliet seem to be an item).
In fact, I'd prefer less soap opera and more smoke monsters across the board.

My nomination for worst episode: "Stranger In A Strange Land." I know that everybody loves to hate on season 3's "Exposé" ("Razzle dazzle!"). But while Lost's proclivity for introducing characters just to kill them off can be annoying, wasn't it satisfying to see Paulo and Nikki buried alive? When I first saw "Stranger in a Strange Land," I thought that my beloved Lost had jumped the shark. After all, the major point of the episode seems to be watching the fugtastic Bai Ling almost fall out of her clothing. Add whiny, annoying Jack to the mix, and I came very close to reaching for the remote. (There may be a gender divide here; when this episode came on during my friend's season 3 marathon party, three women suggested fast forwarding, while the male host frantically shushed us.)

My nomination for most annoying character: Juliet. Yesterday, somebody commented that he and his wife did a little jig when Charlie died. I disagreed with that, but if Juliet bit the big one, I'd do the same. She's a smarmy, smug uber-mom who calmly tells you what's best for you even though you're old enough to take care of yourself. She gets on my very last nerve every time she's on the screen, though I did enjoy seeing her husband get run over by a bus. Now, if only she did. Honorable mention: Jack.

A week from today, I'll be reviewing the season 4 opener. In the meantime, tell me about your hatiest Lost moments.

So, without the commercials you've still got about 75 minutes of Lost to watch next week, and rest assured they're probably saving the really good stuff for right before the second hour ends, all the better to make you turn in the following week. However, it's worth at least part of these six minutes to see Hurley continue to assert his newfound balls. Think he'll run over someone else with the van?

Red Hot Video: Lost Sneak Previews [E! Online]

You'll play Eliott, a character who (surprise!) we haven't seen before. He's suffering from amnesia, and will be sent all over the island solving mini-games, deciphering clues, and yes, even punching the sacred numbers into the hatch computer. You'll find out a bit more about stuff like the mysterious black smoke and the Black Rock ship that's been marooned on the island for years. You'll also interact with the main characters, although they've used soundalikes for most of them, which is fairly lame.

Since we've been wasting far too much time on the Lost viral marketing games, this game looks even more promising. Check out the trailer for it here. However, we wonder if automatonic versions of Jack, Kate, and Sawyer can tide us over. Will we be playing all of our favorite shows as video games in a few months? Come to think of it, we'd welcome the chance to play a cool Doctor Who or Battlestar Galactica game. Keyword being cool.

'Lost' Video Game Preview — Writer Taunts Me With Knowledge Of Black Smoke And Four-Toed Statue [MTV Multiplayer]

Well, if you haven't seen the show, then we doubt you'll "get it", but for the uninitiated out there, 815 was also the flight number of the Oceanic flight that crashed onto the island. We'd also forgotten about the four-toed giant statue... what the hell does that thing mean? Plus we love how they say Mr. Friendly throws like a girl because he most certainly does.

In the future, we wouldn't mind having all television shows and movies given to us this way. They've compressed 69 hours of Lost down to 8 minutes, and kept most of the pertinent facts that you need to know intact. At this rate, we could also watch every episode of Heroes, Battlestar Galactica, and the entire run of Planet of the Apes (both the movies and the television show) in an hour. Our brain might not survive the onslaught, but think of all the time we'd save. Plus it would make commercials entirely subliminal, which would thrill the advertisers. How can you skip past what you don't even know what you've seen?

Capsulized television. Bring it on.