Lost Season Premiere

[Sydney]

What it is: That rare thing known as a cult blockbuster, "Lost" cast a mesmerizing spell last season with its suspenseful tale of airline crash survivors stuck on a very strange, danger-laden island in the South Pacific. Earned a richly deserved Emmy Award Sunday night as TV's top drama.

Where we left off: Frustrated, as logical Jack and metaphysical Locke opened the mysterious hatch and all we saw was a dark, narrow hole descending deep into the ground. Meanwhile, those freaky Others appeared like scraggly pirates in the night. They kidnapped young Walt and blew up the raft, tossing Michael, Jin and Sawyer into the murky ocean waters. Yikes.

== slight spoilers ==



What's coming next: Taking note of viewer dismay with the minimal-revelations season finale, the producers promise to take us down into the hatch-covered hole with Jack, Locke and Kate in the season opener. As the year progresses, the tension between Jack and Locke will grow. And by the end of the season, we'll discover exactly why Oceanic Flight 815 crashed.


New faces on the island: A trio of additional players join the cast party. Michelle Rodriguez was briefly seen as Ana Lucia last season, sharing a pre-flight drink with Jack at the airport in Sydney. Playing another survivor, Lake Orion's Cynthia Watros ("Titus") strolls into view as psychologist Libby on episode four. British actor and former "Oz" inmate Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje portrays a mystery man already living on the island. And we'll also see more of Julie Bowen ("Boston Legal") in flashbacks as Jack's wife.


Castaways 101: If you weren't hooked on "Lost" last season, there's still time. You can take a refresher course with "Destination Lost" at 8 tonight on ABC, preceding the second season premiere. "Destination Lost" focuses on flashbacks of the essential castaways.


Why "Lost" works so well: Characters, characters, really great characters. Let the Internet fan freaks babble obsessively about the show's spooky mythology and supernatural subtext. The heart and soul of the show is still the human-scale storytelling, anchored in a diverse, international assortment of emotionally layered, mysterious characters from inscrutable Locke to ultra-burly, laid-back Hurley to troubled Korean couple Jin and Sun.


What could go wrong: The supernatural sophomore slump. Intensely devoted fans of cultish, conspiracy-laced shows (i.e."The X-Files") are often the most unforgiving if an eerie, deeply tangled mystery is perceived to have lost its storytelling mojo. So the pressure's on the producers to keep peeling the "Lost" onion in compelling fashion. Otherwise, those guys may want to crawl down that hole and close the hatch after them.


- By Mike Duffy, Detroit Free Press