Counting Down to Season Five

With a new year upon us (welcome, 2009!), we now find ourselves counting down the days until the fifth-season premiere of Lost on January 21. And while there will be LOTS going on this season, let me warn you now not to miss the first two episodes of Lost's new season.

For those of you who like to remain spoiler-free, don't worry: what I'm about to share with you doesn't give anything major away. If anything, these couple of tidbits should only serve to whet your appetite for more Lost.

First of all, make sure that you don't miss the first few minutes of episode one. In it, the producers are gracious enough to divulge a major secret about the island. Of course, in true Lost fashion, it's an answer to a question which only serves to create many more questions.

In addition to this, watch for the return of the mysterious Ms. Hawking, played by the always-excellent Fionnula Flanagan. In case you've forgotten, when I spent some time chatting with Ms. Flanagan at a party not too long ago (yes, that's the two of us in the photo), she told me that she would be making a return appearance to Lost, although at the time she didn't know the exact nature of her character's return.

For those of you expecting Ms. Hawking to reappear with Desmond, be prepared for a surprise: Ms. Hawking seems to have some business to conduct with... Ben. Yes, Ben.

Oh yeah... it's going to be a good season.