Parsing the Posters

We're still a few weeks away from the big season 6 premiere - now free from interruption by that pesky State of the Union - and it's time to let the crazy guessing and speculation begin!

(Note: I have not yet rewatched Season 5, so I'm still a little fuzzy on the details... feel free to remind me of things in the comments my dear readers.)

I'll start with some of the questions raised by this series of 3 posters for Season 6:

Here's the typical full cast of characters shot. And, wow, it's almost the FULL cast of characters. Look who's there! Juliet! Claire! Boone! Shannon! Nikki and Paolo! Libby and Ana-Lulu! Michael! Eko! Rousseau! Charlie! All of the Freighter 4, Rose and Bernard, even Vincent (woof)! So.... what does that mean? And, who's missing? I don't see Alex or Aaron, or Penny. Alex and Aaron were both born on the Island.... hmmm. Penny? Can't explain that one. Our main characters - Kate, Jack, Sawyer, Locke, Ben, and sometimes Sayid are all right there in the middle - Locke with his back turned. Hmmmm.... is he dead and resurrected? Is he the Man in Black?

Next, check out this year's version of the intense stare poster. I still can't figure out who that is on top to the left of Richard - any thoughts? Again we have the whole host of familiar faces giving us that LOST million-mile stare. This has several long-lost (ha) characters, but not all of them. Curiouser and curiouser...



And, finally, we have this amazing LOST Last Supper image. John Locke as the resurrected Messiah, surrounded by all of our current living characters (plus? including? Claire). Great imagery here, of course. As one friend pointed out, unlike in the actual Last Supper no one has their back to Locke - what does that imply about whether betrayal is at work?


(Image sources for image 1 and image 2. Image 3 was found via a friend.)

So, what does all this mean? That the LOST folks love messin' with our heads? Yes. But what else?

It seems we were left with one big cliffhanger at the end of Season 5- did Juliet succeed in hitting that proverbial reset button? Will the new season start back in September 2001, before flight 815 ever goes down? Does the crash still happen, or will our heroes now somehow be able to stop it?

This possibility raises all kinds of questions for me.... if 815 never crashes, then I don't see any way all of these characters will continue to have a story together. I am pretty sure Damon and Carlton won't give us a whole season of the 815ers landing in LA and going about their separate lives, never even knowing about the existence of the Island.

So - I don't think the reset worked. Or at least, not entirely. There has to be some explanation for all of these dead characters coming back (is it finally the long-promised Zombie Season??), but knowing LOST I'd think it's more likely that they all enter some kind of new dimension or limbo where they see the dead walking the Island rather than just making all of the last 5 seasons not have happened.

Or, if something did reset, perhaps the characters retain all knowledge of what they've been through, just like they did on all the time skips. That would be one crazy mind trip for all of them - and maybe that way the crash doesn't happen but they all somehow find the Island and go back anyway. ("We have to go back, Kate!!!" It just wouldn't be LOST without Jack having something to yell about.)

I really have no idea what's going to happen next -- what do you all think? Does the crash still happen? Do they stay in the 1970's or somehow make it back to the Aughts? Do the dead come back to life, or did they never even die in the first place?

Oh, I can't wait!