I am – Hercules!!


“Lost” showrunner Carlton Cuse confirmed recently that Claire’s son Aaron is aging normally -- and that something like three years has transpired since the 100 days Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid and Sun spent on Dharma Island.

Three years.

ABC says:

The face-off between the survivors and the freighter people continues, and the Oceanic Six find themselves closer to rescue. Guest starring are Jeremy Davies as Daniel Faraday, Ken Leung as Miles Straume, Rebecca Mader as Charlotte Lewis, Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, L. Scott Caldwell as Rose, Malcolm David Kelley as Walt, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, John Terry as Christian Shephard, Sonya Walger as Penelope "Penny" Widmore, Alan Dale as Charles Widmore, Kevin Durand as Keamy, Francois Chau as Dr. Marvin Candle, Anthony Azizi as Omar, Alex Petrovitch as Henrik and Starletta DuPois as Michael's mom.

Is Ben in the casket? Will Sayid put the band back together for its inevitable comeback tour? Does a problem with little Aaron motivate Kate to disregard her parole conditions and break out the tambourine?

By the end of tonight’s two hours will we finally see what the three-years-later Locke looks like? A Jacob-y beard and long grey hair? The scar framing his eye faded to nothing, but perhaps enhanced by facepaint? An extra hundred pounds, Lee Adama-style?

(Ever since “Alias” did it at the end of its second season, this business of TV shows leaping a year or more into the future has gotten right popular. Not only “Battlestar Galactica,” but also outright shitty shows like “One Tree Hill” and “Desperate Housewives” have adopted the strategy. Even “Veronica Mars” was going to make a five-year run at it before Les Moonves decided he thought “Life Is Wild” a better use of a budget. I digress.)

Even if his head looks less like Marlon Brando’s, is Locke now locked into the Kurtz figure from “Heart of Darkness”?

And if Jack Shephard emerges as the Marlow/Willard character, trying to find Locke in that tropical jungle, what role does James Ford fill?

Tonight we learn more about Ben Linus, and more about Charles Widmore.

Greg Grunberg, the pilot in the pilot, returns for what is rumored to be tonight’s only flashback.

Michael, Jin and Desmond will deal with the freighter bomb. Not with a lot of success, one assumes.

Miles, who seems to know a secret about Charlotte, will tell Daniel he wants to stay on the island.

Sawyer will make it onto Lapidus’ helicopter with Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid. But a heroic sacrifice will need to be made …

Variety has clips from the finale here.

Emmy People!! Don’t forget Michael Emerson, Ken Leung and Jeremy Davies when you’re filling out that nomination ballot!!

9 p.m. Thursday. ABC.

Lost 4.x

Lost 4.x (Blu-ray)