LOST 5.16/5.17 “The Incident” pregame

Today is the day. The end of Season 5. The last season-ending cliffhanger Lost will ever produce. The prelude to the final season.

Whatever you want to call it, tonight is the night that “The Incident” airs. Remember that it’s a 2-hour episode, beginning at 9:00pm EST/PST, and it’s preceded at 8:00pm by another Lost recap/clip show.

Let’s start, as always, by taking a look at ABC’s official synopsis and guest cast for the episode. The SPOILER WARNING flashing neon light is on from here on out — though I won’t be spilling any major secrets, just teaser-y stuff. Strap in and get ready, this is going to be a big one…

“The Incident”

written by Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse
directed by Jack Bender

Jack’s decision to put a plan in action in order to set things right on the island is met with some strong resistance by those close to him, and Locke assigns Ben a difficult task.

Guest cast:
L. Scott Caldwell as Rose
Sam Anderson as Bernard
John Terry as Christian Shephard
Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert
Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus
Francois Chau as Dr. Pierre Chang
Patrick Fischler as Phil
Eric Lange as Radzinsky
Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana
Brad William Henke as Bram
Jon Gries as Roger Linus
Alice Evans as younger Eloise Hawking
Andrea Gabriel as Noor “Nadia” Abed Jaseem
Kevin Chapman as Mitch
Mark Pellegrino as man #1
Titus Welliver as man #2
Emily Rae Argenti as young Kate
Tanner Maguire as young Tom
George Gerdes as Mr. Springer
Agnes Kwak as Aunt Soo
Amy Stewart as mother
Rylee Fansler as young Juliet
Savannah Lathem as young Rachel
William Makozak as Captain Bird
Daniel James Kunkel as anesthesiologist
Sonya Masinovsky as Russian nurse
Keegan Boos as young Sawyer
Colby French as Uncle Doug
John Pete as prison clerk
Michael Trisler as father
Sally Davis as woman
Adam Bazzi as cab driver

According to TV Guide, the flashbacks in the episode focus on Kate, Juliet, and Sawyer, so it sounds like Sawyer’s conflicted feelings might just be resolved once and for all. (Go Juliet!)

Courtesy of E! Online, here are 4 early peeks at “The Incident”:

Next up, I thought it might be useful to have a reminder of the still-unanswered major mysteries that have come up in Season 5. I’m not going to get into every single bit of minutae. These are the biggest unresolved mysteries or questions that closure is still needed for, from this season:

• Can the past be changed? Or is the “whatever happened, happened” rule unequivocally absolute?
• Why did Locke have to bring the Oceanic 6 back to the island in order to save it?
• Where did the Others come from? Are they truly indigenous to the island, or are they all immigrants? From what does their claim of ownership over the island stem?
• Eloise Hawking, mother of Daniel Faraday, former lover of Charles Widmore, and former Other, now lives off the island and seems to have the ability to see the future. What are the circumstances of her exodus from the island, and how did she gain her precognative ability?
• Who is Richard Alpert? How old is he? Why has he been able to live for so long?
• Who is Jacob? What does he want? Where did he come from? Why is he seemingly invisible? Why is he so powerful? And why do the Others operate under his orders?
• Who chased and shot at the time-jumping survivors, seemingly in the future (based on the abandoned beach camp) on their canoe, when they were traveling to the Orchid?
• What are the Whispers?
• What is the smoke monster? Its purpose seems to revolve around judging those who come to the island, but why? Where did it come from?
• What happened to Danielle’s friends when they went under the temple? Did the smoke monster change them somehow?
• Who built the tunnels under the island? Is the island connected to Egyptian history or mythology, since we’ve seen Egyptian-looking hieroglyphs all over the island’s most ancient structures?
• Where did the frozen wheel come from? Is it connected to the Tunnels and smokey’s lair?
• Who or what is Christian Shephard?
• Who built the Lamp Post station in L.A.?
• Is the island truly not finished yet with Desmond, as Eloise Hawking told him? What’s to become of him and Penny and little Charlie, if Desmond should have to go back for some reason?
• Why did Hurley get on Ajira 316, and who told him about it?
• What’s in Hurley’s guitar case, and why did he bring it to the island?
• Why did Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid jump through time to 1977 from Ajira 316, while Sun, Ben, Locke, and Frank were all left in the present?
• How and why was John Locke resurrected? He’s been changed by the experience; is he even still the same person?
• Why did the Others construct the runway on Hydra Island, which was later used by Ajira 316? Were the Others expecting this plane to land there, somehow? Did Jacob know it was coming, and order the runway’s construction?
• Why did Jacob want Locke to turn the frozen wheel and move the island, anyway?
• What does the four-toed statue depict? Is its face one we will recognize?
• What lies in the shadow of the statue?
• What are the details of the truce between the Dharma Initiative and the Hostiles, and what are the circumstances of their coming to this agreement?
• Who is Ilana, and who does she work for? Bram: same questions.
• What’s inside Ilana’s mysterious steel crate?
• What exactly happened to young Benjamin Linus when Richard Alpert took him inside the Temple to save his life?
• Is there a scientific reason that Miles is able to talk to the dead?
• Richard Alpert said that all of the castaways who time-traveled back to 1977 died there, and he saw it happen. If they didn’t actually die (and come on, you know they didn’t), then what did he see?
• Why does Locke want to kill Jacob?

Which of these do you expect to get answers to tonight?

Last but certainly not least, be sure to read Doc Jensen’s always-entertaining (if sometimes befuddling) thoughts on what’s to come.

I’ll be back first thing Thursday morning with an extensive recap and analysis of “The Incident.”