How to Watch "Lost"

After Oceanic Air flight 815 tore apart in mid-air and crashed into a remote Pacific Island, the survivors realized their paradise held dangerous secrets including underground bunkers, a mysterious smoke monster, a 19th Century ship called The Black Rock and a hostile yet seemingly utopian community of people known as “The Others.” Season four of the hit ABC drama LOST debuts January 31, and if you’re a fan of the show, you won’t want to miss it.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

How to Watch "Lost"

1. Start from the beginning. "Lost" is full of secrets and complicated relationships, so if you jump in without having watched Seasons One through Three, you’re likely to be LOST yourself.
2. Get a recap. Visit http://abc.go.com/primetime/lost for an eight minute, 15 second recap of everything you need to remember before jumping in to Thursday’s two-hour premier. If you want to re-watch the two-hour Season Three finale, with added on-screen clues about the show as a whole, check your local listings for Wednesday, January 30.
3. Keep the flashbacks in mind. One of the ways "Lost" made a name for itself was by weaving the characters’ back-stories into each episode. The secrets of the island slowly come to light as viewers realize the characters’ lives were intertwined before they even boarded Flight 815.
4. Decide if you’re going to be a theorist. "Lost" enthusiasts can be divided into two categories--the casual viewers and the hardcore theorists. If you want to speculate about the secrets behind the show, like the possibility of time travel, The Dharma Initiative, the four-toed statue, and the infamous Numbers, join other fans who do the same. If the analyzing makes your brain hurt, take a trip to the refrigerator or bathroom during commercial breaks.
5. Look into literature and philosophy. It cannot be a coincidence that John Locke and “Desmon” David Hume are two of the show’s most prominent and mysterious characters, and the biblical names of Benjamin and Jacob are also hard to deny. "Lost" writers are also known for dropping obvious hints by way of props. In the episode “Numbers,” for example, Sawyer is reading “A Wrinkle in Time,” and in “Maternity Leave,” John Locke gives Ben/Henry “The Brothers Karamazov.”
6. Tape it. Whether you record it digitally via your DVR or pop in an old fashioned VHS tape, you’re so likely to spend the rest of the evening speculating over the facts and the possibility of new flash-forwards that you’ll probably want to watch the episode again.

Tips & Warnings

• For an extensive list of characters, episode summaries and themes, visit http://lostpedia.com.