Mere hours after the official Lost panel — with fans' heads still swimming with possibilities about Season 6 — Jeff "Doc" Jensen and Dan "Dan" Snierson hosted their own Lost confab, a live edition of "Totally Lost" that was packed with shocking news and revelations. Okay, maybe it was light in the shocking-news-and-revelations department, but a few surprise guests did rock the room. Some highlights:
• After we counted down the top facts learned about Season 6 at the Lost panel (more Faraday and Juliet! Less Dharma!), Lost co-producer Gregg Nations joined us on stage to discuss last season’s Star Wars-centric episode “Some Like It Hoth,” which he co-wrote. Turns out that (a) there are plenty of Star Wars fans over at Lost HQ and (b) read any Star Wars symbolism into the show at your risk/enjoyment. Next, Nations dished about his duties as script coordinator and high-commander curator of all Lost knowledge. Basically, if something happens on the show, could have happened, or will happen on the show, he keeps track of said info. (The details on Jack’s medical schooling? Check.) Nations noted that the characters of Jack and Ben were the hardest characters to keep track of, and that Michael Emerson and Elizabeth Mitchell impressed him the most with their Lost knowledge. Then as part of a trivia game, he stumped two fans from the audience with several triple-expert-level questions. (How many time-shifting flashes were there in season 5? That’d be 15.) Just as we were about to squeeze some season 6 intel out of Nations, Lost exec producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse ran into the room, busted up the inquisition, and unceremoniously threw a burlap sack over his head before whisking him away.
• Next up: A short video segment, in which the Doc—having reconsidered his stance on Season 3’s polarizing Nikki-Paolo episode “Expose”—apologized to the episode’s writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz for “crapping” on “Expose” in his recap. They were gracious, in an I-told-you-so kind of way. (We’ll be posting this video soon on EW.com, so you can see what the pair had to say about penning the episode.)
• Then came the big surprise: Michael Emerson, who graciously fielded questions from both us and the audience. Asked about the Season 5 finale, Emerson raised eyebrows by noting that Ben didn’t know that he was going to kill Jacob until he was face-to-face with Jacob, and that Jacob all but forced him to do it. (Of course, Emerson did wonder if an entity like Jacob really could be killed.) Emerson also chatted about his Emmy nomination, his charmed chemistry with Terry O’Quinn, his wonderfully ambiguous line-readings, and Ben’s issues (think emotionally malnourished child). Check back on the site soon for footage of Emerson as well as the rest of the panel. And sincere thanks to those of you who took time out of your busy Comic-Con schedule to attend our panel. —Additional reporting by Jeff Jensen
More Lost at Comic-Con from EW:
Lost crew tantalizes Comic-Con with Season 6 teases
Lost cast visits Ausiello TV
Loved the panel thanks so much for the amazing panel tonight! Loved the surprises! Thank you again
Thanks to Dan and Jeff for posting this and easing my Lost withdrawal just a bit. Dan, I loved the Michael Emerson intro — nicely played! And Jeff, very good interview with the writers of Expose. Razzle Dazzle! I think I liked the episode because: they killed Nikki and Paulo, Expose was a cheestastic show, and the other in jokes were hilarious as well. In a semi-related item, I really enjoyed seeing how (relatively) effervescent Elizabeth Mitchell was on her panel (different clip).
Thanks for posting the segment about “Expose”. While I definitely shared in the dislike for Nikki and Paulo and the way they were retroconned into the show, I thought “Expose” was a fantastic STAND-ALONE episode.
Keep in mind that, at the time, “LOST” was losing in the ratings to (I believe) “Criminal Minds”, a procedural series which required almost NO investment from its viewers. At the time, someone on a message board jokingly (but accurately) referred to “Expose” as “CSI: Craphole Island”, and I’ve always thought it was the writers thumbing their noses and saying, “Oh, so you like procedurals? Well we’ve got your procedural right here.”
Of course, what the writers said in the clip about modeling “Expose” after “X-Files” episodes like “Jose Chung” makes sense, too. Either way, I believe “Expose” is one of the most underappreciated and underestimated episodes in the entire run of “LOST”.
BTW, here is (hopefully) a link to Doc’s original review of “Expose”, in case anyone wants to refer back to it like I did: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1550612_20247060_20016318,00.html
This last season will blow our minds!
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Expose is one of my favorite episodes of Lost, and probably the best stand-alone episode of the whole series, and I knew this was so the moment Nikki said “Razzle-Dazzle.” Seeing the show not take itself so seriously was a good indicator for me that if the show were to continue to sort of meander through mythology like it had been for the past little bit, then at least they’d have fun doing it. Makes me kind of miss those stand-alones, but whatever.
I freaking love Lost. Can’t wait for season 6!
The last episode will be one of the great all time TV events for fans of the show which I certainly am.
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This was my favorite panel at this year’s con! The surprises were the best, as I was perfectly satisfied with Doc and Dan(and 3 little pigs!)
I loved Expose. I think it is a terrific episode of LOST. I loved the meta storytelling, in-jokes, and occasional moments of insight into Ben, Locke, etc. Great episode. Really fun. Good to see you come around Jeff! Love that Michael Emerson actually showed up. Any chance at getting the whole clip of him?
Looks like it was a fun panel, Doc and Dan – wish I could have been there!
Just watched Expose for the first time since my LOST binge about 2 years ago, when I consummed S1-S3 in the span of a week, and I really enjoyed it. I agree with everyone else who says it was a good stand-alone episode…not sure it will ever pass Walkabout, but certainly Niki and Paolo are not as bad as everyone likes to pretend.