Nikki Stafford - Finding Lost - Season Three: The Unofficial Guide

FINDING LOST

SEASON 3

NIKKI STAFFORD

Copyright Nikki Stafford, 2007

Published by ECW PRESS

2120 Queen Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4E 1E2

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW PRESS.

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Stafford, Nikki, 1973

Finding Lost, season three: the unofficial guide / Nikki Stafford.

ISBN 978-1-55022-799-4

1. Lost (Television program). I. Title.

P1992.77.L67S733 2007 791.4572 C2007-903634-1

Developing editor: Jennifer Hale

Cover and text design: Tania Craan

Typesetting: Gail Nina

Front cover photos: Andrews: Yoram Kahana/Shooting Star; Monaghan: Sue

Schneider/Moonglow Photos; Emerson: Albert L. Ortega; Daniel Dae Kim: Sthanlee

Mirador/Shooting Star; OQuinn: Yoram Kahana/Shooting Star; Yunjin Kim: Albert L. Ortega;

Fox: Pseudoimage/Shooting Star; Mitchell: Mary Leahy/Agency Photos; Cusick: Mary

Leahy/Agency Photos; Lilly: Yoram Kahana/Shooting Star; Holloway: Sthanlee Mirador/Shooting

Star; de Ravin: Christina Radish/Agency Photos; Garcia: Christina Radish/Agency Photos

Printed by Webcom

DISTRIBUTION

CANADA: Jaguar Book Group, 100 Armstrong Avenue, Georgetown, ON, L7G 5S4

UNITED STATES: Independent Publishers Group, 814 North Franklin Street, Chicago, IL 60610

PRINTED AND BOUND IN CANADA

Thank you to everyone at ECW Press, especially Jack and David for agreeing to do the book; Crissy for becoming my fellow Lost fan and offering tips and advice throughout the writing process; Gail Nina for laying it out; and Simon and Sarah for doing such a great job on the publicity of the previous book.

Thanks to the always awesome Gil Adamson, who once again smoothed out my writing and became another Lost fan along the way.

A big, big thank you once again to Ryan Ozawa, Oahu resident and photographer, who provided me with such amazing location photos and addresses. I cant thank you enough.

Thank you to Fionna Boyle, who once again read an early draft of the manuscript and offered feedback, suggestions, and love for Charlie.

Thanks to the Lost fans who e-mailed me when the first book came out and encouraged me to write a second one!

A huge thanks to the regular readers and posters on my blog, Nik at Nite. Throughout season 3 they showed up every Thursday morning and agreed or disagreed with my assessments of the previous nights episode (but mostly agreed, right guys? Guys? Hello?) and offered their own insights. A special shout-out to Crissy, Chapati Kid, Colleen/Redeem 147, Brian Douglas, Jay Menard, Roland, Michelle, Leor, FB, Kathy Trites, Jeff Heimbuch, Justin Mohareb, Jason Halm, Glenn, Totally Lost, Chris in NF, Maddy, and many, many Anonymouses.

A big thanks to my family and friends, especially Sue for listening to me go on and on about what I was writing on any particular day.

The biggest thanks I reserve for my immediate family my husband, Robert, who supported me throughout the writing of the book and helped me make the time to write it during evenings and weekends; my fabulous daughter Sydney, who kept my mind sharp with her constant Why? questions about absolutely everything (its a phase, right?); and my son, who had no choice but to accompany me throughout the process and who kept the kicks to a minimum (well, not really, but he kept the writing interesting). And finally, as always, a massive thanks to Jennifer Hale. Id be truly lost without you.

Lost is the biggest puzzle on television, and part of the fun of watching it lies in trying to put the puzzle pieces together, which is what my books help you do. Throughout season 3, many fans jumped ship. They said they were frustrated that the shows writers werent providing them with answers. They didnt like the new direction the show was taking. They thought the writers were giving the Others too much attention, and not focusing on season 1 plots like Lockes faith or Jack struggling to be the leader. The problem was, those were season 1 plots. The show had moved on from the action/adventure of season 1. By the end of season 2 the show had developed a complicated mythology, and while season 3 had to continue to deal with that mythology, it also moved into new areas.

I welcomed the arrival of the Others. In season 3 I found Ben and Juliet to be as fascinating as many of the Losties on the beach if not more so. Michael Emerson is rivaling Terry OQuinn as the best actor on the show. Elizabeth Mitchell plays Juliet so ambiguously that even when we think shes conning the other characters, we love her for it nevertheless. Even the actors portraying more regular characters stepped up their game as well, as if sensing competition. Matthew Fox turns in his best performances of the series, as does Josh Holloway in The Brig. Terry OQuinn continues to be fabulous, and Henry Ian Cusick is a welcome and wonderful addition to the regular cast. And Nikki and Paulo give us two characters to hate. Passionately.

As I said in the introduction to my previous book, Finding Lost, this book is intended to be read alongside the episodes. You can watch the entire season and then read through the book, or you could watch an episode and read the corresponding guide to it. I included my e-mail address in the previous book, and was surprised and pleased to hear how many people had tried the latter approach, and loved it. People told me they got into the habit of reading it while watching the seasons 1 and 2DVDs, watching an episode, then reading the guide for it, watching the next episode, reading the guide, etc. That is exactly how the book was meant to be read. But with season 3 airing, people felt like they were missing something by not having the book there.

So, throughout the season, I tried my hand at a blog, something I hadnt done before, and I loved it. Because Im a Canadian, I had the advantage of watching the episodes before they aired in the U.S., so I was able to get a jump on things and offer one of the first analyses on the Net the night of the show. Nik at Nite (nikkistafford.blogspot.com) always gets its highest traffic on Thursday mornings, after an episode has aired. I owe a lot to the regular commenters on that blog who show up day after day to discuss their favorite TV shows.

As I wrote this book, of course, those initial gut-reaction blog entries turned into deeper, more thoughtful entries (with a lot more research behind them). As with my other books, this one will primarily be an episode guide, analyzing the development of characters and plotlines, asking questions along the way, and acting as a companion to viewers. I want you to read the episode guides as if you were discussing the shows with a friend.

Finding Lost is not, however, a substitute for watching the show. I will not provide plot summaries or transcripts or anything that would allow a reader to read my book instead of actually watching the show. You must watch the DVDs or the aired episodes. This book will provide a deeper understanding of the characters, the events, and the mysteries, but it will not be a replacement for Lost itself. No book could ever hope to do that.

The book proceeds episode by episode. Almost every guide is broken up by some tidbit of information, such as a small sidebar of interest, or a larger chapter on the historical significance of something. Just as life on the island is interrupted by the flashbacks of the characters, so too will the episode guide be broken up by these sections. You can come back to them later and just focus on the guide in the beginning, or read through them to get a better understanding of the references or the actors playing the characters.