Back with a bang

Although the "Lost" has a similar premise to that of "Gilligan's Island," the show couldn't be any further away from it. Since Oceanic Flight 815 crashed on an island in the Pacific Ocean, the survivors have managed to endure the hard living, the threats of the hostile "Others" and their own natural drama. Now in its third season, "Lost" is back after a twelve-week hiatus and ABC is airing 16 new consecutive episodes at a new time slot, 10 p.m.

The Feb. 7 episode kicks off a string of new episodes, focusing on Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), one of the Others, and her previous life as a fertility doctor in Miami. Meanwhile, Dr. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) tries to remove a spinal tumor from Ben, a leader of the Others, while negotiating the safe escape of Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway).

The first new episode raises some questions of how Juliet ended upon the island and why she has not left. A bus abruptly hits Juliet's ex-husband in Miami, all-too-conveniently allowing her to finally leave his company and conduct her own privately funded research. The company who interviews Juliet for a new job has conducted its own research about her and found out about her possibly unethical fertility experiments on her sister. How and why this company knows so much about her is another question raised by the show, as well as how it is connected to the DHARMA Initiative and the Others.

The season kick-off provided no answers to previously raised questions about the smoke monster, the DHARMA Initiative or even the submarine hired by Desmond's lover Penelope that records electromagnetic pulses in the ocean. Although the very collection of these mysteries may seem baffling to the undedicated "Lost" fan, every viewer must endure these loose ends until the end of the series. The show's writers and ABC producers are rumored to be creating a timeline for the series' end, which can be reassuring to those who want to see everything wrapped up, or at least a timeframe for the wrapping-up. Fans who were disappointed in the first six episodes of the third season because the group dynamic of the survivors was too different without Jack, Kate or Sawyer, can celebrate that Kate and Sawyer are returning to the group and are sure to stage a rescue attempt for Jack.

The drama among the survivors has been the main focus of "Lost" for the past two seasons and hopefully its reappearance will bring a human element back to the show. Other characters, though, could use developing, like the Other Tom and Ben's daughter Alex; they could either be killed off now or their life stories saved for another episode. The show's consistently good writing hasn't fallen off completely, but has drifted a little from its original place. The pace still remains very quick, though all the gunshots made the episode seem more like an old Western.

The beautiful landscape Hawaiian – where "Lost" is filmed – provides a gorgeous backdrop for the increasingly convoluted story. The flashbacks parallel the story on the island with a character's past, marked with the pulsing music that "Lost" fans can recognize as a cue for a change in time. Although Juliet appears very emotional and obviously conflicted in her flashbacks, she does not outwardly reflect much of anything on the island, making Mitchell either an inconsistent actor or Juliet a cold character.

Though the following episodes probably won't answer very many questions, it is satisfying knowing even a little something about life on the island. The next fifteen weeks may be a little bumpy though since the tables are always being turned on "Lost," and it is entirely possible that not even the writers know what will happen next.

"Lost" airs on Wednesday nights on ABC at 10 p.m.