After what seemed like an eternity, ABC's embargo on any new footage from the sixth and final season of 'Lost' was lifted on Friday as video from the network's "Message in a Bottle" contest hit the web. The first four minutes of tomorrow night's premiere became one of the most buzzed about stories over the weekend.

After 48 hours of back-and-forth, "will I or won't I" arguments with myself, I finally caved late last night and not only watched that clip but two others that ABC released on their press site. Oh, and the trailer. Yes... I watched it all. Chastise me if you will (maybe in some way I've wrecked the purity of seeing the show tomorrow), but guess what? After seeing all this, I'm even more excited.

So, if you're like me, and can't wait another 48 hours, video of the trailer and analysis of that and the other clips is after the jump. (In case that isn't clear enough for you, that means SPOILERS.)

OK, here we go.

For the most part, most of this new footage doesn't tell us that much. The first three and a half minutes of the "Message in a Bottle" clip was nothing more than a retelling of the season five finale up until Juliet finally got Jughead to detonate. After that, a scene that most, if not all, 'Lost' fans expected to see at some point in the premiere -- Oceanic 815 made it through the turbulence and didn't crash.

To avoid letting too much info out, the additional clips ABC released to the press won't be posted here, but again -- they don't offer anything that fans probably didn't infer on their own. They show an absolutely dumbfounded Ben trying to process the fact that he just killed Jacob and then coming face-to-face with the real John Locke's corpse. Won't say anything more beyond that other than Michael Emerson is his usual brilliant self. Wait'll you see the look on his face when he sees the body.

Safe assumption based on all that? Knowing that part of the premiere will be featuring a thread where Oceanic 815 doesn't crash, as well as a thread that still takes place on the island where we left it, makes it very likely that the new narrative device this season will employ will indeed be alternate realities/outcomes as many have predicted.

Now, on to the trailer:


As you can see, there's a lot going on and all of it appears to be exclusively scenes from the island. The obvious thing to mention first is "Locke" (or whoever he is now) promising to tell us everything, specifically why everyone is on the island. Good to know. After five seasons, I'd like some answers.

There are also some throwbacks to earlier seasons. There's a quick shot of Kate discovering the two skeletal remains from the cave in season one. Many have speculated that they're Rose and Bernard since we know they stayed on the island but the question would be how they got from the cabin to the cave prior to the Jughead explosion. There's a shot of a large group returning to the cemetery where Libby, Ana Lucia, Nikki, and Paulo are buried.

The biggest theme depicted in the trailer, though, appears to be the balance of power. One shot shows "Locke" removing a stone from a scale that has one white stone and one black one. Clearly reminiscent of his Pilot episode game of backgammon with Walt, what exactly is he upsetting (or restoring) order to?

The same question pops up again when new cast member Hiroyuki Sanada is seen resetting a giant hourglass. He's also seen branding Sayid with some sort of hot poker and Jack, his usual impulsive self, wants to know why he's on the list.

They're all there for something and hopefully, by the end of tomorrow's premiere, we'll have at least a little bit of an idea as to why.

[Watch clips and full episodes of 'Lost' over at SlashControl.]