As well all know, 'Lost' is a difficult show to understand, even if you're a regular viewer. A couple dozen characters, various timelines, various locations all add up to a confusing (though great) show.

Wired has a handy character chart (yes, there might be spoilers!), created by bioinformics scientist Martin Krzywinski using Circos software (even that sentence is confusing) that shows how all of the characters are related. The chart showing the entire cast is just a mess of colored lines that might be hard to follow, but you can use the list on the left to narrow down the list of characters and plot points you want to examine.

Needless to say, this post contains massive spoilers.

So a guy was sitting in a Honolulu restaurant recently and saw a piece of paper that had the word 'Lost' on it. Turns out it's the studio call sheet for the series finale! What does he do? He sends it to Gawker, of course (see also iPhone, Apple's new). And it looks like it's the real thing because ABC contacted Gawker and they want the call sheet back.

What secrets does it hold? If you want to know more, continue after the jump. If you don't want to know more, click here for some great pasta recipes at Kitchen Daily!

As last night's episode of 'Lost' showed, this season really is giving us a lot of answers. And even if the show isn't giving us all the answers we want/need, at least we can now feel a forward momentum driving us towards the end. There are only five episodes of the show left, can you believe it?

The show can't possibly answer all of the questions, small and big, that have come up since the show started in 2004. I think they'll answer enough of them for most fans, but you and I both know that 37 seconds after the season finale ends, some people are going to go online and complain. That was a lame ending! They didn't even answer the question I wanted them to answer! I wasted six years for this?!

I won't be one of those people. They've answered the question of the numbers enough for me, and several other mysteries don't bother me. Unless the show ends in a WTF 'Sopranos' fade-out, I'll just go with what the writers give us. Of course, that doesn't mean I don't want some questions answered:

Last night's episode of 'Lost' was excellent, wasn't it? For the first time this season it seems like we can finally see where the show is headed. The pieces are finally coming together.

We don't know yet who is going to live or die (or even if "live" or "die" mean the same thing in this 'Lost' world) or what it ultimately all means, but last night was certainly a true turning point. Of course, the writers could still throw us a curve and we could find out that alternate-reality Desmond is actually a robot from the future obsessed with cheddar cheese, but it looks like the final handful of episodes will give us a real conclusion.

It's one of the greatest shows in TV history, and I'm probably never going to watch it on DVD.

Easter is one of those in-between holidays, at least in my house. Definitely more important than Arbor Day but not nearly as important as Thanksgiving. So several family members didn't come to Easter dinner yesterday, which means I got to talk to a couple of people a lot instead of several people just a little. Since I work for The Most Awesome TV Blog in the Universe (TM), the conversation turned to television, specifically to 'Lost.'

I don't remember exactly how the conversation went (I wish I had a tape recorder running), but it was very close to this:

Sister: Oh, you watch 'Lost?'
Me: Yeah, it's great!

Sister: So what's going on on it?
Me: _______?

Sister: I mean, the last time I saw it they were on an island. That guy who was on 'The Practice' was there.
Me: Michael Emerson. He's a great actor.

Sister: So what has happened since then?

If you're not listening to the weekly 'Lost' podcast, you're missing out on a lot of great stuff. I didn't start listening to it until recently, and I've discovered that not only are the podcasts entertaining, they're giving a lot of clues as to what's happening on the island (and these are official clues, not rumors or theories that you might find on other sites - though producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are more than a little coy in the podcasts).

What jumped out to me in the podcast posted after the season premiere last week has to do with the timeline(s).

There are no chicken sandwiches in the parking lot. There are only dreamers. Sure, one could make the case that you can't make linoleum a religious symbol, and even if you could, why would oranges go to Buffalo? I sit here with my shoes and my can opener and I wonder about President Taft. There are rules for gasoline, and maybe - just maybe - the omelets will fly.

Is that paragraph above confusing? Well, it's not as confusing as last night's 'Lost' was. (Note: what follows might be spoiler-ish if you haven't seen the episode, so proceed with caution!)

This video is fun whether you're a diehard fan of Lost who has never missed an episode or someone who has never seen the show but wants to see "what this show is all about." It's a summary of what has happened on the show since the beginning, all in 8 minutes, 15 seconds.

Now let's wait for fans who find things wrong with this video or ask "hey, they left out _______!"

[via GQ]

Warning: Spoilers!

ABC hasn't released any new information about the last season of Lost (which debuts on February 2), not a trailer that includes new footage. But some clues are beginning to show up here and there.

Kristen over at E! has some lines of dialogue from the first few episodes of the show. She doesn't say who says what so you have to put your thinking cap on (or your guessing cap).

We aren't getting too many promos for the last season of Lost from ABC (and zero new footage), but this promo from Spain is pretty damn cool. It's hard to see if there's any new footage (I don't think there is), but it's very well done.

[via Popwatch]

I know, I know, so much Lost stuff today. But hey, tonight's the season finale and there won't be another episode until, what, next January? Here's a fun poster that someone creative made to announce tonight's "Battle For The Island." (Here's the larger version.)

I love the fine print at the bottom.

I love stuff like this. The Fine Brothers have created another clever Lost parody, Star Trek: The Lost Generation. It's a celebration of Lost and the new Star Trek film. The crew of the Enterprise somehow gets stuck on the Lost island and not only have to deal with Jack and Sawyer and Locke but also different versions (different doll versions) of themselves. There's an appearance by a few other time-travelling pop culture figures too.

OK, maybe "annoying" is too harsh, as I can see people being into recap shows if they're done well. Then again, if you're a big fan of Lost, then you've already seen this stuff and you're really aching for a new episode.

So did you enjoy last night's recap episode, or was it just an irritation to you? Do you welcome weeks where there's either a repeat or a recap so you can take your mind off of the show for a bit? Take the poll after the jump and leave your thoughts in the comments below.

I'm a sucker for time travel shows. I loved it when Star Trek did it (all of the Star Trek shows did it, several times) and Back to the Future is one of my favorite films. So I'm really enjoying Lost this season, with it's time-tripping and skipping. But I have some problems with it, and so does Jeopardy champion Ken Jennings.

Jennings mentions on his blog that he thinks the writers have actually answered too many questions, which isn't a complaint that you hear from Lost fans too often. He thinks if they had left more plot questions, some of the things that happened in previous seasons "could now be explained as the actions of Future Juliet or Future Sawyer or somebody."

Jennings thinks it's smart that the show has the rule that you can't change what happened, because if something happens a certain way it will always happen that way. But I think the show is breaking that rule here and there.

(S05E04) "I have to make them come back... even if it kills me." - Locke

And so begins the quest of Jeremy Bentham. That's been one of the real treats this season - seeing the Oceanic Six in the present while having their plot juxtaposed against the real-time (well... as "real-time" as real-time can get when you're time traveling) plight of those still on the island three years ago. The fact that we only saw Locke lay the foundation for his plan involving the Orchid to get everyone back was still mesmerizing. I love knowing what happens to him but not knowing the circumstances of his "suicide" and how he ended up in that coffin at Hoffs Drawler. Despite the lack of any more development on Locke's plan beyond what we got, this episode was still phenomenal - mainly because two people we've all been missing finally showed up again.