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Season four of ABC's hit drama "Lost" returned to the air last Thursday, a breath of fresh, new television air in the midst of the seemingly never-ending Writers Guild of America strike.

The first of eight episodes filmed before the beginning of the strike, titled "The Beginning of the End," kept on track with the revitalized "Lost" that made itself evident during season three, after the masterpiece that was season one and the less than stellar season two. While still far more entertaining and interesting than most well-known shows on network television, season two slowed down the pace and left us viewers with far more questions than answers. And with a show such as "Lost," where the element of mystery is an essential part of the popular show's entertainment value, viewers voiced frustration at further plot complications that did not advance the plot as much as aggrandize it.

Season three was a crescendo to the shocking end that was the series finale, an episode entitled "Through the Looking Glass," which tore up show conventions and featured a flash-forward instead of the traditional flashback, a beloved trademark of the show. In all of the previous episodes, scenes of the characters on the mysterious island were juxtaposed with scenes of their lives before the crash of Oceanic Flight 815.

In the season three finale, though, the final scene revealed Dr. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) and Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly), home from the island, with Jack in hysterics, telling Kate that they have to go back to the dreaded island. Chilling, indeed, considering the entire object of their time on the island was being rescued: they are lost no more.

But in "Through the Looking Glass," Jack seemed more lost than ever, somewhere in between shell-shock and the throes of guilt. We learned in last week's season four premiere that overweight, loveable Hurley has also been rescued, and that he, along with Jack and Kate, are among only six that were saved. What happened to the rest, of course, remains a mystery. We know that there is something that Jack evidently does not want Hurley to disclose to the media, something that Jack did wrong. The "Oceanic Six" are now celebrities, and at least Jack and Hurley are having trouble dealing with the readjustment. Hurley (Jorge Garcia) is in a mental institution, having repeated visions of Charlie (Dominic Monaghan), who died in the season three finale attempting to accelerate rescue. Hurley, upon arrest, requested to go to the mental institution. We had seen him in a mental institution during flashbacks in previous episodes, when the dreaded numbers appeared (4 8 15 16 23 42).

An interesting recurring theme in this episode's details was the appearance of the letters "HO." While Jack and Hurley play the basketball game "H-O-R-S-E," Jack gets to H-O. In one of Hurley's freak-outs a small statue of the two letters can be seen behind him, and when Hurley talks about seeing Charlie's ghost for the first time, in a convenience store, he mentions seeing the apparition next to the HoHos, the tubular treat. H is the eighth letter of the alphabet, and O is the 15th. The flight that brought them all crashing to the island? Flight 815. Additionally, "Ho" is the symbol for Holmium, which has been used to produce the strongest manmade magnetic fields, which could have to do with the way the plane crashed, which is, of course, still a mystery.

It is this type of subtle, incredible detail and coding that makes "Lost" such an enjoyable show. One needs not follow all of these to understand or enjoy the show at all, but they add certain depth to each episode and the series as a whole.

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