'Lost' speculation continues in final season

One of the most complex and confounding dramas in television history begins its sixth and final season tonight on ABC with a two-hour premiere.

We are assured by the producers that "Lost" has an ending that will answer many of the mysteries surrounding the survivors of downed Oceanic Flight 815.

The May 18 finale will also be two hours. The episodes in between will air every week with no reruns or pre-emptions.

"Lost" co-head writer and executive producer Carlton Cuse recently said that they came up with the final image during the first season when they were plotting the mythology.

But there have been more than 100 little mysteries that popped up over the years. Will everything be revealed?

And there's no assurance that fans will be satisfied with the finale. Let's hope that the "Lost" explanation isn't someone's dream or manipulation by aliens.

"Lost" knocked off our socks five seasons ago with an airliner crash on a mysterious tropical island. The survivors soon discovered that they were stuck there and may be there for a reason.

Things such as a rogue polar bear, a deadly black smoke monster that engulfs its victims and the remains of a bizarre research experiment by the seemingly sinister Dharma Initiative made it clear that this was not Gilligan's island.

Many of the survivors were unknowingly linked though past connections. And there were weird things such as the numbers that passenger Hurley (Jorge Garcia) used to win a lottery (4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42). They were turning up everywhere on the island.

The faithful have stuck by "Lost" through byzantine plots, dozens of unsolved mysteries, time travel across three decades, characters dying and coming back, and new plot twists introduced each season.

On top of that, there are headache-inducing themes involving quantum physics, religion, the supernatural, science, destiny, mind control, time travel and possible government or corporate conspiracies.

The initial season introduced 14 major characters and with each season when some exited, new ones came on board. It was a lot to follow.

Many viewers bailed along the way. "Lost" has lost roughly a third of the audience it enjoyed the first season when it averaged 16 million viewers per episode. And after the third season, the story was so convoluted that it was difficult to attract new viewers.

Early on, fans latched on to a romantic triangle involving fugitive Kate (Evangeline Lilly); nice-but-troubled surgeon Jack (Matthew Fox); and rugged bad boy Sawyer (Josh Holloway). As the finale approaches, this storyline reportedly will be resolved. Also, five characters that have perished in previous episodes reportedly are coming back.

Half the fun of being a "Lost" fan is speculating with other fans about what it all means. Theories abound about the island and all that has happened there. There are Web sites and books devoted to unraveling "Lost."

Are they in a kind of purgatory? Are they stuck in a time warp? Are they in an alternative universe? Have parallel universes collided?

The biggest question could be: Will the May 18 finale make sense?