But I'm not going to complain too much about getting a two-hour finale.

We're some 70 or 80 hours into it now."

Best summary of LOST ever. The last 40 hours of the finale will be awesome.

Season one's season finale was the three-hour 'Exodus,' which was aired the first hour on one week, and the second two hours on the next week. They weren't three separate episodes, they had one long connected story, and none of the hours had specific flashbacks, it was spread across the cast. No argument could be made that the two-hour 'Exodus, Part 2' was two episodes aired together.

Season 2's finale was two-hour. The penultimate episode was 'Three Minutes,' which was a Michael episode, unconnected to the two-hour finale, which aired the next week, which was a Desmond episode. No argument could be made that the finale was two separate episodes aired on the same night, since the story that began in the flashbacks in the first half is nowhere near completed by the end of the first hour. The acts are not structured like two episodes. The titles are only shown once. The show even aired over the hour break, so you were watching from something like 8:53 until 9:07.

The Season 3 finale was also two-hour. The penultimate episode was 'Greatest Hits,' a Charlie episode, unconnected to the two-hour finale, which was the Jack flashforward episode, which was two-hours long, and was one long connected episode. The same things I said above still ring true for this season.

So you see, when the showrunners say they have a three-hour season finale, shown over two nights, they're being serious. There IS a difference on Lost between an episode with a cliffhanger and a resolution following and an actual two-hour episode. The flashbacks are the main key, but you can tell when a plot doesn't wrap itself up by the end of the first hour.

In comparison, I'll point you to season 3 premiere of Battlestar Galactica, 'Occupation/Precipice.' This episode was conceived and shot as two separate episodes, not to be aired together, and you can tell that there is no serious connective tissue between the two.

The 1st episode back does sound sweet though. EW has a decent preview up. I agree we need Sawyer and Locke eps before the end of the season. Finale is bound to be Dr. Hero ep.

My fav sentence ever is: 'I watched the penultimate American Idol, but I Sookied most of it.'

I'm glad they're doing this. I don't care if I have to wait, LOST deserves its 2 hr finales (less than 2 hrs on the dvd's, duh). Lets hope next season we get the uninterrupted season that they keep promising.

I'm still bummed about the new 10pm Thursday timeslot though.

they've been doing this since I Love Lucy.

Seriously... FUCK Grey's Anatomy.

Considering they already have a couple 413 drafts in, this won't be a problem at all.