The new season – or at least part of the new season – of “Lost” is upon us, and South Sound viewers of this engaging, mysterious TV show have no shortage of hypotheses about what’s really going on. We wanted to hear intellectual ideas about this intellectual science-fiction show, so we started with the folks at Pierce County Library.

Mary Getchell, communications director, Pierce County Library System

“Part of it is that some of them are trapped in a dream, I think. The doctor (Jack) is definitely in a dream, at least part of the time. But the overall reason that they’re on that island, I think, is that they’re part of some controlled experiment. There’s just too much technology and too many things going on for it not to be under someone’s control. Or, at least, someone or some company or some government knows exactly what’s going on. There are some very bad people in charge of it all.”

James Lamee, Tacoma

“I say it’s more like an experiment. And I like how it affects people who are watching it. They think more after watching the show. I think it’s more of a government operation as far as what they’re doing to the people on the island. I think the government (brainwashed) the people so they have no clue about what’s really going on.”

Ellen Wallace, Parkland

“I think it’s kind of an experiment, but I don’t know. The whole Dharma Initiative thing seems like it was an experiment going on before the plane crashed. There was an electrical field or whatever that made the plane crash, but I think it was almost inadvertent that they got on the island. The experiment was going on before them. But I love The Others and that whole part of the plot. Our favorite scene was when they were surrounded and the guy says, ‘Light ’em up!’ and all those torches went up and all The Others were all around them. That was our favorite part of the show.”

Cole Roberts, Parkland

“I’ve gotten a little frustrated. They’ve gone through a number of different vignettes where you’ve got the perspectives of different characters. And each time the story changes I’m about ready to cut ties with it. I think my wife has been a little more willing to stick with it. They’re just all over the map now. It’s hard to get my arms around a centralized theme. I think the producers are pushing the limits of tolerance with the audience and how long they’re willing to stay with the show. They’ve about lost me. But I’m sure we’ll probably catch some episodes of the new season.

Stephan McQueen, Spanaway

“I believe there’s something going there beyond life as we know it, something to do with the afterlife maybe, especially with people going missing. The Others, I think are people from another place, another dimension maybe or even from outer space. I do enjoy seeing what’s going to happen next with the doctor, Jack. He has an interesting story.”

Also, from e-mail, we got this comment:

“‘Lost’? They lost me. It took all season the first year. I started up again the second year and just stopped – ‘cold turkey.’ I feel a lot better since I left it all behind me. I don’t give a hoot what they are doing on that island any more.” – “Guz” Schwartz

NEWSROOM THEORIES

We in the newsroom have our own thoughts on the show. Here’s a sampling:

Sean Robinson, reporter

Locke has supplanted Ben as the island’s spiritual conduit. In this upcoming season, they will become bitter adversaries. The final episode from last year has to be at least part dream sequence or some other narrative trick. (For one thing, Jack’s father can’t be alive.) Jack will be forced to ally with Ben. I’m not convinced that the people on “the boat” are real, but that’s based on story considerations. After two seasons of dragging us through two sets of frustratingly elusive strangers, it’s hard to imagine that the writers will foist yet another one on us. That ploy is getting tiresome. The fundamental structure of this show is based on denying the audience knowledge (or “answers,” as some fans like to say). You can’t get away with that approach forever. At some point, it becomes too frustrating to watch a bunch of people who won’t ask obvious questions.

Mary Anderson, team leader for the editorial assistants and the library

It has become so convoluted that it’s going to be like “Dallas” and they will all wake up, and it’s a dream. Or they are all really dead and this is their “afterlife.” By the way, whatever happened to the father and son who so mysteriously were taken by The Others and never to be seen again? Too much time between the seasons (means) no one will remember where they were on the story so they can con us with whatever story line they want and most likely get away with it.

Kate McEntee, features copy editor

Evangeline Lilly (aka Kate) has a theory about the show. I tend to think she’s on to something:

“My, uh, geek fan theory that I subscribe to, is the one that we are part of some sort of a conspiratorial experiment. That we have all been hand-picked, put on a plane, the plane was sabotaged to crash, and that we were somehow, we were meant to survive. I think that human life and human casualty is just a given in this experiment that … our lives have no value. If you look at the characters on the show, almost all of us, if I’m not mistaken, really have no ties left at home. There’s pretty much nobody who’s looking for us, nobody who would care that we’ve gone missing, and so it’s safe. It’s safe to dispose of human life in order to study human behavior.”

Michael Gilbert, reporter

Charlie lives. Jin’s a goner (DUI in real life). So’s his kid, sadly. Jack performs lap-band surgery for Hurley. Freckles, sick to death of Sawyer for calling her Freckles, kills him. Freckles, sick to death of that smug breezy double-crosser Juliet, kills her, too. Go Freckles, er, Kate! Jack continues with his tiresome angst. Sayid pulls Henry’s fingernails and toenails out one at a time.

Bill Hutchens, reporter

I’ve got to go with my brother-in-law’s theory. I think they’re stuck between realities, maybe in a different dimension. The island people don’t disappear, they just take quantum leaps into one reality or another when their situations are resolved (for better or for worse). They end up back in their lives, in the past, the future or in some alternate version of the reality they were in when the plane crashed. Did I mention my bro-in-law is a Harvard grad?

Bill Hutchens: 253-597-8460

blogs.thenewstribune.com/gamers

Questions we want answered

There are many more questions than answers on “Lost,” but here are a few of the major questions we want answered.

Who or what is Jacob? Is he a spirit? A hologram? Is he the real leader

of “The Others”?

What is the smoke monster?

Who is behind the Dharma Initiative?

At the end of the last season, Jack was seen in a flashback standing over a coffin. Who was in the coffin?

And what’s with the “flash-forward” that showed Jack and Kate in what looked like it must be the future?

What’s the deal with Whidmore Industries?

Is Jack’s dad still alive?

Where is the island? The first eight episodes of the new season of “Lost” will air at 9 p.m. Thursdays on Channel 4. For information, go to abc.go.com/primetime/lost.