One of my favorite obsessions is "Lost," the time-bending series about a mysterious island and the fated survivors of a grisly plane crash. After more than 100 episodes full of polar bears, smoke monsters and flash-forwards, the series begins its sixth and final season on Tuesday (8 p.m. ABC).

The network will open the evening with a recap show intended to catch newbies up on the mystery, but as a parting gift to faithful readers, I’ve outlined everything you need to know. Read on for the essential goods on network TV’s most addictive show.

Essential Characters

Jack (Matthew Fox) is a surgeon with daddy issues. His dad’s corpse was on the plane when it crashed on the island, but when he opened the casket, Dad was missing.

Kate (Evangeline Lilly) had daddy issues, but then she killed him. She’s in love with both Jack and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), a con artist who gives everybody cool nicknames. Last season he fell in love with Juliet (Elizabeth), but she died when she blew up an atomic bomb in 1977. Wait, that just got confusing.

So there’s John Locke (Terry O’Quinn), who was crippled until he came to the island. It doesn’t matter because Ben (Michael Emerson) killed Locke so he could still be the leader of The Others, a group of people native to the island.

Oh yeah, way back in the past, a guy named Jacob and a Man in Black talk about controlling the island. Man in Black pledges to kill Jacob. "Ha, ha," Jacob laughs. But then, years later, the Man in Black morphs into John Locke and convinces Ben to kill Jacob.

Oh yeah, and Hurley (Jorge Garcia) sees dead people.

Still with me?

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