New hints and teaser trailers from Lost's final season, confirming mostly that it is a show that exists

As the Feb. 2 première date for the final season of Lost draws ever nearer, speculation among pop-culture’s most annoying fan base has only become more and more intense, as both diehards and skeptics wait to see whether the long-awaited ending will be more “mind-blowing coup de grace” than “um, destiny and metaphysics and so forth—also, magnets” copout. For the impatient, dubious spoilers abound—mostly of the well duh variety (SPOILER ALERT: Yes, Kate and Sawyer will interact! Also, the première is apparently “awesome”!)—but even the show’s creators have gotten into the act and begun dropping a few typically maddening oblique hints within the last few weeks.

One of the bigger revelations that we neglected to pick up on for some reason (probably because we were too busy watching this video of Senator-Elect Scott Brown’s wife giving a handy to a sunscreen bottle): Cast members Harold “Perchance, has anyone seen Walter?” Perrineau and Cynthia Watros have both signed up to reprise their roles as Michael and Libby, respectively, which either means we’re in for more flashbacks, or the whole “let’s drop a nuclear bomb on time, man” plot device from last season will, in fact, rewrite history, with the previously deceased castaways making a return to the land of the living, hopefully emerging from the jungle arm-in-arm in a splashy kick line to the tune of “One (Singular Sensation).” Today it was announced that Titus Welliver will also return as the mysterious “Esau/Man In Black,” who assumed mostly-dead John Locke’s appearance so he could finally follow through on his centuries-old plot to kill his (rival? brother? father’s brother’s nephew’s cousin’s former roommate?) Jacob. This probably means we’ll finally get to see just why he and Jacob have such a contentious relationship, other than the fact that Jacob just seems like kind of a smug know-it-all.