NEW OLD CASTAWAYS

The introduction of new castaways on this week's episode of "LOST" was very subtle. Not!

Back in July when we first heard that Elizabeth Mitchell (Juliet), Rodrigo Santoro (Paulo) and Kiele Sanchez (Nikki) were cast to appear in the third season of "Lost" some presumed that at least one of them may play an "Other". Well, one of them did. And what a great way to introduce her character in the season premiere episode (pulling a Grey's Izzy, baking muffins with little success on Mysteria Lane). Elizabeth Mitchell has so far been one of the greatest additions to the show in her fun portrayal of a likeable vixen Juliet.


The other two actors, as we now know after Wednesday night's episode, were simply added as the original survivors of the Oceanic Flight 815 who were supposed to have been on the island since the beginning of the show. Their introduction, however, seemed a little forced as Hurley returns to the camp bearing bad news about the abduction of Jack, Kate and Sawyer and the two castaways run up to him along with the other survivors asking what happened to the central troika. Were they not trying a bit too hard to blend in? I did not really buy that.

Having said that, I will be looking forward to seeing what these two can bring to the mix in the coming weeks and whether they can schmooze their way into Losties' hearts as successfully as Juliet the Other has hopefully already done.