"The Beginning of the End" is the fourth season premiere, and seventy-third episode overall, of the American Broadcasting Company's drama television series Lost. It was aired on ABC in the United States and CTV in Canada on January 31, 2008. Co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse wrote the premiere in late July 2007, with most of the episode directed on location in Oahu, Hawaii, in August and September by executive producer Jack Bender. The episode was watched by eighteen million Americans, bringing in the best ratings for Lost in seventeen episodes. According to Metacritic, "The Beginning of the End" garnered "universal acclaim". The narrative takes place over ninety days after the crash of Oceanic Flight 815, on December 23, 2004. The stranded crash survivors make contact with associates of Naomi Dorrit (played by Marsha Thomason) on a nearby freighter, but the survivors divide when they hear that those on the freighter may not be coming to rescue them. Flashforwards show the post-island lives of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) and Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox, pictured). They are lying to the public about their time on the island. (more...)
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