Having to wait until February for the fourth season of ABC’s Lost to premiere was frustrating, but the result has been far from disappointing.

The show began its run in 2004. Lost chronicles the experiences of a group of people stranded on an unknown tropical island after their plane, Oceanic Air flight 815, crashed.

The lush foliage and flawless beaches seem straight out of a Sandals commercial – which makes sense, as the show calls Hawaii home.

The survivors consist of a con man, a doctor, a convict, a drug addict, a man who was unable to walk before landing on the island and several other social outcasts.

The viewers learn more about each of the characters’ pasts through flashbacks as the island works its miracle on them. The drug addict gets clean, the wheelchair-bound man walks, the con man and convict get clean slates, and the doctor, whose personal life had fallen apart, gets to be respected as a leader.

Throughout the first three seasons, the survivors discover that they are not the first to land on the island and that they are not alone.

Various bunkers filled with video and computer equipment lead to the discovery of the Dharma Initiative – a group of scientists who were using the island as a base for research of a mysterious nature. Another group of people still dwell on the island. They are known as “The Others.”

While surviving various run-ins with The Others, as well as a smoke monster and polar bears, things only get stranger when the Oceanic company meets survivors from the tail end of their crash.

After several catastrophes involving capture by The Others and fights between the two factions of Oceanic survivors, the remaining survivors continue to live life on the beach with the hope of being rescued.

There is birth. There is death. There is a broken, ancient radio that just doesn’t seem to want to work.

Eventually, a strange woman lands in the woods with a parachute and a working radio. She claims to be from a boat floating offshore. There is a constant signal being emitted from the island that keeps her from being able to call out. The catch is that to turn the signal off, someone must dive to the bottom of the ocean, climb into a structure built by The Others, and turn off the signal by hand.

A man with the unwanted ability to see snippets of the future tells the recovered drug addict that he must do it, and that he will die.

The first episode of the fourth, and newest, season of Lost aired Jan. 31.

In addition to the usual flashbacks, this season offers character insight via brief flashes of the future.

The theme of the season concerns the Oceanic Six: six people who were rescued from the island by the owners of the aforementioned boat. The question is, which survivors have been rescued? Thus far, because of flash-forwards, the viewers know that Hurley, Jack (the doctor), Kate, and Sayid are among the rescued.

The catch is that in the future, most of them seem to realize that they weren’t supposed to leave the island.

So far, the group of survivors has split in two: those who wish to leave the island and those who do not.

The first three episodes have been enrapturing enough to leave viewers longing for the next episode immediately afterward.

With the end of the writers’ strike, Lost fans can look forward to 13 episodes this season instead of eight, according to tv.ign.com.

Although it may be difficult to catch on to Lost at this point in the show, it’s definitely worth trying. Full-length episodes and synopses can be found at abc.com. The show may sound ridiculous on paper, but it is convincing in action.