Vincent Gets A Flashback

That's right - the first post-hiatus episode of Lost, airing April 24th, has been officially confirmed by the writers as a Vincent-centric episode, featuring on-Island flashbacks of key events from the dog's perspective, as well as an intriguing discoveries Vincent may have made on his own treks through the jungle.

"He's a pretty large piece of the show's overall jigsaw puzzle," according to show-runner Carlton Cuse. "He gets a kind of fly-on-the-wall perspective of various events on the Island. What do people do when they think no one's watching except the dog?"

Cuse also says that a Vincent flashback has been a planned part of the show ever since JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof originally conceived the overall plot. "We wanted to give him a flashback last season, but ran out of episodes."

What kinds of things has Vincent witnessed on the Island? The writers are pretty tight-lipped but they do mention a "key event in Ben's life," as well as "more evidence of an ancient civilization" that Vincent may have stumbled across. They also promise Season 4's first appearance of the Smoke Monster. Yay, Smokey!

Pono, the dog who plays Vincent, admitted in an interview with TVGuide that his favorite scene during the filming process was when Vincent stumbles upon Kate and Juliet stripping out of their dirty clothes and washing the mud off of each other during the events of last season's Left Behind. According to Pono, "I kept barking to ruin the takes so that they'd have to keep filming the scene over and over."The writers also revealed that the flashbacks in the remaining episodes of season four after Vincent's would be centered on Ben's white rabbit, the polar bear that Locke sprayed with fire, Mikhail's cow Svetlana, with the season finale going to the chicken that Locke beheaded a few episodes back.

"That chicken knew exactly what the Island is," Cuse promises.

Check your calendar.