Name Miles Strom
Occupation Ghostbuster + hustler = Ghosthustler! Miles can commune with the spirits of the deceased; he vetted Jack and Kate by psychically interviewing Naomi, whose mortal remains he dismissed as mere ''meat.'' I wonder what Miles is going to make of the holy trinity of Island spectral entities: Jacob, Christian Shephard, and Ghost Walt.
Island introduction Found on the windswept rocks near the shoreline by Jack, Kate, and Faraday. He appeared to be unconscious but was playing possum and popped up with gun drawn. Remember Naomi's dying words last week? According to Strom, ''Tell my sister I love her'' was code for ''Ugh! They got me! Bring weapons!'' Hence, Strom's haughty guardedness.
Name games ''Strom'' is an anagram for ''storm,'' which befits his blustery personality. But ''Miles Strom'' sounds very close to ''maelstrom,'' a wickedly strong whirlpool. (Shall we plum Edgar Allen Poe's ''Descent Into the Maelstrom,'' about a whirlpool that destroys a fishing vessel?) (No, we shall not.)
Fantastic Four analogue Johnny Storm, the hotheaded Human Torch, as fiery as Strom's temper and wit. When Sayid suspiciously inquired as to why Miles and Daniel weren't surprised to find the castaways alive if the outside world considered them dead, Strom sarcastically responded, ''Oh my God! You guys were on Oceanic 815! Wow! That better?'' Even Sayid seemed to smirk at that one.
Backstory intrigue Strom was hired to scare away the ghost of a murder victim (a drug dealer, it seems) who was haunting his grandmother's house. The eerie exterminator plugged in a portable cold generator (chilled air flushes out lurking spirits, according to poltergeist lore), meditated himself into a twitchy state of mind, and then shook down the specter for his secret stash of cash. Surely Dr. Stantz would not approve, though Dr. Venkman might. Creepy, hilarious, so very cool. (Is Scammy Strom greedy enough to resort to grave desecration if Nikki and Paulo blab to him about the diamonds buried with them? Would Lost risk provoking our N&P-hating wrath to tell us that tale?)
Name Charlotte Staples Lewis
Occupation Cultural anthropologist.
Island introduction After her splash-about, Charlotte was discovered by Locke's crew as they were hiking to the old Dharma barracks. She was stunned to find them alive — or at least pretended to be — but then grew weary of Locke's third-degree and bossiness. ''Me Tarzan. Me survive Ben bullet because of missing kidney, convenient plotting, and Magic Healing Island. You White Devil Freighter Woman come to ruin my good thing. You be prisoner and clean the Dharma latrine.'' Then Ben grabbed Karl's gun and shot her. So much for the homecoming party!
Backstory intrigue Bribing her way onto a hush-hush archaeology dig in the deserts of Tunisia, Dr. Lewis discovered a polar bear skeleton (!) and a Hydra Station collar buried in the rocky soil. Charlotte's face lit up; clearly, she had a hunch — and perhaps feverish hope — about what she was going to find. (My skeleton theory: Dharma was using the polar bears as guinea pigs for teleportation and/or time-travel experiments. Why? To invalidate the God-killing theory of evolution by planting false evidence in Earth's fossil record, of course!)
Fantastic Four analogue Susan Storm, the FF's token female, whose ''hard light'' powers were handy for conjuring bullet-repelling shields and making herself invisible. Wanna bet Charlotte is hiding something about herself — something that's right in front of us but we can't see? Something besides a bulletproof vest? More on this in a minute.
NEXT: Who is Ben's mole?
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