The Shape of Things to Come (Lost)

hitman and confronting his enemy Charles Widmore (Alan Dale

Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series.^[5]

extras) are shot to death by the mercenaries. Keamy finds and frees Miles Straume (Ken Leung), giving him a walkie-talkie to take to Ben. Ben communicates with Keamy, who threatens to kill Alex if Ben does not surrender. Ben attempts to negotiate and is shocked when Keamy executes Alex. Locking himself in the house's secret room, Ben enters a hidden chamber. He re-emerges shortly after covered in soot, and the smoke monster attacks Keamy's henchmen. The survivors flee for the forest, with Ben lingering briefly to grieve over Alex's body. Afterward, Ben and Locke depart to locate Jacob for further instructions. Sawyer, Hurley, Claire and Aaron turn to return to the beach with Miles, but Locke holds them at gunpoint, successfully demanding that Hurley goes with him (as he has found Jacob's cabin before).^[7]

Sahara Desert wearing a winter jacket and with a large cut on his upper arm; challenged by two armed locals, he kills one of them (Nick Hermz) and knocks the other (Sammy Sheik) unconscious and travels on horseback to Tozeur, Tunisia on October 24, 2005. Ben journeys to Tikrit, Iraq, where the funeral of Sayid's wife Nadia Jazeem (Andrea Gabriel) is taking place. Ben tells Sayid that Widmore ordered Ishmael Bakir (Faran Tahir) to kill Nadia. Ben lures Bakir into a trap to be killed by Sayid, who shoots Bakir repeatedly. Ben recruits Sayid to become Ben's assassin, and leaves for London, where he breaks into Widmore's penthouse; although Ben cannot kill Widmore, he states that he is going to kill Widmore's daughter Penelope (Sonya Walger

Writers Guild of America went on strike on November 4, 2007,^[8] by which time only eight of the planned sixteen episodes of Lost's fourth season had been written.^[9] These episodes aired from January to March 2008.^[10] After the strike ended on February 12, 2008, the writers found that there was only enough time to produce five episodes, although the fifth episode would later be expanded to two episodes^[11]—and they proceeded to compress most of the storylines of the planned eight episodes into six,^[12] with some carrying over into the fifth season.^[13] Executive producer/head writer Damon Lindelof stated that "we are going to execute our full story plan for season four. This simply requires a shift from high-octane storytelling to superhigh-octane storytelling. It requires no cramming, only a slightly heavier foot on the gas pedal ... so, hold on to your hats. Those of you waiting for the long-anticipated [Jin Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim)] and Hurley Ping-Pong tournament, however, will be very disappointed."^[14] The writers expressed interest to air the eighth episode with the second batch of episodes,^[15] but ABC did not comply and "The Shape of Things to Come" served as the mid-season premiere. The writers realized some advantages to the strike: they were able to use actors whose shows had been canceled during the strike, and they were able to respond to confusion from the audience.^[16] They would later even conclude that the season was better as a result of the interruption, as they were able to discard "languid, contemplative material" and felt "recharged [with] a real energy to attack [the] last six episodes".^[17] The first three seasons were broadcast on Wednesdays in the United States and Canada;^[18] the pre-strike fourth-season episodes aired on Thursdays at 9:00 p.m., a time slot normally occupied by Grey's Anatomy.^[19] "The Shape of Things to Come" and the following three episodes were broadcast on Thursdays at 10:00 p.m., after Grey's Anatomy.^[20]

Easter eggs are present in this scene:^[29] Ben's parka has a name tag that indicates that it was formerly owned by Edgar Halliwax (François Chau) and it displays the first appearance of the logo for a Dharma station called the "Orchid" that would not be seen until the episode titled "There's No Place Like Home".^[30] Another Easter egg is glimpsed in the next scene, when Ben reveals his forged Canadian passport previously seen in "The Economist" for his alias Dean Moriarty,^[31] which is also the name of the central character in Jack Kerouac's 1951 novel On the Road.^[32] Among the most frequent questions that the writers are asked is whether they have planned out future storylines,^[33] so the writers try to allude to future plot points, such as with the Dharka scene, that they can later call on as proof that they do know where the story is headed.^[21] Director Jack Bender described the scene, which was filmed in a Hawaiian rock quarry, as especially hard to shoot because the actors had to ride horses and use guns, the crew had to relocate due to rocks present that were unsuitable for the scene, and Bender walked head-first into a crane.^[34] Emerson stated that the set is "definitely a no-glamour zone ... I thought we would ease into things. Instead, I get this all-Ben extravaganza: combat, riding horses, foreign languages. And piano playing! All waaaay outside my comfort zone. How can you work two weeks and feel like you need a vacation already?"^[35]

Logie Awards—in the categories of "Most Underrated" series and "Most Jerked Around by the Networks".^[40][41]