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A prominent anthropologist rummages for meaning in "Lost: Season 2."

By Melanie D.G. Kaplan

The Plot: The second season of the thrilling ABC drama finds the Oceanic Airlines survivors in their second month on a Pacific island, facing a harsh environment, mysterious jungle creatures and "the Others." The group discovers more survivors from the tail of the aircraft, including Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), and they attempt to unite with them, despite trust issues and questionable motives.

Insider's Credentials: Robbie Blinkoff, Ph.D., is principal anthropologist and co-founder of Context-based Research Group, an ethnographic research company. Blinkoff, who did his dissertation on Papua New Guinea while living among hunter-gatherers for 16 months, now helps clients such as American Express, Fisher-Price and Guinness study consumer behavior.

Overview: "I think it's brilliant. This is right up my alley. Lost is part anthropology, part existentialism, part Buddhist Zen. The big story is that there is no such thing as reality. It's all about perception."

Disc 1: Everybody Hates Hugo -- Hurley (Jorge Garcia) is assigned to ration the windfall of food discovered in the hatch, but he decides it wouldn't last and instead suggests a big feast.

"The banquet on the beach is a Last Supper kind of thing. When you see all these consumer products in the hatch, you realize the deep inner meaning they have: a jar of peanut butter, an Apollo candy bar, a bag of chips. Hurley can hand out things that are appropriate for each person, because he connects with them like no one else."

Disc 2: Abandoned -- In the jungle, Shannon (Maggie Grace) and Sayid (Naveen Andrews) both see what they think is Walt (Malcolm David Kelley), the boy who was kidnapped.

"Whenever people see things, it's challenging you to understand that it's all perception. When Shannon asked Sayid if he saw Walt, too, and he says yes, you know they have connected. In Papua New Guinea, everyone was talking about ghosts, and we're thinking, 'How can they believe it?' Well, they believe it because if everyone else believes it, then it's real. That's classic anthropology; it's about a shared experience."

Disc 3: The Hunting Party -- In a flashback, Dr. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) comes home late from surgery, and his wife tells him she's leaving him. "You will always need something to fix," she says.

"There's this Western idea that the doctor is the leader. Doctors fix things. It's also a guy thing; men provide solutions. So, as a doctor, Jack has the power [to physically heal people]. But he can't save everyone on the island because the solution isn't a physical thing; it has to be psychological."

Disc 5: SOS -- Bernard (Sam Anderson) tries to make a giant rescue sign on the beach and has trouble getting others to help him.

"It's painful to watch what's happening on the island: People are dying, getting sick, killing people. They're pushed to the extreme. But they're to some extent working together. I see that a lot today, especially in the United States; we're all experiencing a mass traumatic event. It's a very unsettling time, and people are forced to see how it all works."