‘LOST’ ENDING: INCREDIBLY POWERFUL, VERY SAD

Matthew Fox plays Dr. Jack Shepard on “Lost,” and as the sexiest and most important character (sorry, Sawyer) on the show, he’s the only actor so far to have learned how the series will end at the conclusion of Season 6.  And he makes it sound pretty good:

Fox says Lost creators Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse will prove they knew where they were going all along when the show ends in “an incredibly powerful, very sad and beautiful way. I think it is going to be pretty awesome.”

The only castmember to know what that crazy smoke monster is and how the show ends said, “I think it is going to be very satisfying and cathartic and redemptive and beautiful. I’ve talked to Damon pretty extensively and every time I talk to him it’s sort of surprising how moving it is just to talk about it.”

Fox also revealed some details to how Season 6 will transition from Season 5’s confusion to a more linear story arc, but it gets spoiler-y for anyone who hasn’t watched Season 5, so that’s after the jump. 

The sixth season will begin with an examination of what happened after Juliet seemingly detonated the hydrogen bomb. As usual, Fox said, “It’s very surprising and probably fairly confusing initially to the audience.

“Like, a third of the way in [to the season], I would guess we are going to [settle] into one time frame, and it will be very linear—no more flashbacks, nothing. It will be on the Island and sort of a final conflict to the end,” said Fox.

He assured fans that all the crazy storylines introduced in earlier seasons will be resolved and that the conflict between Jack and Locke (Terry O’Quinn) “will come head to head” this season, but he wouldn’t divulge more than that.

All right, sounds good.  But I’ll be disappointed if I don’t get to see the Smoke Monster fight the polar bear in a wormhole.

Beach Report

Related links

• Video: Heal The Bay Rates LA's Best, Worst Beaches Video

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles County had the worst overall beach water quality last year in California, according to the 19th annual "Beach Report Card" released by Heal the Bay.

Only 70 percent of beach sites in the county earned A or B grades -- a state-low total for the fourth year and nearly even with last year's 71 percent tally, according to the environmental group.

Fifteen beaches in Los Angeles County received year-round F grades, with a half-dozen of those ranking on the organization's annual "Beach Bummer" list of the most polluted sites in the state.

The report lists those beaches as:

-- Avalon Harbor Beach on Catalina Island;

-- Cabrillo Beach harborside;

-- Pismo Beach Pier in San Luis Obispo County;

-- Colorado Lagoon;

-- Santa Monica Municipal Pier;

-- City of Long Beach at LA River outlet;

-- Poche Beach in Orange County;

-- Surfrider Beach at Malibu Creek;

-- Campbell Cove State Park Beach in Sonoma County; and

-- Doheny Beach at San Juan Creek in Orange County.

Statewide, 262 of 307 locations -- 85 percent of the beaches -- received A and B grades during dry weather, with just 32 of the beaches monitored statewide receiving D or F grades last summer, according to Heal the Bay.

Overall, Orange County beaches recorded water quality grades that were well above the state average, according to the group. Some 97 percent of 103 monitoring locations got an A or B during the summer, as well as 93 percent for year-round dry weather.

Heal the Bay officials said one of the reasons Los Angeles County lags in water quality is that its monitoring agencies collect samples directly in front of flowing storm drains and creeks, where polluted runoff often pools.

But many of Los Angeles County's most polluted beaches, including Avalon Harbor, Cabrillo Beach and several sites in Long Beach, do not sit near storm drains, according to the group.

The group noted that Long Beach's water quality overall is poor because it sits at the terminus of the Los Angeles River, but that it showed its best water quality in the past three years.

For the first time, Heal the Bay also handed out perfect "A+" grades, with 79 beaches never exceeding bacterial standards. In Los Angeles County, A+ sites included Will Rogers State Beach on Pacific Coast Highway, Dockweiler State Beach at the Imperial Highway drain, Manhattan State Beach at 40th Street and Portuguese Bend Cove in Rancho Palos Verdes.

Eighty-six percent of Santa Monica Bay beaches -- from Leo Carrillo to Palos Verdes -- got A or B grades during the high-traffic summer beach-going season, down slightly from last year but up dramatically from annual overages over the past six years, according to the report.

The report card on coastal water quality is based on daily and weekly samples taken from sites along the state's coastline.

Read the entire report on • healthebay.org

Thankfully those are not beaches that I surf at or take my kids too.