The show Lost starts up again tonight. I’m psyched.
For a while, that wasn’t necessarily the case. This will be the final season of the show — a longform mystery rooted in dime-store philosophy and science fiction — and after the end of the last season, I feared the show’s myriad still-unanswered questions could be answered in some manner I wouldn’t find satisfying.
Nothing that’s happened in the interim has quieted that concern. I’m still a little put off by the fact that the mysterious Jacob — a powerful character we’d only been hearing about in vague terms until the Season 5 finale — turned out to be just some J. Crew-model-looking dude and not one of the characters we already knew locked up in some bizarre time-warp trap, as I had previously guessed.
It felt like a cop out, and made me skeptical about the promise made by the show’s writers since the first season that they knew exactly what was going on with the Island and had an endgame in mind.
I used to think about how mad I’d be if the ending sucked. I’d joke about a lifetime protest of ABC programming, or an angry letter-writing campaign, or worse. I thought that if the show didn’t come to a satisfying conclusion, it would mean all the time I’ve spent thinking about it would amount to time wasted.
But at some point, I realized that regardless of what happens this final season, the enjoyment I’ve derived from the show so far is real. For all I know, the writers have had no plan in mind whatsoever, but they were at least good enough to make me believe they did.
And the show has been, to this point, good enough to make me consider massive real-life questions of faith and science, free will and destiny, and the awesome implications of time travel.
And it’s got a whole lot of hot people running around on the beach without a lot of clothes on.
Hilariously, and perhaps ironically, Lost demands faith from its audience while depicting characters repeatedly rebuked for the same quality. So sometimes I wonder if the ending will be something intentionally dumb, just to show us what we get for all our faith, because sweeping, tragic irony is a big part of what Lost is all about.
And yeah, I realize that would then mean we should have had faith in the producers all along, but, well, messing with people’s heads is the main thing that Lost is all about.
I’m kidding, obviously, and I’m flying off the rails here. Whatever, I’m excited. Forgive me for being an annoying Lost fan. Here’s The Onion, featuring SNY.tv’s own Brittany Umar as Bree Lindsay, on the matter:
Final Season Of ‘Lost’ Promises To Make Fans More Annoying Than Ever
Tedquarters 
I got really into this show on dvd when the 2nd season ended. I watched the first season in like 2 days and then started the 2nd season a couple weeks later. But halfway through the 2nd season I totally lost faith in the writers and creators of the show. I just couldnt see where the show was going and to be honest at that point I really didn’t care, so I gave up on it. Now that everyone’s all into the final season I kinda feel like a heel who has to play catchup. But whatever, seems cool.
When they decided that a magic wheel could make the island disappear, it was evident they had no real plan, and they lost me for good. Every story arc can be summed up by characters arguing these two things:
1) “We need to get off this island or everyone dies!”
2) “We need to get back on the island or everyone dies!” It’s like a MacGruber episode without the comedy.
The thing that really encouraged me about this season was this excerpt I read from an interview with Lindelof and Cuse:
“I think the worst thing that’s happened in the blogosphere in general is that there’s this sense of needing to insulate yourself from being excited about something by saying, ‘I’m very skeptical about this,'” Lindelof said. “With ‘Avatar,’ for basically four months, [the conventional wisdom] has been, ‘I don’t think it’s going to be any good.'”
“Back when I was a kid, before ‘Empire Strikes Back’ or ‘Return of the Jedi’ came out, when all you saw was the trailer and you didn’t have the Internet, it was basically like, ‘I just want this movie to be the greatest movie ever!'” he continued. “And what’s the matter with saying, ‘I want Season 6 of “Lost” to be the greatest season ever?’ But people won’t say it because it’s easier for them to approach it as, ‘It’s going to let me down.'”
So I’m personally really excited to see what they do with this final season. I mean they can’t answer every single question that’s laid out about the show, but I’m sure that they have a satisfying conclusion in mind. And no, I don’t think they’ve been making it up as they go along.
I just want to know the deal with Richard and I want Jack to die. Everything else is gravy.
WIth all the “Lost” hype swirling around today (Facebook is blowing up) I almost wish I had watched the show. Having never seen a single episode of Lost I feel left out today. I’m sure though that the feeling will pass in about 3 hours when I’m home from work and find something else to do.
Well, Chris M, I’m home from work now and looking forward to the show. I’m not sure I’ll get what’s happening, but fortunately my husband catches on faster than I do.
Meanwhile to all you Lost fans out there, enjoy the show.
The show sounds kind of cool, just that back when it came out, I didnt have much time for TV and never got into it. Maybe when it comes out on DVD i can start from the begining.
Ned! Ryerson!
following this blog, great stuff!