Lost: Season 3 Analysis and Recap

Ohhhhh, you Lost people know what you are doing. You completely baffled me, tricked me with those so-called flashbacks. I love it. You know how to hook people back when you think you're drowning. We're just wating for the next thing Ben does to keep us from leaving. We wait for Jack and Kate to hook up. We wait for Juliette to triple-cross someone.And then BAM! Jack isn't in the past, but in the...

See, I've stuck by you since day 5. I would say day 1 but I didn't even know about the show until the 5^th episode. I was hooked. People just got impatient. "Where are they?" they whined after the second season. "The story is going nowhere," they complained at the beginning of this season.

But I know your secret. Lost is a character-driven show, not an action-driven show. You take right after X-files, one of my all-time favorites that were two seasons too long. You take all this time to develop characters so that no one is really a totally good or bad guy, much like us. You aren't afraid to kill off good characters when it is time for them to die as opposed to "oh, we can't afford to keep him. Goodbye!" I do miss Mr. Ecko, but he served his purpose.

We knew Sawyer was violent, but how violent? We knew Sun had a bad streak in her, but how bad? John's only loyal to his curiosity and the island, but why is he such a coward? So many character devices, so little time. Juliette is my new favorite character because she is totally unswayed by her one motive: get off the island. And she kissed Angelina Jolie a long time ago. Yep, that's her in "Gia". But I digress...

Lost, you found yourself at the end of this season because we all now know for sure it's going to end. You just never knew with Gilligan's Island. But because of your finale, we know. People are going to leave the island.

But who? And why? And who survives? Who is it that Ben is so afraid of? Why is John Locke the Island Whisperer? Who was in the pine box? You answered so many questions and began entirely new ones, the right ones. And for at least two more seasons we get to watch it unfold to the end. It's like watching a Tyson fight back in the days. You knew who he was punching got knocked the mess out, but you still watched it to see how it happened.

Lost, you haven't found me. I was never one of the Others. I was always with you. Just promise me, promise me you end it right. Promise me you won't abuse the flashbacks/forwards like Star Trek abused the Holodeck to make new stories. End the show like a car on fire going downhill. Leave me breathless for the next two seasons. I'm not ready to leave the island yet.