Lost: The Season that Was

When it comes to the show "Lost" I still feel a bit like I have come late to the party. I did not jump on this particularly bandwagon until the second season. Sure, I had been told by friends and family alike, during that first season, it was a show I would probably like, but, for whatever reason, I didn't start watching it. I can't recall if it was up against some other show that I was watching at the time, or if it was just my initial perception that it was just going to be some modern-day dramatic version of "Gilligan's Island" or what, but I did not participate.

People kept me in the loop enough that I knew exactly what was going on when the second season started. I also was able to do some catching up the summer before the second season started. With the watching of the first show that second season, "Lost" sank its hooks into me. I have been hooked, like some happily drugged carp, ever since.

The show has been wildly uneven since then. It has lost viewers since then. Many viewers have begun to feel like they are being jerked around, much the way viewers of "Twin Peaks" began to feel after some time and turned away in droves. However, those of us who have stuck with the show, were rewarded this past season.

The writers and producers of the show have done something smart. They went and got themselves a timeline. They will produce seasons and shows up until 2010 and then they will finally bring all of the plots to a conclusion. Of course, this is Hollywood we are talking about, so they will probably just leave things open enough should there ever need to be a "Lost" movie there can be and still have things left to answer.

Last season the show really floundered a bit. The writers decided to try and introduce new characters, the extra passengers we had yet to meet on the fateful Oceanic flight. It was a bad move. Other than a few people, and one character named Anna Lucia, from the tail section of the plane, the rest of the characters could not possibly match the characters that we had all come to know and love. We also got to know the "Others" the previous season and some of them were worth keeping around.

One of the greatest characters has turned out to be the mysterious Ben Linus (portrayed by Michael Emerson). He is the head of the "Others" and has turned from a bizarre, island-bound James Bond villain into something vastly more complex. Emerson has bug-eyes that just make you want to shiver when you see him and he plays Linus with all of the emotional attachment of a lizard. One minute, you are rooting for Linus to seek revenge against his enemies, and the next you are remembering what a true monster he often can be.

Linus took a much larger role this past season. The writers have decided to only do half-seasons until 2010, which has given them a focus. They know when the story is supposed to end, so they have begun to make strides towards ending it. This has only benefited the story and, ultimately, benefits those of us who have decided to stick around.

At the end of the previous season, the writers surprised us with a flash-forward instead of a flashback. We saw the main hero, Jack, become a drunk and pill-popping addict who was hopping planes in the hope of the plane crashing. We learned then that he and Kate had gotten off the island, but we had no idea how. This then set up the entire season that just was.

We learn that six of the beloved members made it off the island. The Oceanic Six made their appearance, by name only, in the very first episode. Thus, was set into motion the first question of the season: Who were the Oceanic 6? Who had made it off the island. The season then set about slowly and meticulously revealing that answer. Sayid had made it. Jack and Kate we knew about already. Then we saw Hurley and then learned that Claire's baby Aaron had made it. Then came Sun, turned into an avenging angel in Japan and we had our six. However, this is a show that never neatly and tidily wraps up its ends.

To talk much about the key points of the season would be to give away the season. I know many a "Lost" fan who waits for each season to end and then rents it as a whole via Netflix. To give away too much more would be to give away some of the great joys that are to be experienced.

The writing was tight and exciting. The plot began to move forward at a break-neck pace. The tension over the course of the season built to a maddening pitch that you may not even realized how much it had built until the dazzling and amazing two-hour finale.

As for the finale, well, with this show, as I have said, you can never be sure what just happened. I was in contact with other friends of mine who watch the show via text message. As the end of the season finale wound down, I texted them saying, "you know this is going to end soon and leave a lot more questions." I was right and the show did not let me down.

At the same time, it also answered a number of questions. Yet, on the other hand, it left more than it answered, as it had done time and again and seasons before. This is a show that turns in on itself ever chance it can, and the viewers just have to trust the writers and hang on for the ride.

In seasons past, with the writer's unsure of when the show was ending and just trying to keep it movie indefinitely, you never knew where that ride was going to go. It just might go right off the rails and leave you buried beneath the dirt, paralyzed by mysterious spiders. Now, however, the writers have re-focused and channeled that focus back on the story.

As such, I applaud this last season of "Lost." I suggest those who were fans previously and who abandoned the show, should come back and give it another go around. The plots are exciting. The characters are endlessly entertaining. The mysterious are nearly endless. In short, this is a damn good show that is, once more, starting to hit its stride.