Why I Stopped Watching Lost

ABC's "Lost" started out with a bang, literally. The first season showed it had a great cast, a great plot and great special effects, from the pilot episode's plane crash and subsequent engine explosion to the bizarre creatures on the island.

It seemed so promising, like a suspenseful epic revealed a piece at a time. Unfortunately, it went downhill quickly.

(A word of warning: This piece contains some plot spoilers. If you're brand-new to the series, or haven't seen past Season One, you might not want to read any further.)

When "Lost" began, it was met with critical acclaim. It enjoyed high ratings, and it deserved to. It was a rich story, full of mystery, unfolding one episode at a time. Best of all, it was smart. It was a true change of pace from yet another cop drama, yet another thirty-something sitcom, yet another banal reality show.

That's why it was so sad when it jumped the shark.

"Jumping the shark," in case you don't know, is a term television aficianados use to refer to the point in a television series when it hits its peak, and after that it's all downhill. It's a reference to a "Happy Days" episode in which Fonzie literally jumps over a shark on water skis, which many viewers saw as the beginning of the end.

For me, there were two shark-jumping points, one right after another.

The first was simply the beginning of Season 3. The Others were great entertainment when they were a mysterious band of people who snuck onto the beach at night, abducted or killed someone, and snuck away. Once Season 3 started revealing more about their society, their town and even their book club, for cryin' out loud, it stopped being fun.

Monsters and villains are much scarier when they're in your imagination. Once you see them, they're not as scary. The black smoke cloud monster, or whatever that thing is, in "Lost" is another great example. It was better when it was just a loud noise in the jungle that tore down trees.

The second "jump the shark" moment in "Lost" was the death of Mr. Eko.

Mr. Eko was far and away the most interesting character on the show. His back story of being a Nigerian warlord was fascinating, as was his interaction with other characters. He was even more interesting than my previous favorite, Locke.

So, of course, he was killed. By the black cloud smoke thing. After that, I stopped watching.

I'm not the only one dissatisfied. At JumpedTheShark.com, more than 2,000 votes were cast to say the third season was the shark-jumping point, while more than 850 votes were cast to blame Mr. Eko's death. The Wikipedia entry for Mr. Eko states reads, "Eko's death has caused slight upset amoungst many Lost fans as he was generally a very well liked character."

An understatement, I'm sure.

Lost's creators say they have a definitive end in mind for the series. Maybe they do. But for this viewer, the series is already over.