Lost: The End

I know most of the people who read this (of which there aren't many, mind you) don't watch LOST, so I won't spoil it. But last night was the series finale, and man, did it deliver! The show ended as it began, focused on the characters and their interactions. The reveals were sometimes telegraphed from episodes prior, and sometimes caught me completely off-guard, but always satisfied me. I went in to the episode with two or three mysteries I felt they had to reveal in order for me to be satisfied with the story, but when the final "LOST" appeared on the screen, I realised that it didn't matter as much as I thought it would. Focusing on them drew your attention away from the real point of the story.

Doesn't mean I'm not still curious about a lot of the story. They've already announced they're going to spell out the answers to some of the major theories in an "extras" on the DVD, but to take focus away from the story that was being told and explain some of the mysteries would have flown in the face of what the show's about. You don't know why everything happens in life.

Even in the end of the show, I'm still debating with friends about what it all meant. There's no debate on what happens in the end, it's all in the details of how they got there. As they say, the journey was the point.

Thanks for six great years of television and frustrating (and enjoyable) debate, LOST!

Closing in on the End

In a week and a half, LOST will be over. It's crazy to think of that - six years of awesome television about to come to an end. I'm sure that we won't get all the answers we want, but I'm okay with that. I'd be disappointed to know for certain what everything was. I like a show where I can keep trying to decipher what was going on well after it finishes. While Battlestar Galactica didn't end as strong as I wanted it to, I still love thinking back to it for all the twists and trying to decipher exactly what was going on. In fact, after LOST finishes, I think I've convinced my mother that BSG is the next show we should watch on our weekly jaunts to her place.

I have to say, I'm very glad I've been watching the show as it's come up on TV. While I do miss the ability to click the DVD to the next episode whenever I want to see what happens next, that has forced me to sit back and try to ponder what's really going on in the story rather than just finding out. The finale probably won't pull together everything I want, but I've enjoyed the entire journey.

So with the last episode being next Sunday (starts at 7 PM, goes to 11:30!), my mother, Laura and I were trying to figure out what we should do for the proper sendoff. So far we're at "Lock ourselves in the room with some pizza and drinks and don't come out until it's all done... and show up late to work the next morning since we'll have to talk about the whole thing too." But I found this on the ABC website. How crazy is that!

Well... back to work, I guess.

Home Stretch

Tonight kicks off the first of the final four episodes of LOST. I'll be a little vague with details because I know a lot of readers of my blog don't watch LOST and I don't want to spoil them too much. If you're one of those readers, I suggest you stop reading now. There are a lot of mysteries to LOST and I don't want you to have any revealed this way.

So we're to the people who are watching the show now? Good.

As I said, we're coming down to the last four episodes. I have a lot of thoughts about how the season is going so far, but rather than focusing on that right now, I thought it might be fun to look back at some of the other seasons and put them in order as far as how much I enjoyed them.

Season Five - This is one of my favorite seasons of any television show out there. Starting out strong with the time flashes and side-effects of moving the Island before things are finally steadied and Locke finds himself on a journey back home. Meanwhile, the Oceanic Six are dealing with their return while Ben tries to get them all back together to head back. The acting by Ben, Sawyer and Locke were all top-notch. There was finally some measure of peace for some of the best characters in the show (before Kate shows up and screws it all up again... who likes her anyway?) and... Faraday's story, LeFlur, Ben and Locke... this season was non-stop awesome straight through. Just thinking about it makes me want to see it again. Very tight.


Season One - The season that started it all. From the beginning shot of Jack's opening eye, then the fading in sound of screams and terror, to Jack's first view of the crashed plane, I was hooked. For the next ten minutes, we caught glimpses of almost all the main characters we'd grow to know over the next year as they moved around in the crash wreckage. Some in shock and unable to really function, others immediately jumping to help others. When it's finally over and as many people as possible are saved, the weight of what just happened starts to dawn on them. This episode had a bunch of mysteries that held true for seasons later, and some which still bear relevance today. Watching the first season again makes you realize how far these characters have come. Boone's episode still leaves me with chills. The season also introduced Danielle Russou, who I maintain is the most tragic character in the entire series (the only one close might be Faraday). Getting to know these characters through flashbacks and realizing that not everything is as it seems - every episode was a new mystery. Good times.

Season Four - During the writer's strike, this season had to be cut by a good number of episodes and what resulted may not have been the initial vision, but it was still fantastic. Picking up where the previous season left off, this episode introduced a new set of characters, but unlike Niki and Paulo, they were introduced well and were compelling characters. Watching the split of the two factions - Locke's and Jack's - it was great to watch the actions they were doing on the island and then the long-term effects of them play out in the flashforwards. Seeing Ben beaten but unbroken was great and watching his return to relevancy after what happened in Season Three was fantastic and a testament to the character.

Season Three - The last handful of episodes were fantastic, and the first two thirds were immensely pointless. It had one of my favorite episodes of all time, the finale of the season. The twist of the flashback, Charlie and Desmond in the Hydra, Jack's conversation with Ben... all fantastic moments. But weigh those against the terrible first part of the season with the cages and the Eko with the bear, etc., and I have trouble putting this season above the likes of 4, 5 and 1. Plus, this season had Niki and Paulo. Nobody likes them. On the flip side, it introduced Juliet. I think the weird love-triangle/square/whatever they tried to do with Kate, Juliet, Jack and Sawyer was pretty lame, but fortunately it didn't go anywhere.

Season Two - The season started out pretty well dealing with the discovery of what was in the hatch and finding Desmond inside, and had some awesome episodes in between (Henry Gale, Eko and Locke, Sawyer and the guns, introducing the Others), but overall, when I finished watching the season, I had to wonder what the point was. The big focus of the season was irrelevant by the end. The new characters were gone by the end. What did we just spend all this time on? I feel like this season was when the writers didn't realize how big LOST was going to be and were struggling to figure out what was going on. The series didn't find its feet again until midway through season three, which is about when they announced that the show would have a set number of episodes and would end after season six. Once they got something to work towards, they were just fine. Took a while to get there is all.

So what do you all think? How do you rank the seasons? And where do you think season six is going to end up in the list? Right now I have it between seasons one and four, but we'll see if it rises or falls in the next few weeks.

Time is on My Side

My mother just sent me a picture of a clock that she got from her coworkers. I'm very jealous.



I'm anxiously awaiting the last 10 episodes of the series. It's been a long ride. Hopefully the end can do it justice.