After successfully not watching an entire episode of LOST for the past 6 years, I have finally understood the draw of the series.
When LOST first came out, I constantly heard from friends how much I neeeeeeeded to watch it. The arguments were persuasive and well-thought out, “You just HAVE to watch it!” ”You have no idea what you are missing!” ”It is hard to explain, you just have to see to understand!” I even had a few exclaim with a total lack of hyperbole, “This is the best show ever! It will change your life and the way you watch TV!” Now if this isn’t enough to convince you to watch, I don’t know what will. But, I was strong and resisted the temptation to be a lemming.
It would take me two years to even consider watching an episode. When I finally thought I would give it a chance, I only made it 5 minutes because of the ridiculous story and terrible acting. The “terrifying” smoke monster is what finally made me change the channel, but that is the beside the point. After two years, the hyperbole subsided and the viewers were just left with questions. The evangelists were no longer the fervent proselytizers. I believe that at this time, they didn’t want to let go of the series because they had already devoted too much time and energy to something that obviously was now pointless. However, they hung on. Each year they refused to fold, knowing they had nothing in their hand.
They made it to Season 5 when they were about to give up…and the producers knew it. Sensing the unrest of the majority of viewers, they teased that the series would end after season 6, buying them at least another year to answer questions. Well, here we are in season 6, and all I hear from viewers (via conversation and highly accurate research utilizing facebook) is that they are getting more questions than answers.
So the situation is this: LOST has to resolve the roughly 2 Billion questions before the end of the season. That is only a few short episodes to provide answers for all the questions like, “Why is the Hurley not getting any skinnier?” And the truth is this, there is no way to for them to do it. If they tie everything up in a bow, they have jumped the shark. If they answer only a few, the viewers are sure to be ruffled. Therefore, it cannot get out of the hole it dug. You will leave the series dissatisfied.
While it may have been fun to decide to have polar bears on the island in a drunken brainstorming session, someone has to explain A) why was that a good idea, B) what the heck are polar bears doing on a tropical island?
The world is only a few episodes away from realizing that they have wasted the past 6 years of their life on a ridiculous TV series. I can only hope the whole series ends with a Polar bear waking up and realizing the whole thing was a dream. That might be the only scenario that makes the series palatable.
