Picture courtesy of www.lost.cz
The concept itself expands with every episode and with every new vraag that is raised. With every season we get that little bit meer insight into a world that is so familiar to us... yet appears so different. We have been truly blessed...
Lost, unlike other TV shows of the moment, is an experience of the highest calibre. An experiment of narrative techniques, and pacing that requires the involvement of its audience... but patience also. We have been watching Lost for 3 years now, and in all that time we have not had a real conclusion... but therein lies the greatest strength of this modern classic of a TV show.
Good writing is nothing without a great story.... and the greatest of stories, the ones that we remember, are Human stories told on a grand scale. Lost is such a story... a story which has been established from the beginning, and one which will not be told until the final episode airs in 2010.
This is why I object so often to the 'Season 2 Abandoners'.... there are so many out there. Lost is a gift in a sense. We have been gegeven this fantastic story, of epic proportions and all we have to do is watch, and trust the writers vision of the story. Season 2 was slow for the first 8 episodes I do admit, but why abandon it? If any of them had held on for a couple meer episodes they would have started to see that vision a little meer clearly. This shouldn't bother me like it does, but I believe that we are witnessing something truly great. One of those defining moments in TV history that will be remembered for years to come.
Lost, it would seem, is not merely a TV show. It is an experience in its own right. Check out all the many discussion sites, and kom bij in with the countless theories, and debates that are raised with every episode... this series, this story, this wonderful experience shows no boundaries. There is as much life in the speculation and fan debate as there is on screen... and the fact that the writers engage in those debates, and even react to them, only serves to expand the experience.
There is no denying this is a defining moment in TV, just think ahead 2 and a half years... the final episode is aired. Our vragen have been answered (maybe not all of them... perhaps one remains to tantalise us all with intrigue that would be only fitting to this most allusive of narratives), and we reach the end of one single story, told over the course of 6 years. I intend to take the experience again, firstly through DVDs on my own, seeing how it all fits together, and then my children, when I can live it again, and introduce them to this fascinating place. This will be an event!
Of course the ending is likely to spleet, split our opinion... "not enough answers", "not enough people died", "not enough people survived", "that was stupid..." But Lost is a classic Mystery series, with very simple vragen that we want answered. What is the island? Why are they there? And the simplicity of the vragen are seconde only to the complexity of the answers. antwoorden that are 6 years in the making, and I respect the vision behind the toon that has made this possible.
Do I care if people abandon this toon for one that is meer 'giving'? No. I take great comfort that I am sitting in the middle of one of the greatest storytelling experiences I may ever have. We are as much a part of the island as the 'Losties'. Lost will come to define this generation for many reasons. We debate their findings, we shift our allegiances as they shift theirs, we lose faith in people one week and trust them in another... because we are all there with them. And as I sit patiently on the frontline I can take it all in as someone who is as much a part of the ride as the characters, enjoy the moments as they come, and be able to say "I was there!" Because we are, and always will be, passenger 49.
Photo courtesy of www.metelci.blogspot.com
