Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Five things I miss about LOST

Today is the 10th anniversary of LOST's premier. This was the first successful live-action show that I watched from the very first episode. Up til then the shows I watched from the ground up were one seasons failures (The Lone Gunmen, Greg the Bunny), or I didn't get into until they were monster hits (Third season of House MD, The Simpsons).

121 hours of entertainment. And the top five things I miss. And SPOILERS.

5. The Mystery

Not before or since have I watched a program that was so intricate. There were massive fan theories from the island being on a turtle's back (wrong) to time travel (wrong at first) to it being purgatory (wrong until the last season). Even after the show ended, even after the creators have given interviews and explained a lot, there's still many unanswered issues. But nobody really debates them anymore. The mystery remains, but the passion is gone.

4. The Fear

LOST wasn't primarily a horror show, but there was plenty of scariness. The Others, and their mysterious motives. The smoke monster and its introduction, EATING THE PILOT. Ben Linus. Just Ben Linus. Un-Locke. Insane Claire. Insane every other Benn Gum-type character. Sayid coming back wrong. There's too many moments to choose from. This isn't even half.

3. The Humor

Just as essential to the show as the mystery and the fear was the humor. Remember when Artz exploded? Later, as Hurley so helpfully pointed out to one of his fellow survivors "You've got some Artz on you." and then puked?

Funnier in context. Frankly, most of the jokes are, but that doesn't make them any less funny. Just harder to explain, like all of LOST.

2. The Philosophy Lesson

Season one of lost coincided with my first year at Oakland Community College and my first Philosophy class. A class with a set of philosophers that had identical names and beliefs to characters in the show. John Locke was especially poignant with his theory of  tabula rasa  (also an episode name!). I probably would have done fine in the class without LOST, but this was a BIG help.

1. The characters

Will Kate end up with Jack or Sawyer? This is one of the few love triangles I ever gave a damn about. And boy, did I give a damn about it (Sawyer deserved better than her, and got it).

Then there was ,y favorite comic relief duo, Charlie and Hurley. Charlie was the whole reason I watched the pilot episode, as Dominic Monaghan was fresh off playing Merry in Lord of the Rings. Hurley I grew to love over time.

There are literally dozens of others that I loved, hated, and couldn't wait to see again, but it would take too much time to recount them all. You were awesome, cast of LOST. I miss you.

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