'Lost' viewers addicted to exquisite frustration
The show teases viewers with suspenseful story lines and intriguing characters.
Published Feb. 10, 2009
For a show that's essentially the biggest cock tease in television history (What's up with that four-toed statue? Is Richard Alpert older than Father Time?), "Lost" has managed to keep my attention rather well. As frustrating as it can be, the producers have a clear vision in mind and, thanks to a planned conclusion with season 6, turned a seemingly dead-end TV show into a highly cinematic experience, complete with a mythology and serious emotional attachment.
That's the real beauty of "Lost." Despite its headfirst plunge into sci-fi in recent seasons, it remains heavily character-driven while simultaneously addressing bigger questions. Quantum physics and time travel function just as well as the love triangles and daddy issues.
"Lost" delivers in the long term, which makes it both one of the most developed and exasperating shows ever. It's not a TV show that leaves viewers with a helpful moral at the end of each episode, but rather one that deals with life and death and a bigger meaning through entire season-long arcs. And for all the headaches and time travel confusion, it's completely worth it to stay with it for the ultimate payoffs. But more importantly: Who does Kate end up with?
joey vergara | senior staff writer
Everyone's talking about "Lost." The excited whispers of its fans rush through sociology and law classrooms every time the professor mentions John Locke or Jeremy Bentham. If you haven't been watching "Lost," you've probably felt a little left out by now. "Lost" is a show that entices and charms the viewer. As the saying goes: once you start, you just can't stop.
Drama is the key word with "Lost," but not drama in that "Grey's Anatomy" sort of way. Mysteries are around every corner, and the mystery never ends. Once one problem is solved, bigger problems emerge and threaten lives of the incredibly believable, well-rounded characters. Although Dr. Jack Shepard's ability to heal anyone afflicted by just about anything in the middle of the jungle isn't quite plausible, it's fascinating and puts it puts the viewer in that on-edge-of-your-seat kind of mood.
The characters are complex and almost always intertwined, as you find out in the later seasons. They must work together to take care of each other and stay alive on the island. Polar bears live in this tropical jungle, and a black smoke monster chases the characters across the island. Meanwhile, a group of peculiar people called The Others shoot at the main characters with bows and arrows when bombs are readily available. After each episode, the viewer is left a little confused and almost bursting with anticipation of next week's episode. Among flashbacks and flash-forwards, memories and dreams, "Lost" is an hour packed with murder, mystery and temptation.
cassandra joy | reporter
"Lost" began as the simple concept of a group of people stranded on a remote island after an unfortunate plane crash. Simple, right? But, somehow, "Lost" has become a fantastically written and shot epic series that encompasses many enthralling elements.
The series is like an action movie in nature -- something typically uncharacteristic of a television series -- but the high-stakes, explosive action makes the show so tantalizing.
But the most important element working for the series is the character development.
Throughout the first three seasons, exposition for the 10 or so key characters was fantastically established with the use of vivid flashbacks. These flashbacks continued until the fourth season, during which six of the survivors were rescued.
During the 14-episode fourth season, which hit a bit of a hitch due to the writer's strike, the show began to feature flash-forwards as well as flashbacks. And although the flash-forwards are at times confusing, they succeed in making viewers want to keep watching.
At this point in the series, five episodes into the fifth season, the stakes are higher than ever, as the six rescued characters must return to the island, which seems to have a mind of its own.
Even though irreplaceable characters have been killed, terrible things constantly happen to beloved characters and there frustratingly seems to be more to the island even when viewers think they know everything about it, the show remains so addictive because viewers must find out what happens to the characters. Thus, "Lost" has become a drug of sorts, and fans will always want more as long as the extraordinary plot development remains intact.
rachel post | staff writer
