Previously on LOST

I could not go on any longer without devoting a post to the most frustrating, most captivating show on television, ABC's LOST.

Lost is unlike any other television show that I have come across. I am a big fan of the show, but some of friends who watch it claim they are only watching it because they are addicted. And believe me, there's nothing one can do about it. The way the writers crafted the show, there is almost no way to stop watching it once you become addicted.

Now if you were new to Lost and I were to just tell you a synopsis of the series, I would sound like an idiot, and you would not be interested. It truly is the strangest thing. Whenever I'm talking to one of my friends on the day after Lost airs, I always think about what we're talking about for a brief moment and just imagine how strange we must sound to someone who has not watched the show.

Sample dialogue between my friend and I:

Me: Dude, do you think that guy is the smoke monster?

Friend: I don't know, he might be. I think the smoke monster just comes back in the forms of people who have already died.

Me: So do you think that Jack's dad on the island was the smoke monster?

Friend: Oooh. Possibly. I wonder if that's the case with Locke too.
(end scene)

Now that sample conversation didn't even touch on the time-traveling, flashbacks, the entire island moving, or the random polar bear.

It clearly is not a show that one can jump right into an episode and understand. But oddly enough, that was exactly how I got hooked. The first episode that I saw was at my friend's house. It was the finale of season 3 (the episode where Charlie dies). While I tried not to be the one who was always asking annoying questions, that's exactly what I was. After that episode, I found myself wanting to find out more. I got caught up on the first three seasons during the summer and the first part of my freshman semester, and by that time was ready for the show to air late January. I, and millions of others, are now anxiously awaiting the last 4 episodes of a show that has caused us both frustration and energy in coming up with theories on how it will end.

The thing that both makes Lost the show that it is, and the reason why a lot of my friends have the love-hate relationship with it that they do (but usually won't admit), is the cliff hangers. You can almost pencil in one at the end of each episode. There are numerous twists within each episode as well. Also, each episode is likely to have 4 or 5 flashbacks (in the first 3 seasons), flash forewards (in seasons 4 and 5), and now flash sideways (this season). What's more, no one really knows as to the significance of these sideways flashes. Hopefully they will tie it all together. If not, a lot of my friends will be frustrated with the show forever.