4 gibbles out of 5

Creators: Jeffrey Lieber, J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof

Well, I finally done did it and finished Lost.

Here’s the main thing I’ll give the show credit for: There truly hasn’t been another series to key in to the solve-the-mystery mania that the show indulged.  It’s a tricky balance, roping viewers along, and Lost did it almost too long but paced out its payoffs well enough to keep people watching (though I wonder if I was unable to stream this in one go if I would’ve stayed for the whole trip).  X-Files had a similar approach of layering mysteries, but that draw only began to evolve later – it wasn’t the core function of the series initially – which is perhaps what made it easier to let it go at a certain point.  On the opposite end, you have the multitude of attempted Lost followers.  “The Event” comes to mind, also trying to have a key mystery as its driving factor, but that show upped the layers-upon-layers quotient to the max, and ruinously provided some key explanations early on that ended up being a letdown for being shortsighted.  The “Lost” creators, on the other hand, had the bravery to go to the fringes of sci-fi, developing some in-house concepts which spring-boarded off reality and allowing for the all-important element of the unknown by sprinkling everything with a faith vs. science battle.  In other words, they made the mystery about something more than just discovering whodunnit.

Along the way we get a ton of flawed characters, none of whom you can completely like or hate, and a full treatment of side characters who seem to have been given enough thought to have them reasonably fit into the massive though insular world (nyuk nyuk) that the writers created.

But… along the way you do also get a lot of TV.  Meaning there’s tons of up and down romances which are really just filler, and serve no overall function except to create tension, plenty of pointless yelling and fight about secrets and miscommunication that could all be cleared up by just talking with one another, and some shaky plotting elements that can be explained but sometimes feel inserted in a “we sort of know what this is but we’ll figure it out later” method.  The structure of the show also demanded several shifts in focus, which can be seen as a plus and minus.  It kept the seasons feeling fresh and not like retreads – where each season revolves around a hatch, or an adversary, or a battle – but by the same token, if certain elements that were key to the first or second seasons were what was appealing to a viewer, if they missed a season and jumped in later, they might not find much to grasp on to to keep watching (nevermind the evolving plotline that would’ve demanded some catch-up).

So it’s prevented from being perfect because of the nature of its format, essentially.  But excusing that, “Lost” is / was a truly original experience, a show demanding of its audience to pay attention and actually rewarding for a full viewing, with sometimes astounding production values and appreciable performances from the entire cast.  Nothing before matched its scope, and shows will be hard-pressed to get that exact formula down again.  (Though we can hope)