Lost: A Retrospective

(Spoiler alert: I may give away some key plot points for those of you who haven't been keeping up with the series. I won't state specifics, but there are things you may want to leave spoiled.)

Well, here we are. After six years of aggravating cliffhangers, heartbreaking fatalities, and mind-bending theories from science fiction turned pop fiction, we are gearing up for the final episode of Lost.

We've all spent our Wednesdays and Tuesdays watching a bunch of people run back and forth on an island, shooting each other, flashing back and forth and sideways(!?), and making nearly no sense sometimes.

We've fallen in love right along with Jack and Kate, Charlie and Claire, Hurley and Libby, Sayid and Shannon, Sawyer and Juliet (and Kate), and Sun and Jin. We believed Rose wholeheartedly when she said Bernard was alive.

We cried when the rockstar drowned in the Looking Glass, when the doctor was caught in the electromagnetic well, when the couple we'd seen come so far were trapped with no escape. We've grown to love (most of) these characters as if we really knew them.

But let's face it, we laughed when Arzt exploded. And the other girl this last season.

We marveled at the slow and agonizing introduction of "the Smoke Monster". We were confused by the numbers, and loved seeing them anywhere we looked. We watched the revelation of the Dharma Initiative, and slowly pieced together their true purpose and presence on the Island.

Oh, the Island.

The main character of the show, the Island, actually multiple locations in Hawaii, is the catalyst for the entire plot. The unfolding bigger story revolves around the bizarre properties of the Island and the control thereof. Several factions struggle for the power contained in the Pacific rainforest, an overarching plotline that dominates the background of the series.

We were continually introduced to new characters, even though we couldn't figure out where they were coming from. They're on a practically invisible island, come on! But it all worked. It all started to make sense.

Lost has redefined television storytelling for a generation. Say what you will about it, network TV will not be the same. Non-linear stories and little clues that don't pay off for years (we saw a flashback to explain an event in the first season just last episode) were something only seen in comic books, as far as I know.

I'll miss it. I can watch the DVDs, with commentary and deleted scenes and all special features ever made, but I will never get the excitement back of waiting for the next episode. There won't be any more surprises. No sudden deaths, no shocking split-second decisions, no more Lost.

However it ends tonight, Lost will have changed television.

I'm honored to have gotten to see it in its time.

Thanks, Lost.