tv

LOST (2004 – 2010)

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Lost: that’s how some viewers felt most of the time. Love it or hate, this was one of the most intricately woven TV shows of all time, and will surely be remembered for generations go come.

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In my relentless search for TV shows and/or good movies to have playing in the background, I inevitably turn back to shows and movies I’ve already seen. Recently, I rewatched Lost, and by my count, this marks the 5th time I’ve watched the complete show.

I didn’t get into back in 2004.  Instead, once I realized that almost any TV show can be of some interest if watched straight through on DVD, I picked up the first season on a whim, probably about the same time that the fifth season was hitting DVD.  I worked my way through those first five seasons fairly quickly, just in time for the airing of the sixth season.  It was rough keeping up with the show from week to week, but since the sixth season was the last, the DVD hit shelves not long after the finale and I was able to run through the entire season (and series) not long after.

After this latest viewing, I was remarkably less disappointed than I had been previously.  No doubt that some of this was due to my decreased speculation and obsession over certain details, yet somehow these loose ends tended not to bother me as much.  When looking at the show as a whole, it tells an amazing story, even if it did become clear by the end that the writers were in a little over their heads, and probably got a little over-ambitious as the end was in sight.

Trying to discuss the show as a whole would either result in a rambling mess, or either a huge series of articles that I’d need to pour weeks of revisions into.  Instead, I want to touch on each season and talk a bit about what worked and what didn’t.  Warning:  If you haven’t watched all of LOST, you should probably stop reading.

Season 1 – The Crash

Main Discovery – Danielle Rousseau
Main Theme – Survival, Acclimation to the Island, Gathering Information

Season 1 is a fantastic season of television period.  Even if Lost “lost” you later on, I think the first season is enough to entice anyone to watch more.  Highly serialized and spectacularly crafted, this is as addictive as TV gets.  Most of us can relate to fears of a plane crash, most of us have though about some form of the “deserted island scenario,” and any fan of drama can appreciate the multiple unanswered questions and mysteries that the season set up.

One continuing theme that runs throughout the show is that no one really knows anything about the island.  Along the way, our survivors encounter multiple people/things that they as characters and we as viewers expect to reveal more about the island, but as it turns out, they know nothing.  We get our first taste of this in Season 1 as Sayid stumbles across Rousseau, the woman who’s boat crashed ashore some 16 years ago.  Surprise surprise, she offers us very little insight into what’s going on, aside from some interesting metaphors for “the monster” and the existence of the Black Rock.

The first part of the season mainly focuses on survival and characterization.  We meet our leader Jack, the shifty and flaky Kate, the well-intentioned yet inept Michael, they mysterious yet very capable John, and the sarcastic, miserly Sawyer, among several others.  Much of the season is about connecting with them on various levels, both with their on-island life and the novel flashback technique.  Aside from Rousseau’s increased involvement during the final episodes, our biggest moments are centered around Locke and Boone’s discovery of the Beechcraft, the Hatch, the launch of Michael’s raft, Boone’s death, and the birth of Claire’s son.

Season 2 – The Hatch

Main Discovery – The Hatch (The Swan) / Desmond
Main Themes – Who built the Hatch?  Who are “The Others”? The Tailies

Season 2 continues amping up the mystery factor of the island, while continuing to peel away some of the innocence and naivete of our main characters.  This is another excellent stretch of television, though the serialized nature becomes even more important.  We kick things off with several questions, such as who are The Others, why/where did they take Walt, and what the hell is the Hatch?

Although it takes its sweet time getting there, we do get around to the Hatch’s sole occupant, Desmond, and – surprise surprise – he doesn’t really have a clue what’s going on either.  We’re introduced to things like DHARMA and pushing the buttons, but we still have almost no picture of “the why” behind it all.  Early episodes focus again on the crash, this time from the perspective of the tail section.  I think this was a development that most viewers saw coming, so it was nice to get that taken care of relatively early on.  We don’t really get any clues about “The Others” at this point, and emphasis on survival is lessened as our characters adapt.

Though I would still very much consider Lost in its prime during Season 2, some of the producers’/writers’ annoying hallmarks begin to shine through, i.e. answering questions with questions.  Also, Michael was one of the most annoying characters ever to grace the screen and I quickly tired of his rabid obsession with finding Walt, yelling about Walt, being 100% irrational because of Walt, and endangering virtually any and everyone for the sake of Walt.  It was just too much to take in as a viewer.  I suppose his reaction is realistic to a degree, but at the same time I have to wonder what good he thinks he’s doing by aimlessly wandering through a jungle without food or water and using all of his energy to scream “WALLLLT!!!” and “THEY TOOK MY SON!”

Ana Lucia’s bitter attitude doesn’t help, and when combined with Sawyer’s stubbornness during their trek back to the survivor’s camp it becomes almost unbearable.  I guess what I’m getting at is that the season gets off to a rather slow start, with the events of the Tailies strung out for an episode or two too many, though I do enjoy the “flashback” where we see the crash and the first 48 days from their perspective.

“Henry Gale” is a major element of Season 2, though we don’t fully grasp his importance until the following season.  However, it is interesting see the ramped up suspicions of our survivors and how paranoid their time on the island has made them.

Things heat up as the season draws to a close, though we’re forced to endure more of Michael, this time a little too blatantly yelling about who has to accompany him to The Other’s camp.  At least Sayid figured it out, and I was glad to see that at least one character saw through Michael’s pitiful deception.  Introduced this season (in a way, at least) was one of the series’ greatest mysteries – Libby.  All throughout the rest of the show we waited for a Libby-centric episode, and although she popped up in other characters’ flashbacks from time to time, we never really knew what her deal was.

Back at the Hatch, Locke has a crisis of faith, the Swan implodes, and we see that Penny has finally located the island…

Season 3 – The Others

Main “Discovery” – The Others
Main Themes – Separation, Leadership, Origins/motives/conflict with The Others

Ever since Danielle mentioned them way back in the first season, viewers were on the edge of their seat about “The Others.”  From the get-go, Season 3 shows us who they really are, not the nappy, wild, unkempt natives that we were led to believe.  No, they enjoy A/C, book clubs, chicken, and a reasonable standard of living.

The third season can easily be divided into two halves.  During the first half, we follow the captured Jack, Kate, and Sawyer while also learning a great deal about Juliet and Ben.  In my opinion, and in the opinion of many other viewers, the first 8 or so episodes moved far too slowly.  Thankfully, as Kate and Sawyer escape (sort of) and mount a rescue mission for Jack, things really heat up.

A lot happens next, but the most important points are Juliet joining the survivors and Locke joining The Others.  I enjoyed watching Juliet’s arc, especially as she went from cold villainess to yet another pawn in Ben’s manipulative plans.  I was also happy to see Jack do something besides dream of Kate (unfortunately this didn’t last).

Locke joining the Others was by far the plot most worth following.  Even though we really never did find out much more about who or what the Others were, it was awesome to see Locke embrace his faith in the island.  He was never really able to outsmart Ben, but it was great to see that even his devotion to the island was enough to undermine Ben’s level of control.  It was during these episodes where we get glimpses of greater things to come: Richard has an increased presence, the first few mentions of Jacob are heard, and we as the viewer gain a more overt understanding that yes, the island does possess a degree of supernatural-ness.

Highlights for me include the revelation of how Locke finally broke his back, the fact that Anthony Cooper and “the real Sawyer” were one in the same, and the subsequent showdown in the Black Rock.  For me, Lost as a show peaks in “The Brig,” which is where Locke brings Sawyer to the ship to confront Cooper.  A lot of my questions (character-wise) were getting answered, and it was finally becoming clear that the island indeed had inexplicable and otherworldly “powers” that weren’t going to be rationalized with existing science.  In several ways, I was satisfied with what we were given, yet during the last few episodes we had a whole new slew of enigmas presented to us.

Here’s where Lost began its descent for me.  A number of events happened in these last few episodes that started to get just a little too “out there” or that changed the tone just enough to dampen the fantastical aspects of the show.  For one, Naomi parachuted onto the island, which meant that maybe it wasn’t as special as we thought.  Second, Desmond experienced a “flashback” that clearly wasn’t a flashback, even later explained by the producers as actual time travel due to his unique relationship with high levels of electromagnetism.  Lastly, Charlie’s death was the icing on the cake.  They spent episode after episode building this up…and then it happens…am I supposed to be shocked because it actually happened?  I don’t know, it just didn’t resonate with me.

Thankfully, the very end of Season 3 brings us our first flash-forward, which is good because the flashbacks were beginning to feel extraneous.  Sure, we get some interesting revelations in Season 3, but damn, it took us forever to get there.  Some stories were interesting, but I was really beginning to lose interest in the minute details of the lives of people like Kate, Charlie, Hurley, and Claire, just to name a few.

The season on-island ends with a bang: the survivors talk to the freighter off-shore, Locke throws a knife in Naomi’s back, and the only 2 married men on the island stay behind with Sayid to fend off an attack against the Others.  Oh, and did I mention that despite being firmly ingratiated with the Others, even they offer up hardly any answers about the nature of the island?

I probably should’ve mentioned Nikki and Paulo in there.  They were the producers’ attempts to integrate more of the other survivors into the show.  Maybe these two weren’t the best choice, but I appreciated the idea.  Apparently fans were less forgiving, and they get their own episode devoted to their demise.  It was at least humorous, and a nice break in the heaviness of Season 3.

Season 4 – The Freighter

Main Discover – The Science Team, The Kahana
Main Themes – Rescue, Oceanic Six, Flash-Forwards

Season 4 marks a dramatic thematic shift, and it isn’t one I entirely agree with.  Individually, it’s also the weakest season, because much of the information we’ve been given is rendered useless and we have to reacclimate ourselves with what’s going on all over again.

I appreciate the flash-forwards, I really do.  I think it was a great twist, and a great way to tell the story, but combined with the on-island madness of walking here and then walking there and all the shit happening on the Kahana, it was just too much to keep up with.  We’re introduced to several new characters, both major and minor during these 17 days on the island.  There’s the Kahana’s science team, the Kahana’s mercenary team, the Kahana’s crew, Locke’s camp, Jack’s camp, and then all the shit happening in the future.  It’s a hell of a lot of pieces to put together, and the simple idea of a rescue mission is strung out for way too many episodes.

First let’s talk about the people on the Kahana – Daniel, Charlotte, Miles, Captain Galt, Keamy – surprise surprise, none of them have a clue what’s up with the island either.  What else is new?  Sadly, none of the major or minor characters really adds much to the season.  Miles is a less likable version of Sawyer (is that possible?), Charlotte literally does nothing, and Daniel is just a mouth piece for a bunch of quasi-scientific bullshit about time travel and electromagnetism.

One of the more interesting events is the schism between the survivors.  Those that believe in the rescue go with Jack, while those that believe in Locke’s and Ben’s assertion that the team is up to no good go to the now-abandoned barracks with Locke.  It’s fun to see who lands on what side of the coin, though ultimately there’s a little too much flip-flopping to keep track of it all.

Perhaps the most surprising moment is Keamy’s execution of Alex.  How many TV shows and movies have we all watched where someone had a gun to someone else’s head and said “if you don’t do such and such by the time I count to 3 I’m gonna kill his person!” but something always happens where the trigger is never pulled?  Well, Keamy shoots this 16-year-old girl without a moment’s hesitation.  It was refreshing to see a network TV series actually have the balls to do something like that.  We also see the unceremonious death of Rousseau (who, despite being French, has gone through the show with an Eastern European accent) though her story is yet to be finished.

Ultimately I have a hard time staying fully vested in this season.  It’s interesting, but not in the same minute way that past seasons were.  Every time I watch Lost, I always have the feeling that I just want this damn season to move forward quicker.  Eventually it does; Jack, Hurley, Kate, Sayid, Sun, and Claire’s baby Aaron make it off the island to become the Oceanic Six, as well as Desmond who keeps his involvement hidden.  And then we get to the startling (but somewhat expected) revelation that Jack wants to go back to the island!  Except now it’s been moved…

Season 5 – Time Travel to 1977

Main Discovery – The DHARMA Initiative
Main Themes – Time Travel, Returning to the Island

I have severely mixed feelings about Season 5.  On the one hand, it’s a sloppy continuation of an already sloppy fourth season; on the other hand, it acts almost purely as set up for the final sixth season, which, while completely different, did manage to redeem parts of the show that had fallen behind.  Of note, this season finally addresses the 2 or 3 dozen other survivors of Oceanic 815, by seemingly killing every single background character during a flaming arrow attack back in 1951.  I definitely saw this as a cop out, though when all is said and done, it was probably a cop out that was best for the show at that point.

The fifth season opens with the island jumping around in time randomly.  We get little glimpses into the island’s history, most of which serve as red herrings or ultimately insignificant plot points.  I generally tend to dig time travel, even if it’s not done very well, but in the case of Lost, I found it difficult to get behind.  It’s a bumpy ride through all the time shifts, though in the end it serves almost as a substitute for flash-anythings.  Eventually our on-island characters settle in 1974, right in the midst of the DHARMA days.  So here we are, right in the heart of DHARMA, and guess what?  They don’t really know shit about the island either.  Sure, they know there’s some pockets of electromagnetivity scattered about, but again, it never ties into the “why” of the island.

Off-island, 3 years later and with the help of Locke, our characters finally make it back.  It turns out that some are thrown back to 1977 (Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid) while the rest are thrown into the present, 2007.  We have a slew of uninteresting episodes that revolve around DHARMA.  I suppose that it’s supposed to be an interesting exercise in causality.  We’re supposed to understand that this was the past that always existed; that Jack and co. joined up in 1977 and that Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, etc. became part of the Initiative back in 1974.  Yes, it tosses around some interesting ideas, and yes it gives us insight into various aspects surrounding Ben, The Others, Richard, and Locke, and yes, I would even go so far as to say it handles time travel very maturely (aside from a couple of closed loops that it creates).

So what’s the problem?  It simply doesn’t further the story the right way.  We learn a good deal about DHARMA and we get a clearer picture of the events previously alluded to, but it doesn’t push us any further into understand the island or why our characters are there.  About midway through, shit starts falling apart, and Jack comes to believe that it is his destiny to detonate a bomb at the uncompleted Swan hatch that will negate everything that ever happened as a result of the Swan.  (Some time ago, we learn that Desmond was late punching in the numbers (on the day he accidentally killed Kelvin) which caused a burst of electromagnetism which ultimately brought down the original Oceanic flight.)

This is an awesome idea, and we do get a decent amount of action leading up to the season finale, but it still takes us a while to get there.  Over in 2007, we don’t really know what the hell is going on.  There are lots of new people to try and get to know, and many of these people have advanced knowledge of the island, all of which makes it difficult to get invested in what’s happening.

Overall, I would best describe Season 5 as inconsistent.  It isn’t quite the mess that Season 4 is, but it struggles to find its place.  One notable event is Jin’s involvement with Rousseau and her team back when they crashed in 1988, but again, it feels like padding.  Great, we get Rousseau’s story, but it’s pretty much exactly how most of us imagined it.  The only twist is that Jin was there…which, if true, you think we would’ve had a moment or two in a previous season where Danielle recognized him.  But whatever.  My point is that we get a ton of backstory throughout this season, and that’s cool in its own way, though I tend to regard much of it as a stall tactic.

The two-part Season 5 finale shifts us thematically again.  We finally meet Jacob, as well as his rival.  We learn that Locke died off-island, and that something else is walking around in his skin.  Shockingly, we also witness Jacob’s death at none other than the hands of Ben.  Jack and co. detonate Jughead, and then stage is set for the final season.

Season 6 – The End

Main Discovery – Jacob, MIB
Main Themes- Resolution, Redemption

After the subpar fourth and fifth seasons, I was a little concerned that Lost was going to have a less than spectacular ending.  Season 6 couldn’t quite touch all the notes that Seasons 1 through 3 did, but it came reasonably close to wrapping things up in a timely fashion, and without giving us too much bullshit to worry about in the meantime.

The biggest thing to contend with as the season begins is that “Locke” isn’t Locke.  In one of Lost’s most heartbreaking scenes, we learn that, off-island, Ben talked John out of suicide just long enough to get the name “Eloise Hawking,” and then brutally murdered him.  Locke was hands down my favorite character and I was sad to see him go, yet I was also relieved that this thing posing as Locke wasn’t actually Locke – I was glad that Locke hadn’t undergone such a radical and bizarre change.

Most of this season consists of various factions of characters wandering around.  We have Locke’s team, Jacob’s team, and eventually Widmore’s team to contend with.  A lot of seemingly important characters from the Ajira 316 flight and Widmore’s team are introduced, which made me a little skeptical of their importance since the story was drawing to a close.  My skepticism turned out to be well founded.  Most of these characters (Ilana, Bram, Zoe, Seamus, Caesar (ok, technically from the end of Season 5) met a quick end and were forgotten even quicker.  We also meet up with the “Temple Others,” and despite their potential significance (Dogen, Lennon, Aldo) they’re also dispatched with limited fanfare.

As the cast whittles down, some major loose ends are addressed.  Pretty much everyone who ever wanted to be on the island is on it, and of those, either all or killed or accounted for.  All random extras are done away with, and even Widmore himself is gunned down by Ben (which I kind of enjoyed seeing).  Soon the final confrontation comes into focus as Locke’s deception is uncovered and as Jack gains the faith that John wanted him to have for so long.  But before the end, we get a couple of glimpses into the history of the island once again, which I think are among some of the best episodes of Lost ever.

“Ab Aeterno” focuses on Richard’s origins and how he came to the island.  It’s a satisfying story, though it does feel a little rushed being told here at the end.  Really though, the significance is not to be found in Richard’s story, rather, it’s what we glean from his interactions with both Jacob and the Man in Black (MIB) that are important.  We get another whopping dose of Jacob and MIB in the antepenultimate episode of the series “Across the Sea,” which aims to give us our greatest insight into the island.  Here we are, at the source, right?  Jacob himself ought to be able to reveal the island’s endless mysteries, right?  Well no.  On par with the rest of the series, it would seem that Jacob’s cryptic speech is not a form of Yoda-esque wisdom, but a result of his own lack of understanding of things like “the source” and “the light.”  No, Jacob doesn’t have the answers either, he just inherited the vague position of “protector” from his mother.

Despite this, Lost still gears up for an amazing conclusion.  “Sundown” manages to kill off Sun, Jin, and Sayid.  The scene between Sun and Jin is a real tearjerker, which really says something about the quality of Lost.  They started off as very marginalized main characters.  As they grew, we began to hate Jin.  Then we were made to feel sorry for Jin and balk at Sun’s ignorance to Jin’s situation.  Then they spend 3 long years apart; indeed one of the main strings of Season 5 was Sun trying to find Jin.  And then, just when all seems well, they’re able to die, together.  Sayid goes out as a martyr, and provides material for one of the season’s most effective lines, as delivered by Jack to Hurley, “There is no Sayid!”  Near the end only Jack, fake Locke, Hurley, Sawyer, Kate, Claire, Richard, Miles, Frank, Desmond, and Ben are the only ones left on the island.

Somewhere along the way Claire reappears from the jungle (after randomly disappearing sans Aaron in the Season 4 finale) as a Rousseau-replacement and an acolyte of the MIB, though I found this aspect to be severely underdeveloped.  A few encouraging words about Aaron from Kate later, and she’s good as new, back on team good guys.  Frank (another underdeveloped and probably uninteresting addition to the main cast), Miles, and Richard frantically work to restore the plane to working order, but as a trio I never really felt invested in these guys.  Sure, I had some sympathy for Richard, but watching these 3 peripheral characters duct-taping a plane together didn’t really tug on the heart strings.

The real fun happens at the end – fake Locke gets Desmond to uncork the well of light at the source (or whatever) and gets his chance to escape from the island, yet also becomes mortal.  Jack defeats fake Locke, and then our survivors split – Sawyer and Kate make their way back to the plane while Hurley and Ben accompany Jack to recork the well – all while the island continues to crumble.  In short the good guys win; it’s a decent scene but the well and the water and the cork is all a little too removed from reality to mean much on its own.  The important parts here are the dialog.  I enjoyed Hurley’s reluctant acceptance to become the island’s protector, and his asking of Ben to help him was a rare moment of true redemption for Ben.  I especially loved it when Ben told Hurley (in response to getting Desmond off the island, and Jacob making it difficult to leave), dismissively, “That’s how Jacob ran things,” and then reflectively, “Maybe there’s a different way,” and finally in a moment of true altruism, “A better way.”  It’s a great scene for Ben, who arguably has grown more than any other character.

Jack’s final moments are definitely sad for those of us who saw Lost as “The Jack Show” more often than not.  And even though it was pretty damn cliche in terms of mirroring the very beginning, it was still completely fitting and quite touching.  The fact that Vincent came along to keep him company makes even more sense if you’ve actually seen the “Mobisodes” released between Seasons 3 and 4 and available on the Season 4 DVD set.

Alright, there’s still an enormous elephant in the room that I haven’t addressed about Lost’s final season: the flash-sideways!  Although I like Season 6 as a whole, I take particular issue with the flash-sideways, and I find it difficult to watch on subsequent viewings (at least until the very, very end).

Clearly we’re supposed to believe that the detonation of Jughead in the Season 5 finale triggered an alternate timeline where Oceanic 815 crashed.  This is reflected in Juliet’s last words, “It worked,” which hold absolutely no meaning based on what we now know about the flash-sideways.  I can be a good sport when it comes to a clever red herring, but this was just too much.  It became harder and harder to reconcile how an alternate timeline was going to fit in as the season wore on, yet it seemed like such a perfect explanation.

Then, the characters in the flash-sideways began “waking up.”

Long story short, the flash-sideways continues to devolve into senselessness and right there at the very end we learn that this entire “thing” is some kind of afterlife/purgatory construct fashioned by the survivors (and other miscellaneous island inhabitants) in order to “find each other.”  What the hell does that even mean?  The fact that everyone died “at some point” and met up to go to heaven together just didn’t leave a great taste in my mouth.  It was as if to say that nothing really mattered, that the few good times had on the island were worth an eternity together (nevermind things like family, children, spouses, and the fact that Sayid chose Shannon over Nadia was completely unbelievable) and that these people ultimately found the most meaning in their lives with each other on the island.

For some people I could understand – particularly Jack, Locke, and Hurley (since he took the mantle of protector), but for others it seems unreasonable.  What about people who went on to live 30 or 40 years after they got off the island, like Kate and Sawyer?  It seems like they would’ve probably ended up together, yet in the afterlife Jack is with Kate and Sawyer with Juliet (I was never sold on Sawyer + Juliet, honestly).  What about Sayid who wanted nothing more than to get off that damn island and find Nadia?  What about Boone and Shannon who barely spent a month on the island before meeting their demise?  It just didn’t (and doesn’t) sit well with me.  It’s a beautiful moment for some characters, but it feels like a real stretch for others.

There is one awesome moment near the end of the flash-sideways, occurring as Ben sits outside the church.  First he apologizes to John in what ends up being a very tender moment.  Then, Ben and Hurley have a final exchange, as Ben admits that he has more to atone for before “moving on.”  Not often can writers transition a character from almost pure evil to even remotely likable – yet by the end I was rooting for Ben and I felt that he was truly sorry for his actions.

There’s an epilogue on the Season 6 DVD that helps tie things up from an island perspective as well.  Hurley and Ben visit Walt, and invite him to join them on the island, and it seems to be a joyous occasion for all 3 of them.  While the final scenes in the church were a bit of a tearjerker, I feel like the conclusion with Walt was the best way to wrap everything up.

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So that’s it for me and Lost, at least this time around. I have a ton of respect for the show, and even though I could pick away at one thing and then another, it did a great job of holding itself together so well and for so long. Had it gone on for another 4 or 6 or 10 seasons I’m sure I would’ve continued to watch. There were (are?) a lot of stories left but overall I feel like the story was wrapped up the right way.

However, the one thing that still nags at me after all this time is that we never really understood the island in concrete terms. We get terms like “the source” and “the light” and a “cork for malevolence,” we we never really get a clear idea of what these concepts refer to. I wish we had a better understanding of what the island really is. What would’ve happened had the island crumbled into the sea? Would it even have mattered to the rest of the world? What is the true significance of the protector? And how did the less-than-scrupulous “Mother” hold this position as well as that of “the monster”? Was her “power” divided between the two brothers? And what exactly was the smoke monster? Why did MIB turn into the smoke monster when he visited the source? What exactly was the purpose of Hurley becoming the protector? And with the MIB gone, what function did Hurley, Ben, and later Walt serve on the island? I really wanted the writers/producers to inject some purpose into it all, which they never quite manage to accomplish.

Written by The Cubist

Have you watched Lost?  More than once?  Tell us what you thought!  Tell us what unanswered questions drive you crazy in the comments below!