Caught between being a show about people and a show about mysteries, Lost could never really satisfy everyone, which especially became true in its final season as it introduced "flash-sideways" and attempted an endgame where an alternate reality could be affected by the choices made on the island.
The final season had to "answer" questions and try to tie up every loose end while still servicing an ensemble cast of characters. Under these circumstances, perhaps it was inevitable that the series finale, which aired 10 years ago today, would be divisive. For my part, at the time I felt that it was a half-successful finale. I never really bought into the conceit of the flash-sideways although I find the concept of alternate realities fascinating.
The problem was the "awakening" device where someone in the flash sideways would remember everything on the island and instantly transform, which always felt like someone watching a recap of something and then saying they had watched the show. It was a memory of a lived experience rather than an actual lived experience and what happened to the life they lived in the flash-sideways?
However, I felt almost everything on the island worked. Although I was never totally on board with The Man in Black assuming Locke's identity Locke's death felt anti-climatic because it was shrouded in mystery and only really resolved when Jack acknowledged that John Locke was a great man , most of the island stuff worked because those were our characters making real choices.
While the larger mystery stuff kind of flopped, the characters remained captivating, and that's why I continue to love Lost. Because the mystery stuff was the hook, mysteries became the show's identity in the popular consciousness and for parts of the fanbase. They were the tantalizing dessert that kept you intrigued, but the meat of the series was about people.
Lost , at its core, is about who we are, the decisions that shape us, and if it's possible to change. That's a universal story and the way Lost made flashbacks an integral part of its identity gave the show its shape, shading, and definition. Lost asked and answered many questions over the course of its six-year run, but there wasn't really a single revelation that could match the dizzying highs of its character moments.
When we learn in "Walkabout" the truth about John Locke, yes, it's a revelation, but it's not really about the island beyond some undefined power it might have. Star of the show, Matthew Fox, is a great lead with a believable performance of a doctor who has just recently lost his father and now has to put aside his feelings to save the people on the island in any way he can.
Evangeline Lily—who is now a superstar thanks to her roles in The Hobbit and Ant-Man and the Wasp —carries the show as the female lead with a tragic and mysterious background. Dominic Monaghan—Merry of The Lord of the Rings —plays a heroin-addicted Rockstar who is battling and overcoming his addiction, whether he likes it or not while trying to find his place in the world.
Josh Holloway plays a menacing antihero, also with a tragic past. And the list goes on. Some are more interesting than others, but every character is treated with care, and the story is woven together piece by piece like a puzzle. Instead, Lost was able to remain one of the most-watched and talked about shows—especially after the first pilot episode was released, which was larger than life.
Not to mention the need to find food and water on an island in the middle of nowhere with a pregnant woman days away from having her baby. The divisive series finale and the supposed lack of planning that led up to it have inspired a kind of hyper-preparedness in other serialized TV shows. Such hyper-preparedness can be a good thing, but more often, it results in strained storytelling.
And if you have seen it before, you might be surprised by how well it holds up on a rewatch. The first season of Lost was one of those lightning-in-a-bottle moments TV has every so often.
Abrams and Damon Lindelof along with Jeffrey Lieber, who left the project before Abrams and Lindelof came onboard but still has a co-creator credit were rising TV writer and showrunner stars.
What was perhaps most addictive about Lost was how it sprinkled its mysteries over the top of rich character stories in a way that transformed the mysteries into unexpected, tasty seasoning. The character stuff fed the mystery stuff and vice versa. But because the mysteries became so intrinsic to how Lost was discussed in the media, they are often the only thing the uninitiated know about the series — and many have heard the mysteries were never solved.
Lost did, indeed, provide answers, but never in the form of a character standing up to explain exactly what was happening.
It was often this way with Lost: Because the show prioritized character stories over lore, it left the lore to hardcore superfans to decode. But if you were a more casual viewer, the mysteries were a fun, added element to the saga of Jack, Kate, and all the rest. Later on, the show had its issues — the simple act of turning a seemingly limited premise into a story that could sprawl over six seasons led to some inevitable dead-ends here and there.
But even when Lost stumbled, it had a majesty to it that was hard to ignore. And if nothing else, the end of Game of Thrones has gotten a lot of people thinking about Lost again. And yes, ABC, I have a pitch — call me. But Lost itself will forever be frustrating and wonderful and dopey and endlessly brilliant.
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