Rumor has it that the end of the writers' strike may be close at hand, and what better way to celebrate than with new episodes of Lost""?
Love it or hate it, the castaway drama is back after a lengthy hiatus. The wait has been far too long for ""Lost"" fanatics like me, who could hardly fathom how slowly the months would crawl by when we first found out the series wasn't returning to the air until late January. The writers strike then dealt another frightening blow to the show we love so much, cutting the originally-planned 16 episodes down to eight.
All of this turmoil in the TV industry has certainly affected a lot of shows, but ""Lost"" fans seem to have reacted the most passionately. It has made me reflect on what sets ""Lost"" apart from the rest of television today, despite the ups and downs it goes through from season to season. ""Lost"" is far from just a show anymore; it has become more of an experience. More importantly, it has become an experience that - cheesy as it sounds - brings people together.
As for me, I come from a family of ""Lost"" addicts, and we can never resist an opportunity to discuss and theorize on every last detail of the show. No birthday party or holiday celebration goes by that doesn't involve my aunts, uncles and cousins shooting their interpretations of the show back and forth across the dinner table. Some of the things we come up with make no sense at all, but other explanations seem to have such sparkling clarity that we become hard-pressed to wonder how they couldn't be true.
The cynical reader might argue that talking about a fictional television show is nothing special, but I disagree. With a plot so rich, complicated and full of mysteries, trying to sift through the symbolism and unexplainable happenings that ""Lost"" throws at viewers takes much more brain power than the average show. I don't remember the last time I heard people discussing the deep psychological aspects of characters in ""Grey's Anatomy"" or ""Desperate Housewives."" With ""Lost,"" however, unraveling the characters' psyches through flashbacks and the decisions they make within the plot becomes just as important as understanding what the island itself.
This season, ""Lost"" promises to take its mysteries to the next level with character flashforwards in addition to its trademark flashbacks. The meaning of these flashforwards is another matter of hot debate for my family of ""Lost"" fans, as well as fans on message boards and websites everywhere. Are these actually visions of the future, or just possible futures? No two fans can agree, and the show isn't going to give us the answers anytime soon. Maybe getting the answers isn't the most important thing. Maybe it's the discourse and speculation between fellow ""Losties"" that really matters in the long run.
Planning to host a ""Lost"" colloquium to deliberate the implications of time travel in serial dramas? Send Cassey, an invite at mysliwy@wisc.edu.
