From the Field

The Outsider’s Guide to Lost’s Last Season: Episode Nine

March 31st, 2010

We’ve done it again, folks—another Tuesday in the bag and one more Lost episode to digest. I’m chewing over the minutiae like a boy who’s been tasked with finishing an extra stalk of broccoli before he can leave the table. Tonight’s episode was filled with new conflicts and what are sure to be the final series of character arcs before this whole damned party comes to an end in another few weeks. The stage is set for the third and final act, and yet…I can’t help but feel as though it’s time for me to take my leave of the Lost world. The novelty of my personal viewing adventure is worn, my spirits are flagging, the ship is grinding towards shore. “I don’t feel anything,” says Sayid at the start of tonight’s episode, “not anger, pain, or happiness.” I share that sentiment, although it’s not entirely true for me. I do feel something, and that’s a small amount of disappointment in myself and my inability to remain curious and committed to this show.

I’ve tried! My god, how I’ve tried! You’ve seen it; you know. I’m nine episodes into the last season of one of the most convoluted stories ever told on television. I parachuted into the party, a cad wearing street clothes at a fancy masquerade ball, and I tried to have a good time. That’s a terrible metaphor, but the point I’m making is this: a show of this scope was never meant to be entertainment for a casual interloper. There are layers here, and depth, and relationships that were built on years of nuance that no outsider could possibly pick up on. Sure, I’ve had my fun—but this is a fool’s errand! I checked the clock twice during the last twenty minutes of tonight’s show, and that’s no way to spend what should be an otherwise enjoyable Tuesday evening of television.

So, I’m putting my coverage on pause for the moment. I may return to the game in an episode or two, or I may just wait until the grand finale to see how it all comes together. Popping my head into a world that is more or less walled off to the uninvested was a gamble, but I’m happy to say that it was an enjoyable experience and I’m proud to have kept my inner cynic at bay (for the most part). At the very least, this little experiment has been a great exercise in writing regularly. I hope to continue the pattern of posting at least once a week, even if I’m no longer covering the mysteries of Lost’s last season. The everyday world has enough of its own mysteries, after all.

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