tv show: LOST
LOST is a strange romance for me. I get so nervous about it not living up to my expectations, which become huge after months of waiting and waiting, that I almost set myself up to be disappointed. Often it takes a while of thinking for an episode to grow on me, for me to realize how much I really liked it. Sometimes it takes me rewatching it as part of the entire season, without commercials, without weeks in between plot points, to see how it fits into the overall story. That fact alone speaks volumes about the true craft with which the show is handled and why it is one of my favorite series of all-time… I would say it is THE FAVORITE, but it is hard to compare it apples to apples with half hour comedy gems like Flight of the Conchords or with the indescribably good horror thriller Dexter, which offers more satisfaction in intense character development but less on mind-bending mystery.
Anyway, the point of this post really is not for me to comment on how well I liked the Season 4 premiere or where I think the series is heading. The point of this post is for me to talk about this nerdy hipster dude pictured above and why I can’t believe he was able and is able to do what he does and have it work so well. Why I can’t believe that most people probably don’t even know his name. And why I can’t believe that with the level of religious obsession that is involved with being a LOST fan, that 16.1 million people tuned in Thursday!!
Most people consider JJ Abrams to be the “creator of LOST”. While JJ Abrams was certainly a catalyst that originated the ideas behind LOST and directed the pilot episode, it is this guy in the hipster glasses, Damon Lindelof, that deserves more praise for turning the series into what it is today. He is the head writer, co-creator, and from what I can tell, the true mind behind where the show goes on a weekly basis. I think he deserves some major props, and I just couldn’t go another week without gushing about why.
Imagine television before LOST… think about the landscape of shows. Was there a single TV show in the primetime line-up, bringing in 20 million viewers, that was science fiction in nature? Sci-fi doesn’t play well to much of American. Maybe it has to do with the fact that something like 60% of Americans don’t believe in evolution. Whatever the cause may be, if I was a studio executive and a writer came into my office and told me they were going to produce a primetime series about time travel, fertility experiments, mind-reading, teleportation, world-ending electromagnetism, mysterious healings, people materializing from the dead, and a giant monster (or “security system”) made out of black smoke… I would have laughed in their faces. But I would have been wrong. And now in a time of Heroes and other sci-fi shows, LOST doesn’t seem so revolutionary different, because the show has changed the landscape of primetime television.
There are plenty of cynical “I’m too cool for LOST” comment posters over at the AV Club… people who read news articles about how LOST’s ratings have dropped from 20 to 14 million… people who say the show has “jumped the shark” since Season Two… people who say the show introduces mysteries but never gives any satisfying answers… to them I just would say that I can’t believe that there are 14 million people in the world who even watch LOST, who tune in week after week. To me, that is a sign of success, not failure. To me, that has me scratching my head and trying to figure out how my man Lindelof is able to do it. How do you bring something of Twin Peaks level complicated plot into the homes of America and have them go… yeah, I love that show?
The answer… by carefully crafting a story line that can be appreciated on many wavelengths, by different levels of intelligence and enthusiasm. That craft is what makes Lindelof and company pure geniuses.
Levels of LOST fandom
At the very bottom of the pyramid, you have people who watch the show week to week, possibly miss an episode here and there, and are only able to interpret the base level of what is given to them in the show. They are able to enjoy LOST because they care about the characters, who have been very well developed in flashbacks over the course of three seasons. They are emotionally invested in their quest to get off the island, and they are curious about some of the most tangible mysteries the island has presented… such as polar bears and those darn mysterious numbers. These people still think purgatory is a viable explanation, and are able to continually support that theory based on the always running themes of good vs evil, redemption, and healing that surface in the series. These people have no real idea what the series is truly about or how sci-fi it will continue to get from here on out. Yet, somehow, there is enough put into every episode (consciously) to keep them hooked. There is a simple storyline about characters trying to survive in an unknown environment that is so universal, that you don’t need to care about time travel or four-toed statues to be invested in the series.
Next level of the pyramid are the casual theorizers. These people do pick up on a little more under the surface. They like a little bit of science fiction in their lives and probably grew to love the series more in those opening moments of Season Two… the turning point of the series when it was revealed what was inside The Hatch. All the sudden the series took a major plunge into science fiction, a direction that probably left a few heads spinning at the bottom of the pyramid, but got those on higher levels more invested. These people will chit-chat at the water cooler about what the numbers could mean, did Desmond really time travel or no, and why Dharma is interested so much in this weird island. These people may have looked at some screen captures on the web of the Dharma shark or of Jacob. They think easter eggs like that are cool, but don’t spend too much time thinking about what it means to the overall series. They are invested and curious to see where the series heads, but are also easily annoyed if they don’t feel like the pace is moving fast enough and often wonder if the writers know where exactly they are going. However, their loyalty can be easily reclaimed, when the geniuses behind the LOST team finally decide its time to reveal a bigger piece of the puzzle… like they did at the end of Season Three by finally “flashing forward”, a twist that was praised by all and gave new momentum to the story.
Then at the top of the pyramid are the fanatics, which I will admit I am one of. While I am nowhere near as fanatical as some, I can’t deny that I am a little obsessed. I read the blogs, I look at the screen caps and transcripts, and I do spend a great deal of time the day after each episode airs thinking about how the new “clues” presented change my theories about certain things. It is for people at this level that the dedication the writers of LOST really pays off. It is an attention to detail that I have never before seen in any television series or movie or anything. Little to casual viewers know that every name, every song, every book, every wardrobe choice, every sign on a business, everything… that is included in an episode of LOST is a clue. Nothing is at random. The name of the airline that Juliet took is an anagram for Amelia Earhart, who crashed (in real life) in the South Pacific and may or may not be one of The Others, which of course would signify the island slows down the aging process or that time travel is real.
I won’t go into all the delicious clues, because luckily there are enough good web sites out there that do it for me. I usually am a follower of blogs rather than a writer. It depends on your level of dedication on how much you want to see how deep the rabbit hole goes. There are those who will chat, listen to podcasts, or follow supplementary online experience games that allow users to piece together clues from web code, MySpace pages, billboards, commercials, newspaper ads. And yet somehow, despite the additional clues the writers reveal for thirsty fanatics, no one is any closer than those at the other levels of the pyramid to figuring out “the answers”. They leave enough off the table to keep some secrets to themselves. And for that, they are AMAZINGLY talented.
The fact that they can create a video game that brings satisfying new information to the series, that is interesting enough to not seem like a gimmick but to actually be a contribution to the canon of the story to have people excited (myself include) to play it… and at the same time have that stuff not be so essential to the enjoyment of the series that it leaves the lower pyramid dwellers in the dark… that makes LOST one of the smartest series in the history of television, hands down. The fact that 16.1 million other people agree is frankly a more interesting question to ponder to me, then what those darn numbers mean.
(The numbers, by the way, have been explained already in an experience game, if you want to know. I frankly find knowing that fact one of the core puzzle pieces that I base any of my theories of the series on. I am increasingly curious about how the series will finally explain the numbers to the rest of America, or if they even will. How they will wrap up the story and satisfy everyone is something that people remain highly skeptical about, but since they have pulled through this far, I don’t see why they would fail us in the end)
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