In Search Of Lost

I have now finally caught up with season 5 of Lost.

I was sitting here at my desk, right after finishing
"The Incident part 2". I was jacked up and ready to roll for the big final season. Then suddenly, my head began to swirl amid a chaotic tapestry of time travel paradoxes, intricate emotional relationships, fate versus destiny debates, and a whole bunch of other mind expanding fodder best dwelled upon during late hours in a college dorm room somewhere, preferably under the influence of some illegal brain altering substance to further expand one's horizons, and break though those seemingly insurmountable obstacles of time and space and the barriers they present us with.

Then I remembered what an old screenwriter teacher once taught me.

"What is the story about?" the teacher asked.
"Well, it's about this group of survivors who land on the island and then..." I said.
"No," the teacher interrupted me. "That is the plot. What is it about? Tell me!"

So what is Lost about?

The last great genre phenomenon, The X-Files, was about the "other". The shadow, the looming monster under the bed, or living the next door, or watching from above...or working at the corporation you punch in at, or operating from the secret underbelly of the government who only tells you want they want you to know. The X-Files was about, angst, and paranoia, and the dark forces lurking on the shadows. It was film noir in the absolute purest form, in the great tradition of German expressionism and the American horror films of the 1930's, and crime films of the 1940's. The X-Files was as its best in those early seasons, when the show was unrelentingly dark, brooding, and pessimistic. That is because Chris Carter (and his team of writers including most notably James Wong and Glen Morgan) have a dark side. And anyone who has ever watched that other Chris Carter show, Millennium, can attestify to.

J.J Abrams and his team of superbly talented writers and filmmakers are coming from a different place. Sure Lost has thrills, chills, a smoke monster, ghostly apparitions, and maybe the greatest villain in television history. But Lost is not about the scares, the thrills, or the pulse pounding action adventure it so expertly delivers in each and every episode.

Remember what happened when they left the island. Jack was a mess. Kate had to face some cruel realities. Sayid suffered a tragedy and his heart turned black. Hurley went crazy. Sawyer stayed on the island and found peace and happiness for the first time in his life.

What is Lost about?

Lost is about getting to that special place. That elusive place. That place of darkness, and wonder, and magic, and lost love and great adventures. Lost is about fighting through the darkness and marching on into the unknown in search of what is missing.

Lost is about lost love and found hope.

Lost is about getting back to that place, that place of dreams.