I don’t know how many of my readers followed LOST; I would hope many of you did. For those who did not, reading on will not lose you, this is not just a show review. I really hope you do read this, and offer your thoughts on either the show, or my conclusions.
Many of my co-workers did not, in fact could not watch LOST. It was too “complex” for a people breast fed on Survivor, Idol and Dancing with the Criminals. I found it more amazing that so many did become addicted to the show. What this show did, has not been done in my memory in any format other than full length film, is offer a up parable. A deep moral story. It was all about decisions.
They created a grown up Aesop’s Fable, more than a nuanced mystery. Sure, there are people bemoaning “unanswered questions,” but I think the handling was sublime: they left it open enough to let people draw conclusions based on their own beliefs. Then they reached deep into the psyche of “this can’t be happening – but its happening” and made you suspend those very beliefs without jumping the shark errr, polar bear. They added both silliness, and seriousness while employing quotes from sages spoken by those named after the philosophers. It was a veritable candy store for the deep thinker.
Springsteen may have pointed out years ago that Adam raised a Cain; we got to see what happened when Jacob and Esau lived out their lot. It had men of science, men of faith, and men who were a combination of the two. There were maddona/whore temptresses, battling warriors for what they believed to be penultimate truths, intellectual ‘deciders’ and a Buddha whose sanity was always in question.
Let me tell you what the story told me: that I am never lost.