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Patience brings a payoff for followers of the top-rated drama, but frustration ensues as the strike cuts the season short
Patience is a necessary virtue for those supporting the Lost cause. As befits a TV phenomenon, the first three seasons of the castaway drama were doled out sparingly to viewers - over four years, with interminable breaks between new episodes - but patience brings a payoff.
Yes, Lost returns next week (Thursday, ABC and CTV at 9 p.m.; repeats Saturday on Space at 8 p.m.), albeit in a condensed format. With production shut down by the writers strike, the top-rated ABC drama is back with eight new episodes - not the 16 originally planned for this season.
Last spring's cliffhanger finale hinted at rescue for the bedraggled plane-crash survivors trapped on the uncharted desert isle. But the story is barely halfway over. ABC, in a gesture of extreme confidence, has renewed Lost for a fifth and sixth season. Barring interruption by the writers strike, there are 48 more episodes to come before the series finale in the spring of 2010.
Which raises a question: How much more can happen on one little island? As decreed by creator J.J. Abrams (of Alias and Cloverfield fame), the show has been rife with clues that would supposedly lead viewers to the big picture. The first three seasons of Lost were riddled with hidden numbers, inexplicable healings, ominous corporations (Hanso?), the Dharma Initiative, nanobot clouds, The Others and, of course, The Hatch.
Most likely, says one expert viewer, it's all in the master plan. "The show's creators have stated they've always known exactly where the show is going, but they didn't know how many more episodes they had to tell the story," said Nikki Stafford, author of Finding Lost: The Unofficial Guide, which covers seasons one and two, and Finding Lost - Season Three: The Unofficial Guide. "Now they know."
Most likely, this season's long and winding storyline will be filled with more flashbacks and, hopefully, further insight into the personal lives of the Lost players. Also, Lost continues to add new characters - not an easy task for a series set on an island.
One thing is for sure: Fans will follow every twist and turn religiously. The TV equivalent of the thirties-era movie serial, Lost has rolled out over 69 episodes since making its debut in September, 2004, and has lost little heat from its breakout season. Unlike other shows launched that season (where are you now, Joey Tribbiani?), Lost was an immediate ratings hit, and its profile has multiplied tenfold in post-network repurposing: It was the first significant show made available for download, and one estimate suggests that more than half the people who watched the first three seasons of Lost did so on their computers.
Since the first season, the lucrative Lost franchise has expanded to include DVD box sets, video games, online gaming, books, clothing and action figures (with Hurley being the bestseller). This month, Marvel comics is placing Lost references into several of its comic books.
Also unlike other network shows launched that season, or since then, Lost made viewers think. The show was split between the real-life drama of roughing it in the bush and constant flashbacks telling the backstories of the air-crash survivors, played by Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly and other good-looking actors.
Viewers have got dizzy with the details. Public theorizing on Lost has spawned fan sites and a thousand chat rooms - one early theory suggested the entire island sleepover was but a dream - and the characters and plotlines have become increasingly complicated.
"It's the mythology that keeps the diehards chattering," Stafford said. "The mystery and subtle allusions cause the fans to be participatory. They're going online to chat with others, they're reading books and learning about philosophers, all in hopes of gaining some insight into the Lost mythology. It's the reason why fans have become a lot closer to this show than fandoms are of other series."
As if to provide evidence of the show's ornate mythology, each new season of Lost is accompanied by a retrospective rewind to refresh viewer attention. Lost: Past, Present and Future (Thursday, ABC and CTV at 8 p.m.) recaps the story so far and touches on mysteries already resolved. "Some of the questions were answered in season three, but of course more questions were added on," Stafford said. "The biggest question seems to have been answered in the finale: The survivors will get rescued, it's just a matter of when."
And despite the half-order for this season, the show's creators have promised it will have a beginning, middle and end, more or less. "It will feel a little like reading half a Harry Potter novel, then having to put it down," executive producer Carlton Cuse said last week. "There is a mini-cliffhanger at the end of episode eight, but it's like the end of an exciting book chapter; it's not the end of the novel." For that, we'll have to wait two more years.
Lost in the plot
The first three seasons of Lost put its characters through hell and back. A brief recap:
SEASON ONE
A horrific plane crash lands the surviving passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 on a seemingly deserted island somewhere in the South Pacific. The group encounters a French woman who claims to have been stranded there for 16 years. They also find polar bears, an unseen creature in the woods and a metal hatch and make first contact with the island's other inhabitants: the Others.
SEASON TWO
Picking up one month later, the conflict grows between the castaways and The Others. A group enters the Hatch, and finds a little Scottish fellow inside. Somehow this connects to the Hanso Foundation and the Dharma Initiative, sort of. Also: The story of the mysterious Mr. Eko expands.
SEASON THREE
Now 67 days post-crash, new survivors arrive and violence breaks out against the Others. The Others imprison Kate and Sawyer, and force Jack to perform life-saving surgery on their leader.
SEASON FOUR
In the first episode, Jack has had success in radioing a freighter ship stationed somewhere off the island's coastline. While some of the survivors are overjoyed at the prospect of returning to civilization, others are still hearing Charlie's dying warning that the rescuers may not be who they appear to be.
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