Goodbye Lost, A Eulogy for a Golden Age of Television
When this post goes live LOST will be over. I’m writing this the night before and do not know what happens in the finale, but whatever happens I can honestly say I’m pretty sure I’m going to enjoy it. Because you see a show is not merely it’s ending, especially this show. Showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have been saying for a long time now that people are putting too much stock into a single episode and not thinking of the big picture. Of course everything isn’t going to be tied up with a nice tidy bow on top. It’s going to be open to interpretation and argument and the world will keep going. We just won’t be privy to what these character’s lives are anymore.
But the end of LOST is about more than the show itself. It’s a goodbye to an era of television. We had a brief period where television became much more than what used to be thought of as television. Over the past few years we had new types of shows that actually let and made the audience think, shows such as LOST or The Wire or the new Battlestar Galactica that played out like novels more than series. They were movies except they aired weekly for free (kinda). Before LOST was playing with pushing the medium forward there were shows like The West Wing, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, & Arrested Development (just to name a few) playing with just what television could accomplish by pushing their productions, budgets, and networks to the limits with stunning results. Even one of LOST’s creators, J.J. Abrams was doing the wonderful Alias.
And then we get into other things that we’re losing with LOST. TV is not doing so well these days. With the internet and a billion channels TV is more and more becoming less profitable. It’s very unlikely we’ll ever see a show done like LOST ever again. It’s shot on film, scored by an orchestra, employs 2 complete full time crews as well as smaller 2nd units, dozens of actors, one of the best writing staffs on television (perhaps only 2nd to that previously on Buffy, all of whom are still hot writers), and a very large post-production crew. Even if you don’t understand why a lot of that stuff is so rare, at least take away this very important piece of information: after LOST and fellow play by it’s own rules show 24 (which should have gone out on a high several seasons ago but ends Monday in the shadow of LOST) there are now very few things on TV that are actually shot on film. Everything is HD now. Is this good? In some ways HD is great, but for me you can never replace good old film. HD will never look as good.
But we’ll get back to the state of television in general in a moment, let us now actually discuss LOST. From the very first moments of the pilot you knew you were seeing something special. It felt like a movie, not like an episodic television show. Then as that first season played out and we discovered everyone’s amazing backstory and fell in love with these characters it became crystal clear that there was never anything like this. This was a character study that happened to fall into a genre show. The show always has been about the characters, not the island, not the mysteries, the characters. The moments we lived and died with all involved us sharing a connection to these people. A con man, a fugitive, a former Iraqi soldier, a doctor, a lottery winner, a rock star, a Korean couple who only spoke their native language, a pregnant woman, a brother & sister with an odd relationship, and a wheelchair bound man who no longer needed a wheelchair. Later we of course lost some of these and gained many others. We got incredible characters like Ben, Juliet, and Desmond and got to learn all about their lives. And in between learning about these people’s pasts and futures and presents we got gunfights, explosions, crazy plot twists, polar bears on a desert island, magnets, hatches, planes full of heroin, ships filled with dynamite, mysterious beings, ghosts, smoke monsters and time travel. And to top it all off everything was surrounded by wonderful visuals and a score that is so good they can perform it live and it will instantly evoke the emotions you felt when you saw the scene it was originally in. If you’ve never watched LOST on a big ass HDTV, I suggest getting yourself a Blu-ray player and experiencing this show in full HD. It’s beauty is astounding.
Beyond what was on the screen, the producers used the show to educate as well as entertain. Certainly the vast multiculturalism of the island is one thing, and having an ex torturer in the Iraqi republican guard being a hero was great and hopefully taught at least one young person some tolerance, but there was so much more. The show explored real science and history and encouraged viewers to learn more about these topics on their own, last years release of Lost University on the Season 5 Blu-ray (a feature that will be on the Season 6 Blu-ray as well) helped out with this with not only actual lessons about themes and ideas on the show and the real life things behind them, but pointers to actual books to read for more information. While this could help with enjoyment of the show it was totally unnecessary, but education, especially optional education is never a bad thing and if the producers managed to get you interested in a topic you may not have ever delved deeper into then isn’t that something to be applauded? Then there’s literature. They set up a LOST book club and frequently put characters reading books the producers were personal fans of that might have similar themes to LOST, or even were just influences, or just great books, into the show and tons of people would go out and read these books. Reading is fundamental. And just getting people to read classic literature is an achievement on its own.
So LOST I salute you and look forward to the finale with equal parts excitement and sadness. But let’s look to the future. Although there are some good shows on TV right now, I’d argue that the number of great shows is pretty slim (some people would argue Mad Men or Breaking Bad, I’ve yet to get into either of those but I do see merits in these arguments and it’s too early to say if Treme will be great as well). This is why I mourn the passing of a golden age. I don’t want any more reality or procedurals. I don’t need to be able to jump into a show at a random episode, I need art. Art that will inspire me, move me, and entertain at the same time. Give me comedy that rises above the lowest common denominator (there are admittedly a bunch of shows doing this, like this year’s breakout Community and of course 30 Rock), give me drama that makes me think, care, love, hate, and explore. There will never be another LOST, although they keep trying to come up with one, but I hope that right at this very moment a possibly unknown writer is turning off the finale and sitting down at their computer, inspired, and typing what will be the next truly great show.
Goodbye Lost, you will be missed.
Lost The Complete Collection comes to dvd and Blu-ray on August 24th. Buy it now on Amazon:
