An embarrassing confession
As I've mentioned a few times before, I don't watch television at all. About six years ago, I finally got tired of the vapid content that passes for entertainment, the virtually fact-free content that passes for news, and the incessant bombardment of mindless advertising. It had all become just too condescending to bear, so I turned off the TV. Except to watch DVDs, my TV hasn't been turned on since 2002.
For the last three years or so, several people have persistently suggested that I should watch "Lost." The storyline sounded intriguing enough, and the descriptions of it reminded me somewhat of the "X-Files" (which I loved), but I just couldn't stomach the idea of sitting through a flood of insipid, insulting advertisements to watch it.
A couple of months ago, while randomly surfing the Web, I somehow ended up at ABC's website. I noticed they had lots of shows available for online streaming (in high-def, no less), including all episodes of "Lost." I thought, "What the heck" and clicked on the pilot episode from season 1.
I was hooked immediately.
After that, over the span of about a month, I watched all episodes of "Lost" up to the end of season 3; this includes the 13 mobisodes originally released to Verizon wireless customers.
God help me, but I love that show.
Watching the entire series in such a compressed time frame, it really struck me how tightly controlled and coherent the narrative really is. It's internally consistent, masterfully paced, and comes across as compelling storytelling. I'd almost despaired of ever saying that about a TV show again.
I finished that marathon of catching up right before season 4 premiered; since then, I've watched each new episode a day or two after broadcast, streaming from ABC's website. Every Friday or Saturday for the last month, I've actually been anxious to see what happens. I never thought I'd say that about a TV show, either.
I've even spent an inordinate amount of time reading Lostpedia, The Fuselage, and various fan blogs. It isn't quite an obsession yet, but it's dang close.
So, in the spirit of "Lost" fans everywhere, I should probably put forth a few theories:
1) I don't remember where I saw this, but the writers of the show recently stated that there was something in the pilot episode which was crucial to understanding the series, and which no one had yet noticed. After I saw that comment, I watched the pilot again, looking for some subtle clue that might be lurking in the background. This may or may not be important, but I did notice something odd about the first time we ever see Hugo ("Hurley") on screen: he's standing amid the wreckage of the plane, the chaos of shocked survivors all around him. Amid that chaos, he's standing there very calmly looking down at a wristwatch he's holding in the palm of his hand. Jack runs up to him, interrupting his train of thought; after that brief introduction, we never see that wristwatch again. Is this somehow a reference to the notion that "Lost" is about time travel and/or parallel universes?
2) Christian Shephard (Jack's father) is not a ghost; he's very much alive. I believe his death was faked to convince Jack at the morgue in Sydney, and that his death-like state was deliberately induced by the same Medusa spider venom that killed Paolo and Nikki (nothing on this show happens in a vacuum, including the Paolo and Nikki episode). Remember when Jack finds his father's casket in season 1: it's intact and locked shut, but when Jack opens it, it's empty.
3) This downright creepy DHARMA orientation film (which hasn't appeared in any of the TV episodes yet) seems to confirm that the whole thing really is about time travel:
Wow.
See? I can be just as much a fanboy as the next guy. Just don't tell anybody.