the world is flat
(oh, shit. no, sorry, it's round.)


i've mentioned a few times how much i like (or love...madly) the show, lost. i came to the party one season late, but after my first-season cram session, i was hooked. and it is now my tv drug of choice. heroes and the office are close seconds at this point, but even with those two shows, i could handle watching a taped episode of the former on tuesday nights when nothing else comes on or downloading an office on itunes just so long as we watch it before the next week's new episode airs. this is not the case with lost. if i didn't share my wednesday nights with jack, kate, sawyer and "the others", i'd be, well...you know, lost (sorry, you know i had to do that.). you could've counted me among the number of frustrated fans after the season's first six episodes. i shared the same wonders and questions as many of the show's devotees. what was going on? why are you adding new characters on the beach three seasons in? do you know what you are doing? does the show know where it's going? does it know how it's going to end? when are we going to start getting answers?

well, the show has hit a major stride over the past several episodes and several things have happened to re-energize my want to see the show through 'til the very end.

1) an end date was reached between abc and the producers. may, 2010. 48 more episodes. a hugely important question is answered with this decision. for any fan that worried that the show would be dragged out and on 'til every cent was drained from the money-maker that is the show, that worry can now be put to bed. we have now seen more episodes than there are to be seen. the producers have said in interviews they know how it's going to end. now, we as fans can just sit back and enjoy the way it all comes together.

2) jeff jensen. i am sure there are hundreds of fan sites that i am unaware of and i could find all sorts of interesting information and theories on these sites, but my resident expert is "doc" jensen of entertainment weekly (ew.com). he is just as much (or probably much more) a fan of the show as i am and he has the time/paycheck to devote all sorts of time and energy to dissecting the show, positing theories, writing a preview column before every first run episode, a commentary on the episode the following day and single-handedly making lost more of an event for me than just a show. i don't watch wednesday night's show without reading jeff jensen's column. and i don't feel like i have a complete grasp on the show i just watched until i read what his take on it was the day after. i highly recommend adding "doc" into your weekly diet if you take the show as seriously as i do.

3) the "answers" are coming. maybe not in the way that you or i would like, but starting with this weeks episode, the show took a completely different turn for me. jensen makes a point in his most recent column that i couldn't agree with any more than i do. prior to this week's show, i think fans were divided into two camps as far as the avenue they wanted the answers in the show to come from. one camp wanted everything to be explained in a very scientific/factual/thiscouldallreallyhappen sort of way. the other camp didn't mind if lost explained it's questions through sci-fi colored glasses. i don't know if i fell squarely into either one of these camps, but after this week, it is 100 percent obvious that there will be a science fiction angle to the show. and that is completely fine with me. actually it's perfect. more than perfect. x-files was one of my favorite shows ever and one of the reasons i was able to completely embrace it was that i knew that as real as scully and mulder and the fbi seemed, they existed in a "reality" where aliens and other monsters existed. the show was an escape. and that was part of the fun. up until this week on lost, i was unable to bearhug the show completely because i didn't know if i was watching an updated version of fantasy island or an updated version of lord of the flies. and now i know. it's both. and that's awesome. because once you enter the realm of science-fiction, all bets are off. from this point forward, i'll believe anything you show me because i don't have to convince myself that "it could really happen." is ben the devil? who knows. is the smoke monster post-modern god? maybe. is the island purgatory? who cares. whatever happens from this point forward, i am buckled in and ready for the ride.

i hate that there are only two shows left 'til january of 2008, but i know they are going to kick ass. if you've jumped off the lost boat or haven't bought your ticket yet, it's not too late. the best show on television would love to have you. and don't give me the "i wouldn't know what was going on." excuse. you can borrow season one from me. i am sure jacob sutton has season two. season three will come out in a couple months. i'll print your dog tags.

the lost army needs you.