Lost Love
If you loved “Lost” and lost that love, blame the writers
Seriously, they could have said to Matthew Fox, “Are you nuts? You’re not a writer. You’re an actor. That’s why you’re making a million and episode and we make $50k a year. So, no. Go home and let us close the door to the lost dimension.”
But they didn’t. And he bragged, “the show ended with the image that inspired it.” And that image is why Lost sank like the Titanic in the course of an hour.
Carol and I loved Lost so much we bought the entire set on blu-ray as each new season was released. We even replayed the series a couple of times before the new season began. Was the finale a letdown?
Let me tell you a rule we share with novice writers in workshops and blogs: “Never begin the story waking in a mysterious room, and never, never ever, never ever under any circumstances…Did I say never? Never, never, never have the hero realize they are dead or dreamed it all.”
What did Lost do? Woke the characters on a mysterious island. We forgave them, proving you can break some rules. Then it ended with them realizing <spoiler alert!> they were dead and dreamed it all.
I’m sure the producers said, “Thus explanation leaves the viewers with plenty of new mysteries to explore.” Like:
- Were all of the characters dreaming the dream or just Matthew Fox, watching the life he wished he lead flash before his eyes? The one he saw first when he was still dropping acid in college.
- Is everyone who lived on the island dreaming the same dream?
- Where were the magic mushrooms they ingested to enter the dead dream state? I want to try some.
- Is the smoke snake symbolic of the side stream smoke that got them hallucinating to start with?
Nope, sorry. None of these questions would start a new thread on the now dead and dreaming Lost bulletin boards.
I tried more than once to go back and watch the series. I can’t make it past the first few episodes because I know <spoiler alert!> they’re dead and dreaming. I hate to say it but now I get more kicks from Dharma and Greg.
Wry noir author Phillip T. Stephens wrote Cigerets, Guns & Beer, Raising Hell and the Indie Book Award winning Seeing Jesus. Follow him @stephens_pt.
