LOST Anniversary Roundtable

Lost aired for the very first time on September 22, 2004. There were 121 episodes and almost each of them left the viewer wanting to watch more. The series seemed to be about the mythology of the island, but season after season it was obvious that it was more about the characters, about their evolution and redemption. 

 Here at SpoilerTV we wanted to honor this show, with its many faults (seriously Jack’s tattoos had an episode explaining them, and don’t even start with the whole Nikky and Paolo fiasco) and virtues, it definitely has become one of the best shows in TV history.  So, lets take a walk down memory lane… 

Lost had 6 seasons, and it was famous to shake up things a bit between each of them, every plot point has created debates that continue even until today. For Laura M, Geo N and Gavin Hetherington their favourite season was the fifth. Gavin says “ I just remembered watching the whole season in, it must have been 2 days, because I started watching Lost in 2009 before the final season started in 2010. To me, it was filled with exciting storylines and things moved quickly. It also has my favourite episode there too, the finale. Season 1 was very close though too, it was a perfect season for me too.” Laura adds “the time travel arc was mind blowing, how they make the 2 timelines came together, and specially everything that happened on the island in the 70’s. Everything happens for a reason, everything that has happened, happens, what makes her wonder, did Ben have that obsession with Juliet because he remembered her saving his life? was her own fault that she ended on the island saving pregnant ladies because of the electromagnetism?” 

For Geo N it’s because “I loved that we find out our favorite characters for four seasons were involved in the Dharma Initiative. I loved everything about the fifth season. Finally finding out what ‘The Incident’ was that Dr. Chang mentioned seasons prior was mind-blowing.” 

Andy Page, Bradley Adams, Robert Fruin and Sandi Wich say it’s Season 1 - Where it all began. And pablozky21 chose Season 4 “there were so many surprises in season 4 and a narrative so distinctive from the others seasons and this one is the one that I digged the most; we got to know what happened outside the island while our characters got lost, and during the 13 episodes there were a lot of surprises and twists that made the season very memorable, especially the episode where Desmond got to talk with Penny over the phone, one of my very favorite episodes.” 

 Through the seasons, Lost was known for introducing new characters besides killing old and loved ones. Our team has a few favourites but it turned out that a few agreed about the creepy, frightening, intelligent, manipulative and multifaceted Benjamin Linus. Andy Page, Robert Fruin and Bradley Adams chose him. Bradley said “Michael Emerson is a magnificent actor. His character had so many different levels to him, and Emerson played every single one of them to perfection. Two of my favourite scenes in the show were both with Ben: the 'If I was a bad guy' speech (The Whole Truth) and Ben's "I'm sorry that I killed Jacob" speech to Ilana (Dr. Linus).” Robert also talks about the actor “Michael Emerson brought a phenomenally creepy presence to the character. Ben was cunning and manipulative , and even when you thought he wasn't in control he was. He was one of the characters I looked forward to seeing week in week out on my TV screen. Michael Emerson deserved countless Emmys for his portrayal of Ben , the show wouldn't of been the same without him.” 

Gavin Hetherington choses Hurley. “He was just so enjoyable to watch throughout the show and he still managed to balance the dramatic storylines too. I guess he was set up to be the comic relief of the show and I guess he filled that role, but he was so much more too.” 

For pablozky21 it has always been Jack; “I always liked how pragmatic he was and how he always cared for everyone around him. He was a natural leader and a very flawed and complex character all the same. I always liked his stories, his daddy issues, and this growth over the series made a very surprisingly poignant journey.” Geo N’s choses Jack too. “From the first moment the camera opened on his eyes to the very last mintute, ending in a similar fashion, the show just seemed to revolve around him. His father was an iteration of the Smoke Monster and he ended up the defacto leader of the island, albeit for a transient period of time. He had his flaws and overcame them and that is why I will always have Jack as my favorite character, if I had to pick one.” 

Sandi Wich says “it's very hard to choose just one; Sawyer, Hurley, Des, Ben, Eko, Faraday and even Smokey/MIB all have moments that I could pick out as my favourite. If forced I would probably have to say Charlie. I liked his journey on, and off, the island, he had a great rapport with many of the other Losties and I found him very endearing. I was gutted when he died, though 'Not Penny's Boat' did kick start a great new direction for the show.” 

Laura M’s favourite is Juliet Burke. “At first she had the same effect that Ben had, I thought she was evil, after the few Juliet centric episodes we got we discovered that’s more to Juliet than the icy glare, there’s this woman with a heart of gold, always stuck in difficult circumstances that in the end does what she need to survive. But also it seems that she always puts other people’s needs first, she goes to the island to help pregnant ladies, then she kills Danni to save Sawyer and Kate, she stays on the island because she makes sure everyone gets on the boat, and after all she dies trying to save Sawyer and co. Her death is so tragic not only because for me she realizes in that moment that Sawyer really loved her, but because of all the characters, she really deserved to get back to the real world and be reunited with her sister and nephew.” 

 The entire series was made to make the viewer sit at the end of their chair thinking what the **** is going on? The writers managed to come up with a bunch of cliffhangers and plot twists, Lost wouldn't be what it is without them, but we have a few favourites. Andy Page’s is the season 1 cliffhanger “ the one that caused DarkUFO to be built and hence SpoilerTV. What's in the hatch. Turns out to be some Scottish guy called Desmond. No one, and I mean no one guessed that.” Sandi Wich sides with Andy “The Swan Hatch, and was Ben an Other or not....just to stick with the going for more than one answer theme, lol. The Hatch one was just cruel, after spending weeks digging it up and speculating about it, we were then left dangling over the hiatus as to what was down there. I didn't see any right theory either by the time S2 started, it was a fab plot twist in that respect, very unexpected and innovative.” For Geo N this finale was decisive too “-What is in the Hatch?- This will go down in history as the most talked about cliffhanger of all time. Decades from now I can see ‘The Hatch’ becoming synomous with cliffhanger.” 

Gavin Hetherington’s is The Others in Exodus, “- We're gonna have to take the boy- My mouth still drops at that line. I really thought help had come for the group that left on the raft but damn, it made me love Lost even more. Exodus was a perfect example of rapid plot development with new questions that made an actual impact.” Robert Fruin agrees with Gavin, “After Danielle had stolen Aaron, and Sayid and Charlie went to get him back. She said -They said they were coming for the boy- everyone presumed it must be Aaron if they were coming for the boy, but it turned out they came for Walt.” Bradley Adams chose Michael shooting Ana Lucia. “I could tell there was something off, but I never thought he'd go to those lengths.” and pablozky21: “Not Penny's boat for the win, end of story. Not only it was a moment in which Charlie got to go out as a hero, we also got to know that our characters were not going to be rescued but they were going to face great danger. When you mix a poignant and very emotional goodbye with a game changer moment and it all clicks, that's when you have the best plot twist you can ask.” 

For Laura M is everything related to the Dharma Initiative mysteries’ what were solved and what still makes us question, how did the time travel arc affect everything that happened in the show’s timeline?’ 

We left the controversy for last, how do we feel about THE END? 4 years later it’s still as polemic as when it aired. The network made a mess by airing with the final credits, footage of the crash from the pilot, it made viewers think that the characters have been dead the whole time. They weren’t, the island was their fate and way of redeeming themselves in life, and what made them deserve the journey that brought them all together in the after life. 

Gavin Hetherington was a little disappointed “but to be honest I wasn't expecting perfection. I have, in recent years, set my expectations low for series finales. I only get pleasantly surprised occasionally (example: Breaking Bad) so I give series finales a benefit of the doubt. I enjoyed it, bottom line. Could it have been better? Yes. What am I going to do about that? Nothing. So I'm just going to enjoy the finale for what it is - a good episode, nothing more, nothing less.” pablozky21 agrees with Gavin “here were so mysteries I would have liked to be resolved- like the numbers! Or Claire's psychic!-, but I was mostly ok with it. In fact, I pretty much liked the finale. It wasn't the best episode ever, but the moment when Swayer and Juliet got to be reunited was all I ever needed, a moment that makes me shed tears every time I watch it, and the conclusion was pretty much satisfying for me. I found a bit silly the whole cork thing, but it wasn't really something to be actually bothered about. The finale wasn't perfect, but it was a nice series closer for me. It certainly wasn't the massive disappointment HIMYM series finale was.” Sandi wich sides with them “I can't lie, I was a tad disappointed, but then again I wasn't as in love with the show in the last couple of seasons anyway so it's no real surprise. I don't think that it's as bad or as nonsensical as many make it out to be though, I think that it just went in a different direction than some may have wanted it to. On the plus side, I have met some awesome people through Dark's site because of the show that will be friends for life, and Spoiler TV grew out of it too which is no bad thing either!” 

On the other side Andy Page, Laura M, Geo N, Bradley Adams and Robert Fruin enjoyed it. They all agree “LOST” wasn’t about the destination but about the journey”, as Andy put it. It wasn’t about the mysteries but how these group of people learned not to be alone, and even if some of them did die alone, they found each other to move on. It was a spiritual way to resolve the mythology, but as the years pass, it’s kind of nice to think in the end they all find each other and were happy. 

We asked our readers to tell us what they think and we got an incredible amount of responses. The answers regarding fan fave characters is similar to the ones we discuss here at SpoilerTV. In order of votes, Jack takes the lead followed by Sawyer with almost the exact same number of votes, in third place there comes Locke. Desmond, Ben, Juliet and Charlie are fourth, followed closely by Kate and Hurley. Finally we have our own left-behinders but still amazing characters; Sayid, Sun, Jin, Shannon, Claire, Miles, Rose and Boone. Most of the fans filling our poll feel the same way regarding the plot twists, listing as their favourites: the season 2 finale, season 3 finale, season 4 finale (do we see a pattern here?) And the little tidbits we found out because of how lost was narrated, amazing flashbacks, flashforwards and alternate timelines. Finally about THE END approximately 85% answered that they liked, enjoyed and/or were satisfied by it. (More than 50% used the word love, someone should tell Lindelof that apparently the lovers are more quiet than the haters but we are out there) 15% feel indifferent and 10% didn’t like it (at all it seems). 

What makes LOST the polemic, complex show that it is, is not only the story we got to see, but the multifaceted characters, groundbreaking narrative TV wise, and overall excellent use of resources, such as cliffhangers, cinematography, music and acting. We’ll always have those 6 seasons with plenteous mysteries and cliffhangers to keep dissecting over and over again, available for us everytime we have to go back.

*The roundtable was edited and written by Geo N and Laura M

About the Author - Laura M

Laura is a proud nerd, TV and movie enthusiast. She's a teacher, producer and does different free lance gigs in her country. In her free time she likes to write and hear what other people think about the media surrounding us.

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