kitsunelaine
Banned
Well, a look at a recent thread had me see that many people were revisiting this show. And I thought, why not do it together? So here's an OT! My first proper OT. (Please be gentle.)
LOST is a television show that aired from 2004 to 2010 on the ABC network. It lasted a total of 121 episodes and six seasons, and features a robust lineup of characters that while at first look may seem generic, but have an incredible amount of depth.
The basic story is that a bunch of passengers on Oceanic flight 815 crash on a mysterious island and have to figure out how to survive, but not all is as it seems. Strange occurrences within the island force the characters to come to terms with their own past, and everyone must learn that if they can't live together, they're going to die alone. Did I mention it has an amazing score by the wonderful Michael Giacchino?
LOST was a benchmark show for television, and it's engrossing format shaped a lot of what came after it, for better or for worse. Not a lot of shows that came after managed to capture the right balance between mystery and character drama, often relying too much on the former when LOST worked because it intertwined the two inexorably.
You've maybe seen it said that the mysteries in LOST don't get resolved, which left a lot of viewers at the end feel hollow about the show. Well, contrary to the point at hand, a lot more got revealed than people seemed to realise at the time, perhaps even too much. LOST worked at it's core because it let you know just enough, and in the scramble to resolve dangling mystery threads, some have argued that the last season felt forced and unnatural.
LOST was in many ways a victim of it's own hype. A modern day comparison would be Game of Thrones, but even that seems to not have attracted as much hype, speculation, and crazy fan theories that LOST did. As a result, the show as a whole, ending and all, as looked back upon with fresher eyes might be received more favourably by you than it was by a lot of people at the time. And even then, there were a lot of people who liked the ending-- it was more of a mixed reception than anything.
But, okay. Say you don't care about all that, and want a hard pitch from me about why you should give this show a go if you haven't already, and why you could revisit it outside of the dizzying media frenzy that surrounded its existence.
For starters, you'll grow to love and care about these characters. It's an exceptional piece of character writing, helped by a writer's room that had a fantastic head on it's shoulders (Which is why the showrunners' later works don't seem as good or as interesting as LOST did). Secondly, you can see the show's DNA in a lot of modern network television, so it might be a good case study for why a lot of TV these days feels different than it did a while ago. Thirdly, the music. Michael Giacchino elevates this series in almost every way-- you'll gasp in shock, weep crushing tears, and grip your seat 'til your knuckles are white in suspense.
The show is available on Netflix in many regions-- I'm not sure how many, or which ones exactly, but many. If it's not there, check other streaming alternatives.
Simple! Just post along with us in the thread. We'll be watching the show in two episode chunks every week, starting (naturally) with the episodes "Pilot, Part 1" and "Pilot, Part 2". Watch along with us! Those who are rewatching, please spoiler-tag posts referencing future episodes.
Let's begin!
