I Think I'm Lost: The Past

You may notice that I did not title this post Telly on Telly. That is because when I talk about LOST I am not speaking "on" it. I am speaking "of" it. This isn't Telly on LOST, it's Telly in LOST. This show completely consumes me like no other constructed narrative piece of writing and vision. I am in awe at its relentless ability to furnish such a unique feeling of, well, loss. It's the only time on television (or movies for that matter) when I get the overwhelming sensation of originality. It's like Jagerbombs of jouissance!

It all started when I began to feel left out. I had always heard LOST was great, and I never actively avoided it to be non-conformist (only to end up loving it, like I did with Titanic and Harry Potter), I had just never seen it. And I only knew it was about some people who crashed on an island, waiting to discover what the monster was. My friends would bring it up, ask each other questions and theories. I would always say, "Well aren't they just going to find another bigger scarier monster once they find out what this one is, until there are no more monsters to find?" They'd sorta stare at me blankly, ignore it and move on. I realize now it's not because what I'd said was wrong - that is, after all, how the show works - it's because I didn't know what I was talking about.

I thought I had had some exposure to shipwreck survival stories. I had read Lord of the Flies, at least enough of it to find out what the first "monster" was (not to mention the second and third) and the Swiss Family Robinson was pretty fresh in my mind - the first monster is finding food and shelter, second is exploration and the third is....pirates?? I don't know, I've never actually finished the story. Anyway, my point is that I was always a little skeptical of this new survival tale. I was convinced that it would follow a formulaic convention that already existed a million times over.

Oh, boy was I wrong. My friend Patrick sat me in front of his television one Sunday afternoon with a precious DVD box set of Season 1. He'd been a loyal fan of the show since Day 1, when he whimsically decided to watch it with a college roommate rather than fight the impending boredom of another school night. I had nothing to do for the next week so I knew this was my time. I watched two season, 44 episodes, almost 2000 nail-biting, mind-boggling, time-traveling minutes of LOST, in three days.

Sometimes I look back on those three days as a joyous and fruitful time for me. Other times I look back upon it as a curse. Patrick blessed me with a knowledge I never knew existed. But I've been doomed to lead a life of pure and utter confusion and, like Cassandra, it's as if I'm screaming to the heavens at the top of my lungs and no one can hear me! LOST is something different. I promise you it's nothing you've seen before.

The 4th Season of LOST begins tomorrow. If there's ever a time to start watching, it's now.