'LOST' No More

In the single biggest plot-revealing episode, and one of the best overall, in the long and entertaining history of the TV show 'LOST', last night showed that the writers and producers have indeed taken it's huge audience on a worthy morality trip.

For those who do not watch the show, the references to the story line herein will be over your head, but you can still understand the direction this article will take. For those many who, like me, are already strongly addicted, you might even find yourself farther along than these thoughts will travel.

For the unwashed, 'LOST' is a program on the ABC network that is now running it's 6th and final highly-rated and award-winning season. It's story began with the crash of an airliner just off the coast of an island in the South Pacific, and the efforts of the survivors to, well, survive on that island in the aftermath of the crash. That has been even more difficult than it might sound.

It would take me forever to lead anyone who has not watched through the various characters and story lines, so I won't even try, but suffice it to say that there have always been a number of underlying mysteries to the plot line, not the least of which has been that the island has some type of mysterious, mystical quality to it. So what indeed is this island supposed to be, or represent?

There is also a character named Richard Alpert who, despite flashbacks to the island's past and flash forwards to it's future, always remains the same age whether the show is taking place in the present day, or in the 1950's, or in the 1970's, or a few years into the future. Who is Alpert, and how is it that he never ages?

There are a number of characters that have died during the course of the show's run, and yet somehow turn up either 'alive' again or as apparitions, appearing to various other characters at pivotal moments, often with important advice or messages. Who is really dead, who is alive, who is an apparition, who is really who they appear to be?

Even the main characters of the program such as Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Locke, Sayid and more all seem to have multiple elements to their personal backgrounds and human characters that defy definition. Who are these people really? Why are they here on the island? What is their individual, specific role in the ultimate story line?

Most importantly perhaps has been that ultimate story line. What indeed is 'LOST' really all about? Early on it appeared to be a 'survivor' type program. Some people survived a plane crash and had to learn to live on a deserted island while hoping for a rescue. Then it became apparent that the island was in fact not deserted, and their survival became even more difficult and deadly as they banded together to overcome the new and ever more mysterious challenges.

But as the show has moved along and the story line has progressed through the years, the plot line has revealed that the program is, in fact, about something much bigger than a 'stranded on an island trying to survive' story. 'LOST', it turns out, is about the ultimate struggle of good against evil. And not in some generic idea sense, but in the very nature and origin of good and evil.

As was revealed last night (disclaimer alert for those fans who have not watched), the island actually represents the very 'cap' or wall that separates hell from the earth. The character Jacob is apparently a sort-of angelic 'protector' of the island who has been bestowed with power to keep the island safe. He is, however, not immortal and if Jacob were to be killed the island could cease to protect the earth from the evils of hell spilling out directly on to the earth.

That evil, of course, comes in it's most dramatic form from the devil. The shows 'Man in Black' who can take on the form of a 'Smoke Monster' and who has now taken on the form of the deceased character John Locke is in fact Satan himself. With Jacob out of the way, the devil is free to escape from the island and loose hell on earth.

The devil, unfortunately for him, cannot directly kill Jacob himself. He must get some human to step up and do it willingly. For centuries, Jacob has been luring men and women to the island via shipwreck and plane crash as a sort of test for humanity. He believes that men will ultimately prove to be of a 'good' nature, but appears thus far to have been disappointed. He begins to sense that one day soon, the devil may make good on his long-standing threat to "find a loophole", finally have Jacob killed, and make his escape from the island to earth.

This was the reason for the crash of Oceanic flight 815, the plane crash that brought most of the main characters to the island. Jacob had been scouting for years for someone to ultimately take his place should the devil actually succeed in having him killed. Jacob has ultimately found six candidates to replace him, and directed all of their lives towards the point that placed them on that doomed flight. All six are now on the island, though the actual successor has yet to be revealed, perhaps not even yet been actually and finally selected.

As was already seen in the show, perhaps the single most conflicted character in it's history, Benjamin Linus, is finally deceived by the devil to kill Jacob. At the current time, the devil is preparing to make his exit from the island. What might try to stand in his way ultimately, who will become a 'successor' to Jacob, and how that battle plays out will make up the rest of the story line, in all likelihood.

But the important point in all of this is that 'LOST' has come out of the closet. It recognizes publicly that there is indeed good and evil in the world. It recognizes that there is indeed a real place called hell, and a real devil that means real harm to the world. It recognizes that the only way to overcome that evil power is for good men to recognize those facts and to be willing to stand up and fight against it.

Richard Alpert was a man driven by complete love and devotion to his wife, a woman whom he lost in her youth before they could really even begin their lives together. At his lowest point, he was drawn to the island by Jacob, who touched him with the ability to live forever and bestowed on him the role of 'messenger' and 'guide' to those others who would be drawn to the island for their own test.

Alpert himself finds that after generations of service to Jacob, who promised him a pivotal role in some earthly epic, that with Jacob now dead his life appears to have been lived in vain. He believes that he has strived and worked all this time for no reason, and he abandons his faith and prepares to instead turn himself over to the devil, who he now believes may have the actual ultimate answers and truth.

It is at this low point in last night's episode that Richard is finally comforted by the soul and spirit of his deceased wife, through the translated words of the character Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes acting as an intermediary. Alpert appears to have been pulled back from the abyss, and last night left us with at least the impression that he would now refocus himself on his work towards ultimate good that Jacob assigned to him.

The show 'LOST' has never been simple, and there have been many opportunities to question the outlandishness of some of it's basic premises and plot lines. But as the last few seasons have wound down towards what should be a dramatic ultimate conclusion, most of those questions are indeed becoming answered.

'LOST' fans should no longer be lost. The show has clearly defined it's basic premise of good against evil. Both fans of the show and those who have never watched would be wise to understand that it's basic premise is indeed true. There is a devil, there is a hell, and he does want both to bring hell to earth and to capture your immortal soul for eternity.

It is a part of the job of every one of us during our lives here on earth to recognize that evil, to open ourselves to God's love for us, to embrace Jesus Christ as did Alpert and his wife, to love one another and find inspiration to go on in the most difficult of moments, and to overcome or at least to willingly fight against evil whenever we are faced with it. Like the direction that the show finally revealed last night, this will leave you lost no more.

NOTE: as always, the title of this article at the original www.mattveasey.com website is actually a link to further information on the topic. This time it links you to the official site for 'LOST' at which you can view all episodes, including last night's highlighted herein.

TV Watch: LOST

For the past few years when I would watch something on the ABC television network I saw commercials for "LOST", a program that I had never watched. Over time I would hear numerous friends and family members talk about this show, see and hear references to it in popular culture, and wonder what all the fascination was about.

Sometime late last spring I decided to do something about it. I signed up for the 'Netflix' service and began to receive DVD's of "LOST" beginning with the pilot episode. That first introduction to this new series was a revelation. The production value for a pilot episode of a TV program was equal to what you would normally expect to find at a movie theatre in a motion picture. I was hooked.

There is a very famous anonymous quote that goes: "For those who know, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not, none will suffice." Suffice it to say this quote applies perfectly to the "LOST" experience. If you have never watched the show, I cannot recommend it more highly. You can catch up as I did through Netflix, or via any number of internet resources.

I became addicted to the program, rifling through episode after episode, eagerly awaiting the next DVD shipment and then devouring the four episodes that it contained. Waiting days for the next shipment was at times grueling. That is the nature of the show. It is high quality, and it is highly addictive.

Tonight on ABC, "LOST" begins it's final season run. The producers and writers have promised that all of our questions regarding the show will finally and fully be answered. It's stars have begun making the rounds on talk shows and in magazines trumpeting the season. Fans like me have been waiting and waiting for the beginning of the end, and tonight it finally arrives.

For the uninitiated, "LOST" is the story of the survivors of the crash of an airliner, Oceanic Flight 815 onto the beach and into the waters just off of a tropical island. It follows their struggles to recover after the crash, to organize themselves, to explore the island, and ultimately to overcome what turn out to be numerous challenges, some human, some mystical, some mysterious.

There are initially 71 human survivors from what were 324 people on board, as well as a dog who survives, spread across 3 sections of the aircraft wreckage. That first season saw 14 regular speaking parts, making it the largest ensemble program in television history, and enabling the show to establish numerous relationship pairings and conflicts. From that very first season the show was not afraid to kill off major characters, and it has never been beyond introducing new ones.

New characters are brought on to the program in a variety of manners over the years. Remember, there were 71 survivors and only 14 initial speaking roles, so plenty of room to begin to introduce others as main or secondary characters. The show also establishes early on that it will explore the main characters past lives leading them up to the crash, so it will frequently 'flashback' to a character's life and experiences prior to the island.

Series creators J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and Jeffrey Lieber envisioned a story line involving drama, fantasy, adventure, and a touch of science fiction. What they have achieved is simply a television masterpiece. Though the high quality of production and the strong writing are the backbone of the show, it is the actors that make us ultimately suspend belief, that make us feel this could really happen. That make us care.

Matthew Fox is the show's leading man, playing Dr. Jack Shephard, a man who has struggled in life with his relationships, particularly with his father Dr. Ben Shephard, played in a recurring role by John Terry. The balance to Jack's complicated heroic character is that of John Locke, played by Terry O'Quinn. Josh Hollway stars as bad boy and hunk James 'Sawyer' Ford. Evangeline Lilly plays the surprising Kate Austen, who ultimately is locked in a love triangle with Jack and Sawyer.

Also in the mix are Naveen Andrews as Sayid Jarrah, a former member of Iraq's Republican Guard. Emilie de Raven plays the very beautiful and very pregnant Claire Littleton. Dominic Monaghan plays her sometimes protector, rock star Charlie Pace. Jorge Garcia is rotund lottery winner Hugo 'Harley' Reyes. Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim play Korean married couple Jin-Soo and Sun-Hwa Kwan.

These characters, a host of other survivors, and others who have been on the island previously or who eventually are also drawn to the island end up being challenged by one another, a deadly 'smoke monster', a mysterious underground research facility, a doomsday clock, time travel and displacement, their own personal fears and demons, and ultimately get caught up in a struggle between good and evil themselves.

Like every group of people, be they family, friends, co-workers, teammates, or survivors of a plane crash, there are many facets to each of the character's personalities. There is good and bad in each and every one of them, and over the first five seasons they have each had their personal demons exposed and their motivations explored. Despite all of the mythology, religious undertones, and the supernatural, it is these human stories that make "LOST" the quality drama that it is at it's core.

The lush paradise of Hawaii provides the gorgeous and mysterious island that is itself a character in the program. In one of the early shows, Charlies asks the question that grows on everyone's mind: "Where are we?" The answer is yet to be revealed, with speculation ranging from a simple island in the middle of the ocean to a sort of purgatory between Heaven and Hell.

Not since "The Sopranos" has a television series captured my imagination this way. In sifting through the hundreds of channels and thousands of hours of programming junk, there is much to like about television today, particularly on cable networks. "LOST" is that very rare thing today, a blockbuster program from one of the old school networks that actually lives up to the hype. I can't wait to welcome back the characters, and start to uncover the mysteries of "LOST" beginning tonight.

NOTE: This is a continuation of the "TV Watch" series, all entries of which can be viewed by clicking on that label below this article at www.mattveasey.com