"Lost": The Best Show on Television

Hey folks

It should be pretty obvious from the title that this post will discuss "Lost", the ABC-produced serialized TV show about a mystery surrounding the survivors of a plane crash while being stranded on a remote island. There has never been a show that has captivated both my attention and intellect for the past seven years, except for this phenomenal show.

Many of you may wonder quietly what the show is really about, and as a rabid fan of the show, I honestly couldn't tell you. You see, Lost is currently in its final season and many of the mysteries that were just confounding in the earlier seasons are now being unraveled. In fact, the show is in its final episodes, (the latest one premiered yesterday at 9pm on CTV) which will set up a 2-and-a-half hour finale on May 23.

After I studied the show in hindsight and tried to analyze why exactly I loved the show, I discovered that the program made few, but significant choices in regards to its overall structure as a Live-action TV show.

For one, the show's production values (as compared to other TV programs) are very high. At times (yesterday's show was a prime example), an episode can easily be mistaken for a well-produced action film. Not only did the creative force situate the show on an exotic location (the show is produced out of Hawaii), they also made remarkable decisions as to the cast of the entire production.

One of those remarkable casting choices is Evangeline Lilly. Apart from her obvious beauty, she is a terrific actress. She only had a few cameos here and there and never had a speaking role until she landed the Lost gig. Since the first time I saw her on the show, I made a mental note to myself to watch the second episode no matter what! She got me hooked on the show initially, but after I took in the intricate mysteries of the island, I admit that my interest went beyond just ogling the pretty actress.

Evangeline Lilly

And the mysteries are where Lost truly shines at. The writers have done an amazing job keeping viewers like myself glued to the screen, nudging us to pick-and-prod at subtle clues that the show leaves about. One of the main criticisms of the show (one that I harboured in the past) is that the show will simply answer questions in a way that will lead to more questions. In fact, this structure of storytelling has been going for the last six years - viewers were given a peek at the various mysteries of the island, but the whole picture was always veiled underneath a thickening swath of unanswered questions.

Nevertheless, I eventually found this form of plot-forwarding to be very enticing and it almost always raised my excitement to dangerous audio levels (my parents still cringe at my occasional swearing).

From left to right: Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaj, Matthew Fox, Michelle Rodriguez, and Josh Holloway

There really is nothing more I can say about the show without disclosing precious spoilers. My only advice is for you to check it out for yourself. I am not suggesting you go out and buy the Season DVDs (if you do, however, I highly commend you), but rather you can start by asking your close friends and/or relatives if they have already purchased it. If that fails, you can always mine your Facebook "friends" list and start hacking away. A simple "Does anyone have Lost Season DVDs?" status update will go a long way. Trust me - I got my DVD set exactly the same way.