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I Get Lost!

I must admit, I was getting very frustrated by Lost last season, in the same way I used to be frustrated by The X-Files, namely: They just pose a lot of questions and they never answer them.

That is, until my colleague Juliet let me in on the Lost formula. Here’s how she put it:

I'm hardly the first person to notice, but it's set up like this: In the first few minutes something big happens that advances the thematic, or arc plot elements of the show (survivors vs. others). The next 30 minutes are filled with flashbacks (or not—flash-forwards) and melodramatic romantic tensions, personal crises, etc. The last few minutes returns to big events and introduces a new mystery (Who is that guy? Is he good? Why isn't he dead? ), which is answered slowly in the first five minutes and last five minutes of subsequent shows. That's why it's so addictive …

And voilà! Now I can enjoy Lost again. Case in point, last night’s episode. Our “something big” was four people landing on the island in four different locations. The next 30 minutes are about the four people as they try to find each other (peppered among unhelpful flashbacks of their interest in Oceanic flight 815) and melodramatic romantic tensions (Why did Sawyer leave Kate with Jack? Kate is peeved to see Juliet again!). And finally we return to our big event and introduce a new mystery (Spoiler Alert: Read no further if you have not yet watched the episode): How does Ben know these people and why have they come for him?

I’m a bit embarrassed I didn’t catch on to this before. Normally, I’d be sitting there wondering, “Who are those guys? What do they want?” and actually hoping and expecting to get some answers. Last night I sat back and thought, “Eh, they aren’t going to answer this …” and I relaxed and enjoyed the show … feeling a bit superior, I must admit.