TV: Not 'Lost'
How many lame puns can you make out of the realization that ABCs impenetrable drama Lost is losing ratings? Exactly one, which explains the difficulty in quantifying the value of a show that battles television convention while simultaneously embracing it. When Lost premiered in late 2004, Americans had developed a newfound sense of ideological partitioning: Bush II gained reelection, the war abroad reached its first birthday and 9/11 seemed like a fever dream. Along came this fantastical show about a plane crash, of all things, that tapped into the nations universal sense of despair and confusion within the broader framework of isolation (being marooned on a mysterious desert island). Its initial success, retrospectively speaking, was inevitable.
Lost reflects the culture of fear generated by the nightly news on both a national and local scale, and it ties the whole confection together under the auspices of pop culture escapism. Its at once subversive and slight.
Despite a massively talented ensemble cast, the shows expansive mythology eventually played against its popularity. If you werent scouring the web for fan chatter to unravel the larger puzzles that comprise the backbone of Lost, trying to make sense of the developing plot caused intense irritation. The recent Feb. 14 episode, an enticing inversion of the shows regular flashback structure featuring future-seer Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), drew 12.8 million viewers. This time last year, the show reached an audience nearly twice that size.
How long can this go on? Hopefully, a while. The creators have discussed a developing timetable that will allow Lost to reach its natural conclusion and maintain its dignity. The recent installments of Season 3 suggest a return to form: The soapy love triangle involving virile hero Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and wisecracking Sawyer (Josh Holloway) remains strategically in the background, while the bizarrely scientific inner-workings of the island dwellers continue their eerie development. In its finest moments, the drama in Lost works in spite of the foggy contextan argument, I think, in favor of its realism. Root for the underdog, folks; help Lost get found. (OK, thats two lame puns.)