Smoke Monsters and Polar Bears, Donkey Wheels, Lottery Numbers and Light Houses, the tale of the survivors of Oceanic 815 has been wrought over six years and a hundred and twenty one episodes and on the day the questions were answered I wanted to take you back to the start, to where we got our first look at Lost.
Below are two videos, the first of which is the outstanding trailer Channel 4 put together to promote their airing of the series in the UK. Directed by Brett Foraker and David La Chapelle and using Portishead’s Numb to introduce characters whose fate would play out over the next six years, it remains captivating.
It is a masterful tease, and now that we’re out on the other side there’s something special about the glimpse of the wider Lost world this video gives us. The series had already premiered in the US and viewers were already hooked on the many questions which orbited the main premise of where these people were.
Here’s the very first time we here in the UK got a look at Lost,
The next video is a recap ABC put out before the sixth season, boiling down over one hundred episodes into eight minutes, fifteen seconds. Watching it today, before diving into the final episode there’s evidence of a complex, and convoluted plot with flashes both back and forwards, and then sideways confusing the narrative. It may have jettisoned viewers on its journey, and the ending when it comes may not satisfy and you can expect theories and analysis to live long after the final credits.
What lasts though is six years of questions, frustrations and secrets revealed and some left unanswered. For the die hard fans there will be some sort of loss, with Lost now in the past tense. And for those who have stayed the course, and returned again and again to the island there will be an emotional payoff, as showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse close the book on Lost and there is a fade to black for the last time.
