The Last of Lost

It's over.

I came to the show out of curiosity, having read interesting things about its first two seasons, but by then it was too far into its run to even contemplate jumping on board. Then, a local Barnes and Noble had a Buy One Get One Free (of equal or lesser value) TV season DVD sale and I saw my chance. I got season one and season two and promptly let them sit on my floor for a few months as Season 3 proper started in real time.

One day, I opened season one up. I put it in the DVD player. And a whole new world opened up to me. Like Others, I was bit by the bug, the mystery digging deep under my skin. Here was a show right up my alley: exotic locale, interesting characters, a Smoke Monster, polar bears, mysterious Others, and the Island, oh, the Island itself. I was captivated and sucked in and burned through both seasons so quick it made my head spin. Then I got season three and that season finale blew my mind. I was in, and in good.

From there, I watched it play out, in real time, waiting anxiously when the show was off the air, wondering what was going to happen to these people I'd grown to love. Would more die, like Charlie? Would others disappear, like Walt? I had to know! And I held on, patiently, loving it all, every nanosecond, wishing it could last forever.

And then it came. The End. I knew it was coming but all this while, I couldn't believe it. Now it's over. And I sit here, feeling like my best friend just moved to another country and I will never see him again. I am bummed, tired, depressed, but mostly...I am satisfied.

What an ending! I think they really did what they should have done, which was concentrate on an emotional climax rather than some procedural, point-by-point dissecting of all the mysteries of the Island. How boring would that have been? Yes, this approach left a lot of questions unanswered and, given the resolution of the Sideways Universe, they even brought up more questions (like, how did Kate and the others live out the rest of their lives? Were they happy? What about Hugo and Ben on the Island? What kind of wacky adventures did they have?). But all of that was okay. Because what we got was:

Sun and Jin together, smiling and happy.

Charlie and Claire, together again, holding baby Aaron.

Juliette and Sawyer. Oh, my, God. How did I not fall to the floor weeping?

And Jack. Sweet, I-got-issues Jack. When he stumbled through the jungle, returning to the spot he first arrived on the Island, and Vincent ran up and laid down by his side, I lost it.

And then Jack's eye closed.

And it was over.

The show ended as it had begun and I sat, stunned, crying, and as happy as I've ever been watching a TV show.

So, thank you, creators of Lost. Thank you actors. Thank you directors and editors and writers and those who worked on the sets. Thank you for one hour, every week, where I could put this cold world behind me and get Lost in your world for a while, where polar bears and Smoke Monsters roamed, and people, flawed, messed-up people, could find each other and find redemption. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I look up now and my statue of Hurley from the golf game stares down at me as if to say, "Dude."

And I have to agree.

Dude.