WIRE TO WIRED

With all the time shifting devices, DVD box sets, and people having a little too much time on their hands, "binge" viewing of television shows is getting more in vogue.

WIRED Magazine recommends one show to binge this summer, but couches its recommendation like that of a roller coaster, abusive relationship. Here is how the writer "sells" LOST:

If nothing else, let J.J. Abrams go down in history for his singular knack for torturing his fans. From the aughts’ Felicity and Alias to Fringe and the Star Trek from which we expected so much more, the Hollywood impresario has for decades kept audiences, all of them millions-strong, leaning forward on their couches, howling at unbearable cliffhangers, and convening in huddled enclaves to debate intricate theories and minute plot details. But perhaps the best brain-bender he ever orchestrated was his and Damon Lindelof’s profound, infuriating, terrifying, bizarre, exhilarating philosophical thriller Lost.

When it began, the show attracted viewers by masquerading as a clean-cut adventure show about an airplane full of people who crash-land onto a seemingly deserted island and have to figure out, as protagonist Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) puts it, how to “live together or die alone.” Of course, that simple intrigue was short-lived, and before you could say, “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!” the show’s turbine engine had sucked you into its vortex of insanity, a nonstop barrage that kept audiences’ jaws on the floor as they turned to one other to ask in disbelief: “What the hell is going on?” Thanks to these infinitely cryptic puzzles and mythologies, Lost quickly and easily became one of the prototypical “prestige” dramas that truly cultivated the kind of raging, passionate online discussions that have only accelerated in Lost’s wake to become an inextricable cornerstone of how audiences consume television today. (Its intellectualism even made it into the halls of the academic elite.)

But of course, that kind of breakneck velocity and teeming volume has a cost, one that has, in in the four years since the show ended its final season, become somewhat of a cautionary tale, even to its creators. What with electric black smoke monsters that violently murder people (but sometimes choose not to?), polar bears that menace the survivors for a season and then inexplicably disappear, confusing deities that have been waging war on each other for centuries, time-travel and parallel universes, curses, haunting numeric patterns, and general existential despair, there were so many things happening on that damn island that by the show’s final season audiences were overtaken by the sinking realization that there was absolutely no possible way that every question stuffed into every corner of this beloved hellhole could possibly be answered. That, of course, is why Lost has gone down in history as one of the most frustrating, fascinating, and ultimately doomed shows of all time.

Which of course, isn’t to say you shouldn’t binge-watch the hell out of it anyway. While its narrative waxed incredibly heavy-handed at times (a bunch of characters are named after philosophers and characters from The Wizard of Oz, for example, just in case you were in danger of forgetting just how much attention the Lost writing staff paid to completely meaningless details), Lost’s insanity is what makes it so incredibly fun, especially for intrepid television adventurers. As long as you go into this show with the expectation that you won’t know all the answers, and you won’t know which details are important until the very end, not only will you successfully side-step having to talk about the ending in therapy, it will be one of the most fun shows you’ll ever watch.

Why You Should Binge:

Listen, I’m not going to lie here: There’s a very good chance you’re going to come out of this with more than one chip on your shoulder about having to spend over three straight days of your life on this infuriating piece of television history. Still, as I mentioned before, keeping this fact in mind will make it better. It’s still a fantastic ride, one that has become, in just a few short years, a classic. It’s also got a deep, involved, and kind of scary fandom who have put together any and all materials and answers you might need—philosophical, academic, narrative or otherwise. Plus, it’s important you know these references!

Well, if that does not get a curious "new" LOST viewer into the fold, what will? Anyone who wants to know American culture needs to watch a "prestige" show and LOST will be "one of the most frustrating, fascinating, and ultimately doomed shows of all time." 

WIRED also gives a potential viewer some clues on how much investment is needed to watch the series. The time requirements are 90 hours (3.75 days). Each episode averages about 43 minutes, so if you clock 10 hour-days (600 minutes, or about 14 episodes) on Saturdays and Sundays, it’ll only take up a cool 4.5 weekends, or nine days, of your life. Wanna stretch it out? Watch four episodes per night (that’s three hours) for 30 days. (That’s without going back and re-watching episodes to pick up the minutiae, in which case, may the gods have mercy on your—nay, our—souls.)