10 YEARS AGO TODAY

It began 10 years ago today.

"Pilot, Part 1" is the first of the two-part pilot episode with part two airing the following week. The two parts re-aired together on October 2, 2004.

Jack,  a doctor from Los Angeles, finds himself one of forty-eight passengers who survived the crash of Flight 815 on a mysterious island. With the help of other survivors, he begins to treat the injured and attempts to find the cockpit of the plane in the hope of contacting civilization and rescue.

The episode establishes the show's use of flashbacks to show characters' lives before crashing on the island.  The one flashback in this episode depicts Jack's view of events on the plane just prior to the crash. 

And thus began the roller coaster journey for both actors and fans of the series. A full decade later, we continue to remember, muse, analyze, and theorize about the show.

There are a few things we realize after all this time.

First, LOST was a hard show to follow. Unless you were hooked by the initial premise, you could not jump in mid-stream and figure out the quickly expanding tangential story lines. And even after viewing an episode, you had to rewind it in your own mind to figure out where the story was coming from and where it was going.

Second, LOST itself began to get lost in its own favorable press clippings and got too clever for its own good. Plot twists were used more and more to shock the audience than explain the mysteries that the writers made seem so important.

Third,  LOST was one of the first shows to gather communities of fans to discuss in nearly real time each episode; dissecting the story lines and character motivations and coming up with predictions, criticisms and answers. This was before the social media instant messaging of Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

Fourth, LOST still makes us think about things. Yes, it could be how the show could have been better. But it is also the habit of trying to learn something new, expand one's comfort zone to research, write and communicate new ideas to fellow fans. 

Our relationship to an important television show like LOST  is like our own relationships. It will have its ups and downs. Women like men with rough edges, thinking they can change them. Men go overboard to impress with adventure and excitement to woo a lady who may not be ready to settle down. The ending of LOST was like a relationship crossroad. Some people accepted it, liked it and settled for it. Some people were disappointed, confused, hurt and walked away from it. As one writer recently wrote, LOST was the best show on television until it became the worst.

I started this site before the final season as a means of expanding my community posts, thinking that Season 6 would be awe inspiring good. This is the 838th post. I never imagined making so many LOST essays or posts. But even today, when a news article or thought sparks a connection to the show,  that pings me to create another post. And some of them expand my understanding of the show, try to make better sense of it, or try to reconfigure it to make it better. Mindful, that nothing will truly change. Today, there is probably less than a handful of sites that still discuss LOST. Most of the fans have moved on, some reluctantly. 

But there is one universal truth in the LOST fan experience. If anyone ever questions you about your inability to make a commitment, you can always reply, "I watched every episode in the six season run of LOST."