THEY'RE IN HOLLYWOOD FOR A REASON:

Losing My Religion (Sacha Zimmerman, 2/08/07, TNR)

Last night, the "mid-season premiere" of ABC's huge hit "Lost" came back after an interminable 13-week hiatus. And like Mr. Eko and John Locke before him, I too pushed the button--on my remote control--with the certainty that nothing was certain and that the mystery would most likely remain unexplained, but also with the certainty that pushing the button was very, very important--nay, vital--to my personal well-being. In many ways, I too am lost.

It seems, in fact, that I am having a crisis of faith. All religions are imbued with meaning, and my search for meaning in "Lost" is testing my ability to believe. It all began sometime in season two, when I realized that the Others were seemingly unconnected to the smoke monster. I began to see the show as running on two tracks: the bizarre Others conspiracy track and the bizarre supernatural track. Because I had been sure the two were connected, this led me to a new question: What if creator J.J. Abrams has no plan at all?

At first, I followed "Lost" with devotion, assiduously avoiding all press about the show for fear of spoilers. I paid close attention to the backgrounds of the flashback scenes for clues. And I felt certain that I would follow John Locke to the ends of the Earth were I on that enigmatic island. And yet, with each subsequent episode, I started to wonder: Are the writers just throwing crazy ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks? I started to imagine scruffy writers with masters' degrees sitting around saying, "You know what would be cool? Let's make the hatch blow up and some scientists in the--get this!--the arctic notice the electromagnetic force it creates. And then, let's not refer back to this for, say, ten episodes!" And here I am. I feel used and disillusioned.

Everyone realizes Locke was the key to the show except the guys making it.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 8, 2007 12:43 PM