Time Flies

Hello my dear friends -

Today marks the one-year anniversary of Lost's series finale, "The End." Can you believe it? I don't know how you're feeling about things, but to me it really does not seem like a whopping 365 days have passed since the show wrapped up. (Insert "Maybe that's because it took you five months to write your finale post!" jokes here. Oh, and speaking of my finale post, it was brought to my attention that the email system over which I have no control never sent that post out back in October. It was probably too long. So those of you receiving my write-ups via email can access it here.)

I had the great pleasure of being interviewed about the show by Josh Wigler over at the MTV Movies Blog, and in preparation for that conversation I spent some time reminiscing about Lost's six seasons and whether or not I feel as strongly about the series one year after the final credits rolled.

The answer is yes, I feel as strongly as ever -- probably even more so now than I did before.

DON'T WANNA BE AN AMERICAN IDIOT

Ever since the series ended, there's been a constant stream of people hating on it -- people who didn't actually take any time to think about the finale and instead simply ran with their knee-jerk reaction (which, as you may recall, was also my knee-jerk reaction): "They were dead the whole time!?!?"

Since all anyone had to do was take a deep breath and replay the final minutes in order to understand exactly what happened, I have zero tolerance or patience for those who refused to spend a few extra seconds to comprehend what was going on. If you acknowledge that everything we saw since 2004 actually happened -- that all of the characters' Island experiences took place (which Jack's dad was nice enough to spell out for us) -- and you still didn't like the finale, that's one thing. I respect that lots of folks weren't fans of what the sideways flashes ended up representing. What I can't respect, however, is when someone is too stubborn or stupid (yeah, I said it!) to spend ten minutes reflecting on a show they invested so much time into in order to ensure they walked away with a clear understanding of how it drew to a close.

I realize that a lot of people continue to holler about the show because they know it gets a rise out of the rest of us. The fact that they still bother to chime in at all is what proves to me that the series had a huge impact on them. So the joke's on the haters.

There's another group of people who aren't actively speaking out against the series, but who vehemently disliked the finale and feel like it ruined Lost's entire run for them and subsequently harbor a great resentment toward its creators. This is another thing I just can't wrap my mind around. To me that's the equivalent of going on an all-expenses-paid trip around the world for five-and-a-half years -- a vacation during which you learn all about religious, philosophical, scientific, and literary theories you'd never been exposed to before, in addition to making a ton of great friends. On the last day of this vacation you and those friends go to dinner, and the dinner ends up being kind of unspectacular.

Does that final dinner wipe out how amazing the rest of the trip was!?!?!?! Um, I would certainly hope not. Would you NOT go on the trip again if given a second chance?!?! Really, wouldn't you? All because of one lousy meal? Talk about throwing the baby out with the bath water. I don't get it. As with almost everything else in life, it's about the journey, not the destination.

OOH, WE USED TO WAIT
OOH, WE USED TO WAIT

What I've missed most this past year is the build-up to each new episode. Since the advent of DVR technology, Lost is the only show I ever made a point of watching live. I couldn't stand to not know what was going down on the Island as soon as I could. Each airing was an event. We all had our own rituals when it came to watching the show. And then afterward everyone digested and analyzed the episode in his or her own way. Finally, we'd discuss and theorize together all across the interwebs until it was time for the next installment.

I miss that profound sense of escapism. I miss being part of a truly global phenomenon. I miss how the show forced me to put my brain to work. I miss having intelligent debates with other fans. I miss how I would wake up in the middle of the night with a new idea about what could be going on. I miss the anticipatory butterflies in my stomach as each new episode began. I miss caring about characters. I just miss it all.

The good news is that I honestly don't think a week has gone by since May 23, 2010, where I have NOT read something about the show -- be it an article, a tweet, a blog post, or what have you. There's always something that reminds me of our friends on the Island. And I think it's going to be that way for a long, long time. Though I haven' t been able to post as often as I'd intended on this site since the show went off the air, the bottom line is that I know I WILL continue to write about the series for years. There will be no letting go!

The MTV Movies interview I spoke of at the beginning of this post is embedded below -- it features the wonderful JOpinionated and The ODI as well, and I know we all had a blast doing it. The full post can be found here.

LOST CHAT -- TONIGHT!

Have you missed talking about Lost? Suffer no more!

My fellow Lost bloggers and friends JOpinionated and Doc Arzt will be holding a live LOST chat TONIGHT at 9 PM ET right here. Jo will be giving away some incredibly cool swag to a few lucky participants, so don't miss out!


OTHER FUN LOST-RELATED TIDBITS

- Evangeline Lilly (Kate) just had a kid!

- NBC's Awake looks VERY Lost-ish, no? (Watch its trailer here. And yes, that's Jack's Alt son, Dylan Minnette.)

-Michael Emerson (Ben) is going to be a lead in the CBS show Person of Interest (watch its trailer here).

- Jorge Garcia (Hurley) is going to be a lead in the FOX show Alcatraz, from Lost writer Elizabeth Sarnoff (watch its trailer on JOpinionated's "Inside Alcatraz" blog here).

- Lost writers Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz are behind ABC's Once Upon a Time (watch its trailer here).

- Henry Ian Cusick (Desmond) will be in ABC's Scandal (watch a clip here). No more Scottish accent, though? Boo!

- I really enjoyed the Washington Post's recent interview with Lost's co-creator Damon Lindelof.

- Lost blogger Pearson Moore takes an in-depth look at the series in his book Lost Humanity, available in paperback or on Kindle.



As I said above, I still have a lot of things I want to write about here on Long Live Locke. It's just a matter of getting a break! Hopefully in the meantime you will keep me company over on redbox's redblog, where I write ten movie-related posts a week.

And guess what? My personal blog, "According to e," is back! I've been writing about totally random topics several times a week for the past few months -- I hope you check it out.

Finally, I would love to hear your thoughts about the show now that a year has come and gone since the finale. If you didn't like "The End," have your feelings tempered at all with the passage of time? If you loved everything about the series, what do you miss most now? Have you found anything that's even close to a replacement/substitute? I haven't.

- e