In Season 4, Claire Littleton followed the ghost (?) of her father Christian Shephard into the jungle and left her infant son Aaron behind. What’s become of her??
Sometimes I wake up at 3 a.m. and I can’t stop thinking about them.
Is Claire dead? Who will take care of her baby?
And what about Jack? I am sick at the thought that he has become an alcoholic and prescription drug addict.
My heart breaks for Sawyer. On the inside, he is a little boy desperate for his dead mother’s love. On the island, he finally found a family of sorts. And now he believes they have all perished.
I am lost in Lost.
Thanks to Netflix, I no longer watch television; I binge. Binge watching, I’ve learned, can take over my life in the same way that a really good book can. We could eat dinner at the table and talk to each other, but doesn’t it sound like more fun to set out the picnic blanket in the family room and watch Lost?
I know that Lost is yesterday’s news. The hit sci-fi-ish drama set on a South Pacific island debuted in 2004 and concluded with its grand finale in 2010. (I don’t know the ending, so please don’t tell me). I know that Lost gets increasingly convoluted and far-fetched with each season. I know that the story line includes all kinds of loose strands that dangle and go nowhere. Like the numbers on Hurley’s winning lottery ticket. Those numbers keep popping up in random places and for no reason. They may never be explained. I know all of this, and I’m still lost in Lost.
There’s definitely a connection between Sawyer and Kate, but they both seem too emotionally crippled to work as a couple.
As with any story, the characters are to blame. I’ve become attached to them. Sometimes I dream about these people. I know them well, but they remain mysterious.
Kate is strong and independent, but emotionally crippled. Will she ever be able to sustain a relationship? And with whom will she end up, Dr. Jack Shephard (who has his own issues), or former con artist James “Sawyer” Freeman? I can see why she has a powerful attraction to Sawyer, but I don’t see them lasting. I hope she’ll give Jack another chance, if he conquers his demons.
Even before I knew he was the leader of the “Others,” Ben made me cringe, but he’s kind of grown on me; he’s always got a plan and it’s interesting to see what he will come up with.
Even weak-chinned Ben Linus has grown on me. Yes, he is evil and manipulative, but he is always interesting, especially when he breaks out of his sociopath mode.
John Locke is a pendulum, unsure if he is born leader destined to for greatness, or a small-minded pathetic middle-aged man with no life. Which way will he ultimately swing?
And how in the world did Sayyid Jarrah end up becoming Ben’s on-call assassin?
But it’s not just the people. I’m also compelled to the couch by the ready availability of the next episode. We can stay in this world for as long as we want to. A summer of re-runs won’t break the fictional spell. If I had watched Lost as a “weekly” event, I would have quit watching after season 4, when only 14 episodes were made. I know that if I had to wait weeks and months for the next episode, I would lose interest, find other things to do. In general, I don’t watch a lot of TV, so after a while I would forget to turn the set on.
Television bingeing, I’ve realized, provides good fodder for family conversations. Sure, we could talk about politics or the Russian invasion of Crimea, but those conversations wouldn’t be as rich, or last as long. With Lost, we have this entire world to gossip about, without hurting anyone’s feelings.
We have endless conversations about the most “killable” characters, those who might die in the next season. Sawyer, we’ve decided is killable, since he has no family and little to go back to. But I hope he survives, although I don’t know what will become of him if he leaves the island. He’s grown so much during these months on the island. I doubt that he wants to return to his con-man lifestyle after all he’s been through, but he only has an 8th grade education and no professional skills. What will be he do back home?
Now, as spring calls us out of hibernation (although it did snow on April 16), we are immersed in season five. The Oceanic Six are home. Ben says they have to return to the island to save the others. The plot has become more and more far-fetched. It feels a bit like nobody expected the show to last this long and the writers were just trying to keep it going for the ratings, but I don’t care.
I think Jack Shephard will pull it together and do whatever it is the writers want him to accomplish in Season 6.
I want Sawyer to know that Kate is alive and well, that his large friend Hurley may live in an alternate reality but is still the same sweet Hurley. I want somebody to find Claire and reunite her with her baby Aaron, even if doing so breaks Kate’s heart. I want Charlie to come back from the dead.
But bingeing is full of sweet sorrow. I know it won’t last. The series will end. Now that we are in season five, every episode feels like a small death.
From this point forward, we’re going to stretch out our viewing. If we get a rainy Saturday, we are NOT going to watch three episodes. Maybe just two. After season five, The Seal (my son) wants to take a two-week break before season starting season six, so that the end doesn’t come too soon.
When we’ve finished the final episode, we’ll emerge from the family room and blink in the bright sun of May. I’ll feel a bit wrung out, but the intensity of my relationship with these people will fade over time. It will be a while – probably next fall – before I start something new, as I’ve learned that in bingeing, I have to let the intensity diminish before watching another series.
Next up in our lineup is The Seal’s choice, The Walking Dead, a zombie apocalypse series now wrapping up its fourth season (about 64 episodes, with another 16 to come next year). I could be wrong, but I don’t see myself falling hard for zombies.
That’s okay, I’ll be on the rebound. I’m looking forward to starting something serious, maybe next winter, with the 62 episodes of Breaking Bad. I could use a fling in between.
