Living the Fictional Dream

I recently sat down with my husband and watched all of the Lost episodes that have aired this season. This show is quite the conundrum — both from a viewer’s perspective and from a writing perspective.

A lot of people gave up on the show in seasons 2 and 3, when it had a bit of a downturn. I still thought the episodes were good, but (to me) it just started to feel like the writers didn’t know where the heck they were going. However, I still enjoyed watching, so I stuck with it and was rewarded by the second (and longer) half of season 3 and all of season 4, which I thought were excellent. To me, season 5, so far, has lived up to its promise. I think that the secret was the creators of the show making a deal with the network so they knew in advance how many seasons/episodes they were going to make. Ever since that point the show seems to have purpose and direction.

Lost is, of course, fairly famous for ponderous plot twists that seem to go nowhere. Look at the tailies from season 2 — we spent all this time with them, and now all of them are dead except for Bernard. What was the point, then?

And look at Walt. In season 1, he was quite a fixture, and the way that his mind seemed to control the world around him was fascinating (OMGWTFPolarBear, anyone?). And then he disappeared, only to be briefly seen in cameos hence forth (luckily, the show is now 3 years later than it was, so in this season’s cameo, it was OK that the kid is tall now). And there were other things, too. I won’t go to the trouble of listing them all out here.

I think the point that a writer should take away from all this is that you have to be careful of rabbit trails and loose ends. They just frustrate the reader/viewer and turn them off of your concept. I think if the Lost writers had had a clearer vision of the end game from the beginning, we would have had a much more satisfying journey through their world, sans loose ends. From a novel perspective, these are the kinds of things that happen in a first draft — then you get people to critique your work and weed all the unnecessary stuff out on the second draft.

I also know some people who feel like Lost has gone too far out there. They were OK with smoke monsters and random polar bears, but huge initiatives with compounds on the island and time travel? That was too much for them. Personally, I’m a genre nut to the core, so I can suspend my disbelief. I haven’t been bothered on that account.

Whatever your criticisms about Lost, they do a lot of things right, too. Their story-telling is compelling and the whole story is so detailed that it amazes me. You see an actor who had one or two lines in season 1 and he comes back in season 5 with a mysterious agenda. Characters who seem unrelated turn out to cross paths in many mysterious ways. A throw-away line of dialog in one episode, turns out to be of great importance later on.

And then there are the characters. Sure, the show isn’t all perfect (I still hate how they maligned poor Charlie!), but other characters are written spot on. And I love the story-telling technique that uses flash backs and flash forwards to flesh out the character while giving impact to whatever plot is currently going on in the present day.

As a writer, some of the lessons I take away from the good elements of Lost are (1) give characters a detailed backstory and use what you can to enhance the story (but don’t over use — just because you know what your character ate for lunch every day in middle school, don’t tell us unless it affects the current story), (2) pay close attention to your plots — an intricately plotted story that works is much more fascinating that a story with a lack of plot or plot details that contradict each other, and (3) following on number 2, be consistent — know those small details and bring them back to make the world feel more real and distinct.

As a viewer, though, there is one worry that I have regarding Lost. I want the ending to be worth it. After all these years of build up, wrong turns, recoveries, and plot twists, the ending pretty much has to be spectacular to satisfy the viewers and to pull the story together. Now, I don’t want the writers to simply pander to viewers — I want them to stay true to their vision and give us the real story. But, after all this, expectations are high, so it has to be spot on. And that can be a problem in the land of television. No one can please everyone — but, keep in mind, that just because you’re not pleased or it wasn’t what you wanted, that doesn’t mean it’s not a good story.

The problem is, if the ending doesn’t work, then it will basically cast everything that came before in a negative light. We’ll all be thinking, “Why did I invest six years in this show and put up with all the twists and turns if this is what I got for it?”

Hopefully, though, we will at least be able to remember that, no matter what, Lost was a fun, exciting ride. And the journey is the thing — especially in television.