A Lost Odyssey: Dedicated to the Memory of Poor Furry Eloise

So, if you don't watch Lost yet, you don't know what you're missing. For the past three seasons there have been plenty of semi-legitimate complaints that the writers were making it up as they went along, piling mystery after mystery on top of one another because they didn't have answers to any of it, and generally screwing around with the viewership.

I've said all along that I had faith in the show, and preferred to think of it like a contemporary novel; it's often confusing along the way, but the whole thing is there, waiting to be revealed. And now that there is a definite end-date for the program, I believe the show has fallen right into my little metaphor. There are now a finite number of pages which, this season, the writers/producers have been turning to tremendous effect, giving answers with the new mysteries. Here are just a few compelling questions that have been raised:

If you don't watch the show skip the part below, don't ruin the surprises for yourself:

What's Kate doing with Claire's baby? Is Aaron the fifth member of the Oceanic Six? Why would Jack bother to say that 8 people survived the crash if only six of them made it off the island? My Matthew (as opposed to Matthew Fox) thinks they must have brought two bodies home with them, and this seems like a sound conclusion.

And don't get me started on all this Slaughterhouse V "unstuck" in time business - I think it's awesome, and I love that this show acknowledges that the future cannot be changed. Too many shows have people time traveling without fully addressing the way that their past actions would then affect the moment they first learned to time travel. I'm only surprised that there wasn't a nod to "he has always pushed the button ... he will always push the button..."

And last night's episode was blissfully full of my favorite Lost theme - The Odyssey. I love me some Desmond David Hume and Penelope Widmore, and in my opinion their closing conversation last night was a direct nod to the Blind Bard himself. Here it is from DocArzt.com:

Desmond: I don't know where I am, but..

Penny: I will find you, Des

D: I promise...

P: I promise...

D: ...I'll come back to you

P: ...I won't give up

D: I promise
P: I promise

Together: I love you.

Tug, tug go the heartstrings and "holy crap!" go the mythophiles! Oh Desmond, you wandering, clever, complicated, loathe to commit Mariner, you! And you, Penelope, weaving and unweaving the threads of your life until finally you launch your little Telemachian resources to find the man who promised to return - all the while combating a pack of Pretenders. Will there be a rash of killings upon the return to Ithaca? Will there be a long ride into the sunset, or perhaps a slow, gnawing angst and concluding sorrow somehow involving a fruit tree (or ... something like that - time to dig out those Myth 101 notes again, apparently)?

What does Mr. Widmore want with The Island, anyway, and can we now assume that he is in charge of the Freighter and has ordered the crew not to take Penelope's calls? Why is he so anti-Desmond, really? There are some theories floating around that Torvald Hanso's journal contains notes specifically for Widmore - that perhaps they, too, are unstuck in time - so perhaps Desmond has even greater cosmic significance than we realize, and perhaps that plays right into the Odysseyan theme. Either way, he could have at least turned off the freakin' water.

All in all I commend the writers/producers/whoever is responsible for tapping into one of the most evocative and therefore enduring myths of all time. It's wonderful, and I'm loving every minute of it!

I can't wait to read J Wood's blog on Powells.com to see what other literary/philosophical/mythological references were included in this latest episode. I highly recommend his blog, and not just because he's also a grad student at UVA (though it does help).

Really, it's a terrific show, flaws and all, and I thrill at being involved in the cultural moment every Thursday.

Look out soon for an exotic blog from the wilds of West Virginia, my thoughts on why many seemingly innocuous commercials are in fact ruining the world, and a raging debate between myself and myself: Library Science, or High School?

Cheers, ya'll.