Dear LOST,
I didn't actually see your premiere when it aired. I was probably working on Wednesday, September 24, 2004, which is why I didn't see the first moments of what would become my favorite TV show of all time.
What I do remember is my mom telling me how intense the pilot episode of "LOST" was, and watching it the next day, and being instantly hooked.
From your opening shot - Matthew Fox's (wait, THAT guy from THAT show on the WB?) right eye snapping open - to his running out onto the beach into the chaos of a plane crash to the famous line from who I knew as Meriadoc Brandybuck saying, "Guys, where are we?" - I couldn't turn away ever again. Even after May 23, 2010, when we last saw the survivors' fate for the first time, I'd have been with Ben Linus and Eloise Hawking and Anna Lucia - I've been unable to let go.
You gave me (and so many others) so, so much. You gave us a thrill ride we couldn't get off of even if we wanted to - there were always more questions that needed answering, answers that begged more questions, mysteries that needed solving. And while some are sad they didn't get every single answer to every single question and mystery, I ended up in a place more satisfied and filled than I could hope for on a couch on Thanksgiving day.
The island. The Smoke Monster. The polar bears. The hatch. The button. The Others. The Dharma Initiative. Jacob. The boat. The stories in and around these things and so many others were so electrifying, so magnetic, so compelling that we had to fill our weeks between episodes trying to piece together what we knew and what we didn't.
You were before the days of streaming services and binge-watching culture and rampant social media discourse, and I wouldn't have it any other way. We needed time to dissect and study and digest and chew on what we'd just seen. Sometimes we only had a commercial break, other times we had a week, and a few times we had months.
For me, the answers that came, even if they were a long time in coming, were nearly always as satisfying - if not more so - than the questions that begat them. Some stones were left unturned, but I was okay with that. It left some of the delicious mystery we'd gorged ourselves on for six seasons in place, free for the picking or ignoring as one pleased. You took us through sci-fi and fantasy and romance and action and thriller and mystery and all the genres.
More than the story, though, you gave us people we came to know and love and deeply care about.
We had no idea who these people were at the start - generally speaking, we liked Jack, were unsure about Kate, hated Sawyer, loathed Jin, pitied Sun and were suspicious of Locke. How could I have known that I'd come to love each and every single one of them over the next 5+ years? That I would be so invested in them that if something bad happened, I'd cry and scream at my TV? That even years later, knowing well in advance what happens, those same moments would bring me to tears?
You see, what some detractors failed to understand about LOST is even among the mysteries and monsters and villains and plots, the show was always about the characters and the connections. About how they came to need each other to fix themselves, to hold up each other in their darkest moments, and ultimately to understand they couldn't do it without the others.
Even in your lowest moments - Nikki and Paulo, par example - you never stopped being about the people. You held up mirrors through your characters and let us see ourselves in them - sometimes just a piece or two, sometimes in near-entirety. Jack's self-doubt and need to fix everything. Locke's faith, sometimes strong but often wavering. Kate's struggle with doing the wrong things for the right reasons. Sawyer's self-loathing and punishment but capacity to care and protect. Sayid's uncertainty about his own moral compass and the choice we all have what kind of person to be. Sun's patience and loyalty. Jin's devotion, flawed though it can be. Hurley's endless capacity to see the good in people.
These people became more than just people on a screen - they became friends. They became family.
Thank you, LOST, for the ride of a lifetime. For the adventure we've been unable to forget, and for being of such quality stuff that even now, 16 years after you came to us and 10 years after you left, people can still discover you and your gifts and have it feel as fresh as if it were September 22, 2004.
Sincerely,
Vincent's #1 Fan
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