The Culture Beat

Ever since, at the end of season 3, when Lost‘s producers negotiated a deal with ABC to end the show in three shortened seasons, the momentum returned to a series that had premiered to high ratings but, as mysteries and plotlines multiplied, began to lose steam and audience numbers. Although ratings are currently not back to the level of earlier seasons, those who stayed faithful to the densely textured series are being rewarded with a continuous series of revelations that have begun to explain the island’s enigmas while continuing to spin new intrigues.

I was one who was sorely tempted to give up on the seemingly stalled series after the going-nowhere season 3, but when the 4th season started last year, I was back in the fold after the second episode–the peculiar thrills and unique pleasure this series gives me (and which has inspired several dreams) were back again. Creators Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof admitted in an interview that the the third season doldrums reflected their own sense of running in place because they didn’t know if they would have three or nine years to complete their intended story–since the networks typically want a show to continue until it runs out of steam and gets canceled. The ABC deal set the show’s destiny back on track and revived its energy.

The new season which started in January has seen the gathering of the Oceanic Six, the castaways who, despite warnings against leaving, found a way to depart from the island just it time to see it disappear in a flash of light. It’s now apparent that the island is somehow moving through time and space, putting the remaining castaways in various “time zones,” that reveal missing puzzle pieces from earlier seasons. The sense that this is more than just a time travel story arises from the overriding impression that some spiritual force–the island itself?-is controlling the lives of the characters even as they seek to control the island’s careering through the time/space continuum.

One of the best ways to follow and understand the possible meanings of the narrative is Entertainment Weekly‘s Jeff Jensen whose EW blog features huge in-depth discussions and recaps twice a week, along with a video package with co-worker Dan Snierson called “Totally Lost.”

What makes Jensen’s blogging more than the usual fan blog is his vast knowledge of literature, pop culture, science and other areas where he finds allusions galore embedded in the episodes. For example, a few weeks ago when we saw that Jack awoke back on the island, Jensen, a professing Christian noted in page 2 of his recap:

No longer was Jack the Doubting Thomas of the Caravaggio painting in Ms. Hawking’s church. He had undergone what they call a ”Pauline” conversion — named after the former persecutor of Christ, Saul, who beheld a vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus, became a believer, and renamed himself Paul — and I’d love to note that my most favorite painting in the world, ”The Conversion On The Road To Damascus,” is also by Caravaggio. (Sorry to make it all about me.)

The Caravaggio painting had figured prominently in an earlier episode, when Benjamin Linus, of all people, had used the painting, hung in a church sanctuary, to persuade Jack to believe in the island’s call to return. Jensen’s theorizing is often rapid-fire and dense, and therefore, completely appropriate for a series that requires close attention to detect the manifold clues and references. I find that I get twice as much out of a week’s episode by reading his before and after analyses. If you’re a Lostphile who has hung in there or would like to get back on board for this revelatory season, you should looking into Jensen’s excellent “guidebook” to help you get back in the groove.