Over time, “Lost” became one of those shows, like “The Sopranos” or “The Wire,” that built up six seasons and began to look like a burden to even attempt. Plus these shows had hit that phase of over-recommendation where friends suggest the show so many times that you begin to resent it and the series in general.

But this past year, through DVD loans from girlfriend and friend alike, I ended up resolving to watch two of those bulky, yet beloved shows: “The Sopranos” and “Lost.” And “The Wire” will happen at a later date. They are just too beloved and critically acclaimed for a TV junkie to ignore.

So as TV fans wait anxiously for the start of the much-anticipated fall TV season, the next two weeks will have a better-late-than-never slant.

My endeavor to watch all of “Lost” in less than a calendar year did not begin on purpose. I borrowed season one of “Lost” mostly just to have something to do at my Internet-less home in Chattanooga over Winter Break last year.

It was rough going early on. Unlike other fans, the first episodes of the first season of “Lost” did not hook me. Sure, the two-hour “Pilot” was intriguing, and the episodes introducing the wheelchair-bound adventurer John Locke and the Southern outlaw Sawyer, “Walkabout” and “Confidence Man,” kept me going.

But throughout the first season, Locke and Sawyer are the only highlights. All of the other characters are either dull or annoying. In particular, the beginning of Kate’s run from the law that does not quite altogether make sense, as well as her constant vacillating between which beau on the island she wants, made her the most reviled part of the show.

After watching the first 13 or so episodes during break, I put it on hold until around March or April, as an example of how much the first season was not the hook.

The acting talent of Terry O’Quinn and Josh Holloway as Locke and Sawyer powered me through episodes of the latter half of the first season that were terrible. “Numbers,” just the 18th episode of the first season, is one of those stop-watching-the-show bad episodes. Hurley as comedy relief is always groan-worthy at best, and to give him, of all characters, the most ridiculous and meaningless mystery of the island was a grave misstep. Hurley’s crazed tirades about 4-8-15-16-23-42, which popped up frequently after this episode, just got in the way of other action and served as an extremely loose plot device to get Hurley to mess things up from time to time to avoid the dreaded numbers.

It was not until the season one finale and season two premiere that I began watching the episodes in marathons. “Lost” developed a knack for building up plot threads and having them pay off in a big way, while starting a new one at the same time, in the finales and premieres. The twist of what happens to the crew on the raft, while the gang opened the hatch, made me want to watch more. Jack looking around wide-eyed as he strangely heard “Make Your Own Kind of Music” in the hatch in the season two premiere is still one of my favorite moments.

From there, I resolved to finish the show. Sure, there are down points. Much of season four and season five are mediocre. The beginning of season six is probably the weakest point of the entire series.

But the series’ second and third seasons are some of the best television I’ve ever seen. “Lost” began to get an idea of who good characters and actors were, as more good ones were introduced to join Locke and Sawyer. In particular, the creepy manipulator Ben (Michael Emerson) and the seemingly unpredictable, tragic Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) bolstered the cast.

And despite what anyone says, “Lost” ends with a flurry of excellent episodes in its final, sixth season. It could even be argued that “Ab Aeterno,” the secret origin of Richard Alpert, and “Across the Sea,” which finally explains Jacob and the island, should have come earlier. They make the show so much deeper and more interesting. In particular, “Across the Sea” is one of the best episodes of television ever made.

While I disagree with many episode rankings that mark the Desmond-Penny romantic episode “The Constant” as the best one ever, as I was never really a Desmond fan, I agree with one thing: Despite all its flaws, “Lost” is a show worth watching, if only to get to the best parts.
 
In a way, I am glad I watched it a year removed from its ending. “Lost” fans are kind of obnoxious, and endlessly theorizing over a television show each week never sounded appealing.


— Robby O’Daniel is a graduate student in communications. He can be reached at rodaniel@utk.edu.