May 23rd, 2010 marked the end of one of the most talked about shows on television – ABC’s LOST. Created by JJ Abrams, Damon Lindelof, and Jeffrey Lieber, this supernateral, mystical, mythological, theological, science fictional drama relied on flashbacks and eventual flashforwards, mixed with the present, to tell watercooler television. When it ended 5 years ago today, it sparked outrageous controversy, reminiscient of the outcry at The Sopranos ending, three years before. Still today (and I think it still will be 20 years from now), there remains such a divide between those who loved and those who hated the series, especially that unexpected ending. For the most part, the majority of viewers tend to land on one side of endings – Dexter, most hated, while Sons Of Anarchy, most loved. Not so with this show.

Which side did you fall on?

I am a tried and true Lostie. I would have to watch every week real time, including commercials, DVR be damned. The plight of the passengers of Oceanic 815 and eventually the “Others” were as “must see tv” as it gets. If you decided to read this, you know the story. If you decided to read this, you watched LOST until the very end, out of love, or hating yourself for every minute you feel you wasted.

Most of the actors were not household names when LOST started, with the exception of Matthew Fox (Jack Shephard) for Party Of Five, and Dominic Monaghan (Charlie Pace) for the Lord Of the Rings trilogy. Some, such as Terry O’Quinn (Locke), Harold Perrineau (Michael), Daniel Dae Kim (Jin), and Michael Emerson (Ben Linus) were familiar faces because they had quite a bit of tv and film credits. And some, such as Evangeline Lilly (Kate), Jorge Garcia (Hurley), and Josh Holloway (Sawyer), had only small and sporadic parts, prior to landing this show. After the show ended, whether continuing to work a lot or not, all of the cast are now household names, even if the name is, “That actor/actress from LOST.”

Most of the cast seems to be doing all right for themselves in TV (and a bit of movie) land:

Daniel Dae Kim: Hawaii Five-O
Terry O’Quinn: 666 Park Ave, Hawaii Five-O, Full Circle
Michael Emerson: Person Of Interest
Elizabeth Mitchell: Revolution, V, Once Upon A Time, Crossing Lines
Emilie De Ravin: Once Upon A Time
Harold Perrineau: Sons Of Anarchy, Constantine
Jorge Garcia: Alcatraz, Once Upon A Time, Hawaii Five-O
Naveen Andrews: Sinbad, Once Upon A Time In Wonderland
Nestor Carbonell: Bates Motel
Mark Pellegrino: Supernatural, Being Human, The Returned
Yunjin Kim: Mistresses
Ian Somerhalder: The Vampire Diaries
Jeremy Davies: Constantine, Justified
Henry Ian Cusick: The 100, Scandal
Evangeline Lilly: The Hobbit, Ant-Man
Dominic Monaghan: Flashforward, The Unknown, 100 Code
Josh Holloway: Intelligence, Colony

But back to the ending. It was really the longest ending ever (unbeknownst to us), spinning us in circles with the first flashforward at the end of season 3, finally getting off the island at the end of season 4 as the Oceanic Six (Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, and Aaron (Claire’s baby), jumping back and forth through time in season 5, before revealing two different timelines in season 6. One, was a continuation of the turmoil on the island. The other was the life of the characters as if they had never been in the plane crash. We were already bananas with the crazy seasons, but the 6th season made us go out of our minds.

The end of the series (Spoiler alert!) showed Jack as the new caretaker of the island, killing The Man In Black in Locke form who was trying to escape the island. Jack dies as he had first awakened on the island, including the dog. Hurley is his successor, but shares the responsibilities with Ben. In the other storyline, it shows the characters reunited in a church, that other life merely a waiting station before they all go to heaven (we think).

That ending satisfied me. While I didn’t understand it completely, and the show left a lot of unanswered questions, I did not feel outraged. It was an outrageous show, so it was only fitting that it ended that way.

One thing that cannot be denied, the powerful feelings that LOST stirs up when brought up even to this day, by whomever watched it. Arguments about the show still happen. I should know. I live with a LOST hater. My husband and I still find ourselves getting into occasional arguments about it. I might even be inadvertantly picking an internet fight just by writing this.

Some LOST stuff:

Things we talked about:
The numbers: 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42
The Dharma Initiative
Paolo and Nikki
Smoke Monster
Polar Bears
The Hatch
Jacob and The Man In Black (Pellegrino and Titus Welliver)
Black Rock
A Constant – And yes, I do own a tee that says, “Desmond is my constant.”

Popular quotes:
Desmond: “I’ll see ya in another life, brotha.”
Charlie’s Hand: “Not Penny’s Boat.”
Charlie: “Guys… Where are we?”
Drive Shaft: “You All Everybody.”
Jack: “We have to go back!”
Michael: “They took my son!”
Daniel Faraday: Every equation needs stability, something known. It’s called a constant.”
Sawyer: That’s for taking the kid off the raft!”
Ben: “Two days after I found out I had a fatal tumor on my spine, a spinal surgeon fell out of the sky.”

Books:
Carrie – The Others book club
Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret – Sawyer read it. Actually, Sawyer read a lot on the island.
Y: The Last Man (Spanish) – Hurley read it.
Ulysses – Ben read it.
Our Mutual Friend – A favorite of Desmond.

LOST ended 5 years ago, and since then I’ve constantly searched through shows, looking to recapture that LOST feeling. It might be time for a rewatch binge.

[Source: LOST Encyclopedia]