Oct 02 2008
Do the LOST writers know where they’re going?
One of the things I most enjoy about LOST is that it is like a novel. Most TV shows are like short stories, where all is revealed at the end of an hour. The mysteries of LOST, though, will take years to resolve. That gives them a complexity and depth far greater than what’s possible in an episodic show.
I’m willing to wait years for questions to be answered. The longer the wait, the greater the reward.
That is, assuming that there will be a pay-off in the end.
But what if there’s not?
Some people think that the writers are making it all up as they go along. I would like to think the opposite – that the writers started with the ending, and then worked backwards from there, so that every aspect of the show relates directly to the ending, and every question was formed out of a pre-existing answer.
The truth appears to be somewhere in-between. There’s evidence that the writers are working back from the ending, at times, and at other times improvising, putting in material that may lead to dead ends.
I hope they have something really spectacular up their sleeves at the end. If they don’t, it will still have been quite a ride. But how much better it will be if the ending ties up all the major loose ends, in a way that thoroughly scratches the five-year-long itch.
