See you in another life, brother: an ode to LOST.

The end is very near, folks.

The end of LOST, that is. And for many people, it's the end of a six-year committment. Six seasons of being glued to the television for one hour a week. Six seasons of laughing and crying with some of the deepest, most relatable, and undoubtedly best television characters ever to be created. Six seasons of screaming at the television, in the words of Charlie Pace, "What the bloody hell is going on here?"

And now it's ending, right before my eyes. Answers are finally coming, and I've realized that I don't want them. I don't want this show to end, because it is literally the best show I've ever seen. One part of its quality is the actors. Each actor is so engrossed in his or her character that it's entirely believable; there are no inconsistencies in their characters that I can see. Another part is the characters themselves. Each is flawed and so completely human, and that makes it easier to identify with them, to be involved in their lives and their relationships, and to watch them grow and develop throughout the course of the show. A third, and probably the most obvious, part of the show is the plot. Most other shows on television, while they have overarching themes and continuing subplots, have episodes with self-contained plots--the main plots end and the subplots continue (the romances, the family life, friendships, careers, etc., etc.). With Lost, it's just the opposite--the subplots generally wrap up by the end of one or two episodes, and the main plot continues for the entire six seasons. It's like an epic, six-year movie. And it's so well-written. Little pieces of the show foreshadow later episodes or harken back to earlier episodes, or just shed some light on the overall meaning of the show. Speaking of which, it's also a deep show--it has significance and a message about good vs. evil, humanity, and morality. Very few shows have that kind of ambition--the closest thing I've seen to something like this is Dollhouse, which got canned after two seasons; they just show the silly, light, mindless things that people want to see after a long day at work. So this show really makes you think. And while it's got heavy good vs. evil battles going on, and symbolism and allegory and all that sort of stuff, it's also got its light points to cut the dark and deep stuff: its romances, its superficiality, its comedy and wit. J.J. Abrams better be coming out with something new and just as amazing; otherwise I'm not going to be able to handle the end of LOST. So let this be a lesson to other t.v. shows: giving your shows some substance is not a bad thing.

All in all, LOST is a GREAT show, and this is a bittersweet night. Two players. Two sides. One is light. One dark. I'm excited to see how it ends. In the words of another viewer,

"I lost six years of my life to you, and I don't want them back."

See you in another life, brother.

--A