Lost: Back to the Island: The Complete Critical Companion to the Classic TV Series by Emily St. James & Noel Murray. Published September 17th 2024 by Harry N. Abrams. 352 pages.
The first episode of the groundbreaking television series “Lost” aired on Sept. 22, 2004. Six seasons and two decades later, people are still talking about and TV has never been the same. LOST was not a perfect show but it was a phenomenon. When I say that it was not perfect, I write that as a huge fan of the show. I mean, I DO think it is pretty damn close to perfection. I can say many complaints about the Lost finale don’t line up with mine. Again, I’m a fan though and through – to the point that back in the day I printed out Radinsky’s map, discussed it online, contributed to the wiki, etc. I listened to the podcasts, played the online games, Via Domus, ets. I know those of us who loved the show and love it still can sometimes be defensive. Every fandom has its toxic elements. Nobody has to like Lost. If you found it disappointing, that’s valid. You have had 20 years to lodge your complaints. We’ve heard them. We’ve read them. Some are reasonable. Some are not. Either way, we get it and regardless of anyone’s opinion about it the show was a success, that much cannot be denied.
My favorite read of 2024, Lost: Back to the Island: The Complete Critical Companion to the Classic TV Series by Emily St. James & Noel Murray is an essential read for Losties and those who thought ‘they were dead the whole time’.
This book does an excellent job of chronicling the show – plot, characters and themes. Each season gets an opening and closing dissertation. Each episode gets its own chapter. Think of it as not so much a description list, as the authors do a great job to guide you through it all, but a primer into a fun way to experience Lost for the first time or when you ‘flashback’ and decide that a re-watch is in order.
Look, If you were on-board the Lost train at the time, then you’ve very likely never quite had the same relationship with any other TV show (Severance is the closest I’ve come since, in terms of rabbit-holing down fan theories etc.), and so much about Lost was a time-and-place thing that there’ll never really be anything quite like it again. Definitely a one-of-a-kind TV experience, not to mention the crucial role it plays in the evolution of television. Lost really brought a level of ambition of the medium that was completely unseen before. The “we need a show like Lost” period of American TV was clearly a unique time and it’s still going even during the prestige and streaming eras of the medium. However, the trick with the “next big thing”, is that it doesn’t often look like the last big thing, no matter how much executives force it. It was great for the industry to put bigger budgets into television, to utilize more colorful ensemble casts, to have a zeitgeist-y genre show, something geek-y, but could break through into the mainstream. And … while not all of the answers satisfied every fan – they were answered. While “magic god island” doesn’t fulfill that promise to everyone’s satisfaction, plenty of us WERE satisfied. Satisfied to the point of coming back to it again and again and again. We have to go back.