You're probably right, Gregg. I think it only ever got popular because they held off as long as they possibly could on fully delving into the "sci-fi" of the show. They probably could have cut out a lot of filler with stronger writing and ended the show in five seasons instead of six.

Jen, season 3 picks up around the thirteenth or fourteenth episode, the one where Billy Dee Williams guest stars, and it's quite engaging from that point on. The first six episodes are undoubtedly the most hated of Lost's entire run. I always attributed this to the fact that there was very little plot development combined with the hiatus from mid-November to February that it went on after episode six. Though more recently the show-runners have acknowledged this lull and admitted that they were over budget for the show, hence "the cage episodes."

In general, it's much better to watch at your own pace on DVD-- then again, what show isn't.

Well, the series finale of Lost aired tonight. Throughout the last 6 years it had its share of ups and downs and like most shows will probably be remembered with mixed reviews and opinions.

Despite many lows, unanswered questions/mysteries and missed opportunities I will not sit in the camp that begrudges it. It is the only television show I have followed from beginning to end during its original run; week-to-week, year-to-year. For that alone it naturally holds a place in my heart.

The finale for me was pure catharsis. It didn't set out to deliver ham-fisted answers to every outstanding question, nor please anyone who decided to tune in for the first time in years. What it did do was handle with care the characters that made up the show; in the end it was their journeys and experiences that were reflected upon. Decidedly a two-and-a-half hour metaphor for the collective journeys that the fans themselves had taken with these characters.

Tonight's episode, aptly titled "The End," washes away much of the old skepticisms I've held, replaced with acceptance, relief and ultimately a mixture of sadness and happiness. I actually choked up and cried twice; the first time I've done so while watching television since the finale of Battlestar Galactica last March.

In the end one can never be fully satisfied by the revelations and resolutions of a long-running story; but with Lost, as with so many others, that's part of the lesson. Life won't feed you answers and it won't go out of its way to accommodate you: it's just there; we're impossibly lucky to inhabit it, and we've gotta make our own kind of music.

I'd love to talk more about it and explain my own ideas of what it meant, but I'll refrain from that in case anyone reading decides to pick it up one day.

Thanks for reading!