High Definition: Getting Lost Again

It’s been 265 days since the last new episode of Lost, but I’m pretty sure that number bears no significance to any particular flight, lottery ticket or nuclear equation in Daniel Faraday’s notebook. Just to be sure, I Googled “Lost 265” and just got the daily loss of Freddie Mac (in millions) during the last quarter of 2008. Of course, if you Google “Lost Groundhog Day,” you get 682,000 results, many of which suspect planning behind the coincidence of a show that thrives on synchronism and time loops airing it’s final season Feb. 2, just as we look to see if that atomic bomb casts a shadow.

Movies have ended with that same literal bang, but only Lost would use a nuclear detonation killing off most of the show’s main characters as a cliff-hanger. The survivors believe the bomb to be some sort of reset button, but I’ve mostly avoided all the many predictions of their fate that can be found online. After years of network shows that refused to trust their audiences with the slightest complexity or serial plot twists, I’ve relished getting led into the J.J. Abrams’ labyrinth these last five years. It’s refreshing to be a little lost.

Something this carefully crafted and intricately interwoven feels like an act of generosity from its creators. The finale, like that of every television show, is sure to disappoint, but that’s because answers are rarely as satisfying as questions—especially when those questions have toyed with us for half a decade. Still, the journey will have been worth it, even if we find out we’ve just been trapped inside one of Hurley’s psych-ward dreams. Even without all the loose ends neatly tied up, the final tapestry is sure to look interesting.

I have a friend who’s just a couple of seasons in, and when the subject of the show came up, he said, “I don’t want to hear any spoilers.” I thought about it and realized that I couldn’t answer the majority of his questions if I tried. I have more now than I did two seasons in.

The new teaser trailer [below] shows John Locke—or fake Locke—promising answers. But that’s little comfort, knowing that he may be the author of lies. We’ve got 18 hours of Lost left, and we could fill an 18-hour Q&A with Abrams and still be scratching our heads. If this is the season of answers, they’ll need to be flying in fast and furious. But I can’t imagine that they’ll be nearly as satisfying as all the new questions the show’s creators still have in store.

The premiere of Lost Season 6 begins tonight at 9/8c (with a recap hour at 8/7c) on ABC.