Episode 106

LOST has totally redeemed itself.

It was the creepiest, most mysterious, most compelling show on television for about a season and a half...maybe two seasons. Then suddenly, we started realizing that there were so many loose ends -- the monster, Rousseau's friends' "sickness", the non-aging creepy Other, the whispering, and the list goes on -- that were never, ever going to be tied up. We were restless. We wanted answers. And some of us just stopped watching.

This happens all the time. How many people do you know who used to watch LOST, but once all the loose ends started piling up, got bored and lost hope? Or how about when you gave up on 24 because you realized it was just the same 42 minutes every week? And how quickly did you get sick of the Joey-Dawson-Jen love triangle on the first two seasons of Dawson's Creek? I have heard the same complaints about nearly every show -- Grey's Anatomy, The Wire, and even Gossip Girl, in only its second season.

But some of us keep watching these shows. Why? Because we have faith in them. They are a part of us. And it is moments like this week's episode of LOST that make us realize it was worth the wait. Our answers are coming.

It may just be the addictive nature of television (which is why I forced myself not to watch the first episode of Hell's Kitchen this season). But I think at least some part of why we keep watching, even through the tough times, is the emotion we have wrapped up in these shows. For better or for worse, right?

As a postscript, is LOST actually spelled with all caps? I have had this discussion with several of my super-cool, non-dorky friends, and I'm not sure we've quite figured it out.