The End is Near

After 6 years of running through the jungle the journey is almost over on Lost. The season premiere of the final season airs next tuesday. After geeking out one lazy afternoon I realized I spent hours reading interviews and watching youtube videos trying to get some tidbits on what's in store for the final season and how the story might get wrapped up.
Two articles, one on NPR and some other one interviewing the creators and writers of the show made me give up my frantic search for answers. The arguments in these articles is that there's all this expectation for evey question to be answered and this show has struck such a passionate cord with so many people that there is no way everyone will be satisfied. Those wrapped up in the mythology will want to know every last possible detail of the origins of the Island and the connections of the castaways while those who watch for the soap opera part of it will only care how the Jack-Kate-Sawyer-Juliet love stories end. So in a sense whatever happens the show is "doomed" to drown in it's own ambitious creativity. There will be loose ends that will not be tied and questions left unanswered. It will not be all wrapped up in one neat little, all encompassing bow. But after 6 years is that the ultimate goal?
Whatever the case may be Lost has been a master of story telling, weaving a mysterious web often times so thick and intricate with possibilities that it's hard not to get confused. Like a book, some chapters were gambles that worked (Sawyer-Juliet romance, time travel) and others not so much (Nikki and Paolo could not be killed off any sooner). But like any good story it's more about the process and the journey than the final chapter or last sentence.
What creates investment and attachment to a story is rich and complex characters, where there is no clear and true hero or villain, because in life we are both.
Intelligently written shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Six Feet Under aren't remembered for their last episode or how tidily they concluded. They are remembered for moments and characters and great story arcs that created emotion.
So while I await as anxiously as everyone else I have decided to sit back and enjoy my last adventures on the Island one episode at a time and yes, hoping some questions will be answered but ultimately savoring the ride because like this one there has been and there probably will be no other.
Also, these lovely pics are by photographer Peggy Sirota.