Doctor Omega
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Lost is an American television drama series that originally aired on the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) from September 22, 2004, to May 23, 2010, over six seasons, comprising a total of 121 episodes.
Lost is a drama series containing elements of science fiction and the supernatural.
It follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet, flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island somewhere in the South Pacific Ocean.
The story is told in a heavily serialized manner.
Episodes typically feature a primary storyline set on the island, augmented by flashback or flashforward sequences which provide additional insight into the involved character(s).
Lost was created by Jeffrey Lieber, J. J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, who share story-writing credits for the pilot episode, which Abrams directed.
Throughout the show's run, Lindelof and Carlton Cuse served as showrunners and head writers, working together with a large number of other executive producers and writers.
Due to its large ensemble cast and the cost of filming primarily on location in Oahu, Hawaii, the series was one of the most expensive on television, with the pilot alone costing over $14 million.
The fictional universe and mythology of Lost are expanded upon by a number of related media, most importantly, a series of short mini-episodes called Missing Pieces, and a 12-minute epilogue titled "The New Man in Charge".
Lost has been consistently ranked by critics as one of the greatest television dramas of all time.
During its sixth and final season, the show averaged over 11 million U.S. viewers per episode.
Lost was the recipient of hundreds of industry award nominations throughout its run and won numerous of these awards.
Mythology and interpretations
Episodes of Lost include a number of mysterious elements ascribed to science fiction or supernatural phenomena.
The creators of the series refer to these elements as composing the mythology of the series, and they formed the basis of fan speculation.
The show's mythological elements include a "Smoke Monster" that roams the island, a mysterious group of inhabitants whom the survivors called "The Others", a scientific organization called the Dharma Initiative that placed several research stations on the island, a sequence of numbers that frequently appears in the lives of the characters in the past, present, and future, and personal connections (synchronicity) between the characters of which they are often unaware.
At the heart of the series is a complex and cryptic storyline, which spawned numerous questions and discussions among viewers.
Encouraged by Lost's writers and stars, who often interacted with fans online, viewers and TV critics alike took to widespread theorising in an attempt to unravel the mysteries.
Theories mainly concerned the nature of the island, the origins of the "Monster" and the "Others", the meaning of the numbers, and the reasons for both the crash and the survival of some passengers.
Several of the more common fan theories were discussed and rejected by the show's creators, the most common being that the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 are dead and in purgatory.
Lindelof rejected speculation that spaceships or aliens influenced the events on the island or that everything seen was a fictional reality taking place in someone's mind.
Carlton Cuse dismissed the theory that the island was a reality TV show and the castaways unwitting housemates, and Lindelof many times refuted the theory that the "Monster" was a nanobot cloud similar to the one featured in Michael Crichton's novel Prey (which happened to share the protagonist's name, Jack).
Series finale
The series finale opened to highly polarized critical and fan reception.
According to the web site Metacritic, "The End" received "generally favorable reviews" with a Metascore—a weighted average based on the impressions of 31 critical reviews—of 74 out of 100.
IGN reviewer Chris Carbot gave the finale a 10/10, tying it with the initial review of "Pilot, Part 1", "Through the Looking Glass", "The Constant", and "There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3" as the best-reviewed episode of Lost.
He described it as "one of the most enthralling, entertaining and satisfying conclusions I could have hoped for." Carbot also noted that the discussions about the episode may never end, saying "Lost may be gone, but it will hardly be forgotten."
Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times also gave the finale a perfect score, stating "Sunday's show was an emotional, funny, expertly measured reminder of what Lost has really centered on since its first moments on the prime time TV landscape: faith, hope, romance and the power of redemption through belief in the best of what moves mankind."
Robert Bianco of USA Today rated the episode perfect as well, deeming the finale "can stand with the best any series has produced."
Hal Boedeker of Orlando Sentinel cited the finale being "a stunner."
British newspapers The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph both reported that "The End" had received negative reviews and disappointed its viewers.
Alan Sepinwall of Star-Ledger was less enthusiastic of the finale, stating "I'm still wrestling with my feelings about 'The End'... I thought most of it worked like gangbusters. ... But as someone who did spend at least part of the last six years dwelling on the questions that were unanswered—be they little things like the outrigger shootout or why The Others left Dharma in charge of the Swan station after the purge, or bigger ones like Walt—I can't say I found 'The End' wholly satisfying, either as closure for this season or the series. ... There are narrative dead ends in every season of 'Lost,' but it felt like season six had more than usual."
Mike Hale of The New York Times gave "The End" a mixed review, as the episode showed that the series was "shaky on the big picture—on organizing the welter of mythic-religious-philosophical material it insisted on incorporating into its plot—but highly skilled at the small one, the moment to moment business of telling an exciting story. Rendered insignificant ... were the particulars of what they had done on the island."
David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun gave the episode a highly negative review, writing "If this is supposed to be such a smart and wise show, unlike anything else on network TV (blah, blah, blah), why such a wimpy, phony, quasi-religious, white-light, huggy-bear ending. ... Once Jack stepped into the church it looked like he was walking into a Hollywood wrap party without food or music—just a bunch of actors grinning idiotically for 10 minutes and hugging one another."
According to the web site Metacritic, "The End" received "generally favorable reviews" with a Metascore—a weighted average based on the impressions of 31 critical reviews—of 74 out of 100.
IGN reviewer Chris Carbot gave the finale a 10/10, tying it with the initial review of "Pilot, Part 1", "Through the Looking Glass", "The Constant", and "There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3" as the best-reviewed episode of Lost.
He described it as "one of the most enthralling, entertaining and satisfying conclusions I could have hoped for." Carbot also noted that the discussions about the episode may never end, saying "Lost may be gone, but it will hardly be forgotten."
Eric Deggans of the St. Petersburg Times also gave the finale a perfect score, stating "Sunday's show was an emotional, funny, expertly measured reminder of what Lost has really centered on since its first moments on the prime time TV landscape: faith, hope, romance and the power of redemption through belief in the best of what moves mankind."
Robert Bianco of USA Today rated the episode perfect as well, deeming the finale "can stand with the best any series has produced."
Hal Boedeker of Orlando Sentinel cited the finale being "a stunner."
British newspapers The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph both reported that "The End" had received negative reviews and disappointed its viewers.
Alan Sepinwall of Star-Ledger was less enthusiastic of the finale, stating "I'm still wrestling with my feelings about 'The End'... I thought most of it worked like gangbusters. ... But as someone who did spend at least part of the last six years dwelling on the questions that were unanswered—be they little things like the outrigger shootout or why The Others left Dharma in charge of the Swan station after the purge, or bigger ones like Walt—I can't say I found 'The End' wholly satisfying, either as closure for this season or the series. ... There are narrative dead ends in every season of 'Lost,' but it felt like season six had more than usual."
Mike Hale of The New York Times gave "The End" a mixed review, as the episode showed that the series was "shaky on the big picture—on organizing the welter of mythic-religious-philosophical material it insisted on incorporating into its plot—but highly skilled at the small one, the moment to moment business of telling an exciting story. Rendered insignificant ... were the particulars of what they had done on the island."
David Zurawik of the Baltimore Sun gave the episode a highly negative review, writing "If this is supposed to be such a smart and wise show, unlike anything else on network TV (blah, blah, blah), why such a wimpy, phony, quasi-religious, white-light, huggy-bear ending. ... Once Jack stepped into the church it looked like he was walking into a Hollywood wrap party without food or music—just a bunch of actors grinning idiotically for 10 minutes and hugging one another."
