The time has come. I'm reviewing epic television sensation: LOST.

It started off as something everyone would be curious about. A trans-Pacific flight crashes on an unknown island full of mysteries. The survivors are met by other passengers from the plane, the islands current inhabitants and something much worse. It was the most original idea since Gilligan's Island and yet, we all wanted to know what made it so unique.

Re-watching the pilot for at least the tenth time, I see why it was compelling, but not why ABC wanted it. ABC is owned by the Walt Disney Company and as such, cannot have anything too racy, violent or or otherwise questionable. "Questionable" seems to be the one word that I would use to describe Lost, but not for those reasons.

For one thing, there are too many characters. Of course, there have to be passengers from the plane and too small a cast makes it seem like Gilligan's Island, but the amount of survivors who have this interconnected history seems too convoluted to be something that wasn't entirely made up. There is no divine way these people all crossed paths throughout their lives and converged at this one spot. It's just preposterous.

There are two reasons why anyone ends up on the island: either they're searching for something or running away from it. Love, shame, bad luck, it all circles into the island like a drain. Hurley is running from his luck, Charlie is running from his habit, John is looking for his meaning in life and Jack is looking to make his father proud. With the characters on this island, you can either love them or love to hate them. As a doctor, Jack wants to get everyone to safety at any cost, while John believes that certain survivors must stay there forever. Women watch for Sawyer, men watch for Kate. Certain people have to be respectable, while others have to get naked (remember, it's for art). There have been been tragic deaths and there have been hilarious deaths ("You got a little Artdz on you"). There's deception between couples and trust between enemies. Since when did a con-man take care of single mother and a boy burn down his dad's raft? I thought about starting on Walt, but *sigh*.

One of the greatest things Lost has going for it is the soundtrack. Melancholy piano tracks help convey emotions when the dialogue doesn't cut it (which is often), but especially for Jin and Sun. One of my favorite soundtrack moments is the repetition of "deserted" themed music at the end of a few early episodes. After we establish that this is non-diegetic (only we hear it towards the end of each episode), Hurley's CD player dies on him, taking the music ( "Delicate" by Damien Rice) with it. Other than that, the soundtrack is mostly strings or some sort of chordophone, emphasizing the mystery of it all. It's not a cinematic score, but there's nothing out of place.

There are some characters that need some major change. Sawyer has always been a selfish pig who is always trying to screw everyone for his benefit. This recently changed when he jumped out of a helicopter that was too heavy, but he easily swam back to shore. He needs to be vulnerable for once and need help. Like I said, there are tragic deaths, and they have been nice people that we like (and miss). But then they come back. Death means nothing on the island. It's worse than comic books (Bucky, Jason Todd, Colossus).

Lost has taken too long to develop. In 4 years, we have killed characters, introduced characters, introduced factions, introduced history, introduced mystery, introduced villains and heroes, asked questions and answered NONE of them. Here's the big question: What's keeping them on the island? Fate? Others? Monsters? My first assumption was that they were dead and/or in purgatory. That would explain how people come and go, die and resurrect, without being too weird. Problem is, they write it in a way so that once there's enough evidence to suggest one theory, they prove it wrong. They're limiting what it can or can't be. By the time they explain it, it's going to be something that is very much not "ABC material". I think they're betraying their audience by drawing things out over so long. The fourth season premiered in early 2008 and was prematurely ended due to the strike. The fifth season will premiere in late January 2009, making fans wait longer than for any other show currently airing (except maybe 24).

I had a bet with a friend over the ratings for season 4. I bet that the ratings would continuously drop until the finale. And they did. Although, some sources were saying that ratings were going up. I looked into those ratings and saw that the audience was shrinking. If the audience was shrinking, obviously only those who liked the show were still watching. Out of that diminished audience, of course the ratings will go up, but that doesn't help when less people are watching. Lost has been contracted by ABC to have 6 seasons total. I, for one, am no longer going to watch the broadcasts…maybe I’ll see how it ends after it’s all said and done.