Rewatching Lost!

"There is always a choice my brother!"

- Desmond Hume

I still remember the first night in 2004 when I watched the pilot episode of Lost with no expectations. I was immediately hooked.

Max was yet to be born when Lost started and when Lost ended in 2010, Max was already in my life. Those 6 six years had bought a huge transformation inside me. Lost is considered the best show ever in the history of television:

Lost has regularly been ranked by critics as one of the greatest television series of all time.

I don't read too much fiction these days so a good movie or a tv series helps me with good and a much-needed dose of "art" in my life. Lost is one of those greatest doses I ever had.

Now rewatching Lost after 16 years bring so much of memories. Does it still feel like the best tv show ever? Yes, absolutely. This blog even has a "Lost" label.

Soon after I started rewatching, there was a great piece on the health benefits of revisiting your favorite books and tv shows:

Shira Gabriel, PhD, is an associate professor of psychology at the University at Buffalo. A lot of her published work has explored a concept she and her colleagues have termed the “social surrogacy hypothesis.” It’s the idea that spending time with fictional characters can in some ways mimic the benefits of spending time with real-world friends or loved ones.

That is so true. Spending time with Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Syed, Desmond and other characters felt like being with long lost friends.

There is a wonderful book on Lost titled Lost and Philosophy: The Island Has Its Reasons; I love these lines from the book on how ideology can ruin one's life. Locke's character is a prime example:

An ideology is a belief system, but in order for it to be effective, it must be perceived as truth, rather than seen as one of the many possible belief systems. Ideology is like a pair of glasses you don't know you're wearing. You look through those lenses in the world as if that is the only way of seeing the world. Not only do you not know you're wearing glasses, but you also don't even realize that you might see the world differently through a different pair of glasses. Ideology ceases to function when it is seen as an ideology; to function properly, it must be subtly presented as "the truth" and taken for granted. An ideology you're aware of loses its power to construct your worldview. Like a pair of glasses, such ideology can be removed. 

- Karen Gaffney

Sixteen years ago, I felt there was so much of Jack inside me. Even now, I do feel I still have some reminiscence of Jack. Max had helped me overcome so much of the pain but also probably he helped preserve some good side of Jack.

"Jack: What happened, happened and you can let it go.

Locke: What makes you think, letting it go is so easy?

Jack: It's not, in fact, I don't know how to do it myself and that's why I was hoping that maybe you can go first."

This is a show which uses philosophers and scientists as the names of their major characters. A storyline that includes Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, genetics, quantum physics, neuroscience plus so many other well-researched and splendid pieces of writing which spans for 6 seasons. That is what made Lost so unique and special.

Sawyer is the heart of the show with his timely and wise-ass comments which steals hearts even though he acts like an asshole most of the time. I love Desmond Hume since he represents one of my favorite humans ever - David Hume.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about other factors that might have influenced me to bring Max home on 21st, May 2006. Lost was definitely one of those factors.

Very similar to Indian epic Mahabharata, Lost starts and ends with a dog - labrador retriever, no less. Early this month, after 16 years  Damon Lindelof, one of the creators of Lost explained how they came up with the idea of the final scene with Jack and Vicent, the labrador retriever.

Lindelof says they drew specific inspiration for Lost Season 6 from an idea from the Tibetan Book of the Dead

I cannot think of a better final scene than Jack dying next to Vincent, the yellow Labrador who survives. Erie, as it sounds, Max passed away exactly the same way while I was lying next to him... only here I survived and Max didn't.

I will rewatch Lost again in a few years and a few more times before I kick the bucket.