....And no, I'm not under the influence of alcohol. My journey into the world of Lost is a most unusual one, much like my journey into Star Wars itself. (See I Have Found Peace In The Force for the story behind that.) Anyway, the time was Fall of 2004, quite a hectic time for me wherein my life was going through many changes (none bad, to be sure, but a test of my will nonetheless) and the new season of shows was starting.

I stuck with my usual favorites such as The Apprentice, Survivor, and the O.C. (aren't we all guilty of watching at least one teen drama despite not being teens ourselves). Really the only new show I got into was the gloriously decadent Desperate Housewives, which I'm not ashamed to say I watch. But my busy schedule let Lost slip through the cracks. Though I enjoy good adventures, the idea of people crashing on an island didn't seem too original, and from what others told me about the show in the subsequent weeks (polar bears in the jungle?), I was turned off.

Yet all too quickly the show turned into a phenomenon! I saw its surging popularity, and I dealt with daily chidings from family, friends, and associates (You don't watch Lost? Are you mentally ill?). Needless to say, I grew intrigued, almost desperate to watch the show. But I knew it was far too late, as how could I get into it having missed so much? A show with so much going on, so many characters, so many subtle events interconnected to something big? I couldn't, and so I didn't watch it.

But fortune smiled upon me in May of 2005. ABC was rerunning the series every week from the beginning. At the urging of my mom, I decided to give it a shot. Despite the simplicity of the pilot, I was sucked in from the first scene thanks to Matthew Fox's brilliant turn as Dr. Jack Shepard. I was now forever lost as a fan of Lost.

As summer went on, I enjoyed the series unique, very much character driven story arcs, and I loved the use of the flashbacks which every week focused on the past life of one of the main characters. You really get to know all of them, identify with them, care about them. And that's one of the gems of the show: the amount of character development in only one season is more than other "dramas" have in their entire run. I care about these people, which makes me care even more about their adventures.

All proceeded smoothly until I reached Episode 11. I was slightly confused about some things, but thought maybe my memory had failed. Then I saw that the reason I was confused is that I didn't see Episode 10! They skipped rerunning it! So I hopped online and read a transcript of the Episode. But then ABC did it again! They skipped Episode 12, 13, and 15! I was LOST!!!! And so I gave up after watching Episode 16 in late August. Why? Because I was resolute on buying the Season 1 DVD set on Sept 6, early enough to catch up for Season 2's premiere on Sept 21.

Over a period of one week, I started the Pilot and went through to the stirring double-length finale (about 90 min on the DVD, it was aired as 2 hrs on TV, but with commercials.) And really, I almost have to thank ABC for screwing me into buying this set. Seeing about four episodes per night, in glorious DVD quality and 5.1 surrounde, the experience was not like a TV show, but like a long series of movie serials. Without commercials, without being strung along week by week, without enduring no new episodes during holiday periods, I enjoyed the series in undiluted glory from Sept 7 to the 14, just two days ago.

The turning point for me was episode 17, "In Translation", where the flashbacks focus on Korean-speaking Jin. Seeing his story, seeing how he loved his wife so much, the horrible things he did for her father so he could be with her, you see he is a good man scarred by the dark world around him. Seeing how he wasn't responsible for starting a fire that burned Michael's raft, but actually tried to put it out to help the man he least got along with, you see his goodness. In both the flashback where Jin visits his own father, and the scene at the end with Sun, I was moved to tears, something that my heartless self has not done in close to a year.

I could not believe how far this show had taken me. Sure people cry at movies, but a TV show? And an unemotional person like me? It was no coincidence at all. As the finale drew closer, I was further moved by the heartfelt goodbyes and the launching of the raft, and the scene where Sawyer tells Jack that he came across his father, and told him everything his father was too scared to tell Jack, about how he was proud and all, that was a seminal moment, as we see the good man Sawyer tries to be, and we see the effect that Jack takes, finally being able to come to terms about his father.

But most poignant was the scene where Jin breaks down crying, and reconciles with his wife Sun, and tells her how he wants to save her and how he is sorry for the way he was.

The power of this show to take seemingly two-dimensional characters and build them up to so much is what makes it so great. Lost was a journey for me, and so many things are great, only a few of which I could have time to speak of. The triumph over adversity of Locke, Michael and Walt's relationship, the demons that Jack, Kate, and Sawyer deal with, Charlie's fight to stay clean, and so much more make this show unbelievably good.

Despite owning over 200 films on DVD, I never felt compelled to buy any TV show sets, even shows I liked. But I look forward to owning each and every Season of Lost. A show has never touched my life like this before, and I doubt another will.

Season 2 premieres Wed, Sept. 21 at 9/8 Central. Check it out. And it's not too late to grab Season 1 and kill a weekend watching it. It's more than worth it.


Helpful links:

http://www.lost-tv.com/ - A great fansite with daily news, loads of stuff.

http://www.lost-media.com - Huge amounts of promotional photos, wallpapers, avatars, icons, thousands of episode screencaps.

http://www.lost-forum.com - Free forum with many members and tens of thousands of posts, just fun discussion of the series, no egos, flaming, or board politics.

http://forums.starwars.com/thread.jspa?threadID=193376&start=0 - SW Cantina LOST on ABC discussion