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The hour-long drama that romanced the world five seasons ago, has beaten me down, lifted me up, tricked me and confused me so many times that I have now entered into a complete and pitiful numbness.

Because of my background in marketing and writing, I watch television with a keen awareness of story lines, plot twists, suspense builders and commercial placement. (Yeah I know it's totally lame, but I can't help it, okay!)  Watching Lost is like watching all of those story elements strung out on heroine.  The exploitation and manipulation of emotions that ABC puts into this show is the most obvious display of cheap that I have ever witnessed.  The reason this show has such amazing ratings is because the writers and producers have learned how to manipulate and exploit the human psyche.  The system worked successfully for a while, but eventually weakened when the writers started running out of ideas.

Don't get me wrong, I still get caught up in the drama of it all but as the show has progressed, I find myself laughing inappropriately at their attempts at good story telling much more so than sitting on the edge of my seat anxiously awaiting a resolution. 

Which leads me to my biggest frustration...THERE IS NEVER A RESOLUTION TO ANYTHING ON LOST.  The plotlines that have hooked me the most have never panned out to offer any clarity.  Instead, the writers very cleverly lead the audience into an even thicker, more complex storyline that is impossible to tear yourself away from.  You can't stop watching and you don't even know what you're watching, or why, or how you got hooked in the first place.   THERE ARE NEVER ANY CONCLUSIONS...ONLY A NEVER-ENDING QUEST FOR SOMETHING TO MAKE LOGICAL SENSE. 

Once the ball is rolling...right when they've got you exactly where they want you--when you can't bear to look away for even a second---COMMERCIAL BREAK!  Throughout the episode all of those little cliff hangers build and build and build and build and build and then END OF THE SHOW, TUNE IN NEXT WEEK FOR MORE HEART POUNDING, UNSATISFYING MADNESS!

The reason this show has such amazing ratings is because the writers and producers have learned how to manipulate and exploit the human psyche.  The system worked successfully for a while, but eventually weakened when the writers started running out of ideas. 

Judging from last night's premiere, the season is going to be a mockable disaster. I imagine the conversation in the writers' room was something like, "What's the craziest thing that could possibly happen at this moment in the show?" And everyone just started yelling out answers.  "Uh...polar bear!" "Uh...the island disappears!" "Uh...it's suddenly 1977!"  I think the writers had no idea how they would actually morph these ideas into working plotlines.  I think they were just grabbing at anything to keep the ratings up...to keep the system of cliffhangers functioning, which resulted in no real conclusion to ANYTHING.

Now it's the last season and there are loose ends galore. The die-hard fans that have kept track of every tiny detail are expecting resolution. I predict that the confusion and audience manipulation is only going to get worse.  They've got to please the audience and keep them enthralled without disappointing the loyal fans. 

Judging from last night's premiere, the season is going to be a mockable disaster. (SPOILER ALERT.)  So far we've got dual realities, the black-plume-of-smoke monster has taken human form and is impersonating John Locke while the real, beloved (yet crazy) John Locke is "officially" dead, the love triangle between Kate, Sawyer and Jack is gearing up for a comeback, Sayeed died and came back to life, Hurley is talking to dead Jacob (who the hell is Jacob anyway?)...oh my God it hurts to even think about all the maddening plots!

I hope I'm wrong!  I so hope I'm wrong.  I hope all the Lost fans out there, including myself, are not gravely disappointed by the end of all this.  I want the show to be redeemed and for it to all coalesce into a beautiful work of sheer brilliance!  I want to love it and to be wowed and amazed!

I just don't think it can happen.

Regardless...I'll watch every episode because I can't NOT watch.  They hooked me. 

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