Throughout, LOST has followed a circuitous and eccentric presentation to its plot which seemed desultory to some but for many LOSTAWAYS like me it made visceral interpretations of unprecedented events really exciting. Although, eventually many skeptical questions were explicated later on with a somewhat coherent explanation but at the incipient stages, it was pretty nebulous and any progress towards understanding of the unnatural occurrences generated a lot of curiosity for the subsequent episodes.
The sundry, intriguing characters embellished the show, adding the prerequisite intensity and credence to its unique storyline. Looking back, at the first season, the beleaguered characters, survivors of the Oceanic flight 815, seem so innocuous, oblivious to what the island is going to unleash.
The first three seasons floridly established the heterogeneous characters along with obscure, dreadful events, like the intermittent appearances of the proverbial ‘The Black Smoke’
creating enough alacrity for the next two which dealt more with cogent arguments related to the reasons for their crashing on this particular island confounding interesting concepts of fate, vis-à-vis, since all the characters were leading pretty dreary lives in the city in distressing circumstances, they were destined to crash on the island
The island is shown to have astounding powers of healing, with the ever sanguine John Locke, my favorite character of the lot, coming out of his physical deformities and even coming back to life once again after being strangled to death, becoming a ‘Man of Fate’.
In fact each of the characters goes through a maelstrom of emotions ensuing in an overhaul in their outlooks and volition. We see Jack, a doctor, martinet in his ethics, becoming the intrepid leader of the survivors haranguing Locke’s ideals but regretting his decisions later on.
The insouciant Sawyer, a former con artist and a craven when it came to responsibilities, reinvents himself acquiring a solicitous approach.
Hugo, a little imbecile yet affable character, who along with Charlie, a former rock band member obviating his drug addiction, provide a much needed reprieve from the usual tumultuous ambiance. Syed is truly utilitarian in terms of establishing communication and during callous interrogations. The genuflecting and doughy Kate, being transported as a convict, represents the quintessential case of a ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’.
The capricious character of Desmond also gets entangled with vicissitudes of life on this island. It became a virtual cul-de-sac for him and made him experience inordinate amounts of paranoia at sporadic intervals, sometimes questioning his presence on the island.
During his stay on the island he is obsessed with pressing a combination of numbers on the computer to avoid the end of the world. Shockingly it is the same combination which won Hugo the lottery, and which coincidentally was also written on the plane‘s wing also making Hugo believe that he was responsible for getting everyone in this mess as the numbers held a malediction particularly on him.
The introduction of the ‘The Others’, a cloistered group, hostile to the survivors, lead by the adroit Benjamin Linus, gives proclivities to provenance of the Dharma initiative, a clique working towards formative advancements in the medical field and assessing the exorbitant energy of the island.
Ben’s chicanery prevails over the survivors, and he prevents the quiescence of the series. Ben exploits the ambivalence of John and is castigated for his impunity with respect to the dogmatic rules of the island. His immaculate performance even won him an Emmy award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.
The denouements of a series of complex sequence of events, with Michael in cahoots with the others
to save his child, Desmond crashing the Oceanic flight 815 on failing to press the combination on the same day the plane crashed, Ben exterminating the Dharma initiative, rescue team for the survivors with ulterior motives, the true nature of Charles Whitmore’s character, the transient yet potent presence of Elloise Hawking’s prescient character, a few survivors leaving the island and fabricating their stay on the only to return back
for the remaining who experienced pernicious events of time travel after Ben turned a wheel disrupting the balance of the island and the appearance of the mysterious Jacob, literally ups the ante and brings us one step closer to the ineluctable end of this extolling television series.
