One Thing's For Sure . . .

 . . . when you get out of the habit of writing on your blog, it is easy to stay out of the habit.

The TV season is winding down and the excitement about some shows is building.  Honestly, I'm as psyched as you can get about Lost, right now.  There are but a few hours left in what has turned out to be one of the most experimental and demanding network shows ever aired.  I've got a number of thoughts and questions (among fans, who doesn't?) and figured I'd scribble three (of the many) down here:

Will the two timelines merge in any specific way?  Is one more "legitimate" than the other?  The "flash-sideways" or "alternate" timeline concept is the trickiest thing the show has done to date.  Some think that the sideways timeline may be a "fake" world, or a "dream" experienced by the various characters.  Either scenario might turn out to be the case, but I hope not.  The alternate, "what if" reality is a familiar and popular SF trope.  (According to the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, it dates back to 1934 and Murray Leinster's short story, "Sideways in Time." Since then it has been used in countless stories and novels, spawning a new subgenre, "Alternate History," now so prevalent in SF that it has its own annual award, the "Sideways Award.") Now that Lost has established an alternate reality, I think this alternate reality has to stay intact.  It cannot dissolve at some future point.  That doesn't mean the characters from one world can't become aware of the other (as, it seems, Desmond, has), it just means that both worlds are now legitimate branches in time and therefore have permanence.  And so, as the events of the "island" timeline draw to a close, how cool would it be if Lost were to re-boot itself into a seventh season, one where we see the lives of the LA characters unspool themselves into new and unpredictable directions?  Lost could become its own spin-off!  (I know it will never happen, but still.)

Will we ever see any of the "kids" again?  I'm holding out hope that the various children of the Lost universe will make a dramatic re-appearance by season's end.  I can picture Penny sailing up to the island with Walt, Aaron, Charlie and Ji Yeon all on board.  Clearly, these kids had something special about them, right?  I still demand to know what the deal was with Walt.  And there was mystery about Aaron, too. C'mon Lost writers, don't leave us hanging!

Will the Jacob/Man-In-Black backstory (airing tonight, 5/11/10) fill in enough blanks?  I want to know about the bodies in the cave!  About Alvar Hanso!  About the big statue and the other ruins on the island!  I want to know why Ben could summon the smoke monster!  I want to know why the monster appeared in so many other forms (Kate's horse, anybody?)  Time is running out, and it sure seems like there is a lot left to explain! Will the show come through?  We'll see . . .