Last year, when hit TV show Lost ended its second season with a suitable cliff-hanger (the capturing of its three main characters by a mysterious group known as the Others), I felt that the new season couldn’t come quicker. I was hooked on a series that combined action, drama, and the kind of mystery found in cult series such as Twin Peaks and The Prisoner.

With Season 3 of the show finishing last week, my feelings are considerably different. If I have any feelings left towards the show at all, that is. For it was recently announced that Lost is set for another three series, meaning that it will finish in 2010. This is rather frustrating for those of us who were led to believe by the show’s producers (including JJ Abrams) that the show would run for 4 series at the most. It’s like telling a marathon runner he’s almost finished, before announcing that he’s actually only half-way through.

Since it’s opening episodes critics have been labelling Lost as utterly silly. While it’s a show that thrives on coincidences and a rather over-complicated back-story, it deserved respect for forming strong characters, and not being afraid to kill off central characters all for the sake of some entertaining shock value. Yet I find myself swaying towards the beliefs of those original nay-sayers. After three years of smoke monsters, psychic children, and a fish-eyed man who seems to know everything, it seems as if we really are getting lost in this show’s mythology.

A while back I expressed my frustrations regarding how series Three was progressing, in terms of answers as well as basic enjoyment. The remainder of the series did attempt to up the ante in terms of revelations (the ship off the island, the history of Dharma), but with the end being far from near, we can only expect more cloak-and-daggery. One fine example of this is Jacob. Referenced throughout the series, Jacob was said to be the head honcho of the island, the Number One who gave Ben the orders. With Locke rising in the ranks, Ben brought him to see Jacob in his tiny wooden shack. Ben began talking to a chair, making us assume that the man has gone mad, only to see a poltergeist-like shaking of the cabin and a split-second appearance of an old man, asking Locke for help. Once again as we near an answer, it’s grabbed away from us and slammed in front of our path is a giant diversion. I can only think of the pilots of Catch-22 whose mission quota keeps rising whenever they near completion of duty. Who is Jacob, is he real or a trick of Ben? Is he a soul of the island asking Locke to maintain the status quo? And do we really care?

The only true shock the series had to offer was in the final episode. Not only did poor Charlie visit Davy Jones’ Locker, but Jack’s flashback was revealed to be a flash-forward. Seemingly, this will be a regular occurrence in the new series, suggesting that some made it off the island. However, with this series already exploring issues such as time travel and premonitions, I’m sure the writers have cooked up some crazy twist set to uproot our perceptions once more.

At this stage, I wouldn’t be surprised if rating for next season of Lost made a dramatic drop. Not only is last year’s Lost Experience (an online community game structured around the Dharma Initiative and those numbers) not making a comeback, but the producers of the show have decided not to speak to the press about upcoming episodes, after Charlie’s demise was leaked a few weeks ago. With nothing to keep our thoughts close to Jack, Sawyer, Kate, and Co, and with the show starting to resemble the baby steps that The X-Files took (did anyone bother to watch it beyond Season 4?), does Lost really matter anymore? I have started to watch its successor Heroes, and while that show could easily swing into episodic banality, it’s already making a space in my heart, and clearing out the dust that Lost’s persistently unresolved issues has left for us to ruminate over. Or not.

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