Lost Q&A (SPOILER ALERT)

This post will contain spoilers up to the Lost season 5 finale

The fact that I'm a Lost fan seems to come as a surprise to a lot of people. I've never had much of an interest in science fiction-y stuff, and I tend to be slightly allergic to popular culture. Last summer, my brother decided he would introduce me to his Favourite TV Show Ever, and I found myself enthralled. I needed something new to get my teeth into, and this crazy, epic, sprawling show certainly delivered. Being the kind of person I am, it has to be the characters who intrigue me most (I was glad to hear that Damon and Carlton feel the same way- it's as much about the monster inside the character than it is about the monster in the jungle), but the mythology is truly fascinating as well, though sometimes I feel one needs PhDs in philosophy, literature, history, classics, physics and anthropology to keep up. Since fairly early on, my favourite character has been Sayid Jarrah. He's the most incredible, multi-layered character who's done some appalling things, but I firmly believe that he's a Good Person at heart (whoever would have believed in a sensitive, romantic torturer?) Plus, he's the most attractive, mesmerizing man I've ever seen, who just radiates intelligence and sensuality.

Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse and Jack Bender clearly know they're onto something good (how could they not?), but nevertheless all seem like really funny, approachable, charming gentlemen, who genuinely enjoy meeting the fans and don't take themselves too seriously (lots of snark about bad wigs and unsuccessful new characters). These events aren't just a duty for them. To get everyone into the spirit, panel moderator Andrew Collins (film editor on the Radio Times) asked us to all sing the theme tune, as is apparently the norm at TV conventions. The thing is, Lost's doesn't have any lyrics or much of a tune either. mmmMMMMmmm!

The show looks incredible on the big screen, I wish we could always watch it like that. There wasn't a dry eye in the house during Charlie's death (it was Dominic Monaghan's idea to cross himself as he floated away- they talked about Charlie an awful lot...), Desmond and Penny's phone call (it was nice of them to commend Henry Ian's performance, and all great British actors!) and Juliet detonating the bomb. I loved hearing about the creative process- no one was expecting the show to catch on and therefore didn't want anything to do with it, so they had lots of freedom to make about a dozen episodes as well as they could, and hoped it would get bit of a cult following. When it had a huge reception, Damon came into Carlton's office in tears and their immediate reaction was, "Fucking hell, how are we going to keep this up?" It was during season 3 that they got a bit stuck as they didn't know how long the show was going to last, and the bear cages that Kate and Sawyer were imprisoned in became a metaphor for how they felt ("Only we didn't have sex with each other." "No, we just ate a lot of fish biscuits." "That must be a euphemism for something..."). Knowing what they had to aim for changed everything. A good way to keep people interested is to have characters you can't make up your mind about. That's true about practically all the characters to an extent, but I'd have to single out Juliet. I had no idea what to make of her for a while and now I adore her. There was a raise of hands for those who think Ben can still be redeemed. Mine was partially raised.

I really think that Lost is under represented in this country. It sounds like a strange thing to say, but I doubt the first or last episode of season 6 will get a Radio Times cover, while Doctor Who (a programme for children) gets one practically every week (plus, Naveen Andrews, Josh Holloway and Henry Ian Cusick could eat David Tennant for breakfast, in my very humble opinion). Part of the problem is that it isn't on any of the public channels (we don't get Sky, so we have to resort to other methods to watch it). It's such a shame. There's still the preconception that it's just the show on the desert island with the polar bears that the writers are making up as they go along. It simply isn't true. It's incredibly complex and well-thought out, that deals with all sorts of issues and questions whilst being entertainment. That isn't easy to pull off.

An interesting anecdote is that Sawyer's bookish nature wasn't exactly planned. They needed things for people to do while not on exciting missions (being held hostage by the mad French woman in the attic, building a raft, etc), and it grew out of that. I found him so repulsive as a human being in those early days that I didn't find him attractive at all (Josh Holloway is so much more than a pretty face- I'm really miffed that he was snubbed out of an Emmy nomination for The Incident). The thing that kept me intrigued was the fact that he was surprisingly cultured and literate despite his selfish, misogynistic, 'redneck' facade. If Sawyer has helped to make reading 'sexy,' then that has to be a good thing.

Roll on January 2010! While fan theories are fun, I feel confident that we're in the hands of master storytellers who'll deliver something pretty special. They want the ending to be 'fair.' Sounds fair enough to me.