LOST: The Unanswered Questions—Revisited

It has been a little over two weeks since the series finale of LOST—the show that redefined television for me. As I was working on my understanding of Truth in Fiction, I was pleasantly surprised by some developments in Season 3 which began to sync up with my theories. From there, the show took the reins of my imagination, drawing me into deeper analysis than I thought possible (or necessary) at the time.

Truth in Fiction demands depth of story and depth of characters. It must be able to challenge the audience through repeated tellings. It must stand up to close scrutiny. It must connect the details to significance. The show does this beautifully, and continues to do so as fans begin to re-watch the series from beginning to end in light of "The End."

To many, myself included, the ending was a bit disappointing because it did not answer many questions. However, the interesting lesson here about Truth in Fiction is that discussion and imagination are paramount to a true liberal education. If LOST had answered many of the unanswered questions, it would have—for the first time—destroyed the integrity of what it does best.

My final verdict is that any disappointment felt at the end of LOST is caused by a misunderstanding of the show's purpose. We have been trained by mainstream media to allow the programming to passively inform us. We are not used to television challenging us to answer the questions ourselves.

Therefore, I encourage you to revisit the unanswered questions post and give me your own thoughts on the questions, or ask ones I didn't cover. Let's start a dialog. That is the most important thing.

FEATURED MEDIA: Preorder the final season!