New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Now, I have raved here about the brilliance of Lost. I've defended the maligned second season. I've shown nothing but confidence that Lindelof and Cuse know what they're doing and that, once the show wraps this May, we'll have a complete story and an unparalleled series in the annals of television history. It's interesting that I've chosen the word "unparalleled" because it's the parallel storyline that's really bugging me this season, and after five seasons of building quality, my own fears are starting to set in that the final chapter may not be the payoff that I was so certain was coming.

Mythology shows do have a habit of disappointing fans as they hit that final lap. Twin Peaks is kind of the poster child for opening strong but limping across the finish line, but X-Files, Heroes, Buffy, even the phenomenal Battlestar Galactica all got some it-ain't-what-it-used-to-be talk as they aged. I've always been of the opinion that many of these shows really don't get much weaker, people just get used to them. Nevertheless, after season two and the third season mini-arc, the word on Lost started to get good again. I was confident that this would be the show to do it, to buck the trend and stick the landing. It may still be, most of the season lies ahead, but I am troubled by the recent development of the parallel storyline.

I chose the word parallel because the powers have argued against the term "alternate universe" and I'll defer to them on that note. They claim that the LA X "flash sideways" are just as real as the island stuff, therefore are not alternate at all. Fair enough. But they're boring.

See this is why many fans, me being one of them, hoped against the reset that Jack struggles for at the end of season five. If the plane never crashes on the island, then all of what has happened over the five seasons is moot, along with my investment in the characters. Why do I care if LA X Locke becomes a substitute teacher? That's not what I know of Locke. Why do I care if Parallel Jack has a son? The Jack I've known for five years doesn't. Who cares if the other Kate gets away from the marshal and helps other Claire deliver Aaron? So does the Kate I already know.

Many narrative hints reveal that perhaps this parallel storyline isn't related to Jack's reset scheme of detonating Jughead. The differences in the LA X version run deeper than just the plane not crashing. The sunken island we see in the opening moments of the season six premiere seems pretty intact for being the site of a nuclear explosion. For that matter, the white flash of light at the end of season three seems to be attributed more to the time jump than to the nuke detonating. For all we know, Jughead never explodes. After all, there is all of that concrete Sayid and Jack find in The Swan, concrete similar to that used to contain radiation from Chernobyl. Yet, there is also that message that Juliet sends to Sawyer from beyond the grave: "It worked."

Lindelof and Cuse have indicated that Jughead may not have been the cause of the island sinking and that the two storylines will converge at some point in the season. I sure hope so. I have no idea what the endgame is, but I'd like to think that it has more to do with the Island story than the LA X one because the island story is the one I care about. It's the one I've followed, and it's the one with the higher stakes. Whatever role the second story plays, I really want it to be a part of the first story. Okay, I've said it before; I trust that Cuse and Lindelof know what they're doing. It's unfair of me to judge them on an unfinished story. I just, for the first time, am feeling the impatience that many viewers have felt with Lost. Here, in the 11th hour, I want this new storyline to resolve itself before it bores me to sleep and I miss the killer awesome climax that I know is coming. Okay, enough complaints, I'm ready for the next episode now.