Lost

Lost is TV at its greatest (Wednesdays at 9 pm, ABC)! Have you seen it? This is the second season. Basically, it’s about a group of plane crash survivors and their experiences on a mysterious island--which every day seems to have more people living on it. I am hooked because it serves as a metaphor for the status of our culture--Are we "lost" as a group? I believe our social fabric is tearing apart and we are all desperately trying to hold it together to survive. What does it mean to be American in 2005?

People have likened the show to the book the Lord of the Flies. There is also speculation that the characters are not “lost” but in purgatory, such as Dante’s Inferno. Each island inhabitant has a story and the development of their character leads to revealing their “demon.” In essence, each character is paying for past sins but with the chance of redemption. This theme has evolved in the current (second) season, embodied in the slogan, “everything happens for a reason.” It is a clever thread that intertwines each character’s fate, leading the viewer to the conclusion that the crash was inevitable and that everyone’s survival (or redemption) is tied to the group.

The main character in the show is "Jack," a doctor and the "'reluctant" leader. He is positioned as a “man of science," the rational one. Then there is "John," a “man of faith," who believes he (and everyone) has been given a second chance at a new life. He represents faith and spirituality.

These two characters have opposing philosophies on what to do to survive. It is building a tension--dialectic--which is very interesting to me because I have not resolved my own conflict between Science and Faith. I have not resolved the mysteries of my island…