Cabin Fever Is Metaphor for Lost

Fellow blogger Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb has an interesting theory about Lost. He believes the writers are just throwing surprises and conspiracy theories against the wall in the hopes a few stick. Gerstmann’s pretty certain the writers don’t actually know how they want this to end.

I don’t agree, but I understand how many viewers could come to that conclusion.

Here There Be Spoilers, Mateys!

That’s why the episode Cabin Fever really struck me as a microcosm of what goes on with this popular show. As viewers, we understand exactly what Locke, Hurley and Ben are going through. There have been times during the course of this show I felt like those following Locke. We jumped on assuming the writers knew where they were heading. Yet at times they seemed to be looking back at us, with us half expecting them to say as Ben did to Hurley: I was following you.

I’ve said before that no TV show’s title is more appropriate than Lost. Even its most devout fan would be hard pressed to explain key plot details to the uninitiated because we don’t have them. My wife enjoys asking me questions about the show she feels any viewer should know and delighting in my lack of knowledge.

That to me is a large part of this show’s appeal. I don’t think it would be anywhere as popular if it didn’t confuse the heck out of us. I have confidence in the writers because they come from the comic book genre. They’re experienced in weaving long, intricate tales and that’s a different kind of storytelling than TV buffs are used to.

You won’t see three different problems arise and get solved in an hour like on CSI. You will often end an episode, or an entire season for that matter, with far more questions than you entered it with.

This is a world where black smoke monsters and polar bears are just accepted as part of the tropical island landscape. Where it’s not all that shocking to converse with the dead, whether they’re human or animal. A world where the phrase “He wants us to move the island’ makes way more sense than it would anywhere else.

At this point, it will be almost illogical for Hurley and Ben to protest the irrationality of this idea. Move the island, he said? That makes perfect sense when you’re talking to the emissary of a ghost leader in a cabin that appears in different places on an island no one can find to begin with.

If I lost you there, it’s really OK. I’m as lost as you and I’ve been watching since episode one.

Image courtesy of Newscom