The one where I remind you how much I am addicted to LOST

Ok folks, I know that many people have jumped off the LOST train and headed for the hills. Something about the slow start to the year and that horrendous break there in the middle, the focus on The Others and away from our beloved set of plane-wreck castaways, and even the joke that was Nikki and Paulo (although being buried alive was an amazing solution to this hiccup) has caused many a person to bemoan the show or stop watching all the same.

I am not that person.

Oh yes, there are episodes that leave me wanting something more, but I keep coming back all the same. In fact, some of my favorite scenes are action-less and don't really develop the story. For instance, I love in the episode about Hurley where he finds that van, gets it running, and all the guys pile in for a little joyride in the dirt. A simple scene, no mystery involved, no big action or drama, just four guys tooling around in an old VW van. But that simplicity it what makes it so perfect. I couldn't help but think of them as young boys, taking their parent's car without permission, and just having some innocent fun. It was one of those moments where you remember that these characters are supposed to be real people, not just chess pieces in this great island mystery.

Now, I read all the theories out there, and let me say it is a trip down literary lane with memories of high school and college as people try to deconstruct the story line in an attempt to predict it and dare I say claim some control over it. But that's what i like so much about this show, there is a grand scheme but we don't know it, and as much as we think we have it figured out we are thrown for a loop each time. But one things stays the same in all of this and that is the characters and the development of their individual stories.

There is something about seeing people and what we assume of them being turned upside down as we see them live through unexpected and crazy situations. We get a glimpse into who they were before they had to adapt to this new reality they now live in. We also get to see they aren't exactly who we assumed them to be. They have stories, they have baggage (literally and figuratively).

In fact, think about that one, throughout the series there has been a focus on baggage in one way or another. People wanted to find their own when they crashed because it reminded them of who they are, or maybe now who they were. Nikki and Paulo (whose names are spoken with hissing in the background) spent their entire time on the island looking for their baggage because it held the one thing the thought most dear, their past. Too bad that obsession lead to a pretty awesome death.

So with all the mystery and theories and action that fill this show, it's the people that I love to watch, the development of their stories (past, present, and future), and how those stories intermix both before and now.