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Most of my friends who know me, especially those who follow me on Facebook and/or Twitter, know just how obsessed I am with LOST -- a series that went off the air two years ago today. Several times throughout the week, I'll post quotes from the show or minor theories or just random thoughts about events depicted on the show. Yet despite that, there are certain things that you'll never hear me say, which I've seen expressed by several other die-hard LOST fans: "I miss LOST!" "I want more LOST!" "Damon and Carlton, please bring back LOST!"

Sure, I understand the sentiment behind these expressions. LOST was such a great show, and we thoroughly enjoyed the excitement of watching a new episode every week, and we miss having that excitement to look forward to. For me, though, that doesn't automatically translate to, "Bring LOST back on the air!" That's because I know that LOST was always meant to be a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Damon and Carlton have stated that they've told the story that they wanted to tell. That means that any attempts to add to that story just to satisfy the fans' thirst for more would just result in pointless and uninteresting material. How do I know this? We've seen it happen before.

Back in the first half of Season 3, the writers were running out of story ideas, and the result was a drawn-out story arc with three of the characters being held in polar bear cages by the Others, while the rest were back at their camp just bumbling around with their own isolated struggles. Flashbacks gave us insights into Sawyer's time in prison, Kate's short-lived marriage, and the all-important mystery of Jack's tattoo. Meanwhile, the overall story was going absolutely nowhere. That is, until the producers were able to negotiate an end-date with the network, thus finally giving the writers the freedom they needed to move the story forward toward its intended conclusion. The series picked up momentum again and remained riveting all the way through the finale.

So if anyone, whether it be J.J. Abrams, or Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, or anybody else deciding to take it on, were to continue writing new episodes of LOST, perhaps following the adventures of the characters who remained on the Island, and the charaters who left suddenly have some reason why they "have to go back", it would likely be similar to the first half of Season 3, with a bunch of episodes just dragging on an aimless storyline to fill time. Or it would be a different series altogether, with a new story and a new set of characters, like much of the fan-fiction that's been posted on the internet. It is very unlikely that such a series would be anywhere near as good as LOST was, especially if it's done just to meet viewer demands.

I've heard quite a few people complain that too many questions about the series were left unanswered and that new episodes could address those questions. I would say that most of the important mysteries were answered to my satisfaction, and the unanswered questions are actually a good thing, because that's what kept the most dedicated fans talking about the show and forming theories! I think it would be very unsatisfying to watch one episode after another of nothing but spoon-fed answers. The answers would feel very anti-climactic and pointless, there'd be nothing left to talk about, and LOST would soon fade into a distant memory.

So yes, LOST was one of my favorite TV shows of all time (if not the favorite), but I'm glad that it ended when it did. Do I "miss" it? Not really, because I can just pop in a DVD and watch any episode whenever I want. Besides, I think I've actually had more fun talking about LOST in the two years since it ended than I did when it was still on! To this day, I enjoy forming new theories about the characters and the Island, without waiting to see if those theories are true or if they'll even be answered. When you're working on a puzzle, and you know you have all the pieces, it doesn't make sense to scream, "I want more pieces!" The writers of LOST have given us all the puzzle pieces that we're ever going to get, so we can now enjoy the process of piecing them together, which is exactly what I've been doing for the past two years and will continue to do for however long it holds my interest. So yes, I'm still obsessed with LOST, but no, I don't want more.

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