There is nothing as lovely as love, nor is there anything that stokes the imagination like imagining. For fans of ‘Lost’, this entire series could have gone in a much simpler, more pedestrian direction were it not for the love and imagination of its producers. When ABC approached J.J. Abrams (at the height of success for his show ‘Alias’) to create a show about the survivors of an airplane crash, there was no reason to expect anything more than ‘Prison Break’-level fare. The results of what Abrams & Co. did with that premise made it clear to executives at every network that in this age of cynicism as wit, constant channel-flipping as choice, Bush as President, that audiences were still human enough, still sensitive enough to fall in love with fictional characters. Our collective imagination was not dead, just atrophied from lack of exercise. And as with any workout, we were sore week in and week out. We’d get a little lazy during the summer (and later, fall) but when the words “Previously on ‘Lost’” were heard, we responded like Pavlov’s best friend.

For the uninitiated, ‘Lost’ is simply a show about what makes us human, the good/bad/ugly in us all. The television screen became a magnifying glass on an island microcosm, a Petri dish teeming with prejudice, lust, anger, apathy, fear, cowardice, redemption, damnation, jealousy, and that great divider misunderstanding. All of the ingredients to make the perfect human cocktail. Producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof breathed new life into the old-hat argument of Science vs. Faith, coming to a conclusion that should’ve stopped the debate before it even gained steam – Faith begat Science so there is no real battle.The island was almost overrun with believers of all stripes, chasing their faith in science, their faith in love, their faith in the island itself. In the world of ‘Lost’, science was a tool of the believer, not an enemy. From the polar bears to the smoke monster to the various Dharma stations, it was always obvious that science was trying to catch up to faith, trying to understand a phenomena that never reciprocated its curiosity.

‘Lost’ will be appreciated in years to come for its sly name-dropping that encouraged fans like myself to need to know, “Why that person/book/film?” While J.K. Rowling deserve high praise for getting children to read again, ‘Lost’ should receive similar accolades for accomplishing the more daunting task of tricking adults into learning. When John Locke uses the psuedonym “Jeremy Bentham” later in the show, it’s the second half of a years-ling one-two punch (look up both names and you’ll get it).

As in real life, bad guys and good guys were few and far between in the world of ‘Lost’. Our allegiances switched sides on a routine basis throughout the course of the series as our eyes adjusted to the myriad shades of gray that the landscape of life is painted with. Locke was right, Desmond was crazy, Hurley was a buffon, Sawyer was cruel, Benjamin Linus was an evil mastermind, Charlie was a selfish addict, Claire a helpless waif, Juliet was a ruthless spy – until they weren’t.

There will be countless cheers and jeers in response to the series finale, which is to be expected. I personally feel that this show was so much more about the transformative journey than the destination. As will the end of everything, very little is revealed in the finals moments so I had no expectations that this saga whose bread and butter was the asking of questions, the allure of mysteries, would change its tone at the end and answer everything. That was never what the show was about. The recurring theme of ‘Lost’ has always been Desire, that force that brings out the best and worst in us as humans. The name of the show was not so much a synonym for “castaway” as it was the definition of all who found themselves on the island. It was the definition of our state of mind as an audience. What they found is what we found – a story unlike any other. It was a story rife with questionable decisions. It was a cruel story of survival with moments of joy and resolution. It was also a story of where Desire will take us if we hand it the reins and where we can go if we decide to control it.We loved it for the big questions and small answers and we knew it would never all make sense.

To have it any other way misses the point of it all.

Just like real life.