Lost

Don't read this if you haven't watched the finale.

I really enjoyed the end of Lost. It made the show worth it for me. Now normally I could care less if someone doesn't like something I don't or likes something I didn't, but with this finale there is one thing that I don't understand. How come so many improvisers weren't satisfied by the finale? I'm friends with a lot of improvisers so their opinions are the ones I hear the most.

Here's what I'm getting at. The finale basically said, all the stuff on island, all the mysteries, the sci-fi, the polar bears, didn't matter. The relationships were what was most important. That's true for life too. When we die, it's not going to matter what we did here on Earth. We will die. That's just part of it. Unfortunately when I die I may never know why, in one single day, I was called "big legged", sat on a business card for Overeater's anonymous on the bus, and then turned on the TV to an Oprah show about overeating, when in fact I'm not "big legged" or an overeater. It's just one of those things.

The same is true in improv. No one walks away from our shows thinking, "Oh man when that one guy took a gun and started shooting the other girl and she screamed, "I'll find you" and then she died but that was right after she gave birth to an otter that became the next Jesus, but before he became Jesus he had wanted to break curfew too much so he was grounded over and over again. Otter! What's the significance of an otter?" They think, "That was funny. My mom used to ground me a lot too." And we work hard for that. We work hard not to make the scene about the otter, but about the mom and son instead.

I mean, that example is kind of a weird, but you get it I think.

It's never about the things, it's about the relationships. Most of the time TV and movies are about the thing, the plot. The good ones aren't though. Take The Wire. It's not really about drug deals. It's about the people involved. You take any of those characters, set them at a breakfast table and watch it for 2 hours. It would still be intriguing.

Side note, one thing Lost doesn't get much credit for is the acting. The actors on that show bring such complex characters to a level that is so real and identifiable, even if you've never killed someone or been the daughter of a super rich Korean guy. That goes for the writers as well.

I mean, sorry if you were banking on polar bears or 4 toed statues or time travel to come together and solve the mystery of the island (read:life). The mystery of life will never be solved, but at least we have each other until it's over.

Am I RIGHT?