Mysteries of ‘Lost’ detract from the characters

The finale answered those questions, sort of. By refusing to provide answers, the series now has two paths to take through the jungle. It can let the mystery prevail, dragging its characters through the woods until they're sucked up by "the security system that eats people," as Hurley called it. Or the series can follow the lead of "Deadwood," "The Sopranos," "Six Feet Under," and other exceptional ensemble dramas, and let its characters lead the way.

It's all about the characters
Within Locke, Jack, Kate, Sayid, Hurley, Michael, Walt, Sawyer, Sun, Jin, Claire, and Shannon are the real answers to their future on the island. As the flashbacks have shown, these characters' lives intersected with one another before their fateful flight, but they didn't notice one another, not as human beings. Aboard airplanes, legs bump into other legs; strangers stand up to allow passage to the microscopic bathroom; but these strangers were mostly invisible to each other, just as so many of us are to each other every day.

By necessity, the only real knowledge the castaways have gained in their time on the island is about the people with whom they crash-landed. Viewers have (smartly) been kept from seeing the island's monster; the scariest things are, of course, those that we cannot see.

Likewise, the castaways have been kept from knowing much about one another, except for the pieces they reveal occasionally or accidentally. They didn't and don't know much about their new friends, and some of them frighten each other, but they still had to quickly learn to trust their fellow passengers — at least a little, especially since most of them don't trust themselves.

Who takes charge in a place without order? How does a society emerge from chaos? The answers to these, the true mysteries, lie within their interaction.

Ironically, "Lost" — with "Desperate Housewives," one of the two ABC shows that resurrected both scripted television and ABC — is about 48 people stranded on an island. Sound familiar, perhaps like a reality show that has been a powerful force for the past five years? While CBS' "Survivor" is a game, the drama in its episodes ultimately focuses on the pawns and their interaction with one another.

"Lost"'s characters are pawns in a very mysterious game, but ultimately it should be all about them.

Andy Dehnart is a writer and teacher who publishes reality blurred, a daily summary of reality TV news.

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