Bad Robot to the Rescue

I can remember when I first started watching Lost. Every week had me gripped to my seat. As the clock approached the start time, I would race home from wherever I was to be ready for the show to start. It was that exciting for me.

But at some point between between season 2 and 3, I felt as if the story was unraveling at the seams of its multiple character threads. Weighed down by the gravity of all our unanswered questions.

That was until Jack uttered the iconic words:

"We have to go back!"

If you're anything like me and love shows that mimic the rollercoaster that make up our lives, then you know this iconic line.

That was the moment that the Bad Robot team could be said to have brough life to the Frankenstein monster that is Lost. A beautiful tragedy more than the some of its parts.

These words came from the mouth of Jack Shepherd played by Matthew Fox. Love him or hate him, Jack was a protagonist for the ages. Trapped on a mysterious island with his fellow castaways of a missing Oceanic flight that never reached its destination.

Or did it?

When Lost hit the screens, it seemed a story attempting to stick the perfect landing. And for better or worse it did. Whatever you feel about how it ended, that was some kind of ending.

J.J. Abrams and crew had previously woven the spy thriller theme with a hint of mysticism in "Alias" which was helmed by Jennifer Garner and include a helluva cast that included Bradley Cooper, Gina Torres, and Ron Rifkin.

That kind of fusion for me was exactly what I needed to make anything seem possible and bring a different element to my viewing experience. Science fiction, magic, and time travel?

Sign me up.

If you love Lost, then you remember the feeling of anticipation week aftrer week. How would it end? Who would Kate choose? Was the island purgatory? Is this a flash forward, backwards, or sideways?

I think we saw a little bit of ourselves in the meandering path of the storyline, and deep down it gave us catharsis watching them get to make choices which atoned for their past sins. It took the stages of the typical heroes journey and flipped them upside down, then spun them like a dreidel.

Whatever you think of the ending, Lost found a way to be groundbreaking in the way it showed how people who are seemingly strangers were connected on levels they could only imagine. Binding them with magic, religion, physics, and smoke monsters was only icing on the cake.

When it all came to a close, you felt that masterful storytelling was done, and there would never be another show like it. I would be Hurley's number 2 anyday.

That is my take on it anyway.

And if you love Lost, then you should watch "Fringe".

Even though it came out over a decade ago, Fringe is a sci-fi adventure for modern times. Starring Anna Torv as Olivia Dunham, Fringe is a dimension jumping time traveling adventure with a badass female lead.

Whatevrr you though of the ending, almost no one debates the depth of the characters in Lost. If that is your cup of tea, then Fringe is for you. Not to be outdone by the party of five hearthrob of Matthew Fox, Joshua Jackson plays an equally tortured soul but well meaning soul as Peter Bishop.

Imagine the relationship between and Jack only magnified by true love and separated by an alternate reality and equally tough issues of abandonment and emotional turmoil which fuel the struggles we have all faced in life.

Not to be out done by Lost's star power, the cast included John Noble as the ingenious Walter Bishop, Lance Reddick as Philip Broyles, and the late Leonard Nimoy as the enigmatic William Bell. Philip you may remember as Matthew Abaddon. He was the guide to John Locke when he returned to the real world from the island.

Over 5 seasons, they deal with everything from aliens, time travel, and dimension jumping. All while navigating the everday issues of love, family relationships, alternate dimensions, and saving the world.

If you felt that the ending of Lost was too open to interpretation and left you wanting a more tightly wrapped ending, then Fringe is for you.

So if you are a book lover that gravitates to stories that mix character development with science fiction, then there may be no better recommedation of a show for you to dive into next.

If the line "We have to go back!" opened up a new world of the awesome power of television for you, then you want to go back and watch Fringe.