*Spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen the series yet! This is my initial experience after finishing the series tonight!*

After a two week journey I finally finished Lost tonight for the first time and it was beautiful!!

Starting on Oct 4th I began my Lost journey for the first time, after many years of having it on the back burner of shows to watch. After a friend recently recommended she started it I decided that it might finally be the right time. I had watched the pilot a few times over the years but was never fully ready to commit, but I guess the convenience of having Netflix made it easier to binge through, and boy did I binge! Clocking sometimes 7-10 episodes a day, going late into the night, Lost became something to grit my teeth into and engage in long form storytelling in strong episodic television again. Not since last year's Better Call Saul first time binge, and The Leftovers earlier this year was I happy to fully fall into a love a show again!

I have a lot to say and a lot to digest, as right now after finishing the final episode (then watching the Aloha to Lost Jimmy Kimmel interview) I am experiencing the same kind of life flash before your eyes as the characters did in the final episode. The compression of 91 hours of a series in two weeks is a beautiful thing. It brought me to the island with these amazing characters, as the show really succeeds in the themes of bringing you in touch with a wide range of personalities and the humanity that we all share, the life experiences the challenge us, the emotions we face when we come across fear and doubts, and how we choose to persevere and triumph over adversity. I think what I loved most about the journey was getting to explore each of these character's lives one episode to the next, and although yes there were some I liked more than others, the many parts of the whole is what made it so unique and special. The coming together of strangers that became a family.

I loved how each season I dived deep into the many thoughts and theories of what was going on and though I had heard friends say it gets weird half way through, I really loved all the time travel elements and multiple dimensions, which thinking back must have been really ahead of its time to bring these concepts to network television, when in today's time it's such a constant.

Although in the finale I was waiting for a sense of convergence, thinking that the original timeline and the future (sideways timeline I guess is what people call it?) would collide and make sense in more time travel, dimensional shift type thing, I was really happy with how it landed emotionally and spiritually. I can understand why people might have been upset with the whole, "they were dead this whole time!?" aspect of it all, but for me I think the journey was the destination. That final scene with Jack and his father made it all profoundly cathartic, because that was the release we were waiting for, for Jack to finally let go and accept the things he can't change, which was one of his flaws of being a natural hero/healer type of character. Which as some protagonists often comes off as bland and uninteresting, Jack's flaws were what made him so engaging - how I would float between trusting him and not, something that I loved about all the characters int his way. But I loved his arc and how each character had their moments of redemption and fulfillment at the end. I wonder if more of the anger at the end was geared towards the show being over and expecting some big answer or reveal, rather than coming to terms with the gift they had been given of the show itself.

I think one of the big takeaways that I'm currently experiencing is my overwhelming joy of a show like this coming together at all. Which in today's episodic television landscape, we rarely get the chance anymore to have more than ten episodes a season. A show like Lost being in the prime Golden Age of network television must have been such a blessing for those that got to watch it live every week. But I am glad I got to see it in this way because there's no way I would last waiting every week and then every year to find out what happens next. A show like this works perfectly in bingeable nature because it's so fluid and strong that you want to know what happens next with these characters, because Lost built such a beautiful foundation of family and a home for us to engage with, and that is the true power of a series. That one can separate from their lives and live in a world foreign but familiar to them.

As this was my first watch, I'm not sure how long people write in these posts lol but I'm just letting some of my experiences fly through here and I'm sure I'll write more later but it's hitting five am and I think I should sleep but I'll write a bit more and then add on later.

I highlighted some episodes I loved being the 23rd Psalm, because I loved Mr. Eko's character and backstory! It was sad to see him go, but I did read about how Adewale wanted to be killed off after his foster parents had died and want to make a movie about his life. But seeing how it was such a short time frame for a character the show really condensed but succeeded in giving him a nice arc. And I love how he carried the whole themes of light vs darkness, and becoming the priest in the end after his original journey as the villainous killer. It was such a beautiful story with him and his brother. Adewale is such an amazing actor and he achieved brilliant subtle moments in his silences but made it all count when he did speak.

Also I loved Ab Aeterno, because I was fascinated by Richard throughout the series, firstly because Nestor is such a sexy beast of human being and how captivating he was in all of his scenes. I loved the agelessness of his character and the mystery surrounding him before this episode backstory reveal. I loved how he had a tragic backstory before coming on the Black Rock and then his journey through time under Jacob and the island that proceeded it. I feel like there could have been a bit more done with him at the end but I can see they were trying to tie up most of the loose ends with the supporting case of characters on that plane, but nonetheless I loved his character.

Those two stood out for me just as side characters. Obviously I loved the main characters. Each one has their unique qualities that I loved watching. Sawyer's nicknames made me laugh each episode! Jack's heroism/anti heroism throughout the series. Kate's whole journey even though I feel like she could have had more of a stronger second half in the series rather than just the love triangle, but I did enjoy how much care she brought to everyone else and the loved she had for both Jack and Sawyer brought that emotional connection the show needed. John Locke I think was one of my favorites character's I've seen in television and he definitely is up there in the Hall of Fame of acting performances. I had seen Terry O'Quinn in Patriot and Perpetual Grace LTD (both highly recommended shows by genius Steven Conrad) so I was familiar with his strength as an actor, but I can see now how John Locke must have solidified him to the world before this on Lost. Wow just what a tremendous character, arc and story. One with such range and emotion, I was blown away, and with the turn into the Man in Black, just added another dimension of acting prowess to move the second half of the series as an antagonist.

I'm really excited to dive into all the specials features, interviews and bonus material for this show. I guess the next week will be my mourning period while I digest what just happened in these last two weeks, but I thought I'd come on here and write my experience. As I was so wonderfully welcomed when I first wrote in this group that I started the show for the first time, and how everyone was excited for my journey and wished they were experiencing it for the first time again. Now that I'm on the other side of the island I express that same gratitude and beauty onto first time viewers by saying that this is a tremendously powerful show that does work on a deeper level, hitting spiritually, emotionally and mentally on all planes (pun intended lol). It's been a while since a show has grasped me in and taken me for a wild ride that I fully enjoyed from start to finish! I'm definitely excited for another trip to the island and catch some moments I might have missed, but this first time through was quite profound and overwhelmingly wonderful. I'm hit with a calm cool serenity as I let the waves travel through me of this experience. I've often had dreams of the show in these last two weeks, meeting characters in the astral plane and experiencing my own version of things on the island. It's truly a spiritual experience going through Lost, and I'm sure in the next few days I will start to discover some of my own personal parts of my journey that I've learned along the way, the lessons I've taken and will bring into my life moving forward.

I'll end with saying, lead with love, explore and adventure the challenges life places in your way. I believe in fate and destiny as well as the consequences of actions taken. Life is full of surprises and is a beautiful thing when you start to pay attention to the signs along the way. Be courageous even at times of fear and doubts, know that everything happens for a reason, spit in the face of negativity and when questioned just yell "don't tell me what I can't do!!!" Because we're all meant for greatness in this life, our purposes may differ in amazing and different ways, but we're all the same bright and beautiful souls with a profound light inside us. So let's share it and shine bright. Wherever we go we are never fully Lost, sometimes we're just waiting for the right time to be found.