It has been five years since Lost started, and can’t you remember the delight in slowly unravelling the complex mysteries that turned a tale of a crashed plane on a desert island to something much greater? No? Well, that’s because the show has barely let go of its secrets after five years. After two exciting series that slowly expanded our understanding, the third series became ridiculous with some terrible Mcguffins and a step too far into the supernatural, only to revive itself in Season Four. Next year will be the final year of the show, but the big question is whether the past Season, its fifth, will make it worth waiting for.

The season ended in another (and thankfully final) cliff-hanger, with Juliet hitting the nuke. But the mystery of John Locke is what most fans will be debating. Found dead in his coffin, who is the Locke that challenged Jacob, the seeming authority of the island? It’s pretty obvious that the walking and talking Locke is someone in disguise, the mysterious man who pledged to find a “loophole” that can kill the seemingly immortal Jacob at the start of the final episode. Jacob, before dying, refers to the loophole, suggesting that he took over the form of Locke in some way. Let’s hope that we’ll get some sense of who these people are before the final credits roll.

The big disappointment of the finale was, as usual, in the writing. While tense, it got to the stage where characters were being manipulated just to cause that tension. Juliet and Sawyer were convinced Kate to return to the island to stop Jack, only to take 5 minutes to completely change their minds. Various reasons were given, but none really stick. In fact, Sawyer’s character has become more malleable than putty this season, ranging from rogue to Mr. Responsible at any moment. Bad writing has been evident throughout Season 5, with the first few episodes being very repetitive for a show that usually tries to shock us with twists and turns. Entire episodes (Miles’s past and relationship with his father) felt like padding.

Possibly the greatest reason for feeling as if the show’s been running around in circles is the way it treats the new characters. Ever since the demise of the Tailies, including such strong characters as Mr. Echo and Ana-Lucia, the show has consistently been throwing characters at us to see what sticks and what doesn’t. And most slip right into the bin. And sadly, most of the time they have very little to offer besides acting as the occasional catalyst for some event. Echo was the main figure in the Hatch’s button not being pressed, and did little else. Season 4 saw the introduction of 4 new characters, a mismatched bunch, obviously the work of a long session between the writing team and the studio heads with Nielsen ratings and breakdowns in their hands. Again, most of them have had little influence in events. Of them, the most important was Daniel Faraday, the physics geek who came closest to figuring out the science of the island. He was killed by his own mother, as we all know, an unfitting demise for the most likeable character of the bunch. Instead we’re left with Miles, the ghost whisperer with the sarcastic comments, and the noble but unimportant pilot Frank Lupidus. And the one person who has stuck with the group is the intensely dislikeable Juliet, who has hopefully met her fate alongside the nuke. By now you’d think the show will whittle down to the main characters, especially in light of the last series, but yet again the finale ends with more introductions. Those aboard the second crashed flight were revealed to be part of the plot, recruited by Jacob, and given a flashback, such as Llana. Is she to be another addition to the already oversized cast, or just a red-shirt in disguise?
Yet, after five years of diversions and the kind of storyline trickery that Ben Linus would be proud of, I still want answers. It will be a challenge for the show to give us enough answers without being so explicit as to dissipate the mystery that grabbed us for the first place. And it will be a huge challenge to address all the unresolved issues that have faded from our memories (the powers of Walt, Libbey’s relationship with Hurley in the past, and whatever happened to Claire). Many have already tuned out, with ratings dipping over the years, baffled or frustrated by the layers of intentional confusion and subterfuge. But next season will truly be the test of whether Lost will become an unforgettable TV experience, or just another distraction.