The first time I heard about it was at the end of Season 3. My mom excitedly told me of this show she “absolutely knew I would love”. She ranted on and on about smoke monsters, polar bears, numbers and hatches until I was sure she was crazy; a show like this couldn’t possibly exist! Approximately one season later, I was proven wrong. I sat in awe as I watched this amazing, intriguing show unfold, and I immediately knew it would come to be my new obsession. That show was called Lost.

It seems impossible that the show we have come to know and love so much is actually over. We have watched and rewatched every season, sat through the entire 5½ hour series finale marathon, from the recap to the ‘Aloha to Lost’ aftershow, but there’s no getting away from the fact it’s really, truly over. Never again will we wait in anticipation for the next episode of the epic saga that is Lost, never again will the Jater/Skater shipping wars that make up the majority of the online fandom be quite as spirited, never will we experience something quite like this again, but is this really only the end of an era, or the beginning of a new one, too?

It has been proven time and time again that the greatest fandoms never die. The Lord of the Rings, for one, is a great example of a fandom that has had no new material for almost 7 years now, but is still going strong. The veteran fans keep it burning, while the new fans add their sparks to the flames of fandom, making it stronger all the time. This, in my opinion, is precisely what will happen to Lost. It will not simply die down into obscurity, but will survive, even strengthen, in the many years to come.

See you in another life, brotha. Namaste.