Cogs can think.

And so I’ve been watching the first season of Lost. I’m in the middle of it right about now. Eugenia keeps asking me what I think about it.

There’s a problem with me and TV shows. That problem is not that I do not like TV - in fact, I actually really like TV. No, the problem is something else. That problem is called Dead Like Me.

You see, I have seen all 29 episodes of Dead Like Me inside-out. And this poses a problem for every TV show that came before it, as well as after it. They will all be compared to DLM; it’s the yardstick. And since Dead Like Me is Perfection, everything else simply sucks. You see, DLM was not ‘just’ a TV show; it’s much more than that. It’s actually - dare I say it - a form of art. Everything that happened in DLM made sense, every drop that fell out of the sky had its purpose, every car that seemingly random drove by contributed to the storyline, the feel, and the atmosphere. However, and this is really important: not one event in DLM was put in to singlehandedly push forward the storyline.

This is completely different in Lost. You see, why on earth do these people keep running and screaming through the jungle like it’s the goddamn countryside? I mean, I can understand the idea of a few going out to hunt and gather, but what the hell is everybody else doing in there? Why does everyone in Lost put their lives, and those of their fellow men, at stake by running and screaming through the jungle which they know is not safe?

Why, because if they don’t, the storyline is dead.

And that’s the big problem with shows like Lost. Trust me, I like Lost, I m really eager to learn more about what’s going on and all that. It’s well crafted, it’s exciting; if it were a book, it’d be a page turner for sure. But, not one single moment, not even one second, do I forget the fact that I am actually watching a bunch of actors in Hawaii. And that’s where Lost can never be as good as DLM.

DLM’s premise is about 387594 times more idiotic and ridiculous than Lost’s, but yet, I believe it when I’m watching it. I believe the nonsensical stuff about how people die, I believe in reapers, I believe in the gravelings. So much that even in real life, I now have things which I’ve dubbed ‘Dead Like Me moments’. And I’m not alone. My fellow DLM fanatic Levi has the same feelings when he’s in a Dead Like Me period. It’s a scary realisation. That you can be so engulfed by something so ridiculous.

Lost simply doesn’t give me that, and it never will. Nor will any other show. Dead Like Me was a one-off, and sadly, the plug was pulled way to early by MGM.

I’d say I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I’m not. I excel at not giving a shit. Experience has taught me that interest begets expectation, and expectation beget disappointment, so the key to avoiding disappointment is to avoid interest. A equals B equals C Equals A, or whatever. I also don’t have a lot of interest in being a good person or a bad person. From what I can tell, either way, you’re screwed. Bad people are punished by society’s laws, and good people are punished by Murphy’s Law. So you see my dilemma.