Lost was more than a collection of inscrutable mysteries and theory fodder; at its heart, Lost was a character study. Despite what most fans still think to this day, Lost’s biggest mystery never was what the island was, or where the island was, or why these people couldn’t escape this wacky place; the biggest mystery was who each of these strangers were as individuals, and how they would become so crucial to one another’s lives (and ultimately, their afterlives). Lost was a rumination on the nature of human relationships in a post-9/11 landscape, and how despite all the terror and horror and uncertainty that we face, despite all of our unanswered questions about why we are here, we still long to connect with each other. We yearn to find purpose.
