LOST is one of the best shows on television, period.

LOST is back for its fifth season, and like many people, I made a point of getting together with some other LOST fans and watching it. I’ve been keeping up with the show since the middle of the first season, which means I’m all too aware of its brilliant moments… and its slumps.

As it happened, the premiere hit on a lot of the strengths and the limitations of the show. So, while it’s fresh on my mind, here are a few observations I have about LOST overall:

Five things I HATE about LOST:

1) The characters never talk to each other about anything. So much in this show could be solved if these people would just sit down, ask, “what do we know?” and compare notes across camps. Instead, every time someone’s about to make a revelation, it has to be in the most dramatic manner possible, and generally accompanied by the line, “there’s not enough time to explain this to you!” This device has been so overused that even the writers seem to be bored with it; watching Sawyer slap Farraday in the face when he said it in the Season 5 premiere was funny, but it was also a reminder of how often it’s used as a way out of explaining the show’s mysteries.

2) Many of the show’s original mysteries still haven’t been resolved. The producers keep promise that the answers are coming, but it seems like they’re continuing to stretch things as long as they can. When you sit down and outline all of the mysteries that were raised in the first season, only a handful have actually been solved. Most of the mysteries that have been solved are those that arose later when, instead of offering answers, the show brought up more questions.Some answers to the big questions this season would be a welcome change.

3) The show has become mired in its own fan culture. Did you play the last several years’ worth of LOST alternate reality games? Did you read The Bad Twin, or play the video game? No? Yeah, me neither. And while I like the idea of the extended universe giving the hardcore fans a little extra bang for their buck, I feel a little left out when I’m not keeping up on the podcasts, monitoring Lostpedia or seeking out cryptic interviews given by the producers, writers and cast. Isn’t it enough that I watch every episode? Do I really have to scrutinize deleted scenes or watch all the extras on the DVDs?

4) The show has too many red herrings. This is particularly true of the constant allusions to literature, mythology, and popular culture. Often, things that seem to be significant aren’t, and it’s hard not to feel like the people involved in the show are using it as something of a vanity project to constantly tip their hats to their favorite influences. Granted, LOST goes beyond the typical stale literary illusions to things like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, but when you look at the fan-made liner notes for some episodes, you have to wonder if the show’s got a little too much padding. Speaking of which…

5) LOST still has too much padding. It’s a lot tighter now than it was in the second and third seasons, but it’s still brimming with scenes that aren’t necessary and that serve as little more than overly complicated ways to get characters from point A to point B. Even the 2-hour premiere for season 5 probably could have been cut down drastically if some of the slower scenes with Hurley and Kate had been left out.

Five things I LOVE about LOST

1) After five years, it’s still intriguing. While questions may still be lingering from Season 1, the show has done a darn good job of explaining later mysteries without destroying the mystique of the show. LOST producer Carlton Cuse worked on another show in the 1990s that involved time travel called The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., and once that show wrapped up its main mystery with the John Bly gang, it quickly ran out of steam. LOST hasn’t made that mistake. It can be maddening to realize the lengths that the show goes to not to answer questions, but at least the mysteries are still interesting in light of the other revelations that have been made.

2) The characters have depth. You can’t say this about other serialized shows, like Heroes or Terminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles, where the characters are mere caricatures. LOST’s characters aren’t dumb, and they have motivations for the things they do. They’re all people who have been beaten and broken in some way, and even when their actions are mysterious, they don’t seem like two-dimensional morons who make the wrong choices for the sake of sticking with the plot.

3) The show’s not built on ridiculous twists. LOST does have twists, of course, and lots of them. Some have been well-received, while others have been criticized for being too convenient and easy. But the twists aren’t what make the show entertaining… it’s the perceptions that viewers build up of characters, only to see the characters in a different light at different points in time. LOST isn’t as much about twists as it’s about shifts in understanding. It’s very hard to predict what some characters will do because we don’t know enough about their motivations. Twists only serve to further illuminate LOST’s characters.

4) LOST has big moments that are hard to forget. Think about a network television program that has had a major moment that you’ll forever associate with the show, like the episode of M.A.S.H. where Henry’s plane is shot down as he’s heading home, bringing a somber reminder about the costs of war to the audience. Most shows have one of those moments per season, and generally, in the finale. LOST has one of those moments at least four or five times a season. It’s easily one of the most dramatic shows ever made for television.

5) LOST is intelligent. I don’t think I’ve seen a show that’s this smart since The Prisoner. Sure, there’s some pseudo-science, and there are moments where the show reveals that it’s not written by scientists. But in terms of its scope, its characters, its plotlines and its literary allusions, this is a show that reaches around the world and brings in all sorts of ideas about culture, philosophy, theology, metaphysics, and other heady topics. Many shows try to be this smart, but fail miserably. LOST, on the other hand, is the real deal.

Anyhow, with all that said, I’m sure you know now where you’ll be finding me for the next few months on Wednesday night. LOST might have its drawbacks, but the show’s so good that I can overlook them.