The Lost Experience Begins!

Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to talk to Entertainment Weekly senior writer, and LOST theorizer extraordinaire, Jeff Jensen!  Jeff not only has some of the most interesting and entertaining theories out there on LOST,  he also has had the privilege of being able to rub elbows with the creative forces behind LOST so I knew he would have some interesting insights to share, and I wasn’t disappointed.  If you don't read Jeff, you need to start.  Some of the best theorizing in the entertainment press with regards to LOST, and a hell of a lot of fun!

Without further adieu….

DOC:  Jeff!  Thanks for taking time out to talk with us.  I gotta ask you, from the perspective of a LOST fan and someone who has been following the game,  was your recent interview with Rachel Blake for real?

JEFF:   I know there has been some speculation as to if that was a real interview, or did I just make that up, but I can guarantee that that was a real, authentic, person that I interviewed, it was a real interview with Rachel Blake.

DOC:  So Rachel is a real person?

JEFF: YES!  Absolutely.

DOC:   In the beginning, when they had Hugh appear on Kimmel,  people kind of groaned…

JEFF:  I thought the Kimmel thing was kind of cool!  I think that, to step back for a second and not play the game for a second,  what ABC and The Lost Experience creators are trying to do is a very novel concept and there is a learning curve here for them and the audience so there are going to be some awkward moments along the way.  Kimmel may have not been the best vehicle for this, it was this awkward thing that needed to straddle the line between “wink-wink” and being really cool.

DOC:  They really seemed to nail it at Comic-Con and hit their stride…

JEFF:  I have a lot of grace for this thing… I think it’s weird, I think it’s interesting, I think it’s fun… I give them a lot of benefit of the doubt on this thing…  unfortunately I couldn’t get to comic-con, I caught it on YouTube.  Where you there?

DOC:  No….

JEFF:  Oh well let me ask you something,  at the end did it sound like she said “Hansoexposed.com” or “HANDOexposed.com”…

DOC: (Laughs)

JEFF: Seriously… it sounded like “HANDOexposed.com”

DOC:  Maybe “Landoexposed.com”

JEFF:  (Laughs)

DOC: I’m sure Billie Dee Williams would be game…

JEFF: (Laughs) For a moment there I was like “uh-oh”, this whole thing extensibley is to serve one
purpose… to promote this site, and at the key moment… it seemed like it might have been fumbled a bit… but everybody who was playing the game caught on quite quickly I think…

DOC:  So bridging the gap between the game and the show… what are you expecting with the number reveal?  It’s big, it’s important, it seems that they have really invested themselves here with this huge piece of LOST mythology and if it flops, it’s going to ripple.

JEFF:  Yeah so the question is… will this be a compelling answer?  Man I hope so.  Here is my attitude about it:  this is all extracurricular… so to whatever minute degree that we get information out of it,  it’s all cool, and it’s all gravy.  I look at it as they could have done nothing for us over the summer, and just made us wait; instead they gave us this thing, and it’s completely voluntary, maybe get some valuable information out of it,  but to whatever degree they approach a substantial explanation of the numbers in this new orientation film it’s cool with me.

DOC: So you’re not expecting a “full” explanation.

JEFF:  If they don’t knock me off my feet, I won’t be disappointed.  Because it’s all gravy, right?  We could have got nothing.  In all seriousness,  I don’t expect them to “explain” the numbers in anyway that is going to wrap up that part of the mythology;  I think it will be more of the nature of the numbers, and one more way they enter into the mythology that will be revealed.

DOC: A non-answer.

JEFF: An open ended answer.  I expect to see the tip of the iceberg of the numbers solution.  A very generalized answer.  I’m not expecting the end all be all explanation of the numbers from the orientation film;   I don’t think it should do that; I don’t think it can do that; I don’t think it would be fair to do that.  Carlton and Damon promised us that all we would ever need to understand the show would be in the show and we wouldn’t need all this extra ‘stuff’ to keep up;  I’m going to take them on their word at that.  So whatever we learn here is just going to be a teaser for a more robust explanation in the show.  Above all, I think this is a huge validation of the Lost Experience as a story telling vehicle for the show.

DOC:  Right,  in the beginning a lot of people thought it would have nothing to do with it and would just be coat tailing the “name” and now we know Dharma is central, the numbers are central,  it’s definitely connected.

JEFF:  Yeah…

DOC:  So Jeff… this wraps this portion of the interview… thanks for talking about “The Lost Experience” with us…

JEFF:  My pleasure!

Keep Up with all Jeff’s writing at www.ew.com!