DAY 3

SKATE STRAIGHT UP

I know everyone is getting crazy excited for tomorrow night's Finale-Premiere of LOST on Waikiki Beach and, after that, for Tuesday night's three solid hours of LOST-utopia. But we've still got some time to kill. So if you're one of the readers of this blog who enjoy Sawyer and Kate's story the way I do, then pull up a chair and kill some of it here. And if you're one of those readers who don't enjoy Sawyer and Kate, well, then ... get the hail outta here!

As a perpetually amused observer of LOST's incessant online conversation, nothing makes me chuckle more than the conceit in various corners that those who enjoy the romantic stories of LOST are somehow mentally ineligible to appreciate the story in full. Shippers, as we're known in the vernacular, have been tagged as drooling, babbling squee monkeys who have invented a parallel universe in our minds, some girly fantasy that bears no relationship to the larger plot.

Now I can't speak for all shippers of course, but I bow to no one when it comes to my appreciation of LOST. I know exactly how important romance, and in particular the Jack-Kate-Sawyer love triangle, is in the context of the big picture. Which is to say ... it's CENTRAL! Duh. Just ask Carlton Cuse. Wait, you don't have to. Entertainment Weekly already did!

I know there have been mysterious spoiler "sources" out there, Benedict Arnold types who have sold their souls for a chance to give DarkUFO a couple more hits. The online echo chamber has managed to convince itself that Sawyer and Kate as a couple are done, that in fact they've been done for years ... Hell, maybe they never even existed as a viable storyline in the first place! Whatever else happens in the final season, I think it's completely safe to say that these poor deluded souls are in for a rude awakening. Of the red toolbox variety.

Ouch! That's gonna hurt.

Maybe it's true that I'm not your typical shipper. I'm not necessarily the biggest consumer of ship oriented fancraft like fanfic and homemade videos. A lot of the videos that make their way online are impressive, that's true, but I often find the choice of music and the splicing of scenes to be a bit propagandist - as if the vid maker is forcing an emotional conclusion on the audience.

That's fine, of course, because it's a lot of fun sometimes to just bask in the glow of a story you enjoy, especially when you don't feel like you get enough of it onscreen. But what I want to do today, as we approach the runway for the BIG BIG BIG Season Six Premiere, is show that for one couple at least - for Sawyer and Kate - no ornamentation is necessary.

Our own Demy from Fishbiscuitland has graciously allowed me to feature this wonderful series she made of Sawyer and Kate's story through the seasons. I love the delicate musical score. It's unobtrusive; there's just enough to bridge the gaps and knit all the scenes together. And what scenes there are! Sawyer and Kate don't need any fluffing or exaggeration, don't need to be photoshopped or distorted or shown out of context in any way. Demy has done something very simple. All of Sawyer and Kate's great scenes are here, warts and all, the bad with the good, the happy with the heartbreaking, the ugly with the incredibly beautiful. There is nothing that needs to be hidden or explained or fanwanked away. I'm choosing to feature this set of five videos here because I don't think there's any better case to be made for this central romance of LOST.

It starts in Season One.
.

The waterfall. The wrestling. The birthday wish four years ago.

Season Two

The bottle on the beach. The pill whispering. Kate's magical black horse.

Season Three starts at crescendo and ends in diminuendo.

Love, passion and ... close your eyes, fanboys ... S.E.X.!

Season Four

A spectacular kiss. A noble sacrifice. A calamity of cause and effect.

Season Five wasn't one for romance. It was a gift to the sci fi geeks, but it's amazing how much Sawyer and Kate's story was woven into even this most fanboyesque of seasons.

And we all learned something last year: Whatever happened, happened is what's meant to be. I'm assuming that will make sense ... soon.

LOST online message boards aren't much the place for intelligent appreciation of the show. They've become the kind of place where people who can't spell common pronouns pound their chests over having "won" silly victories they've only invented in their minds. The online conceit that the triangle has ended, for instance, or that it's only the concern of estrogen intoxicated idiots, or that Sawyer and Kate aren't one of the most central plots in the show ... all of that isn't worth the hot air it takes to shoot it down. The evidence is right here in this clean and simple sequence of beautiful scenes. Thanks, Demy for making the case that no amount of words could have made, one that's immune to dispute. Thanks for letting the story speak for itself.

For any Skaters out there who want to bask a little longer in the glow of this story, central to the show for all six seasons, here's a little chaser. Another truly excellent fan effort, this one by galthial23, that shows how much story we've been told about this beautiful couple. Anyone who thinks there isn't more to come is, if you'll pardon the expression, outta their minds.

Here's to Season Six. Can't wait to see what that final collection of scenes will look like!