I've just come back from Arisia, the annual media-oriented science fiction convention in Boston, and on one of the panels I sat on, the other panelists and I got into a discussion about the differences between film and TV. The basic difference, we all agreed, is that film is essentially about plot, and TV is essentially about character.

That's not a hard and fast rule, of course, and all storytelling, no matter what format it takes, needs a balance of plot and character to be satisfying. And when that balance gets out of whack, frustration sets in, particularly on TV, where weekly visits with favorite characters, no matter how well they're drawn, can start to get tedious if nothing seems to be happening with them -- that is, there's no plot driving their characters forward -- for a good long while.

Like with Lost.

I know I'm not the only fan who's about had it with the show, who had been sticking around this past fall purely out of the hopes -- which were starting to look increasingly unlikely -- that the show would find itself, would get back on a course that appeared to be leading it to some sort of resolution, eventually. (One marker of growing fan disinterest? There was no panel discussion about Lost at this year's Arisia. The show, with its fantastical elements, has been of perennial interest -- particularly to the kind of hardcore science fiction fans who attend conventions -- since its debut, but that is rapidly waning as we fans seem to be more interested in creating a compelling story than the producers.) Was Lost losing direction? It sure looked like it to me.

That may be about to change, though. Creator Carlton Cuse spoke at a press event this weekend -- detailed at the Chicago Tribune entertainment blog -- at which he acknowledged that he understands that fans feel like the many questions the show has posed are not being answered. Cuse said:

"It's time for us now to find an end point for the show."

Wait ... what? "Find" an ending? Does he not know how the story ends? That terrifies me, as a fan. I had assumed -- hoped -- that there was an end point in mind from the beginning, a general destination toward which the plot -- and the characters -- were basically heading. And now Cuse tells us that was not the case? Cuse compares himself to the Harry Potter author:

"J. K. Rowling has announced that there's going to be seven Harry Potter books, and it gives everyone a feeling of certainty that the story is driving to a conclusion. It's time for us now to find an end point for the show."

But Rowling has been extremely clear from the very beginning that she has known precisely how Harry's story ends since she started writing. And that makes us fans feel like she's not throwing in random stuff willy-nilly. And Cuse's comment about "finding" his ending makes me suspect that he and his writing team may have been throwing random stuff in willy-nilly. Polar bears? Evil countdowns? Black smoke? The Others? Is it all going to be for naught?

I wanted to find new hope in this comment from Cuse. But now I'm more worried about Lost than ever.

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