Finding An End To "Lost"

As We Fasten Our Seatbelts for the Next 16 Weeks, Some Assurances That A Finale Is Really In The Works Before We Start Longing For Laura Palmer To Rise From the Dead

The shark's not jumping yet on "Lost." But if showrunners Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof aren't careful, it could be getting antsy real soon.
Now that the show cranks up again Wednesday, it's time to once again wonder about how it's eventually going to end, namely long before we stop caring about polar bears in the South Pacific, mysterious Black Smoke and that darn Hanso Project.
To his credit, Cuse insists there is something over the horizon. But exactly how long they'll take to get there no one knows, he recently told TV writers:

"It's time for us now to find an end point for this show. It's always been discussed that the show would have a beginning, middle and end...[and] once we a lot of the anxiety and a lot of these questions like - 'we're not getting answers' - will go away."

The 16 consecutive episodes to finish out season three may well foretell what will ultimately be Lost's defining moments.
But as Verne Gay notes in Newsday, not even Cuse and Co. are fully clued into their own instincts. That could be a good thing as the show bridges the gap between those who want love triangles and the legions who crave enough obfuscated mythology to keep the blogosphere at full boil.
Either way, as long as we don't see the Fonz on waterskis, "Lost" should be all right.