Sofa Snark: ABC's 'Lost' Takes Page from 'Matrix'

James Sims is the Editor-in-Chief of TalkTVWorld.com and Senior Editor of BroadwayWorld.com. Sofa Snark is an ongoing critical blog focusing on all aspects of show business, from television entertainment to Broadway offerings and general pop culture.  This column also appears on the Huffington Post and SofaSnark.com.  Follow James on Twitter @simsjames for daily show business links, musings and a bit of snark.

There has been a constant thread running through ABC's 'Lost' this season, and as this mind-bending saga rapidly winds down, all of the pieces needed to figure out just what that constant might be are coming together. Confused yet? Good, because 'Lost' fans have been feeling that way for nearly the entire run of the series.

The brilliance of 'Lost' is that it no longer bothers to clue the uninitiated in on the intricacies of the series. If you haven't been watching since episode one, neither ABC nor the fans need you. It's a refreshing change to have a show focused entirely on its most dedicated fans, rather than producing watered down episodes with endless backstories each week in hopes of catching up the casual viewers. Such practices are best left to other networks.

As for that constant, it is beginning to look like 'The Matrix' -- the 1999 sci-fi flick starring Keanu Reeves -- might best describe what has been occurring on 'Lost' this season. Think constructed reality. Following an atomic bomb detonation last season, the show has been presenting what appears to be a "What if Oceanic Flight 815 hadn't crashed?" story line scattered between the regular island timeline each week.

After last week's Desmond Hume teaser, Tuesday's episode delivered a story line bizarre enough to fulfill the show's promise to blow viewers' minds each week leading up to the hopefully epic 2-hour series finale.

The mysterious, and often villainous Charles Widmore got some much needed screen time this week, although, like most 'Lost' story lines, not enough information is ever given that could possibly satisfy the show's rabid fan base.

Like many a cruel father-in-law, Widmore decided to sacrifice Desmond for what can only be imagined as sinister plans. That sinister mouse from the animated series 'Pinky and the Brain,' an evildoer with plans to take over the world, is an archetype that often comes to mind when trying to describe the Widmore character. The torture device he subjects Desmond to appeared to be a giant magnetic chamber -- it appears to implode Desmond as he is bombarded with what looked like electric particles. This single scene might very well have been the most mind-blowing bit on 'Lost' to date.

After a jolt through the Widmore electrical mind trip machine, Desmond gets to experience life on the alternate "What if?" timeline. In the alternate reality, a construct of lies meant to fool its inhabitants into believing what they see is real, Charlie forces Desmond to flash back to the original 'Lost' timeline -- things keep getting trickier to follow as the finAl Weeks progress -- the one where Desmond is stranded on the tropical island for years. And here is where the 'Matrix' explanation beings to come in, allowing viewers to possibly decode what has been going on all season.

My mind was officially blown when all of those 'Matrix' assumptions I've been holding onto the past few episodes were validated near the end of last night. As soon as Desmond found his constant in the alternate reality, his true love Penny, he was jolted back to "reality," otherwise known as the stranded on 'Lost's' island reality.

Has Widmore somehow created an alternate reality that traps its inhabitants into believing the island no longer exists? Just what exactly happens if a character stuck in the alternate reality doesn't find their constant, and is therefore stuck forever? It appears Desmond will make it his mission to show his fellow castaways how to break out of the alternate reality, as he stated just such a mission at the end of Tuesday's episode.

Like every other 'Lost' fanatic, I'll be tuning in every night until ABC finally wraps up this mysterious television wonder. Only five episodes left until series finale time.