A man awakens in a jungle. He is bruised and bleeding, and doesn't know where he is. A yellow Labrador Retriever watches him from the trees, and suddenly runs off. He forces himself to his feet and winces in pain, leaning against a tree. He checks his jacket pocket and finds a small bottle of vodka. Recognition of where he is begins to float across his face. He winces back the pain and begins to run through the trees, reaching a beautiful beach.

He hears sounds; people screaming. He wanders around a bend and finds what has brought him here - a plane crash, survivors in shock, a man trapped beneath wreckage, a woman not breathing. A pregnant woman screaming for help. He runs to help those he can, and rallies the others to help him. One of these strangers asks his name: "Jack." He replies.

So starts the latest TV phenomenon on Channel 4 - Lost. The pilot was shown on the 24th of August 2005 and over 6 million people tuned in, and the first series finished with a 2 hour cliff hanger. In September the series won The Emmy for Outstanding TV drama and in America over 23 million tuned in for the first episode of season 2. It has become so popular that you can have sent to your phone a 2-3 minute recap of the last episode in case you miss it.

The premise of the show is simple, and I guess effective because it plays on a fear that we all share and a scenario some of us have thought through. An aircraft has crash landed on an isolated and seemingly uninhabited island leaving the 48 survivors lost. It quickly becomes apparent that the rescue service will not find them as they were over a thousand miles off course when the plane went down. How will they survive? That is the big question, especially as it becomes obvious that there are threats from within as well as without. Every week not only do you watch the group struggle to survive by finding food, fresh water and safety. But you find out a little about each of the characters, their past and how they ended up on the plane and therefore on the island.

So there is Kate, who is definitely not what she appears. She is not the nice girl next door, it soon becomes apparent that she was actually a captured fugitive who was in custody being taken back to America to stand trial. Quite what for we haven't found out.

Or Sawyer who is a fairly amoral character and who lives to avenge his dead parents and is returning to America having killed the wrong man in Australia.

Or Sayid who it turns out fought in the Gulf War, for the Iraqi Republican Guard and was a communications officer - in other words his job was to ensure prisoners communicated.

Or Charlie who is a heroin addict.

In one of the early episodes the hero figure 'Jack' the doctor says this to Kate: "Three days ago we all died. We should all be able to start over."

And for some of the characters that is what the island appears to give them a chance to start over, to forget the past, to escape its shackles on their lives, to break addictions, to change relationships. I guess that is why the show works, as we get to know the characters, yes we want to know more about them, but we also want to see them succeed as they start over, to begin again without the guilt or the consequences of wrong choices.

Have you ever wished you could rewind the tape and take back that comment that now hangs unmentioned over everything, or change that decision you made, or escape the consequences of that action? Wouldn't it be nice to begin again, to start over with none of the baggage, but with the wisdom we have learnt from it, and in a place where no one knows your history.

But we know that is not reality so we escape into shows like Lost. But even in Lost reality bites, there is a sense in which every character cannot escape his or her past, there are things that trigger memories, there are addictions and fears. There is Charlie fighting his drug addiction, there is Kate fighting the guilt of what she has done. But despite their fight, despite what seems like a second chance, they are still lost, they are still trapped by their past as well as their geography. You sense each of them is searching for a way to live with themselves, wanting to make the clean start but unable to.

And that is one of the series other big themes - hope. Hope of survival, hope of breaking free of the past, hope of being rescued, hope of some way to escape the terrors and threats they face. When they are under threat they cling to hope - even if it is a blind hope.

Lost may be set on a deserted island after a plane crash but so many of their struggles are my struggles, so many of their issues are our issues. How can I live with what I've done, can I escape, can I survive being lost?

And the only thing left is hope; hope of forgetting, of coping, well no. But hope of acceptance, hope of rescue - that is the only real tangible hope that remains. It is a hope that we find in the gospels, Jesus comes to warn but also to bring us hope. To make us more aware of our need of forgiveness than ever but also to die to secure that forgiveness for us, if we will just listen to what he says and believe in him.

Christianity & Culture