Lost

Want to know why Lost is so damn good?

It masterfully exploits two intrinsic human characteristics: our fear of the unknown and our curiosity.

Remember the first time you heard that french woman's voice on the radio, repeating the same eerie message over and over again for 16 years? That was spooky. It made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up and it made you curious. You absolutely had to know what that was all about.

But here's an interesting thing: I downloaded Lost from the internet and watched it on my computer. Because some episodes finish faster than others, I ended up skipping the episode where Said finds the french woman. All I saw was Said returning, wounded, and saying he found her. And that was spooky as hell.

When I watched the missing episode later, it was a bit disappointing, because she really was just a nutty french woman living on an island. The satisfaction of knowing what I did was offset by the fact that the mystery was gone.

This theme occurs again and again in Lost. The good thing is, as soon as they explain one mystery, another pops up. We can only hope they get creepier and more interesting from now on.