The LOST Art of Ending Well

There’s a lost art to ending things at the right time. It’s human nature to stay with something too long—especially if what we’re doing is popular or continues to work. 

We see this phenomenon in popular television series. A show will start strong, tell the story it set out to tell, but then keep going because of ratings or to crank out enough episodes for syndication. This is why the last season of long-running shows are often the most unsatisfying to watch. The storytellers have nothing left to say and the characters have outgrown their role or purpose. But because it’s profitable for everyone involved, they keep going through the motions.  

A brilliant exception to this trend is the show LOST. If you haven’t seen this series yet, you should. But my focus here isn’t the storytelling but rather what happened behind the scenes.  

During the third season, the creators made a bold move. The series was incredibly popular, the kind networks hope will last forever. The creators had another plan. They told ABC they would sign a new contract only if all parties agreed to end the series after the sixth season. Before then, it couldn’t be canceled. And after the sixth season, it couldn’t continue. 

This freed the writers to purposely move forward to a predetermined end. Every episode mattered. There was no filler. Every scene had a reason for being. 

May we be as intentional with what we create with God. It’s exciting to begin a project well. But ending it well determines whether the project stands the test of time.  

In tomorrow’s reading, we’ll look at the skill of seeing what’s next.

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