Ugh, tequila. Why why why why.

Good times though. After going out for drinks after work with the coworkers — that rarest of activities — I rushed home for the season finale of ANTM. Out of all the abbreviations in the world, this is probably the one I have the most difficulty remembering.

Top Model results: inexplicable. No spoilers in this post, folks.

This is probably the last time for a while that we'll have a decent-sized group over on Wednesday, as Jenna is keen on doing her homework that night.

A Lost finale party is the obvious, but still hazy, exception. Are there still Lost fans out there? I feel like, this season, the Losties have been pushed underground. There's no widespread Lost evangelism because:

1. We assume that everyone not living under a rock has already made up their minds whether or not to watch. If you're not hooked after the first one or two episodes, we don't need you.

2. There are a lot more episodes to watch if you want to catch up.

3. This season is crazy, and though it definitely has its moments, it's weak-sauce compared to the other two. Scattershot story progression! Plot twists with no build-up! Come one, come all!
Reality shows like ANTM should never be watched alone, but I'm still not sure whether or not I prefer watching Lost with a big group, as I occasionally did in college.

This season Markie has ended up staying after ANTM to watch, and it's nice to puzzle out stuff as it happens, but there's also a clear tradeoff between this sort of musing and the all-consuming engagement with the show that I feel when watching it alone. The larger the group, the less the solemnity.

As someone who hates spoilers to such an extent that an episode's title and "previously on Lost" segment are considered unwanted information, I'm looking forward to next Thursday.

You see, while the show is airing, the Lostie community is increasingly divided into two important groups: the hardcore fans whose collective research and opinions form the Lostie Overmind, and the more softcore fans who speculate only with friends and whose research rarely goes beyond rewatching the show. Fans might resist joining the Overmind for any number of reasons, which I won't go into here.

(Apart from the Hydras and the Swans, there's also a sizable, even more softcore group that doesn't even watch every episode. This behavior strikes me as fundamentally wrong.)

The Swans and the Hydras have different assumptions and are (to a certain extent) concerned with different enigmas. The Hydras know things that we don't, and the Swans hold to theories that, unbeknownst to them, have been refuted to all hell.

Regardless of whether or not we have a Lost party, on Thursday the season will be over. The gates of the Lostpedia will once more be open to me and, with Lost-less months to fill, I can learn all that I've missed this year. The divide, until the next season at least, will largely disappear.