the blast door map

the preboomer is a mid-story climax, that when executed well, is deeply thrilling for reasons that aristotle laid out in 'the poetics.' here are the types of preboomers:

• asks a fundamental question the audience is also asking. done right, these enhance the thrill of audience/character empathy and mystery. the classic one is of course the first preboomer, when charlie asked: 'guys, where are we?'

• amplifies an emotional state. these are usually the 'happy' preboomers that don't have 'booms' but lovely strings accompanying the final title. usually occurs with a redemption, a reunion, or a triumphant conclusion (will the series finale will have this type of 'boom?'). it's not always happy, though - it amplifies any emotional state, such as when sun visited jin's grave.

• brings full closure to a storyline. like when two hated characters are buried alive.

• crystalizes an ambiguity. these are usually delivered by ben. my favorite being s2e16, 'the whole truth,' when ben says, 'you guys got any milk?' or from s3e16 'one of us,' where juliet, after being revealed to the audience as a double agent, ties up her tent flap in one, cold brisk motion.

• disambiguates a previous unknown while simultaneously raising new questions. this is the core of what 'lost' is about. like when kate says 'i love you aaron,' it confirms that the child she's been speaking about for the past hour is in fact aaron, but also leaves us wondering 'how?!?' or when ben says 'because i have a man on the boat.' okay, yes, that makes sense, but again, 'how!?!'

• defines a character's objective. these usually aren't shocking or surprising in any way, but generally reveal that a choice has been made about how to proceed next. these are fairly common, ho hum preboomers that ususally sound like 'how long do you think it would take to train an army?' or 'i'm going to find john locke.' i'm gonna do this, i'm gonna do that, boom.

• introduces a completely new plot point. at libby's funeral, sun sees something on the water and shouts 'boat! boat!' somehow, locke's father is sitting there in front of him. 'dad?'

• creates a reversal. aristotle talks about this idea, called peripetia: when black becomes white, when good becomes bad, when what you thought was true is shown to be false - the skillful unravelling of these revelations are the core of storytelling. such as when michael, after shooting ana lucia and libby, opens ben's cell, stares at him, says nothing, and then shoots himself in the arm. it causes us to re-evaluate everything we thought we knew about michael since he left, and yet the event is also perfectly logical and in line with the natural course of events. brilliant. damon and carlton know their poetics.
  

want to see all the preboomers? ALL of them? well, you're in luck. someone with nearly as much time on theirs hands as i have has gone ahead and compiled them for each season. it's interesting how there is less consistency in the preboomers than you'd think. the original sound effect was very diferent from the one used now, and on several occasions the 'boom' is a trumpet blast, harp string, or other instrumentation orchestrated by michael giacchino. it's also a really great way to quickly remind yourself of how big this story is, how far it stretches, and what an incredible achievement it is.. so far.

check them all out here:

season 1:


season 2:


season 3:


season 4: