With so many questions begging for answers as ABC starts its final season of "Lost," it's worth asking: On a roller coaster, which is more fun — the ride or the finish?

From the very start, "Lost" has been one of the wildest rides in television history. Since its premiere in 2004, it has thrown one mystery after another at viewers, who savored every twist and turn for the survivors of Oceanic Air Flight 815.

The survivors had crashed on an uncharted South Pacific island that was home to creepy villains, a polar bear, a smoke monster, underground chambers, and old Volkswagen buses. There were flashbacks, flashforwards, time travel and spirits. There were heroines ... and heroin, packed in statues of the Virgin Mary.

And each season ended with a signature cliffhanger. Once, the island even vanished. Last May, at the end of Season 5, it was engulfed by an exploding hydrogen bomb.

The producers have said there are more mysteries than they have time to explain, but even so, anticipating a finish that's worthy of a series such as "Lost" can leave fans breathless.

"Just like any other fan, I want all the questions answered and closure," said Allen Yamazaki, a 35-year-old Mililani resident. "It is a really good show, and I kind of don't want it to end. But it is good that it is ending on a high note. There were other shows out there that in the beginning they are fun to watch, but they go on for 10 years and get boring."

Yamazaki, who is a sales executive at JW Marriott Ihilani Resort & Spa at Ko Olina, has been a fan from the very beginning. He watches every episode at least twice, often after his wife and two children go to bed.

"When I watch it, I watch it so intently I can't have the distractions of my kids," he said.

Yamazaki has long been attracted to the show's "human drama," especially the way the characters are all connected. He is always looking for "Easter eggs" — activity in the background of a scene that links characters or events from other episodes.

But closure has a price.

LOTS OF QUESTIONS

"I want the answers, but once I get them, I am done," he said. "It's over."

Kalei Uno, a 15-year-old sophomore at Island Pacific Academy, said she'll be happy with any finale that answers her questions — and she has many — because she's struggled at times to keep up with the plot.

"Random things keep happening to these people on an island that you think wouldn't happen," she said. "At one point, I was like, 'Why am I watching this; I am so confused.' But I couldn't stop."

No one ever said "Lost" was an easy series to follow. Mariann Major, an eighth-grade English teacher at Chiefess Kamakahelei Middle School on Kaua'i, believes it requires dedication — which may make it hard for new fans to adopt the series in its final season.

"Anybody can tell you that if you just watch a random episode, you will be lost," said Major, 23, of Puhi. "You have to watch from the first episode and go in chronological order to know what this show is all about."

Major once thought all "Lost" fans were "idiots" who were caught in a passing fad — and then had to apologize to all her friends after she watched an episode of the show.

Now she's addicted to the gradually unfolding mystery of "Lost."

"I have an insatiable thirst to know what happens next," Major said. "They give you a little bit each time. Every episode they kind of give you a little more of the puzzle."

GETTING THERE

But learning the final secrets of "Lost" isn't really why Major watches so religiously

"I don't think anyone watches a TV show to watch it end," she said. "They watch it to see how it develops along the way."

Kathleen Wong, an aspiring elementary school teacher, figures she normally has enough patience in her life, but "Lost" can test it more than a frantic first-grader.

Right now, she's ready for some answers. And they'd better be good, too.

"I have invested too much time in this show, and I just want to know how it ends," said Wong, a 20-year-old junior in the University of Hawai'i-Mānoa's College of Education. "I don't want it to hang on."

Wong, who watches the show with her parents and some neighbors, has tried to imagine how "Lost" will end when the series concludes in May. Her best guess is a bit unsettling, even for a show as bizarre as "Lost."

"I don't know," she said. "I am just thinking they are all in a coma or something, and they'll wake up and this will be all a dream."