Last week I indicated I may be getting close to giving up on Lost. It’s now official—I am fed up. The writers seem like they’re mortified of developing the story arc any further. Last night’s episode was supposed to be earth-shattering, but it was just boring. And so were all the other episodes this season.
I think Lost might actually turn out to be worse than The X Files. The latter show lost control of its own mythos by inventing subplot after subplot. That resulted in a kind of dramatic inflation. With each new twist in the plot and each new mystery introduced, you knew there was no way they’d be able to make good on their promises. Just like currency loses its value when (by increasing the supply) it’s increasingly unable to be traded for items of actual value, I began caring less and less what was happening. I still don’t know how the show ended.
But Lost seems to be trying to avoid that problem by embracing its opposite: rather than revealing anything at all about the island or the Others, it just asks the viewers to please stand by until the season (or series) finale. And I frankly don’t see how they can explain everything they need to explain in a way that is not hokey or contrived.
3 comments:
....And, my hope is that this is how a show like 'Heros' will diverge. It's built around the same serial premise, except that it didn't start with a contruct at would paint itself into the proverbial corner: lost on an island. I mean, seriously, how far can you take a show like that? I think Gilligan's Island only lasted three seasons.
I'm glad that I never started watching Lost. All I hear from fans is the same sentiment that you've expressed here. Essentially, all build-up and no pay-off.
With 'Heros' we've spent about 15 episodes with a lot of build-up and some great pay-off. The exciting thing is that they haven't hit big pay-dirt yet. But, they're letting you know that it's on the way. It seems to be a difficult balance to strike. One that I don't think '24' does that well, overall.
'24' sets up some big things to happen in the last 5-10 minutes of every episode only to resolve those cliffhangers WITHIN the first 5 minutes of the next episode. Wash, rinse, repeat. Damn near every episode is constructed this way. I guess it works but...
My two cents. Good stuff. I don't know why I've devoted nearly as many words as I have over the last two years to a show that I've never seen one full episode of--Lost.
I guess, as Matt Schobert says, I'm the man who is a critic of everything.
But it's a great show!
It's cryptic. It reveals stuff only to hint at more hidden things. They keep developing the characters who I've come to like.
Last night was definitely a fluff episode compared to ones where we learn absolutely new things - we knew Hurley had absolutely bad luck and it was funny to think that the pissy reporter got hit by a meteor.
However, I'm still not going to give up my LOST habit.
I hope they keep it coming.
I think Lost might actually turn out to be worse than The X Files.
Heh. And in a recent interview, the LOST creators actually referenced the XF, saying that they didn't want their show to end up that way. They calculated that it will take another season and a half or so to wrap everything up.
This is a recurring problem with JJ Abrams: He starts with a big premise and ends with a whimper. I never truly got on board with LOST -- R. is the real fan -- but even I get enraged when I see characters like Said, Sun, and Jin going uselessly to waste. They have great actors and don't know what to do with them, and -- like you said -- don't seem to know how to push the storyline further.
I'm holding my breath on Heroes. So far, I haven't been thrilled about most of the women and/or the way they get treated on it.
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