Thu, February 15, 2007
The Cocktail Party Effect—1:25 PM
Lost did a nice little episode last night. A kind of Groundhog Day/Matrix Reloaded/"The Why of Fry"/Final Destination thing. It was enjoyable and intriguing, and focused almost entirely on Desmond – which is nice because Henry Ian Cusick is easily the most interesting actor on the show.
The only drawback is that there are all these tangential distractions from this story: Jack, Ben, and Juliet; Kate and Sawyer; Hurley and the survivors on the beach; Charlie and Claire; Walt and Michael (?); Jin and Sun; Sayid and Locke; the Others; the Dharma Initiative; Alex (so she's Ben and Danielle's kid?). In reality, each of these could be seen as the central story with the others as tangential distractions. I see the Desmond/Penny as the main one because it makes the most sense as the backbone – his arrival on the island commenced the weird shit (even though Ben's mini-city was theoretically already there, and perhaps that was preceded by the Dharma folks). Also, the Oracle/jeweler told Desmond he's the key, so that makes him seem somewhat pivotal. But I think it's still mostly my choice to interpret the story this way. Surely there are people who still see the whole thing as Jack and Kate's love story – there's nothing wrong with that.
I think this realization about how I perceive the Lost story pinpoints my disappointment with a lot of season three. They ended the last season by revealing that Penny knows something about Desmond's location (at the very least, she knows magnetic field disturbances provide a clue) and she's still searching for him. Ever since, we've had no update on that end of the story, and that's a big part of what bugs me. Sure, updates have been scant on a lot of the stories. Where the hell has Kiele Sanchez been, for one thing? But Desmond and Penny's story is the main one I'm still interested in, since the whole bit between Jack and the Others has become too pretzeled to even decode any more and Kate has essentially run off with Jason Affolder so she's dead to me.
I don't claim it makes a whole lot of sense, but if you're looking for an answer to the "Why do you still watch Lost?" question, I guess this is it. We each come up with our own weird reasons. The whole fate/determinism/time travel paradox happens to tantalize me just enough.
Brandon — Thu, 2/15/07 2:47pm
Actually, I think what they're going for there is that Ben has acted as her father for as long as she can remember (don't forget, Danielle said that The Others took away her baby). So basically, Ben is the only parent Alex has ever known, which means they're probably setting up a moment later on where the truth is revealed to her... or to Danielle, if Kate and/or Sawyer get to talk to her back on the regular island.
I'm still not sure how I feel about last night's episode. It was interesting, but it was also yet another answer-that-actually-raises-more-questions-than-it-answers answer.
The most interesting development may have happened off-screen - ABC.com is now offering character flashback compilations:
http://www.tvsquad.com/2007/02/15/lost-character-flashback-videos-now-available/
I think it's a smart move. They should make for good refresher courses.
Bee Boy — Thu, 2/15/07 4:21pm
Jeebus, that is a tremendous move. I always loved the way Tony Scott filmed Tarantino's unfilmable script for True Romance – cut it all up, put it back in chronological order, and filmed that. I think the Lost backstories would definitely benefit from this treatment, and if I cared about any of these characters, I'd totally watch them.
I think it's telling that my favorite Lost episode in weeks isn't sitting well with you. My theory about the show fracturing its audience comes to mind. Also your brilliant comment by e-mail: "This is starting to feel like The Lake House."
And, fear not about the more-questions-than-it-answers. The teaser for next week's episode promises that "three of Lost's biggest mysteries will be revealed!" We've never been disappointed by that promise before!