Category: Television

With all the show has left to accomplish in its final run of episodes, you probably couldn’t blame Lost’s writers for going heavy on exposition while sacrificing storytelling that has really made the show the success it is. You can have all the smoke monsters, Numbers, whispers, polar bears and Dharma stations you want, it’s all meaningless without strong and engaging characters and a story to accompany them. While tonight’s episode didn’t mark the completion of Hurley’s character arc, the moments shared between his X-self and Libby-X were among the episode’s best, along with his inexorable grasping of the mantle of Island leadership of our candidates. Tonight’s episode has me primed (as if I needed help) for the last handful of episodes because, while I’m sure all of “The Answers” will be forthcoming, I’m expecting some flat-out great storytelling and engagement in the characters that’s made this show truly great.

“The Answers are way the eff over there, man.”

Continue reading “Issues with Reality”

We begin with an ominous quote from show co-creator Damon Lindelof posted online after last week’s episode:

Next week, the conversation will change.

I’d say so. While the forthcoming battle between good and evil still weighs heavily over the precedings (along with the age-old “what the hell is the Island?” question), tonight’s focus was on the facet of season 6 that’s most driven everyone batty: the flash-sidewayses. Is it an alternate timeline? An alternate universe? Are they real? Let’s recall Juliet’s last words as she lay dying in Sawyer’s arms: “It worked.” “It,” we assume, was Jack’s plan to detonate Jughead next to the pocket of electromagnetic energy the Dharma construction crew had tapped during construction of Swan Station and effectively reboot the timeline, prevent Oceanic 815’s crash (and who knows what else), and give everyone their lives back. A lofty ambition that didn’t appear to have worked at season’s start.

Nothing quite says “lofty” like a bunch of clouds. I wonder if Billy Dee Williams will show up again on Lost.

Continue reading “A Lot Can Happen in 42 Minutes”

Alright, I’ve voiced my complaints on this season’s “treading water” episodes enough. In light of last week’s exceptional, Ricardo-centric episode, one would assume tonight couldn’t be anything less than a comparative letdown (short of sudden ninja attacks taking over the plot — who doesn’t love sudden ninja attacks?), especially since “The Package” was billed as a Sun/Jin episode. Blech, right? Well, color me pleasantly surprised we got an episode chockful of good stuff to analyze, and a fairly entertaining plot to boot. Ricardus’ journey to eternal life, it ain’t, but I thought it worked pretty damn well. Let’s get on with our customary thematic exercise.

I’d view tonight’s episode as consisting of two plot threads woven throughout. The more tangible of the two was the continuing battle for hearts and minds being conducted between Esau, Jacob, and now Widmore. This is assuming there’s more than two sides to this battle — we don’t yet know where Widmore’s allegiances lie, though his intimations in the past were that he served the Island above all else. I’d tend to place whoever’s looking out for the Island on the “good” side of things, but not necessarily on Jacob’s (assuming he’s good). We don’t yet know who represents good and evil between Jacob and Esau as of yet, and who’s to say either of them is good? Our perceptions are never truly on solid ground.

Continue reading “You Didn't Declare This”

This seems like a good time to review the State of the Show, that show being Lost. A year or two from now, when the sixth season is out on DVD and can be watched consecutively in marathon viewing sessions, I think opinions will tend to be more favorable than they might be right now (assuming, of course, that they don’t completely screw the pooch on the finale). As for right now, in the week-to-week doldrums of what’s been a (relatively) so-so final season? I think the audience is growing restless. True, we are getting critical new bits of information each week, but it’s near-inexcusable to have efforts like last week’s “Recon” come across our television screens. I’m not sure there was any critical plotlines we would’ve been lost without had last week’s material been covered in a scene or two over the course of a couple episodes with far weightier and preferable material. I ain’t sayin’ I’m not enjoying this season; I’d just like it to maintain some sort of up-tempo pacing as we move forward. We’ve come this far; I’m not about to bail out now. And it’s a good thing, too.

Continue reading “An Offer He Can Refuse”

It’s your lucky day, as i’m here to provide what you’ve long awaited: a Lost running diary in lieu of a full-length recap! Hooraaaaaay, amirite?! Okay, here’s the truth. I’m in Orlando, had a full day of HDI conference mania, and just got out of the hot tub. Unless I plan on sleeping ’til noon tomorrow (not a good idea), you’ll have to make due with a running diary. I’ll make it up to you next week. Capiche?

9:00pm – No “Previously…on Lost” tonight — that must mean we’re in for an extended length wizbang-o-rama of an episode.

9:01pm – Sawyer’s back after a 2-week absence and has found his way to Claire’s Crazy Hut o’ Stickz. What’s he been up to in the meantime?

Continue reading “…Had Things Been Different”

In an episode that seems to further the idea our castaways have a preordained destiny — on-Island or off — but that ends with the idea everyone has the power to choose their path, it’s only fitting I choose to break with habit and admit I can’t give 110% effort to tonight’s recap as an early AM flight to Baltimore awaits me. Maybe that’s a good thing; rather than spending sixteen paragraphs talking about Jack’s lost faith and Ben’s machinations with all manner of mind-bending run-on sentences, I can do the same thing in bite-size bullet points! Or maybe some boldface fonts instead; I feel like mixing it up a bit. Behold, bullet points, I have chosen my own destiny — section headings based on random notes I took while watching tonight’s episode. Alright, this is getting insufferable; onward.

“Don’t make me break out my death-dealing laser eyes, Jeff.”

Continue reading “The Principles of Destiny”

“For every man, there is a scale. On one side of the scale, there is good; on the other side, evil. This machine tells us how the scale is balanced. And yours…tipped the wrong way.”

“Sundown” wasn’t quite the companion piece to season 1’s “House of the Rising Sun” I’d surmised in my recap yesterday, but the mirror-image theme continues. Both Sayids, our infected 1.0 and our X (as I’m now calling the 2.0 storyline) versions, accept and embrace their dark sides.

Continue reading “Tipping the Scales”

SPOILER WARNING – DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU’VE SEEN THE ENTIRE SERIES

As if I didn’t have enough to occupy my time, I decided to watch some season 1 Lost episodes to prime myself for the remainder of season 6. As you may or may not have noticed, each of the season 6 episodes thus far have served as a sort of mirror-image or companion piece to their season 1 counterparts (“LA X” to the pilot; “What Kate Does” to “Tabula Rasa;” etc.). This week brings us “Sundown,” presumably a Sun/Jin-centric episode, and so we go back to season 1’s “House of the Rising Sun,” originally aired October 27th, 2004.

Continue reading “Major Trauma”