I’ve watched J.J. Abrams’s “Lost” from the very beginning just as faithfully as other devotees. But I have to call it like I see it: the show has deteriorated into a mess of too many plotlines, too many time zones, and too many wrong turns. It’s lost its compass, so to speak.
One thing that kept me faithful this season was the show’s shift to flash-forwards in lieu of the typical flashbacks—last season I started fast-forwarding through most of the character flashbacks because I was so sick of them (sacrilegious, I know). Another was last year’s announcement that the creators and writers of “Lost” had determined an end to the show. A brilliant idea, I thought, because it gave fans the assurance that the writers knew where they were going, that the show would not wander around aimlessly for an indeterminate number of future seasons. Finally, there was what I call “the Desmond episode”—”The Constant“—which was so brilliant, engaging, and moving that I felt this one segment made watching the entire series worth it.
But alas, after last week’s episode, “The Shape of Things to Come,” with it’s revelation of this businessman Charles Widmore as somehow intimately tied to the Island in ways that disappoint and bore me, I quit. The show has become more about Benjamin Linus than anyone else. And yes, Ben is probably the creepiest character ever to hit the small screen. But he’s become the central focus of the show—and I didn’t sign up for Ben when “Lost” started.
Besides, Locke—who I used to love—has lost his status as the Island’s true-believer prophet, and now seems more of Ben’s puppet than anything else. Between Locke’s shift in character and the loss of Mr. Ecco last season, the plotlines of the show keep veering away from the mysteriously religious, and now default simply to confusion.
Unless, the “eye for an eye,” oh whoops, I mean, “a daughter for a daughter” form of um, justice (if you can call it that), taken up by Ben after he watches his daughter get shot—brutal—somehow counts as sufficiently biblical.
Regardless, I’m done. I quite the Church of Lost. Weekly attendance has started to feel like Catholic mass did as a kid: a chore. I feel better already!
posted April 30, 2008 at 11:53 pm
O you are SOOOO wrong. The show will ultimately be about – Hurley! Yes, when the action is happening and the stuff is flying, Hurley is there one way or the other. Locke and Ben and even Widemore are all pawns for some Great Force to be revealed through Hurley. He may be seem like Neville Longbottom or Sam Gamgee – but I think he will be quite a bit more. I suggest watching the show through the end of the season just to see what they do with and for Hurley.
posted May 1, 2008 at 10:21 am
I didn’t know anyone bothered watching that show, anymore. The first couple episodes were so pretentious and ‘look-at-how-smart-I-am’ full of itself (much like that second Matrix movie) I couldn’t stomach watching further. It was amusing to me that the show took off and became so popular. It seems many viewers are realizing what I saw at the very beginning.
posted May 1, 2008 at 10:54 am
I’m not crazy about Ben either…but I will probably stick with the show till the end. I’ve been there this long. Besides, my friend comes over on Thursday nights and watches it with me. It gives us something to watch together and talk about. There is always something to talk about with this show! He sees a lot of things that I don’t see. I agree, the Desmond episode was pretty cool. Besides, haven’t the producers/creators promised that everything will eventually be explained? I do understand giving up on a show, however. I gave up on Prison Break after the first couple of episodes last season, and pretty much did the same thing with Jericho.
posted May 1, 2008 at 2:00 pm
I agree with you jestrfyl. I love this show. It is one of the few that my husband and I look forward to each week. We actually talked about the show being about Hurley a couple of weeks ago. He is one of my favs. on the show. We plan on hanging on to every last minute of the show.
As for Neville Longbottom–I grew to really like him.
posted May 1, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Like you, I have tried to “Get that Feeling Again,” to use a Manilow reference,when it comes to the frmr #1 show. It is becoming more like work. At least Ben got what was coming to him, watching his daughter be blown away after he denied she was his. Even though we all saw that one coming, the re-introduction of “that thing’ on the island was a nice walk down memory lane. I am still hanging on… just like I will be tonight. Keep me in your prayers!
posted May 1, 2008 at 11:28 pm
I love Lost. I wish I was seeing everything that there is to see about the show, but I think I’m missing stuff right and left. But that is okay. I Love Lost!! But here is the weird thing, I put off watching the show each week….I dread watching it. I wish I knew why.
posted May 2, 2008 at 6:38 am
I thoroughly enjoy Lost. I bought a book on it last year at a Christian book store that explained much of the symbolism and made it even more interesting. Imagine if we could flash backward and forward through the lives of either others or ourselves. I especially enjoy when they replay episodes with captions that point out things we probably would of or did miss. I am definately in it for the long haul.