I like Lost a lot. Its innovative plot coupled with strong
acting and ingenious twists is like a breath of fresh air that is almost making
flashbacks look cool again. I TiVo all the episodes religiously and I have
hardly been disappointed by any so far, which is quite an achievement for
a show in the middle of its second season (a feat that has only been topped by
24, which just started its fifth season).
However, I’m beginning to notice a disturbing trend in the storyline:
the Lost writers seem to be very good at coming up with startling scenes and
puzzling twists, but they do very little in terms of explaining them.
Instead of tying up loose ends, the episodes keep adding new implausible twists
that make you wonder if the authors really know where they are going or if they
just shoot for cheap one-liners and hope that viewers will forget them later.
Well, I’m not forgetting. Here is a quick list of the unresolved facts
that I can think of so far (spoiler warning: these facts cover both
season one and two, you might want to stop reading now if you are not caught up
with the show as of January 15th):
- Mutant animals.
- The mysterious "others".
- Winning lottery numbers that pop up in unexpected places.
- A semi-crazed French woman.
- A virus that makes people hear voices.
- A quarantine shelter buried in the ground.
- A man who’s been sequestered in said shelter for years and ran away (how
convenient). - Jack happens to know that man.
- A mechanical arm that pulls people into the ground.
- An underground machinery that requires numbers to be punched in on a
regular basis. - A heroine cargo that was flying out of Nigeria and ended up crashing on
the island. - A swirling cloud of black smoke.
And I’m sure I am forgetting quite a few.
I hear that enough of the plot has already been written to occupy five
seasons, which is great news, but I’m really hoping that we’ll start seeing the
explanation of some of these mysteries soon, or my patience will start wearing
thin very fast.
#1 by Kishore Dandu on January 18, 2006 - 6:33 am
I agree with the heroine cargo part. Really beats me about the coincidense.
I hope they don’t make us fools(or start hating it) in the 3rd season. Anybody remember Matrix sequels.
#2 by Luc on January 18, 2006 - 8:09 am
I like this show too, but sometimes feel annoyed by all the flashbacks.
I can think of other mysteries:
– The pirates ship or galleon dropped in the middle of the jungle. A hurricane ?
– The US Army knife found on one of the “others”. Has this island been in the center of a US army experiment ?
– The mysterious video that leads to more questions than answers…
Does the machinery in the bunker produce a magnetic field so powerful that could create hallucinations and disturb navigation instruments of any ship travelling around ?
N.B: in the French version of Lost, the french woman is … German 😉
#3 by Bill Kress on January 18, 2006 - 9:34 am
Funny, I always noticed the same thing with the last few seasons of the X-Files.
Babylon 5 was very successful with this kind of story, but it ensured that all these plot twists would be resolved. How? It was actually a five-season long movie, all scripted before hand. There was never any intention of going beyond the five seasons and having an ending made all the difference–all those little gadgets made sense when looked back on from the future (as opposed to the X-Files where most of the stuff that happened was random unexplained weirdness)
Without the ending, all you have is an extended soap opera that gets stranger and stranger (They feel they must get stranger each season…)
#4 by MS on January 18, 2006 - 10:23 am
I stopped watching this show after the first three episodes aired. My reason is that it became very apparent that the explanation for all of the weird stuff that’s happening is going to be so retarded that it will make me hate myself for the time I wasted watching it. It was also apparent to me that it was going to be a VERY LONG TIME before they bother to explain anything. To my knowledge, the show has no end date. That’s a big problem for a show like this.
#5 by simon valter on January 18, 2006 - 11:11 am
– What happend to Michael’s son, Walt.
I think the most interesting person in it is John Lock. He is so calm and mysterious.
I prefer series to a movie most of the time… sure some movies are really good but they are so short, and who
wants to end something that you enjoy. I might be watching a few too many 😉
Other great series (that i watched all episodes of) are imo:
Still Running :
1. 24 – the most intensive 24 hours.
2. Stargate sg1 and atlantis – I’m a sci-fi fan and Richard Dean Anderson rules!
3. Sopranos – Who doesn’t like Tony?
4. Lost – Mysterious
5. Alias – Great action, actors, story… atleast the rambaldi story.
6. 4400 – good sci-fi
7. Invasion – good sci-fi
Jump in and watch series:
1. NCIS – investigation, fun.
2. CSI – Miami/NY – cool investigation techniques
3. Las Vegas – nice ladies…
4. Numb3rs – Who doesn’t like math?
Short:
Sleeper cell – short and good .. no need for more eps.
Old:
La Femme Nikita – Peta Wilson is/was Hot! and its so dark/tough
Terminated before time:
1. John Doe – Stopped with a cliffhanger ep, too bad.
2. Fast lane – Tiffani Thiessen is Hot! Fast moving , smart lines, Nice Cars and Money.
3. Threshold – good sci-fi
—
Series that i watched once in a while,
1. SIMPSONS
2. FUTURAMA
3. ER
4. JAG
I probably forgot about a few 😉
#6 by Kishore Dandu on January 18, 2006 - 1:29 pm
Forgot to ask:
Any body liked dreamworks production, Into the west.
I loved this mini-series(of course the last but one episode was not upto the task).
#7 by Jeff on January 18, 2006 - 2:50 pm
Cedric,
I recently read an interesting entry on Rafe Colburn’s Blog (http://www.rc3.org/2006/01/yes_i_watch_lost.php)where he also talks about the unresolved plot lines in Lost. In that entry he refers to another article here: http://tv.zap2it.com/tveditorial/tve_main/1,1002,271|99441|1|,00.html
that provides some quotes from the series writers regarding all of the different unanswered questions that are part of the storyline. It sounds like no one knows how (or if) some of those questions will be answered.
#8 by Frank Bolander on January 18, 2006 - 3:44 pm
Let’s hope they don’t pull a St. Elsewhere and it’s all the imagination of an autistic kid looking into a snowball.
#9 by Sean Ness on January 18, 2006 - 8:43 pm
How can Locke walk again?
#10 by Dennis Doubleday on January 19, 2006 - 6:08 am
> How can Locke walk again?
Have they shown how he stopped walking? Maybe it was psychosomatic, brought on by depression due to his father’s betrayal.
Anyway, it seems to me that the most likely explanation for all the improbably coincidences (the plane, the fact that Jack had already met the guy in the bunker) and mystical events is that they are not living in physical reality. Each cast member is being forced to face difficult psychological issues from his/her past and grow emotionally from the effort.
Perhaps they are actually all dead and experiencing an existence in a Purgatory realm.
Or perhaps the island has some unexplained power to produce personal and/or mass hallucinations (somehow related to the psychological experiment associated with the bunkers on either end of the island.)
#11 by Erik on January 19, 2006 - 6:34 am
Here is a great theory about what Lost is really about…check it out if you are a big Lost fan:
http://www.dreifuss.org/2006_01_01_BlogArchive.html#113744908451130797
#12 by Charlie Collins on January 19, 2006 - 1:04 pm
I stopped watching after 4-5 episodes because the “implausible” plot twists just kept coming and it got to be way too much, way over the top. I mean I know its TV and all but after being stranded on an island in a plane crash, with various interesting characters and weapons having been on the plane you already have a hell of a plot. Do you then really have to add mutant polar bears a repeating radio signal a crazy french lady who steals babies a hidden bunker the “others” and so on? I am way behind on plot twists and probably recount several things wrong, because like I said I quit watching, it just seems to me like it was a good concept and great production from the outset but they got “lost” in trying to come up with a new plot twist every week when they never really had to do so. (And I am sure they will tie it all in some day but its just too ridiculous to watch it as a “drama” and have it rise to even a TV level of plausability.)
#13 by Christina on January 21, 2006 - 11:37 pm
Hello!
I always thought Lost sounded like a stupid show and never bothered to watch it and yeah, from what you wrote it sounds like the writers probably just don’t know where to go with all those loose ends mentioned.
i don’t watch much tv nowadays
annnyway I just found your blog because I was just at your VERY HELPFUL Rubik’s solution site and it helped me solve my cube 🙂 I’d been able to finish the first two layers, but I only bought my cube two weeks ago and no one’d taught me how to do the bottom layer yet.
so..I just wanted to stop by and say thanks for making that site. it’s wickedly cool, especially those stop-go cubes that actually demonstrated steps. it took a while to figure some of the steps out, actually, but they still worked.
-stina 17 san francisco, ca
(o and guess what I work at the Exploratorium and I got to be at the Rubik’s tournament – didja hear about the new world record?? that’s where it was set!! i was at another part of the museum at the time it happened, but still, ELEVEN SECONDS!)
#14 by ivan on February 3, 2006 - 3:02 pm
Hi! I’m watching this show in Croatia. It’s very interesting but it seemas that the mistery will never be solved! That’s boder me a little but i just can help my self!
#15 by Robert Kongisberg on February 22, 2006 - 6:08 pm
Aw, crap, I didn’t realize that anyone was infected with a virus yet, and that it was responsible for people hearing voices. When did that get revealed? Or, are you inferring it from something? I just watched the series up-to-date, all within the last month, so I’m pretty sure I’ve seen all the episodes.
Wifey and I just started watching 24, and that’s much more satisfying, because things *happen*.
#16 by Robert Kongisberg on February 22, 2006 - 6:09 pm
Aw, crap, I didn’t realize that anyone was infected with a virus yet, and that it was responsible for people hearing voices. When did that get revealed? Or, are you inferring it from something? I just watched the series up-to-date, all within the last month, so I’m pretty sure I’ve seen all the episodes.
Wifey and I just started watching 24, and that’s much more satisfying, because things *happen*.
#17 by Dr Ryan on February 26, 2006 - 6:02 pm
They blatentely will tie up all these loose ends. They have enough stuff for six seasons so they need to set up some stuff if abc really feel they have to drag this out that long!