Realizing that most of the series the ol’ Cowboy was commenting on were of a serial nature and thus should be given time to develop, I’ve just been sitting on my high horse and waiting to see where things were going before commenting. So now, as the mood strikes me, I’ll be talking it up on certain shows, such as “Lost.” (Spoilers below)
Well, this season started like a rusty squeezebox, but has developed into a well oiled slide trombone. There have been some absolute slam-dunk winners this season, particularly Hugo’s coming to grips with the idea of responsibility, and the story arc charting the raft survivors and their finding of the others (not to be confused with “the Others.”)
What I love is that the past episodes have been a text book example of the A plot/B plot structure that I was JUST talking about at WizardWorld the other day, and how you can have the two of them intersect in unexpected ways. As a viewer, you know they got it right when something that you didn’t see coming happens, but when you look back you realize that it was almost inevitable. That’s pretty much what happened last night, in a good news/bad news scenario in which the good news is that Shannon no longer has to mourn the lost of her step brother. The bad news is, well…
(Although, just for the record, the early sequence where Shannon gets it on kind of telecast it for me. Nothing good on the island ever happens without a price. But that may just have been me.)
In any event, my earlier concerns are now officially allayed. And I’m looking forward to next week’s extended episode so that we now see what happened with the other survivors. And purely from a business point of view, you have to love a show where not a single actor’s agent is dare going to approach the producers at the beginning of season 3 to “renegotiate” their contract. “Yeah? Renegotiate? I got your renegotiation right here…”
PAD
• 
The predicted “Lost”LOST death threw me. It looked like Sawyer was going to die from the gunshot. Then it looked like they were just going to kill the woman from “the others” who mysteriously vanished during the jungle trek. And then, just when Shannon and Sayid made their peace, the hammer fell. Wow.
So far the season’s been going… decently. On the plus side, learning about the hatch raises as many questions as it answered. (It’s a home to an experiment — but a psychological experiment, or something like doomsday?) On the downside, the flashbacks aren’t as compelling/relevant as they were last season. (Did we need to see Sun’s courtship? Or that Jack felt bad when losing a patient?) And the 2nd episode, showing the same events from a different perspective, felt like a waste. To paraphrase MST3K, “No fair! You can’t re-show things we saw just last week.” Still, LOST remains the most intriguing and unpredictable show on the air.
I watched it just before I got online and read your review, Peter, and I’m glad I did. Then again, I learned my lesson last season when I made the mistake of recording the episode where Boone was “lost,” but waiting a day before I watched it.
I think I’m going to be most interested in seeing what Sayid does next. With many characters, you’d expect a gut reaction of rage, and that might be the case. But, from what we’ve seen of Sayid, I think he’s too wise and has lived through too much to do that.
But, then, I could be wrong, too.
The start of the season left me cool towards the show’s future, but I’m all in again. I am beginning to see members of this newly introduced group of castaways mirroring the roles that the other 815 survivors have taken on. Anyone else thinking that Libby(?), the psycholoist, is another Ethan-like character? She just seems a bit off to me and she was the person with the newly MIA group members when she virtually disappeared. I wish I had TIVO, because I’d like to rewatch the moments leading up to the snatching more carefully…. something about it. Also, weren’t the group of people who developed the prgoram in the educational film psychologists?
I wasn’t sure who was going to be offed and actually felted cheated for a moment when I thought that the latest Others snatchee was the lost person referred to in the promos, but when Shannon continued to do incredibly stupid things, culminating with her screaming out at and running after Walt when he whispered for her to be quiet….. it seemed obvious. As soon as the shot was heard, I thought that it would be great if it came from the “single bullet in the single gun” that had been mentioned. As soon as it was revealed, it was truly an “Oh šhìŧ…” moment for me. The first interaction between the groups meeting up centers around them killing Shannon….. Sayid’s response, which will most likely be a reverting back to his nastier tendencies, to the newbies and his own group…. each group member’s response and interaction with their counterpart from the new group…. and backgrounds and connections of stories that we are bound to see focusing on the new cast members all have me chompin’ at the bit.
Fred
I know it seems pretty clear that Shannon’s going to die. But it can take a long time to die from a stomach wound. If they rush her back to camp, Jack might be able to save her… or Sawyer. To me the greatest potential tragedy in Shannon dying is that we’ll probably never see Boone in flashback again. Not that Shannon hasn’t become an interesting character in her own right, but I always liked Boone more.
It’s interesting to not that the jungle voices that Sayid and the French Woman heard may have simply been The Others all along, as it seems that everyone’s hearing them now. Maybe Walt has become one of them?
Of course, as is par with this season, we won’t see the conclusion to the cliffhanger for at least two weeks, thanks to them spicing things up with alternate viewpoint stories. Which I like, don’t get me wrong, but is anyone else kind of frustrated with the pacing of this season? Some of it feels a bit padded out.
To the person who said that losing Shannon means never seeing Boone again because of losing her flashbacks, that ain’t necessarily so. If Lost has shown us anything, it’s that characters weave in and out of each other’s back stories so I think we could definitely see Boone and Shannon again.
My girlfriend and I don’t think Lost is a very satisfying show. Nothing really happens and we’re constantly frustrated by how slow it moves. If someone missed last night’s ep and asked you what happened, the only thing you need to say is Shannon died. And that happened at the very end. Literally in the last minute.
No other significant events occurred in that hour-long ep. Everything else was extremely minor – just ever so slight adjustments in relationships between Charlie, Locke and the young mother. But nothing we haven’t seen before and nothing that really forwards the subplots.
The ludicrous pacing of Lost becomes so apparent if you watch a far superior show like Veronica Mars, where a dozen unexpected events occur and multiple subplots are advanced significantly every episode.
My girlfriend and I are almost ready to give up on Lost. Next week’s episode does look interesting. Seeing what happened to the other survivors is a good idea and everything we get in that ep should be completely new.
Nothing happened?!?!? Sawyer is near death. Locke has learned that has Charlie either relapsed or is considering it and has raised Charlie’s awareness of the cost of a full blown relalse by simply using the word “addict”. There is a clear fracturing of unity amongst the leadership of the new 815 group. Shannon has been killed…. by a member of a group that plans on joinging with the rest of the 815 encampment *That’s a hëll of a 1st impression*. Sayid has just experienced an event that ya just know has sent him over the edge, losing the woman he just declared his love for. New revelations of a connectedness between group members before they knew each other. Michael having a palpable moment of realization when he verbalizes that Sawyer is near death because he took a bullet when Walt was taken *Was I the only one who sensed a bond being renewed and developed here?*. Hurley doing laundry. The dámņ dog is MIA!!!
Not all of these things hit one over the head like ALIAS revelations, but to say that nothing really happened seems like a bit of minimizing to me.
Fred
Did anyone else see Jack walk/run by in the hospital flashback? I thought I might have been seeing things. It was just as Shannon got to the hospital.
Justin
Yep, I saw it too. Someone else pointed out to me that he was likely on his way to see the woman who would later be his wife, hurt in the same SUV accident that killed Shannon’s father. They also pointed out that the docter speaking to Shannon was the same that Jack had consulted with in the previously mentioned episode.
Man, I miss too much. You need a pad of paper and a quick cam to keep up with it all.
Fred
I see this as one tribal merge that will not go well…
Like the first comment, Lost was a sad repeat of its self. Attack of the show on G4 TV said it was going to be her because up to that show she never had a back story.
Lots of people and lots of focus, just like the x-men comic books, now supporting several teams. Which means they can go as slow as they want too!
the “others”, are they the kids, or they men on the boat?
Have the shows on Charter DVR, look at the bright bush before the woman disappears, looked ‘misplaced’ to me.
Lost did start out a little slow, but I was in no way losing interest. Did guess at the beginning what might happen (for the same reason listed by PAD). My wife guessed who did it before I did.
I am hooked on Lost, but the jury is still out on Alias (especially now that I am watching the first season again — man was it good!).
Iowa Jim
I thought the dog was the one going to kick the can last night. Wonder if they’ll show the shooting from another perspective in a future episode?
It looks to me like Jack is going to have to make the choice to save either Shannon or Sawyer? Just like choosing to save she-who-will become-his-wife (forgot her character’s name) or Shannon’s father?
So Jack will have been present at the deaths of 3 out of the 4 members of that family (assuming there *are* only 4 members). Unless something had happened to Shannon’s stepmother too that we haven’t seen yet. In which case, I’ll bet Jack was there too. A clean sweep!
Personally I’ve been completely underwhelmed by the show this season. Other than the opening sequence of the season premiere, it’s been seemingly predictable all season.
Come on people, everyone knew for weeks Shannon was going to kick it last night. There was NO suprise that she died.
Veronica Mars is kicking Lost’s ášš all over the map, yet hardly anyone watches that show.
I was not surprised by Shannon’s death. I just kindof wished they killed Sayid. No, I like Sayid, but I think it might have proven interesting for the character of Shannon to have her brother die, then her lover die. (Then again, Sayid is a more interesting character; actually everyone of the major players is more interesting than Shannon, except maybe Michael.)
KIP
My wife made a comment about the “previously on” — when Jin and Eko watched the children march by, the last one was dragging along a teddy bear… in exactly the same way Michael does in Peter Pan — can you say “Lost Boys”?
“Come on people, everyone knew for weeks Shannon was going to kick it last night. There was NO suprise that she died.”
Everyone? I sure didn’t. I’m sure most people didn’t. Most people don’t spend their time on the net gabbing about spoilers.
Some of us do everything we can to AVOID spoilers.
It makes life so much nicer.
Fred,
Like I said, besides Shannon’s death, nothing significant really happened. And that happened at the end, so we don’t even get to see the effect for at least two weeks.
Sawyer has been in bad shape for a while. I’m certainly not surprised he got a fever and passed out. I also think most of the audience concern for him was influenced by last week’s previews, which said someone would die in the ep. I mean, the guy was shot. He was gonna get sick without medical attention.
Yes, Locke found out about the statue, but absolutely nothing came of it. So, I don’t really see the point of having Locke find out now. Why didn’t the producers have Locke find out and confront Charlie in the same episode? or have Charlie find out that Locke knows and attempt to cover his tracks. Or hëll, have Charlie take the drugs and accidentally drop the baby off a cliff?
Again, if a friend asked me what happened I wouldn’t even mention the fact that Locke found out about the drugs. It doesn’t matter who knows until Charlie actually does something with them or someone believes he is taking them.
I’m looking for action and reaction. Lost is all about giving an action and then delaying the reaction. That’s how they try to build suspense. But that’s not suspense to me. It’s just annoying.
Same deal with Shannon’s death. It happened at the very end and you see that Sayeed is mad. Okay, great. I’d be mad too. But now we have to wait to see what happens. And it probably won’t be next episode. This death doesn’t really matter until we see the consequences of it. The producers could have easily cut 10 minutes of the jungle troop 815 adventure and showed Sayeed actually do something at the end.
You mentioned a clear fracturing of the new 815 group. I don’t see a huge fracture there. If you’re talking about the big guy disagreeing with Girlfight, I’d call that a difference of opinion. I’d also say we’ve already seen that happen in two other eps.
The rest of your post is speculation, which is fine. I’m happy you are enjoying the show and trying to anticipate what will transpire. But my point is that those events should have already taken place on the show. There is too much time wasted on the inconsequential.
Lost needs better editing and better storytelling. It has a lot of compelling elements and interesting characters, but it feels like the producers stop short in every episode, whether it’s a subplot or an island mystery, etc. I just wish they’d let the show rip, instead of always holding back.
My initial response to this season was wait and see….So far so good.I love Michelle rodriguez but she and Sayid are really gonna have problems I see.By the way I am the only who noticed two cast members from OZ and two from Angel on the show now???
Why is Locke able to go walking about in the jungle with no fear when the others and the beastie from season one are out there?? Hmmm,makes you wonder.
By the way in the training film that Jack and Locke watched what was the “incident” that took place?
Anyways next week should be good
Anybody else watching Prison Break and Invasion???Good stuff
I have to sit with Markisan on this one. To me, LOST screams « padding » and « fake cliffhangers » all the way, just like ALIAS and 24, it looks like they make it up as they go along. I fail to understand why people find this thrilling. Haven’t we seen much better before? I’d find more thrills in a single AVENGERS episode in the Emma Peel Era than in the complete first season of LOST. I can safely predict an unsatisfying wet fuse ending, because there just can’t be a decent payoff to all that waiting; just remember the last episode of THE X-FILES…
Well, I for one love LOST, I suppose because I’m more interested in the characters and how they interact than in the instant gratification of something major happening ALL THE TIME.
These kids today, no patience…
-Rex Hondo-
JC, my understanding is that they put together a story map very early on in the developmental process. Rex, hear ya. Without solid characterization, most shows, films, etc hold no entertainment value for me. Probably why ALIAS falls flat to me this season.
Fred
I was pretty sure when I heard that someone else’s was going to be killed off, that it was going to be Shannon. Personally, I feel it’s no big loss. She didn’t contribute much, and she basically annoyed me. Wendy Whiner, all the way.
And as far as Sayid and Shannon? That was about as believable as Naveen Andrews(Sayid) and Barabara Hershey. Oh wait….
The previews said that “Someone would be lost forever”.
Yet we didn’t see anyone actually die.
Shannon was shot, Sawyer is incapacitated and the flight attendent (from the tail section) is missing. We assume that they meant Shannon, but it could have been one of the other ones.
I love LOST and I normally like Michelle Rodriguez but here character has so far done little more than annoy me (which, after all, may be what she is supposed to do.).
Sayid’s expression at the last moment gave me a good feeling, though I guess it’ll be a while before we see him act on it.
Great show. I still think it will have a hard time lasting more than 3 seasons but I’ll probably be completely, happily wrong.
“Well, I for one love LOST, I suppose because I’m more interested in the characters and how they interact than in the instant gratification of something major happening ALL THE TIME.”
I think the character stuff is the best part of the show, Rex. Without the flashbacks Lost would be unbearable to watch. But again, I just don’t think the producers advance storylines OR relationships at a satisfactory pace. There’s a lot of retread, hesitancy and in-action going on.
If you enjoy the show, that’s great. Just my opinion, which I’ve probably expressed enough for now.
Thanks for the discussion, chums.
On a completely unrelated note- On SMALLVILLE this week, did anyone else think Chloe just doomed herself when she told Clark “I would die before I told anyone your secret”?
“On a completely unrelated note- On SMALLVILLE this week, did anyone else think Chloe just doomed herself when she told Clark “I would die before I told anyone your secret”?”
Yeah I thought the same thing which is sad cause i gotta serious crush on Alison Mack
Deano asked:
“By the way I am the only who noticed two cast members from OZ and two from Angel on the show now???”
Well, unfortunately (I assume – I really enjoyed Homicide: Life on the Streets, from some of the same people), I’ve never seen an epiode of Oz. But, yes, I’ve noticed we now have two Angel vets! Sam Anderson, Mr. Holland Manners himself, joins Daniel Day Kim (Gavin) as a former Wolfram and Hart lawyer-turned-island-strandee (this despite David Fury, former producer and writer for both Buffy and Angel, reportedly leaving Lost this season for 24). Now – I want to see how many Wolfram and Hart lawyers we can get on the island! (Hey – could this be part of the “service in perpetuity” clause in their contracts? 😉 )
Christian Kane is busy playing the lead character’s husband on Closer to Home (?) on CBS, but is Stephanie Romanov available? Hey, how about J. August Richards? If we extend it to Wolfram and Hart _employees_ – Amy Acker’s popping up all over the place these days! In the past couple of weeks, my wife and I have twice come across her just flipping through the channel, appearing on shows we don’t even normally watch. Last week, she returned to the WB as the main guest star on Supernatural; last night she apparently played a major part (only caught the last few minutes) on Alias [which is a show I used to watch regularly, until I lost interest in it, around the same time that it became clear that, as alleged above, they had no idea WHAT the heck they were doing or where the heck they were going, big picture-wise. I’ve yet to get that same feeling about Lost, however. And most of what I’ve read – except from David Fury, in a side piece in the Evangeline Lily story in Rolling Stone #984 – describes the main issues as having been charted, with only some of the details being made up and filled in as they go.] Anyway, always nice to see Amy – and nice that her talents are being recognized by so many – or to see any of these actors – and the more on the island, the better 🙂
I knew it was going to be her. Three weeks ago she showed up online as joining another series, so that pretty much told me she was leaving Lost.
I think if the writers really wanted to challenge themselves they should tell an entire show from the dog’s point of view. Oddball POV isn’t new to novels or comics, why don’t they try it for TV?
I saw Shannon’s demise coming even before this episode. Maybe it was just a lucky guess, but it clinched it when she and Sayed had their moment.
I read somewhere today that Shannon’s wound was not a gun shot wound, but that she had been stabbed. They Others were there after all, remember the whispering. Curious to see if that’s true or if Ana shot her.
Technically we have 3 cast members from Angel Sawyer played a vamp on the first episode.
Just have to add myself to the list who will not lament Shannon’s departure. Spends the better part of the first month on the island sunbathing, then whines and cries that nobody takes her seriously. Cry me a freakin’ river…
And the relationship between her and Sayid was fishy until I remembered just how easy it is for a white knight complex to become almost cataclysmically misdirected. He practically comes right out and says that he doesn’t want her because she’s right for him, but because he wants to protect her.
Of course, I just wonder how in the world he forgot that she’s the one he asked to watch his bag and got him dragged in by airport security…
-Rex Hondo-
Anyone seen the episode with a flashback to a couple of guys, sitting on a park bench, talking about keeping “an eye on the ball?”
I’ve seen about – oh – 1.5 episodes of “Lost.” But, it’s hard to live on the island on not hear about the show from time to time. Or, even end up behind the scenes a little.
I caught the “Lost” film crew at the beach back in August, and wanted to see how the shot turned out once filmed. Took a couple of photos. You can see for yourselves here:
http://blog.sharkscavern.com/2005/08/14/9/.
RLR
Back to “Smallville,” which I think is much more interesting than “Gilligan’s Island II: Electric Boogaloo.” Alison Mack’s Chloe is almost certainly a corpse, based on the simple fact that she’s not part of the Superman canon. Also, her knowledge of Clark’s powers are also a real problem for the show’s writers.
The problem is that Chloe is the same age as Clark, and can emphathize with him, and help him on cases. Just like Pete Ross did. In essence, both Pete and Chloe made life easier for Clark. And making things easier on Clark makes for bad drama. For the maximum dramatic tension, he can’t have anyone he can truly emphathize with; not his parents and not any peers. Clark MUST be alone, and preferably with a tragic emotional wound at the end of the season. The death/murder of Chloe will do that. It will also shake up the viewers who assume that nice, dedicated Chloe will always be around – and hook them for the aftermath in the next season.
Didn’t anyone notice that, in the rapid “fly by” of charaacters in the promos for this year, Chloe is absent? Well, duuh…
I don’t mean to try to hijack this since I’m a huge Lost fan (Hurley sized one, in fact), but I’m wondering if Peter will be discussing the proposed WB “Arthur Curry” series – specifically if he’s been approached to write for it.
There’s going to be a next season for Smallville? They’re going to hit 100 eps this season. And just like with Angel, the WB is going to have a big hype-fest for that ep., and announce that the show won’t be returning next season a week later. Smallville’s ratings have dropped below where Angel’s were when it got canned, and with Superman Returns coming out next summer, the WB is going to opt to propell this franchise onto the big screen only. And when you consider that Smallville: Seaworld has been announced, you can already see where the Smallville production team is going to be transfered to next season.
I don’t know that I’d call Lost the most unpredictable show on TV. But it’s certainly one of the most entertaining that we watch, and maybe the most anticipated at our house. I think this ep. would have had a better impact if the “loss” hadn’t been telegraphed by the previews. Although it did add a quality of “oh, is THIS where someone dies? No, oh, is THIS it?”
One thing Lost does well is misdirect. The first suvivor death was hyped, and it turned out to be Scott. Or was it Steve? Then, with Boone, we expected it to be another RedShirt. Or that Jack would save him. Ok, maybe sans leg. Gack, her croaked…they really killed him. And then, you expected Charlie to bite it. But they can’t, he’s Merry! Wait, is this one of those “he’s gone, no he isn’t” scenes? Yeah, looks like. Except it’s longer than it should be, I think he’s really dead. No, wait, he’s not. Phew.
There’s a lot of tension on the shows we watch these days. Threshold, at some point, is going to Pod Person one of the Red team sooner or later. Even over at Surface, there’s a good deal of surface and underlying tension that something bad is happening. Lost is certainly headed down a much darker path so far, and it wasn’t exactly cheery to begin with.
In case you can’t tell, my wife and I are hooked.