Lost: The Package
The Magical and Heartracing V Countdown Hour Timer Extravaganza Celebration. 60 minutes of thrilling numbers ticking away towards zero on the right side of your screen!
Also, some stuff happened about an island, I guess.
Clearly, Sun and Jin are two people that will NEVER get a happy ending and are doomed to be separated by circumstance forever.
It was probably the first episode since the premiere to cover ground with every single character, so it just felt overstuffed and wheel-spinny… and I didn’t see anything in the form of a discrete character arc for Sun or Jin here. The mirror-image life they lead in the sideways universe DOES show that the Island has been a hell of a crucible for their growth overall, probably moreso than any other main characters. Jin stands up to evil incarnate (as opposed to his pliant and docile sideways-self), Sun is responsible and cautious (as opposed to her spoiled and reckless sideways-self). Both versions are preyed upon by an uncertainty in communication. Is there any real difference between not understanding someone’s language and being unsure (in the case of Widmore and Dark Locke) if the person you can understand is actually telling the truth?
But, that wacky bonk on the head making Sun forget English tilted into Three’s Company territory. I kept waiting for Ben and Jack to get accidentally handcuffed together for a weekend. It’s possible that Sun’s changing speech was intended to unsettle us by the possibility that universes are bleeding into each other, that maybe the menace of Dark Locke threatens not just this world but all possible worlds across a multiverse… but it just seemed goofy. And like an excuse to shoehorn in another reference to The Stand.
I think it’s notable that Dark Locke was watching when Richard and Hurley resolved to stop him from leaving the Island. His desire to board the Ajira plane and escape his endless prison has been widely boasted, but I’m starting to suspect a Sawyeresque con at work. He needs those candidates, but he doesn’t necessarily need them alive. I’m starting to worry that he’ll cheerfully stand back from the crossfire and watch as Alpert and Widmore attempt to destroy that escape device with all the candidates aboard it.
If that’s the case, silent Sun’s inability to argue for the plane’s preservation is going to seriously help the Man in Black.
Thoughts?
Also:
• It’s amusing that Ben hasn’t told a lie once since undergoing his emotional conversion, but nobody really seems to care.
• Fucking Jeff Fahey. I love him. He laments the awesomeness of bacon and delights my heart with his every craggy, salty grumble. I want a Jeff Fahey calendar.
• The show is so goddamn contextually dense that I find myself overthinking a man looking at a digital camera. “Hm,” my brain says, “This is similar to the lighthouse mirror that Jacob used as a window into other worlds and lives.”
• An ancient, immense evil that floats around and appears as the dead? Potential candidates for the position of Chosen One? The Island as a giant Hellmouth that dribbles out evil but keeps greater horrors at bay? I keep saying this: the last season of Lost is pulling a lot out of the playbook from Buffy’s own final season.
Comments
I haven’t felt a need/desire to watch an episode twice all season, until now.
That digital photo of Sun and the child on her birthday had plenty of space in it. I bet we’ll see Jin appear in that same photo when this is all done.
Justin, your reviews of Lost are not only better than the show itself, they also make me question whether or not my ever-growing hatred for the show is due more to my own stupidity than the fact that it sucks. Do you still like the show? It seems like you see it on a different level than most people I know which might make it more enjoyable.
I agree Jay. I still like the show, but I fell like if they had done a shortened final season, like maybe fewer episodes by half, they could have acheived the same results.
This episode wasn’t quite as wheel spinning as some others this season have been, but it wasn’t that forward moving either.
-I think it’s somewhat clear at this point that either Jin or Sun will end up being the “protector” of the island. Why else create that big question mark around it? And what implication does their different last names in Sideways world have?
How dumb will this show end up being if we find out that Jin, of all people, is “the man”.
All I ever wanted out of Lost was a slow unfolding of how the electro-magnetic anomalies created a “special” place and an exploration of the character’s attempts to understand and live in it. Secret hatches and brainwashing chambers and underwater jamming stations and jungle polar bears were all so damn cool. That was enough plot fodder for me. All of this bigger picture crap can shove it.
I also really, really hate the super cheap way they keep bringing back past cast members this season.
Oh man, jay. You just summed up so much of what is killing me about this show. Even with the pretty good Richard episode and the passable last episode, I’m about 9/10ths of the way to “fuck this show forever.”
John said:I’m about 9/10ths of the way to “fuck this show forever.”
and there’s this week’s answer to the ever-present question, “what does john think about LOST at at this point in the series?”
applause! applause!
okay so there are 18 episodes this season and by episode 10, hutch is 9/10 of the way to “fuck this show forever.” quick, someone do the math!
edit: oddly enough, this was the wisdom as i was typing:
Statistically… 9 out of 10 people enjoy gang rape.
-Unknown
I know plenty of people (increasingly myself included) who have grown frustrated with this show as of late. But John has been singing the same boring tune since the first season. JUST STOP WATCHING IT!!!!! I could see if you’ve liked it all along and now it’s just an obligation to see it through. But YOU’VE MADE THE SAME POINTS AND THE SAME COMPLAINTS SINCE THE BEGINNING!!! So stop watching and stop giving your opinion. We know what your opinion is. We knew what it was 5 seasons ago. Then 4 seasons ago. Then 3 seasons ago…and on and on and on. We get it. Oh lord, do we get it.
What makes this even worse is that also from the beginning you’ve said you were more interested in the sci fi mumbo jumbo aspects of the show and didn’t care about the character development or drama or acting or any of that. But now you’re complaint seems to be that it doesn’t make sense. IT’S SCIENCE FICTION!!!!! It’s not supposed to make sense.
Neh, I loved the first season. And I did quit, but they kept watching it here so they sucked me back in. And I didn’t comment on this episode outright, just reiterated Jay’s points.
Science fiction is supposed to make sense, though. That’s what’s disappointing. I was hoping for the science part to be a little more prevalent than the fiction part. You’ve also mischaracterized my previous complaints about the characters. I love good character development. I was bitching and moaning in Season 2 and 3 because they were either trying to keep us hooked on some retarded love triangle or airing complete bullshit, go-nowhere episodes instead of any actual character or plot development.
That’s why I really enjoyed the Richard episode and why the Sun/Jin saga is one of the more interesting threads in the show. Ben’s saga has been absolutely fantastic and makes the show worth watching — I just wish they hadn’t pulled all that “oh, he teaches Alex now” bullshit in his parallel universe thing. That was ridiculous. But regardless, in all these instances, there’s actual character development, something any good sci fi series needs.
But really, what’s wrong with pointing out a show’s flaws? What’s wrong with demanding that we get both good, believable plot devices alongside decent, well-written and interesting characters. I don’t want to hear that it’s a network show. That’s a shitty excuse. Battlestar pulled it off admirably, and it did it with a tiny Sci-Fi Channel budget. And why is Jay allowed to critique the show but I’m now banned?
It’s all mostly because I just like busting your chops. But also because Jay’s critiques fit more into what I mentioned about just now being dissapointed in how they’re winding it down rather than the same complaints for multiple seasons. If he’s been dissapointed in previous seasons he’s kept it pretty low profile.
I don’t disagree with your critiques overall, but you just seem and have always seemed unwilling to just ride the waves as they ebb and flow. It seems like every episode with you for many seasons now is either “WORST EPISODE EVER!!! HORRIBLE!!! I’M NEVER WATCHING THIS SHOW AGAIN!!!!” or “GREATEST EPISODE EVER!!!! AMAZING!!!!! I’M LOST SUPERFAN #1 BABY!!!!!!” or some variation of the two extremes with minimal constructive discussion or criticism (a la Justin).
5 or 6 seasons (or however many it’s been at this point) is a long time to keep something like this going and I think that regardless of how they are winding it down, that overall I’d say this show has hit the marks at least 80% of the time. And when it has scored it’s been some of the best television ever. And when it’s failed the worst I think that can be said is that it just didn’t advance the story or the characters (other than that Nicki and Paulo thing which was just bad, bad, bad).
I mean everyone’s know that for the most part the arc of the story has been something related to good versus evil and free will, and even at it’s most obtuse it hasn’t strayed too far from that. Even the sci fi stuff has been somewhat related to how that stuff impacts choices, good, evil, etc.
As I said earlier in the thread I think a lot of this loose end tying is frustrating but I think now that they’ve pretty much concluded most of the sideways stories hopefully now it will start wrapping it up more.
And speaking of Galactica, when does this show actually get good? I’m halfway through the first season and I’m pretty much bored stiff at this point. Fighter ships shooting lasers….blah blah…here come the Cylons….blah blah….inspirational speech by Mary McDonnell and/or Edward James Olmos…..blah blah…sexy Cylon woman doing something sneaky….yeah yeah….that annoying blonde fighter woman saying “frack” a lot and being annoying. When can I expect any of this to change and start capturing my attention?
John said:And why is Jay allowed to critique the show but I’m now banned?
I’m pretty sure it’s because people are physically afraid of me. Rightfully so.
Battlestar had me right from the getgo, but it took us over a year of non-commited watching to get through the first season. But, as Gos said, once you hit 2.5… that’s it. You’re hooked and every episode is a treat.
Season 1 is, effectively a fairly long exposition. But a required one.
everyone really needs to stop over-analyzing this show. Just sit back and enjoy the 6 remaining episodes for what they are and the potential for ‘holy shit!-ness’ that they might have. if it ends disappointing than i, john and everyone else will say…figures. if not then we can rejoice and say farewell to a mindfuck of a show.
quick thought: when sun stopped her english speaking-ness, it showed how fragile the barrier between both worlds was and eventually it will crumble down (my guess is hurley episode in two weeks). also, the jin and sun saga will not have a happy ending. one of them will die. as keamy said when he locked jin in the freezer ‘some people are not meant to be together’.
fin
I love watching Lost and dissecting its guts afterward. I’ve never understood spending time on with things you don’t enjoy, so I’d have shrugged and given up if it annoyed me more often than not, even if all my other friends were watching and talking about it.
The creators have an extraordinarily strong presence on this show, so the literature student in me enjoys rolling along the narrative waves and delights in pulling apart repeated images and symbols that float alongside. It’s had ups and downs, but I’m taking satisfaction in one of the single rarest things in all of pop-culture: a story that’s getting told at the pace and fashion that the creators intended. They’re not scrambling to meet the demands of a changing budget, rushing to whip out a “finale” episode after finding out that they were canceled mid-season, or clashing endlessly with executives over their vision. They’re doing what they like and this almost never happens. This is why I’m savoring the experience as a whole and waiting patiently to see how it plays out. If it works, great… if not, I’ll have enjoyed the experience of seeing the above.
I’ve been watching Lost for four years and never once, in that time, thought of it as a science-fiction show or even (like Fringe or Dollhouse) a show with science-fiction elements. I should know, as science-fiction often makes me fall asleep on the couch (Hi, I’m the only person on the planet that was bored to tears by the new Star Trek movie). When I first talked to John about Lost, I remember feeling confused when he lauded the science-fiction as one of the best parts. “Man,” I thought, “He’s gonna be disappointed as hell one of these days.” Watching a show like this involves a lot of guesswork and puzzle solving, so you tend to cram a lot of your expectations in there… and get disappointed when it stubbornly insists on being the same show it’s always been. To me, I’ve always seen it as the best adaptation of an unwritten Stephen King novel ever. That’s just me, though.
It comes down to this: I thought Nikki and Paulo were awful, terrible, awkward characters that were getting shoved into scripts in the worst possible ways… but their flashback ended up surprising me as one of my single favorite episodes of the series. It’s this great, absurd Stoppard-esque farce about two boorish jerks, while the rest of the show deconstructed and parodied itself in the background. When I saw that, I decided to just trust where things were going. I can be insanely patient when I put my mind to it, I guess.
Over-analyzing the show is its biggest appeal. It’s why people got into it in the first place.