Lost: The Final Season (Premieres Feb. 2)

You know what ruins my viewing experience? The fact that the show sucks. Watch "The Wire" and watch "LOST" and you tell me how "LOST" measures up, especially now that they've decided they don't have to answer any of the mysteries that are the reason for the show in the first place.

 

Not even a little. But I've always been weird like that. I can read a book I like hundreds of times and not be bothered, but most people I know read a book once and they are done.

 

NY Times has a really good interview with the writers. It picks their minds about how they put together the show, not the details that we've bickered about on here.

I have to say - it's better than the recent Sepinwall one I linked.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/arts/television/16weblost.html?pagewanted=all

 

Damn you for not taking my bait

 

A few days later, I'm more at peace with Across the Sea. I wasn't as upset with it as some fans to begin with, granted.

The Island has a heart that is the source of some freaky powers. It has a powerful effect on people who live near or around it, causing scientific curiosity like MIB's people and the Dharma Initiative, and causing Mother to become a lying, manipulative, mom-murdering baby-snatcher. It's mystical powers allow for some freaky manipulation, such as healing, granting immortality and creating freaky voyeuristic lighthouses.

Jacob isn't an omniscient deity. He's just a guy with mommy issues and a job he is responsible for but tired of. He does have 2,000 years of wisdom and all the time in the world to think things through, though, which explains why he can manipulate events so perfectly.

That's a framework into which most of the rest of the stuff that happens can be made to fit.

 

The final podcast from Damon and Carlton.

http://www.docarzt.com/lost/the-podlast-the-last-official-lost-podcast-probably/

Yes, they address the reaction to Across the Sea.

Again, I'm totally fine with what we've been given to this point.

 

Of course, there are things I'd like to see answered or whatever. But I mean, in general, I'm good with what LOST has been to this point.

 

They, as usual, spent more time joking around than anything else. Entertaining, but . . . I do look forward to their audio commentary on Across the Sea.

I like Cuse's recent statement that they're going into (temporary) "radio silence" post-finale to allow fans to hash out the show for themselves. That's been much of the fun of these threads, and I appreciate everyone's interest in guessing and discussing this great show.

I need to watch Across the Sea again. I don't want to talk myself into liking it, but I want to watch it with an open mind. I don't want to treat it the way some treated the Star Wars prequels: "Well . . .it wasn't what I expected, and it didn't do what I wanted it to, so it was subpar!"

I still think the episode was a great concept that needed another half hour. That won't change.

Instead of anticipating the answer to what I think is the biggest mystery - the whole Others babies thing - in Across the Sea, I'll resign myself to it being a big mystery that never gets a blunt explanation.

(And RickStain - or anyone else who looks at spoilers - feel free to correct me in a PM or something)

Seeking the "answer!!!!" to this particular mystery hindered my enjoyment of Across the Sea. So going forward, since every theory I had about it - the statue destruction, the MIB doing it as part of revised "rules," etc. - has been completely disproven, I'm going to assume that the Others' fertility issues were caused by Jacob's ("The Island's") anger that they had abandoned the old ways and were now embracing technology by living in the Barracks and using Dharma's old stations.

I think someone here (or was it Sepinwall or Jensen?) noted that Across the Sea showed that when a group gets too curious about the Island and its workings, fate is not kind to them. The MIB's tribe, Dharma, etc.

I would take this even further and say that before Oceanic 815, it had been a good long while since Jacob brought anyone to the Island. I think the Others were the last group, and, with Richard's help, his ultimate success in the "People are evil!" game with the MIB. Rules were established - Others can't kill each other, for instance - and they lived on the Island as its chosen tribe for a century. He had no more need to bring anyone to the Island.

But the Others' movement toward modernization - led by Ben, who has clearly been presented as a very flawed leader, perhaps a mistake by Richard - meant that Jacob had to find a new group, to be candidates. The Others had been corrupted by the Island's wonders and its possibilities, and were thus no longer allowed to foster a next generation. Their line would die out, and Oceanic 815 was an attempt to start over.

Who knows? It might be as simple as Jughead causing infertility. But I don't want to fall into the trap of "If THIS PARTICULAR THING doesn't get a satisfactory ANSWER!!!! then the whole show is a FAIL!!!!!!"

 

I think you're well within your rights as a viewer to expect an answer to that mystery. After all, it was the central cause of conflict for, oh, four seasons.

 

I think the connection between Brother's tribe and Dharma has to be noted as significant. It makes me believe that Jacob really did order the Purge.

 

Wait a minute . . .

If the Numbers dominated an entire season (as has been said here), when did the fertility issues have time to squeeze in there?

Seriously, it was the main reason for the conflicts between the Others and the Losties, which stretched over the first three seasons.

But I gotta say, I think my explanation works. And instead of being at the ready to complain because they don't have a character make a speech that solves this particular mystery, I'm quite ready to accept my theory (or any other logical one that a Lost hardcore can sell me) as a valid explanation.

I think a major reason I love this show is because 2+2 can equal so many different 4s. All of which make sense, and can be a lot of fun to talk about.

NDub was right a couple of pages ago: we do indeed have the ingredients to make the cake. And for the nerds among us, deciphering the recipe has been half the fun of this show.

AND:

http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/05/george-lucas-lost.html

 

I said the birth issue was the central cause of conflict for four seasons, which it was. (Though, maybe it's actually three. Right now everything it kind of blending together for me). The numbers weren't a cause for conflict but they were an important storyline from the very first mention until they showed up on the Hatch door so I'd call them one of the biggest mysteries of the first seasons too.

And, as I've said before, I understand this is a mystery and half the fun is in allowing people to make their own theories but this is also an entertainment show and, as such, when you're telling an audience to trust the situations/care about the characters you're presenting, you do owe it to them to wrap the main tentpoles of those characters' stories.

I feel that since the island's fertility issues were such an important part of the show (It was the reason the Others kidnapped some of the castaways, the reason for Ethan's death, which was the first real bloodshed between the two sides, the reason Juliet was there, the reason Sun had to leave the island so badly) that it's important that that mystery is not left up to viewers to solve themselves.

Same thing about the numbers. For four and a half seasons, we're told these stupid things are important and they pop up everywhere but then, all of a sudden, we're supposed to forget about them? That's hacky and you know it.

Somethings can be left vague, some things we can be asked to figure out ourselves but there are some things, the heart of the storytelling, that need a crystal-clear explanation.

I know I'm being a whiny bitch about the numbers, and the funny thing is I don't care that much about them and/or think they're that important, but I just feel they're the most glaring example of the writers trying to talk their way out of a problem they couldn't solve themselves. Same thing for the fertility issues.

And that's why if they're not answered, I feel it takes away from the overall storytelling of the series. Will I still love it? Sure. Can I still feel a sense of closure when I see the big picture as it's intended without these answers? I don't know.

And as a viewer, that's my right. I spent six seasons waiting for a moment where everything was made clear. It's why I tuned in, to see where these characters were taken and see explanations on the things that drove them crazy early on. Without those answers, I may as well as just popped in during this season and gone "Cool! Alternate worlds!".