Lost Season 4
Mar. 31st, 2011 04:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
next_to_normalYes, I watched all of Season 4 in three days. Shut up.
Loooong thoughts under the cut.
I'm not quite sure what to make of this season. I mean, I mostly like it... adding the new characters (especially Miles) and giving the structure more flexibility with the flash forwards has breathed new life into the show. Am I right in remembering that after S3 was when they made the decision to end the show? Because it definitely seemed as though the writing was getting rather aimless, but it's suddenly rebounded with renewed purpose. Or maybe it's just that showing us the future makes it look like they're actually working toward something, haha.
But at the same time, the structure of the plot arc is frustrating, because the mysteries don't build on each other in a meaningful way. Like, season 1 built up the mystery of what's in the hatch, and the result is that they push a button for 22 episodes and end up blowing the damn thing up, so it's completely irrelevant now. Season 2 introduces the tail passengers, and by the end of the season, they're all dead (except Bernard). Season 3 is All About the Others, and now in season 4, the Others (except for Ben) are gone, after having learned next to nothing about them, and the freighter people are the new threat. I don't know, I can't decide if I have mystery fatigue from too many unanswered questions or if it's that the answers (and S4 was pretty heavy on doling them out) were less satisfying than I'd hoped.
I think ultimately the problem is that there aren't enough characters that I'm invested in, and without that, all there is to concentrate on is the crazy shit. Most of the characters I like (Desmond, Sayid, Sun/Jin, Rose/Bernard) don't get enough to do. And the rest of the characters kind of... suck. Like, clearly Locke is completely off his rocker, which has always been true to some extent, but he's so incredibly frustrating that I don't even want him to be right, even though he obviously will be. At one point, he says something like, "We have to protect the island." Not, y'know, THE PEOPLE ON IT. No, he cares more about the island than people. Which has always been true, I suppose (*cough* Boone) but it's gotten to the point where he's killed so many people or let them die "for the island" without even knowing WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON and being completely ridiculous based on ~faith~ that I just cannot take him anymore.
Speaking of dumb things Locke did, Ben should've been dead ages ago, given the alarming frequency with which he seems to end up getting the upper hand with Locke. I don't trust him, even if it seems like he's the "good guy" and was right about the freighter people, because he's only out for himself, and he's only helpful when it suits him. Like how he killed Keamy KNOWING it would blow up the freighter. "Oh, other people might die? Who cares? All that matters is MY PAIN." Because nobody cared about Jin or Michael or anyone else on the boat as much as Ben cared about Alex? Fuck you, dude. I hope Widmore kills you.
Kate is still bouncing back and forth between Jack and Sawyer like a damn ping pong ball. I was surprised that Juliet gave up on Jack that easily. Then again, maybe she just came to her senses and realized Jack was a stubborn idiot (seriously, the man tried to play backseat surgeon for HIS OWN APPENDECTOMY WTF WHO DOES THAT?) and she's better off without him. Meh, I stand by my claim that Jack and Kate deserve each other. They can make each other nice and miserable.
I think I've put my finger on why Sawyer is suddenly growing on me. Up until now, he's always been a selfish jackass who actually went out of his way to be a jackass, just for kicks. But now all of a sudden, Sawyer's, like, nice to people and shit. Maybe Hurley's Dale Carnegie lessons actually paid off. I liked how protective he was of Hurley and Claire, and then of course jumping out of the helicopter so the rest of them could make it to the freighter. The old Sawyer would never have risked his life to save them, but this softer, gentler Sawyer actually might make a better leader than Jack.
I am not even going to talk about how unrealistic Kate's trial was. I realize that it'd be no fun if she was in jail the whole time, but they could've at least put some effort into getting her out of it. Honestly, it'd have been more believable if she tried to steal the identity of one of the dead passengers, because the idea that she could get off with NO jail time is ridiculous.
That the Kate episode was a clunker isn't surprising to me, but Juliet's episode being a low point was disappointing. In Juliet's case, I felt like we were retreading ground that was already pretty well stomped, and it didn't help that the present-time plot required everyone to act like a complete moron. Why didn't Charlotte and Faraday just explain that they were there to help from the beginning, instead of being all shady and sneaking away and hitting people? In fairness, they didn't know Jack at that point, but a few days with him should've been enough to realize that he would believe anything they said with absolutely no evidence! Why didn't Jin say anything when he saw them leave the camp? Why did Charlotte have to knock Kate out, rather than - again - explaining what they were doing? Why did Juliet just walk off by herself, other than so that the fight would be more equally matched? Why did the scene in the power station even have to involve wrestling and waving guns around, instead of rational explanations? (I'm starting to think Charlotte just likes to hit people.)
OMG is it a Sun/Jin episode? They ARE still on this show! Juliet was way out of line blurting out Sun's secret, though I do think it's because she genuinely wants Sun to get off the island. (Which she will!) I'm kind of torn on the whole mixing flashbacks with flash forwards thing - on the one hand, it feels cheap and gimmicky, but I understand why they did it, because a whole flash forward without Jin would give things away. But the slapstick Jin plot seemed to clash pretty badly with the tone of the rest of the episode, so if they were going to show two separate times, they should've made Jin's story more thematically relevant instead of going for a simple fake-out.
Um, is there anyone who DIDN'T know that Michael was Ben's spy on the boat? Obviously he was coming back, and that's the most logical way. Maybe if they wanted it to be a surprise, they shouldn't have put Harold Perrineau's name in the credits for eight episodes, lol. Michael is still on my shit list, so I don't have any sympathy that Walt's cut him off or that Sayid blew his cover. I felt slightly bad that he died, though, which reminded me of Charlie. So, does the island just let people die whenever it's run out of uses for them? Or is there some sort of redemption needed? Because the last two significant deaths have involved self-sacrifice, and I'm sure there are more examples if I went back to look. (Though there are still senseless deaths, like Ana Lucia and Libby simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.) This lends credence to the "they're all dead" theory, if the island is some sort of purgatory, and they get to leave once they've redeemed themselves.
Then again, I'm probably wrong, since I completely did not expect them to get off the island, flash forwards be damned. In fact, I'm still half-convinced that none of it's real, just because I was so sure they wouldn't be able to leave.
Okay, Sawyer using a PICKET FENCE as a shield during a firefight? LOLing forever at how dumb that is. Also, they seem to be killing off the redshirts by the handful in these last few episodes. Good grief. And here's my theory: Claire actually died in the explosion, but the island did its weird island thing where she's still walking around, like everybody else who's supposed to be dead, and so no one realized she was dead until Christian came to collect her.
They need to have Sayid beat people up with his feet at least three or four times a season, because it's always, always awesome.
While I did like the flash forwards, it kind of lessened the impact of the last couple episodes, you know? Instead of being mindblowing like the previous season finales, it ends up being more about filling in the holes between stuff we already know. I knew which ones would make it off the island, and I knew that Jin would die. I'd assumed Claire died, too (and I still think she might have), since Kate was claiming Aaron as her son in the future. I knew that all of them had lied about the crash. It was nice to find out the whys and hows, I guess, but when there's only one possible outcome, the inevitability kind of lessens the impact.
Well, mostly.
NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! JIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNN!!!!!!! Seriously, even knowing it was going to happen, I was almost as upset as Sun was. That scene just killed me, with her screaming and flipping out on the helicopter. KILLED ME. But see above re: no one's ever dead. Come back to us, Jin!
DESMOND/PENNY REUNION!!!! I loved epic time-traveling Desmond/Penny earlier in the season, but their reunion on the boat was so unexpected that I was like, "Wait, something GOOD just happened?" Which means one or both of them will probably be dead soon. :( But at least that was one thing I did not anticipate.
It seems obvious to point this out, but... their cover story makes not an ounce of sense. Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, and Aaron are the Oceanic Six because they happened to be the ones in the helicopter. All right, I thought there would be more significance to it than that, but it's cool. The thing that bugs me is that they claimed there were eight people who survived the crash. Claire and Jin would be the most logical ones, because otherwise where would the babies have come from? But apparently it's Boone, Libby, and Charlie??? Why bother even mentioning the other survivors if there's no reason to?
So how the hell are they explaining Sun's pregnancy? If Juliet with her 1970s Dharma ultrasound could figure out the baby was conceived after the crash, surely actual doctors with actual medical equipment could, too. It's also pretty ridiculous that Kate's trying to pass off Aaron as her son, since she obviously wasn't pregnant before the crash and Aaron is clearly more than five weeks old, lol. No more ridiculous than Kate's trial or Sun taking over her father's company (seriously, how big was that settlement??), I suppose. This show, not so great on the logic.
Anyway, I'm curious to find out where the island got moved to, and how the Six are ever going to find it again now that it's wherever it went. And now I totally want a Lost/Fringe crossover where Abaddon turns out to be Agent Broyles, and the island is the subject of a Fringe division investigation. :).
Loooong thoughts under the cut.
I'm not quite sure what to make of this season. I mean, I mostly like it... adding the new characters (especially Miles) and giving the structure more flexibility with the flash forwards has breathed new life into the show. Am I right in remembering that after S3 was when they made the decision to end the show? Because it definitely seemed as though the writing was getting rather aimless, but it's suddenly rebounded with renewed purpose. Or maybe it's just that showing us the future makes it look like they're actually working toward something, haha.
But at the same time, the structure of the plot arc is frustrating, because the mysteries don't build on each other in a meaningful way. Like, season 1 built up the mystery of what's in the hatch, and the result is that they push a button for 22 episodes and end up blowing the damn thing up, so it's completely irrelevant now. Season 2 introduces the tail passengers, and by the end of the season, they're all dead (except Bernard). Season 3 is All About the Others, and now in season 4, the Others (except for Ben) are gone, after having learned next to nothing about them, and the freighter people are the new threat. I don't know, I can't decide if I have mystery fatigue from too many unanswered questions or if it's that the answers (and S4 was pretty heavy on doling them out) were less satisfying than I'd hoped.
I think ultimately the problem is that there aren't enough characters that I'm invested in, and without that, all there is to concentrate on is the crazy shit. Most of the characters I like (Desmond, Sayid, Sun/Jin, Rose/Bernard) don't get enough to do. And the rest of the characters kind of... suck. Like, clearly Locke is completely off his rocker, which has always been true to some extent, but he's so incredibly frustrating that I don't even want him to be right, even though he obviously will be. At one point, he says something like, "We have to protect the island." Not, y'know, THE PEOPLE ON IT. No, he cares more about the island than people. Which has always been true, I suppose (*cough* Boone) but it's gotten to the point where he's killed so many people or let them die "for the island" without even knowing WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON and being completely ridiculous based on ~faith~ that I just cannot take him anymore.
Speaking of dumb things Locke did, Ben should've been dead ages ago, given the alarming frequency with which he seems to end up getting the upper hand with Locke. I don't trust him, even if it seems like he's the "good guy" and was right about the freighter people, because he's only out for himself, and he's only helpful when it suits him. Like how he killed Keamy KNOWING it would blow up the freighter. "Oh, other people might die? Who cares? All that matters is MY PAIN." Because nobody cared about Jin or Michael or anyone else on the boat as much as Ben cared about Alex? Fuck you, dude. I hope Widmore kills you.
Kate is still bouncing back and forth between Jack and Sawyer like a damn ping pong ball. I was surprised that Juliet gave up on Jack that easily. Then again, maybe she just came to her senses and realized Jack was a stubborn idiot (seriously, the man tried to play backseat surgeon for HIS OWN APPENDECTOMY WTF WHO DOES THAT?) and she's better off without him. Meh, I stand by my claim that Jack and Kate deserve each other. They can make each other nice and miserable.
I think I've put my finger on why Sawyer is suddenly growing on me. Up until now, he's always been a selfish jackass who actually went out of his way to be a jackass, just for kicks. But now all of a sudden, Sawyer's, like, nice to people and shit. Maybe Hurley's Dale Carnegie lessons actually paid off. I liked how protective he was of Hurley and Claire, and then of course jumping out of the helicopter so the rest of them could make it to the freighter. The old Sawyer would never have risked his life to save them, but this softer, gentler Sawyer actually might make a better leader than Jack.
I am not even going to talk about how unrealistic Kate's trial was. I realize that it'd be no fun if she was in jail the whole time, but they could've at least put some effort into getting her out of it. Honestly, it'd have been more believable if she tried to steal the identity of one of the dead passengers, because the idea that she could get off with NO jail time is ridiculous.
That the Kate episode was a clunker isn't surprising to me, but Juliet's episode being a low point was disappointing. In Juliet's case, I felt like we were retreading ground that was already pretty well stomped, and it didn't help that the present-time plot required everyone to act like a complete moron. Why didn't Charlotte and Faraday just explain that they were there to help from the beginning, instead of being all shady and sneaking away and hitting people? In fairness, they didn't know Jack at that point, but a few days with him should've been enough to realize that he would believe anything they said with absolutely no evidence! Why didn't Jin say anything when he saw them leave the camp? Why did Charlotte have to knock Kate out, rather than - again - explaining what they were doing? Why did Juliet just walk off by herself, other than so that the fight would be more equally matched? Why did the scene in the power station even have to involve wrestling and waving guns around, instead of rational explanations? (I'm starting to think Charlotte just likes to hit people.)
OMG is it a Sun/Jin episode? They ARE still on this show! Juliet was way out of line blurting out Sun's secret, though I do think it's because she genuinely wants Sun to get off the island. (Which she will!) I'm kind of torn on the whole mixing flashbacks with flash forwards thing - on the one hand, it feels cheap and gimmicky, but I understand why they did it, because a whole flash forward without Jin would give things away. But the slapstick Jin plot seemed to clash pretty badly with the tone of the rest of the episode, so if they were going to show two separate times, they should've made Jin's story more thematically relevant instead of going for a simple fake-out.
Um, is there anyone who DIDN'T know that Michael was Ben's spy on the boat? Obviously he was coming back, and that's the most logical way. Maybe if they wanted it to be a surprise, they shouldn't have put Harold Perrineau's name in the credits for eight episodes, lol. Michael is still on my shit list, so I don't have any sympathy that Walt's cut him off or that Sayid blew his cover. I felt slightly bad that he died, though, which reminded me of Charlie. So, does the island just let people die whenever it's run out of uses for them? Or is there some sort of redemption needed? Because the last two significant deaths have involved self-sacrifice, and I'm sure there are more examples if I went back to look. (Though there are still senseless deaths, like Ana Lucia and Libby simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time.) This lends credence to the "they're all dead" theory, if the island is some sort of purgatory, and they get to leave once they've redeemed themselves.
Then again, I'm probably wrong, since I completely did not expect them to get off the island, flash forwards be damned. In fact, I'm still half-convinced that none of it's real, just because I was so sure they wouldn't be able to leave.
Okay, Sawyer using a PICKET FENCE as a shield during a firefight? LOLing forever at how dumb that is. Also, they seem to be killing off the redshirts by the handful in these last few episodes. Good grief. And here's my theory: Claire actually died in the explosion, but the island did its weird island thing where she's still walking around, like everybody else who's supposed to be dead, and so no one realized she was dead until Christian came to collect her.
They need to have Sayid beat people up with his feet at least three or four times a season, because it's always, always awesome.
While I did like the flash forwards, it kind of lessened the impact of the last couple episodes, you know? Instead of being mindblowing like the previous season finales, it ends up being more about filling in the holes between stuff we already know. I knew which ones would make it off the island, and I knew that Jin would die. I'd assumed Claire died, too (and I still think she might have), since Kate was claiming Aaron as her son in the future. I knew that all of them had lied about the crash. It was nice to find out the whys and hows, I guess, but when there's only one possible outcome, the inevitability kind of lessens the impact.
Well, mostly.
NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! JIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNN!!!!!!! Seriously, even knowing it was going to happen, I was almost as upset as Sun was. That scene just killed me, with her screaming and flipping out on the helicopter. KILLED ME. But see above re: no one's ever dead. Come back to us, Jin!
DESMOND/PENNY REUNION!!!! I loved epic time-traveling Desmond/Penny earlier in the season, but their reunion on the boat was so unexpected that I was like, "Wait, something GOOD just happened?" Which means one or both of them will probably be dead soon. :( But at least that was one thing I did not anticipate.
It seems obvious to point this out, but... their cover story makes not an ounce of sense. Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, and Aaron are the Oceanic Six because they happened to be the ones in the helicopter. All right, I thought there would be more significance to it than that, but it's cool. The thing that bugs me is that they claimed there were eight people who survived the crash. Claire and Jin would be the most logical ones, because otherwise where would the babies have come from? But apparently it's Boone, Libby, and Charlie??? Why bother even mentioning the other survivors if there's no reason to?
So how the hell are they explaining Sun's pregnancy? If Juliet with her 1970s Dharma ultrasound could figure out the baby was conceived after the crash, surely actual doctors with actual medical equipment could, too. It's also pretty ridiculous that Kate's trying to pass off Aaron as her son, since she obviously wasn't pregnant before the crash and Aaron is clearly more than five weeks old, lol. No more ridiculous than Kate's trial or Sun taking over her father's company (seriously, how big was that settlement??), I suppose. This show, not so great on the logic.
Anyway, I'm curious to find out where the island got moved to, and how the Six are ever going to find it again now that it's wherever it went. And now I totally want a Lost/Fringe crossover where Abaddon turns out to be Agent Broyles, and the island is the subject of a Fringe division investigation. :).
no subject
Date: Apr. 1st, 2011 12:22 am (UTC)Sometimes restrictions are good.
no subject
Date: Apr. 1st, 2011 02:38 pm (UTC)Ha. Yeah, I think we learned that lesson with a certain comic series...
no subject
Date: Apr. 1st, 2011 03:11 am (UTC)My lady Eowyn wields powerful understatement.
no subject
Date: Apr. 1st, 2011 02:38 pm (UTC)