Even more Lost thoughts

[next_to_normal]

I've made it as far as episode 16. I should note that I've started making a list of all the unanswered questions and things that don't make sense. This is not to be super-obsessive about things making sense, because I realize that way lies madness, but rather it is a product of my BSG experience. See, I got into BSG pretty late, while the final season was airing, and at that point, all the conversations had been had, the theories had been formed. When the finale aired, and so many people were like, "But they didn't give us the answers!" my reaction was often, "What were the questions?" So, knowing that a lot of people think this shit makes no sense, I've started keeping a tally of things I find that don't make sense, and then waiting to see how many of them get answered.

Anyway, that's the plan. Thoughts on this stretch of episodes under the cut.

Hail of bullets!

• Haha, Charlie seems to have gotten over his heroin addiction right quick, hasn't he? But he is kind of adorable, so I'll forgive him. The imaginary peanut butter, awww. And him trying not to read Claire's diary, LOL.
• Am I the only one (besides Charlie, obvs) who was like, "WTF? Why is no one DOING anything to find Claire??" I mean, I get that it's a big island and they can't just go wandering through the jungle, but still. They're like, "We all want to find Claire... as long as we don't actually have to exert any effort to do it. In fact, it would be really awesome if she would just magically appear back at camp without us doing anything." I guess it's a good thing that's what happened.
• Still hate Sawyer.
• I am really amused that Shannon is still wearing makeup on the island. Talk about your futile gestures, lol. No wonder everyone thinks she's useless. Her brother's kinda lame, too, but at least he tries.
• Aww, I sympathize with Hurley and his digestive issues. I would not do well on a deserted island.
• Locke has officially been upgraded from "weirdo" to "one crazy mofo."
• Cam! Cam is Walt's mother! I miss Cam, now that Bones and I are broken up.
• Oh, the hatch. The legendary hatch. I don't know what that means, but it seemed important when people talked about the show.
• There are a lot of episodes that open on close-ups of people's eyes. I don't know what that means, either.
• I totally would not have noticed this if I hadn't just watched it, but... "I think he's buying some paper company up in Slough" from Charlie's flashback. The Office reference?
• The scoring on this show seems particularly intrusive. Maybe it's just that I'm used to the brilliance of W.G. Snuffy Walden or Bear McCreary, but wow, talk about overusing your music cues. Why don't they just have flashing text on the screen that says, "THIS IS REALLY SUSPENSEFUL"? Jesus, it would be subtler than this.

Comments

[eilowyn.livejournal.com]

Okay, so at my bible university, every time I'd have a theology class and the professor would use the first class to get to know the students and ask us to give a factoid to identify ourselves, I would always joke that I've converted more people to Lost than to Christianity. This ususally got good laughs from the good theology professors who know that you can really enjoy pop culture and still be a good Christian, and sneers from the bad ones who turned out to be closed-minded, strict fundamentalists.

So, I have a lot of experience with Lost newbies, and I'll often answer your questions with "just watch!" If you get sick of me doing this, just let me know!

YOU CAUGHT THE BRITISH OFFICE REFERENCE!! I have to point that out to everyone and they still look at me funny because they've never seen the British Office!

There are a lot of episodes that open on close-ups of people's eyes.

Good eye (not intended as a pun). Keep an eye out (not intended as another pun) for this motif.

Also, it took enjoying the music in Lost for me to really have an ear to appreciate what Bear does with BSG. And my best friend and I became best friends because we watched Lost together when we first became roommates and I'd make up stupid songs to the episode ending themes, and we'd giggle, so I do have a lot of personal love for the Lost music.

Will be responding with very random icons until season 3, when my favorite character comes along, so please enjoy my little-used icons for the time being. If you're cynical about Lost because of BSG, I'll probably enjoy your watching more than you will, because I fell in love with this show long before BSG made me cynical.

And Sawyer will grow on you.

[next_to_normal]

I would always joke that I've converted more people to Lost than to Christianity.

LOL!

I wouldn't say that I'm cynical about Lost because of BSG. Kind of the opposite, actually. I pretty much liked the BSG ending, and I think that's partly because I didn't have a particular theory I was invested in. For example, I remember seeing a bunch of people at TWOP who were absolutely convinced that Daniel (Number 7) was going to be crucial to the mythology, despite RDM insisting it was just a throwaway thing to plug that plot hole. And they felt horribly shortchanged when it turned out it was just a throwaway and Daniel wasn't at all relevant to the finale.

I'm guessing a similar thing happened with the Lost finale. People had identified all these things that seemed important, but it turned out they really weren't, and so they felt shortchanged by the finale. So I'm trying to approach Lost without trying to come up with theories or anything, and just focus on the story and the characters and let it tell me what it wants to say.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

The thing that actually surprised me are the things that are answered that people totally ignore because it wasn't the answer they wanted.

I looked over on Amazon to order the Season 6 DVD and they have a thread discussing it and the person was bitching that they didn't solve Jack's issue with ______ or Sawyer's issue with ______, and honestly I wanted to ask, "Are you kidding me?!" Both issues were completely resolved. I gather that the person wanted Jack and Sawyer to expresslly say that they'd solved this issue and to have it happen in a confrontation directly with the person or their ghost or something. Instead, both were resolved through Jack and Sawyer coming to their realizations through their experiences with other people. But I honestly, truly felt that both of these long term character issues were expressly resolved.

So sometimes there were answers, just not the one they wanted or it didn't come about the way that they wanted.

I think I learned that lesson with X-Files ages ago. In that show I totally cooked up elaborate theories. I tend to think that way leads to disappointment because when you've had years and years to think up elaborate, convoluted answers you're setting youself up to have a rather specific idea of what should happen, and that never ever does. I resisted trying to think of too theories with Lost and just took it as a roller-coaster ride, and even the theories that I did have were mostly wrong. But because I didn't spend much time in developing alternate theories, I think it was just easier to accept that some things didn't matter and other things were going to be handled in different ways.

ETA: And given where you are in the story I suppose I can say what the issues were. It was Jack's issues with his father and Sawyer's issues with Sawyer, the original conman Sawyer, not James Ford.

[next_to_normal]

Exactly. If you get too invested in your own version of how it should happen, you will inevitably be disappointed when the writers go in a different direction. That's why I sometimes prefer watching shows like this all at once on DVD (I did the same for Buffy, which saved me a lot of grief in the later seasons, I think).

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

With Lost I tend to think that when big questions arise, tend toward the philosophical rather than the concrete. That and they have a big ol' kink for "love". Never choose against love.

[agnes-bean.livejournal.com]

Awww, this takes me back. I forgot how cute Charlie and Claire's beginning was! You're making me want to re-watch the show now! I won't because I still need waaaay more emotional distance (*grumble grumble ending unsatisfying grumble*). But it goes through so many crazy places, it's weird to think about the beginning. One day.

And yes, Locke is, in fact, one crazy mofo. He only gets crazier. He's never been my favorite, but I can definitely appreciate that he is fascinating (and Terry O'Quinn is great -- just wait until he and Michael Emerson are in scenes together. It's magical).

From your comment above, it sounds like you're definitely approaching this right -- I think I would have liked its ending better if I didn't have six years of speculation filled baggage going into the finale. I don't think anything could have actually lived up to my expectations. *sigh*

(Also, good catch on the eyes. Definitely keep a look out for that).

[next_to_normal]

But it goes through so many crazy places, it's weird to think about the beginning.

Haha, you know, I kind of get that feeling watching it. Because I've heard so many crazy things and seen so many OMGWTFBBQ reactions from people that it's kind of amusing to come into it and find that it starts out as a pretty straightforward plotty story about people stranded on a deserted island, but knowing it turns into this behemoth of mystery and madness.

[agnes-bean.livejournal.com]

Yeah, looking between the first season and the sixth, it's like it's a completely different show that just happens to have some of the same characters (but only some, since some of the most important characters aren't introduced until later). I mean, I know most TV shows change in a lot of ways, but Losttakes that to an extreme.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I think every year they had to take the weirdness up a notch.

[agnes-bean.livejournal.com]

Also, looking at wikipedia, I think I started to like Sawyer more around episode 16, but didn't really get into him until season 2. So, there's still time! (Or maybe you'll always hate him. It's understandable. As long as you like Desmond when he shows up... :P ).

[next_to_normal]

LOL! I didn't like him any better after ep 16. I feel like the whole backstory is intended to make him sympathetic (oh, poor kid suffered trauma, oops he got revenge on the wrong person, how angstastic for him), but I'm kind of thinking, yeah, this is not really helping his case.

Although I have found that it greatly amuses me to see him frustrated or annoyed by things, just because I like seeing him get a taste of what it's like for everyone else to deal with him. So at least he's good for something, I guess. :)

[agnes-bean.livejournal.com]

Lol. His back story worked for me more than it worked for you, I think. But he does start acting like less of a jerk later (at least somewhat) so maybe you'll warm up to him. My favorite thing about him are some of the genuinely sweet friendships he forms with people, and those don't really show up for a while...(well, that, and the smack downs he gives Jack, who I really, really hate. So maybe I'm just biased?)

Or maybe you'll just love to hate him the whole time :P That works too. Different strokes for different folks, and stuff.

[next_to_normal]

well, that, and the smack downs he gives Jack, who I really, really hate.

LOL! I don't mind Jack so much. I mean, he's certainly not my favorite, and obvious hero complex is obvious, but he reminds me a lot of Angel in that way. I feel like the show acknowledges it and is kind of explicitly breaking it down (I just watched the episode where he fails to save Boone). Of course, there's still time. He might do something that completely makes me hate him later on. :)

[agnes-bean.livejournal.com]

Oh, the show definitely breaks his hero complex down, which I appreciate. I just find him really annoying about it (more-so than Angel, who at least as an interesting back story).

OTOH, I bet I would have minded him less if I'd watched it all at once, like you are doing. One of my biggest problems with Jack is that I find his flashbacks uniformly very weak, and he has the most (or close to it). But I think that would have bothered me less if I didn't have to wait a week between every episode -- a boring flashback is much more damning when it's all you have to reflect on for a week. And to be fair to Jack, I actually ended up not minding him in the last season, much to my deep surprise :P

*Still can't wait until you get to the second season, because OMG there is so much to squee about*

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I would say that Sawyer is always something of an asshole, over time though he seems to become 'our asshole.' ;)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Heh. Well there was at least one time that Jack totally deserved to have the shit beaten out of him (and he kind of realized it. Heh.)

[mcmegan]

I wonder if you still get updates on these old posts. I went through until I could find your Lost reactions, since I didn't read them before, having not watched the show.

I agree with you about Sawyer. I don't like him either. And with his flashback with his parents dying, I think I said "yeah, that would mess you up".

We've only watched up to episode 15 or 16, so I've been waiting to read some of your reactions. The only theorizing Seamus and I do is about the ridiculous things- like the people being eaten in the jungle by some giant monster- obviously a T-Rex. Apparently the island they landed on is Jurrasic Park. And they mentioned some other caves up in the mountains, which surely is where the polar bears reside. I still always sympathize more with the animals than the people. Like when Walt (the kid, I think that's his name) was trapped by the polar bear, and they were stabbing the bear, I was upset they were hurting an endangered animal. Plus, I'm sure tropical dwelling polar bears are even more endangered. And when Sawyer was trying to find the boar by grabbing one of the babies, I was very concerned for the adorable piglet (as was Kate).

And yes, I can't stand the ridiculous overly dramatic music either.

[next_to_normal]

Yep, I still get updates! (And P.S. you can find all my reaction posts here so you don't have to search for them.)

I still always sympathize more with the animals than the people.

Hahahaha. OH YOU. I think you may have found a unique perspective on Lost!

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of episodes that open on close-ups of people's eyes. I don't know what that means, either.

It's a permanent motif. It's always there. Beginning to end.

[next_to_normal]

Heh, good to know!