OT: Lost is back!

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 11:55 am

I have a feeling it's not going to have any more satisfying resolution than The Sopranos.

And the producers will wear that fact as a badge of honor.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 12:08 pm

wco81 wrote:I have a feeling it's not going to have any more satisfying resolution than The Sopranos.

And the producers will wear that fact as a badge of honor.

That's been my fear for quite a while.

***SPOILER***

Oh...and remember that Desmond was on the plane. So....obviously not the exact same plane ride as before.

Brando70 · Post by **Brando70** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 12:54 pm

I am hoping for a satisfying ending, but at the same time, I appreciate the creativity and risks this show takes. And they have the skill to pull off what they're doing, at least so far.

I'll take Sopranos ambiguity and open-endedness over the WTF that was the end of Battlestar Galactica. That was a case study on how not to end a great series.

RobVarak · Post by **RobVarak** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 12:59 pm

I don't think satisfaction in and of itself is a particularly desirable dramatic goal.

webdanzer · Post by **webdanzer** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:27 pm

Brando70 wrote: I'll take Sopranos ambiguity and open-endedness over the WTF that was the end of Battlestar Galactica. That was a case study on how not to end a great series.

I thought the Sopranos ending was great, but then again, that show was not built solely upon the raising of WTF situations and questions to entice/entrap the audience as Lost is.

Battlestar moved more and more towards the WTF style of storytelling, and you can see the perils in that. Both the answers they provided (last cylon identities, 'the plan,' etc) and those they didn't (Starbuck, true nature of 'head' people) were very, very unsatisfying. Pretty much ruined the series for me.

Anyway, the more you base your show on WTF situations the more you owe your audience, IMO. Sopranos was far more than WTF and unanswered questions. Battlestar less so. Of those 3, Lost least of all...and with all of the WTF stuff they raised over the years (My wife and I laughed out loud at the absurdity of the series when compacted into that recap show) there are landmines everywhere that the writers can explode BSG-style, both in choosing to answer or ignore the various WTFs they raised. And for a show that is all (and pretty much only) about the big WTFs, a lot hinges on how they are resolved or how they are left unresolved.

jLp vAkEr0 · Post by **jLp vAkEr0** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:45 pm

Spooky wrote:
wco81 wrote:I have a feeling it's not going to have any more satisfying resolution than The Sopranos.

And the producers will wear that fact as a badge of honor.
That's been my fear for quite a while.

***SPOILER***

Oh...and remember that Desmond was on the plane. So....obviously not the exact same plane ride as before.

Yeah, my girl pointed that to me. Then I pointed out to her that Shannon (Boone's hot sister) wasn't on the plane with Boone... She rolled her eyes at me...

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 2:39 pm

wco81 wrote:I have a feeling it's not going to have any more satisfying resolution than The Sopranos.

And the producers will wear that fact as a badge of honor.

That's not the impression I get from reading the interviews with them.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:37 pm

webdanzer wrote: (My wife and I laughed out loud at the absurdity of the series when compacted into that recap show)

Yeah, I skimmed through that and had the same feeling. I was trying to look at it from a newcomers perspective and then when they flashed the words 'Time Travel' on the screen I chuckled to myself.

matthewk · Post by **matthewk** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:38 pm

Danimal wrote:I like the fact that Lost asks you think and fill in the blanks, like when we saw the kids from the plane last night, there was no "hey you're the kids from the plane" moment from one of the characters.

Ok, I missed this. What kids from the plane? And where were they in the show last night? Are these the kids that were abducted by the Others in season 1?

vader29 · Post by **vader29** » Wed Feb 03, 2010 6:27 pm

matthewk wrote: Ok, I missed this. What kids from the plane? And where were they in the show last night? Are these the kids that were abducted by the Others in season 1?

They were in the scene at the Temple.

RallyMonkey · Post by **RallyMonkey** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 10:05 am

Oh...and remember that Desmond was on the plane. So....obviously not the exact same plane ride as before

Was he really on the plane? When Jack came back to his seat he was gone and when he asked Rose where he went she said they were sleeping. Wasn't sure what to make of that.

And why Jack's moderate recognition of Desmond but no one else on the plane?

And why...and why.....and why....

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 10:20 am

RallyMonkey wrote:
Oh...and remember that Desmond was on the plane. So....obviously not the exact same plane ride as before
Was he really on the plane? When Jack came back to his seat he was gone and when he asked Rose where he went she said they were sleeping. Wasn't sure what to make of that.

And why Jack's moderate recognition of Desmond but no one else on the plane?

And why...and why.....and why....

Jack recognized Desmond because he HAS met Desmond before, training in the football stadium after Jack thought his surgery on his wife failed and Desmond was training for his sail around the world.

I thought the first hour of premiere last night was fairly tedious, and the conversation on the plane between Jack and Rose was corny as hell. Who talks to a stranger like that on the plane?

The second hour was a little better. Gives me some hope that this season will answer the big questions (What is the deal with Jacob and Smoky? Who are the others and what are they trying to achieve? Were the losties chosen? And will they ever go back to 'normal' lives?)

RallyMonkey · Post by **RallyMonkey** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 11:07 am

Jack recognized Desmond because he HAS met Desmond before, training in the football stadium after Jack thought his surgery on his wife failed and Desmond was training for his sail around the world.

See, i remembered that too, but why no further discussion about it between them? And Desmond dismissed meeting him completely out of hand. I'm wondering if that meeting maybe never happened.

More importantly, I'm not even sure Desmond was really even on the plane. He never talks to anyone but Jack, when the stewardess comes to get Jack to help she never even acknowledges Desmond is there, and most importantly, we see every Lostie from the island de-board the plane, except for him.

I'm pretty sure Desmond was told, i believe by Eloise, that he was "special". Maybe he's the key to brining the two parallel's together.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 11:48 am

Desmond's presence on the plane is certainly unusual, but at this point they haven't provided any meaningful clues as to what that's all about.

I'm just taking it at face value until we get some other explanation or hints.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 12:13 pm

RallyMonkey wrote: I'm pretty sure Desmond was told, i believe by Eloise, that he was "special". Maybe he's the key to brining the two parallel's together.

Lest we forget Desmond has already been able to travel to a another time line and retain a memory. Something tells me this was him bouncing into this time line and then out.

There were lots of small things and not so small that we're different. This time Jack is the one who is scared and Rose is calming him down. It's almost the exact conversation from the beginning of the show but with roles reversed. BTW Naples you must be a lucky traveler because I get older people talking to me all the time on planes.

This time Jack gets one extra bottle of vodka instead of two, Shanon is not their and from what I saw it's not because they couldn't get the actress, rumor is she will be on Lost this season. Hurley is now lucky etc.

The more interesting part in all of this is if you bother to read or skim any of the book referenced in this show through out the years one thing is certain, time lines have to converge.

Should be an entertaining finish.

Naples39 · Post by **Naples39** » Thu Feb 04, 2010 12:28 pm

Danimal wrote:The more interesting part in all of this is if you bother to read or skim any of the book referenced in this show through out the years one thing is certain, time lines have to converge.

Should be an entertaining finish.

Good point. While watching I found myself thinking "why are we seeing all this crap about what could've-would've happened to everyone if plane didn't go down. What purpose does it serve?

The idea that they converge at the end is a good one and would be a cool ending to the series. What that means for the characters that died on the island could be particularly interesting.

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 12:07 pm

Can't wait to see more of Mr. Miyagi and John Lennon tonight!

TheCentralScrutinizer · Tue Feb 16, 2010 12:08 pm

Converging timelines would be good in that it could lead to some serious hot Kate-on-Kate action.

Actually, she annoys me...so I'd actually be more interested in seeing Sawyer being his own drinking buddy and the two of them riffing one liners off of each other Apatow movie-style.

TheCentralScrutinizer · Tue Feb 16, 2010 12:12 pm

Spooky - I love how the Temple others apparently completely forgot about whatever was freaking them out so much 2 weeks ago. They went from "ZOMG we gotta set off some fireworks!!!" to "Oh hey Jack, 'sup? I'm just reading a book here. And Miyagi over there is typing up the 'Annotated History of the New Others Darlton Just Sh*t Out For This Season'. Want some poison?"

Spooky · Post by **Spooky** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 12:19 pm

TheCentralScrutinizer wrote:Spooky - I love how the Temple others apparently completely forgot about whatever was freaking them out so much 2 weeks ago. They went from "ZOMG we gotta set off some fireworks!!!" to "Oh hey Jack, 'sup? I'm just reading a book here. And Miyagi over there is typing up the 'Annotated History of the New Others Darlton Just Sh*t Out For This Season'. Want some poison?"

Yeah, the chillaxin in the temple is very odd. Jack just strolling in and out of Miyagi's 'office', Siyad and Hurley just sittin around feeling sorry for themselves. Apparently inside the temple is chill but I'm thinking outside it's all crazy!

wco81 · Post by **wco81** » Tue Feb 16, 2010 4:21 pm

Some blogger said that the possible human possession (Locke by the smoke monster, Sayid by ?) is less farfetched than the time travel device.

Really?

Well the argument was that we're familiar with the concept because of movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Maybe there isn't a time travel movie which comes readily to mind.

But if they have to rely on being familiar with devices used in other movies or shows ...

TheCentralScrutinizer · Tue Feb 16, 2010 5:09 pm

That blogger had OBVIOUSLY never seen Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure!

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 12:30 am

Some blogger also said grape juice causes cancer. Who cares?

Nice Hugo-sized answer in tonight's episode.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 12:32 am

The numbers!

That was a pretty fun episode.

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Wed Feb 17, 2010 5:45 pm

last night was the first ep that seemed like it was going somewhere. i did have a good laugh at the end when locke says 'you want to get off the island?' I wondered how many times that question has been asked in this series???

What I don't get about this season AT ALL: The writers have 5 seasons worth of characters, "others", story lines, islands, etc. Why do they have to pull out a whole new set of "others" & threads for the final season? I can only guess they don't want to bother with explaining the back-stories when some dude from season 3 pops-up.

If you were to rewatch season 2 right now, you'd be overwhelmed with "oooh yeah, what about that dude??" questions.