More Lost thoughts.

[prog]

I like the revelation that the Others != Dharma, the Others == the "Hostiles". Not that we know who they are yet but merging one mystery into another is as good as solving it.

I like that it's been mentioned in-show that almost all the killing's been Survivors-on-Others, and they've killed a lot of people at this point. Ben's mentioned this a couple times by now, but I don't think anyone else has. The Survivors never even stop to think about it, while the Others continue to show no emotional response to their mounting attrition rate. It's starting to get a little ridiculous; I thought of D&D characters casually slaughtering orcs who raid their camp every now and agian.

I continue to think (hope) that this is important (and not just lazy writing) and I maintain my best theory that the Others are all clinical psychopaths, without making any claim as to their origin. I'd love to see next season focus on these issues.

The tension of the ending relied on Locke not telling Jack why he didn't want them to use the phone (and Jack not asking). Maybe they all just assume by now that he's a nut who wants to keep them all island-bound indefinitely, er, and I suppose that he is. But it felt like the show was playing to its unfortunately usual fault of characters never communicating properly, whether or not they're mid-crisis. I think that Jack would have realistically said "Why?" and even if Locke didn't answer at all, that would have been a more satisfying way to play the scene.

I was surprised at Walt's appearance, less because he was there at all and more because of the poof-he-is-suddenly-a-teenager issue. Which they just ignore by keeping him to about three lines. I hope he comes back next season, and really hope that people don't ignore the fact that he's like two feet taller now.

The show is getting a better sense of what's interesting as it goes on. This season was almost entirely about the conflict between the two groups, with island-mystery-woo-woo serving more as flavor than meat. I think they may have tied up more woo-woo than they introduced, which I appreciate. All that said I really hope they take a page from Battlestar and end the show before it gets lame, now that it's been proven that, yes, you can actually do that on American television. Two more seasons tops, guys.

Comments

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

I think they've committed to ending after two more, shortish, seasons.

We found out a few eps back that the Others came to take over Dharma digs by killing a lot of people; maybe they reached their quota then. OTOH, we have no idea what happened to all the people "captured" in the early raids on the losties.

Agreed on the "bad communication to raise tension" thing; it bugs me about a lot of shows, perhaps because it's cliched and overused, or perhaps because it reminds me of work :)

One of my major frustrations in that vein is how nobody has ever asked Danielle what the hell she meant by all her people being "sick" and "dead". What were the symptoms and progression? Or did she just go nuts and kill them all for no reason? It's not like they don't have time to chat during the endless walks.

[prog.livejournal.com]

It's definitely a cliche far older than this show. Having characters in a tense situation lie or withhold information is a cheap way to introduce conflict. This show does it constantly, without the characters ever seeming to learn that maybe they should be a little more honest with each other. It's maybe my main beef with it.

[toonhead-npl.livejournal.com]

Actually the deal is for three more seasons of just 16 episodes each. Hopefully they can really focus now.

I wonder how much they've had to alter their original game plan as people post their theories. It's hard to believe that SOMEone out there hasn't gotten it right yet.

[dougo.livejournal.com]

They announced their three-short-seasons-and-it's-done deal before Battlestar Galactica did. So nyeah.

[ahkond.livejournal.com]

I also noticed that they took care to shoot Walt from a low camera angle to minimize the effect that he's older. I was glad to see Walt because it means that the writers haven't completely forgotten about him and Michael. I think that the mysterious funeral Jack attended in the flash-forward might have been Michael's; it would fit with Kate's reaction and the fact that it was in a black neighborhood, although that could be just a red herring.

But of course it wasn't really Walt, it was probably the Monster, just like his previous apparitions, Jack's dad, Eko's brother, Kate's horse, etc. etc.