Lost returned tonight for a "mini-run" of six episodes, and I have to say that my response to this first episode was, "I waited four months for that?" Actually, it was the first episode since the pilot two years ago that was written (in part) by J.J. Abrams, so in some ways, you could say, "I waited two years for that?"Some will complain that the third season premiere didn't provide any significant new answers to any of the island mysteries. And it didn't really, but I've never been that bothered by the pace at which Lost doles out answers regarding the island. I've always been more a fan of the character drama, histories, and interpersonal relationships. And this episode was lacking on all those fronts.
The most dramatic character shifts "on deck" as of the end of season two all resided in the characters who were not taken by the Others. How has the destruction of the hatch altered the faith of Locke; did being proven wrong crack his psyche in some deep way? What about the impact on Eko? Or Desmond? How is Hurley going to deal with being let go -- unable to have helped Kate, Jack, and Sawyer, and unable to have gotten "revenge" on Michael for the death of Libby?
Unfortunately, no answers came on any of those fronts, as not one of those characters appeared in this episode. And I'm getting a sinking feeling (not having read any spoilers or watched any scenes from next week, mind you) that this mini-arc of six episodes will be entirely centered on the Others and not the rest of the castaways.
As for histories, we got a series of Jack flashbacks in which the actors were clearly working hard to deliver tears and pain, but it all felt rather flat. What did it all amount to? Reminding us that Jack gets crazy-obsessive? Yawn. We kinda knew that.
And as for character interactions? Again, we got cheated there, since the "trio" of prisoners were kept apart from one another for almost the entire hour. And Henry ("Ben") Gale and Juliet remain too mysterious at this point to take up the slack.
In short, it felt like any random "filler" episode marking time in the middle of the season, not like a rousing start to an exciting new chapter of the story (as did the season two premiere). The new series premiering after it, The Nine, did a far more compelling job of pulling me into the story tonight.
6 comments:
If more episodes are like last night's, Lost will quickly fall off my list of shows to watch.
The whole Ben/Juliet interactions seem just like the "opaque for the sake of opacity" that Lost tends to do. And as you pointed out, we found out nothing about the characters or plot.
Lost definitely seems like it's following the typical J.J. Abrams curve.
It, was, um, crap.
Really, I tried to think of another word for it. I considered "slow" and even the nicer word for that, "deliberate". But I've got to go with "crap".
Slow. Yes. What I saw of Jack's life? Makes me like him less. Whatever the "lesson" he was supposed to learn, just asking if she's happy at the end? The point of that? I must have missed it.
Sawyer working on the puzzle in the cage? Reminds me of playing Myst when I was first out of college, only I played that better.
Kate, and her dress and the luncheon, then the mention of the "hard two weeks"? I suppose it was supposed to be sinister. Yawn. Then something actually happens to her (marks around the cuffs she didn't get from eating a sandwich and drinking coffee and whatnot) and we don't get to even see it.
The most entertaining moment was when Juliet or whoever she is got Jack to sit in the corner (it puts the lotion on its skin, it does this whenever it's told) and she appears to be faking him out. I thought she was going to leave without giving him food the whole time, like Lucy with the football. I was disappointed when she came in because if she'd denied him the food after manipulating him, that might have been interesting.
I guess the big revelation was supposed to be that they were under water. Double yawn.
The whole reason, just like you said in the post, that this show about such a stagnant situation like being stranded on an island was interesting at all was because the characters were in compelling situations and the flashbacks showed us things that made us appreciate their current situation even more.
Uh, what happened to that? Someone got too caught up in the mystique of the Lost mythology. Maybe there are people out there who are squeeing to see the inside of another station and to see even a little of what's going on with the Others but I could really give a rat's ass.
The opening teaser was great.
The rest... well, Evan already said it. It just didn't pull me along the way "Man of Science, Man of Faith" did. There, we learned how Jack met his future wife. It was interesting. It showed some subtleties to Jack's otherwise everyman character.
"A Tale of Two Cities" did none of that. Like "Adrift" before it, we learned nothing new in the flashbacks, except that Jack can get extremely irrational and obsessive. (If my wife didn't like Jack before, she may end up completely hating him now.)
Plus, "Cities" passively pulled us into the next chapter of the story -- a progression which Abrams, Cuse, and Lindelof have been pushing in the press. Not so much in the show so far.
David, I'm going to withhold any Abrams curve-fitting until the end of this first batch of episodes.
Oh, and Mr. Friendly is gay. "Not my type?" Come on.
Empty calories, man...empty calories.
I'll give it to the end of the month to pick up. After that, I'm out.
I spoke with a buddy over IM for a while, and I now see the light. The episode is just complete setup, and I believe it will pay off.
Jack's flashback creates a few more subtleties. One, he's not interested in fixing his dad. Two, he pushed his father back onto the wagon. Three, when (not if) Kate chooses Sawyer instead of Jack, he will not be a happy camper. In short, this episode marks the beginning of a(nother) dark time for Jack's character.
This episode will do more for Jack and the progression of the story than "Adrift" did for Michael. While I still believe we didn't learn too much more about Jack, we did learn how far he'll take things.
Also, I think we're going to dig deeper into Juliette, and possibly Ben as well.
I'm just not willing to let that nagging "Abrams Season Three" cloud in the back of my head dilute my enjoyment.
As long as we're not saying after tonight, "I waited 7 months for that?"
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