What is it about Lost ?

[Hermiod]

When I'm talking about Star Trek, Stargate, BSG or any of my other favourite shows I can always refer to specific episodes. I always know what episode something I'm referring to that's important to the conversation came from.

While I can remember events and details with Lost just as well, every episode seems to blur in to one. I couldn't tell you a single thing about what happened in an episode if you just told me an episode title.

Maybe it's Lost not having episodic stories like other shows do that move the larger story along but while still having a self-contained beginning, a middle and an end.

Does anyone else get what I mean here ?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Strongly episodic series (Deadwood, Dexter, BSG) also blur together for me, but Lost doesn't blur any more than BSG does. Star Trek and Stargate still have an episodic enough structure that they don't blur. (With Stargate the problem is there's too much to remember, and too much repetition.)

I first noticed this with DS9. It's mostly episodic, even when there's an underlying plot arc, and those I can distinguish just fine. But for the final arc at the end of S7, I get events all mixed up.

Lost has the "episodic" element of keeping the focus for each episode on one character, usually. That makes it easier to distinguish them. The one that really blurs for me is actually Deadwood, because episodes don't generally have strong individual themes.

 

[Brian]

I think it's partly due to the fact that every episode of Lost takes place on the same "set". If every Star Trek took place on the bridge, maybe they'd all blend together, too.

That, and it takes 14 episodes for a single plot development to unfold on Lost.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Yeah, I'm awful with episode titles. Sometimes I can't even remember what season we learned something in since they all blur together so much. But I also have this problem with other TV shows. Except Friends...I always remember their episode titles.

 

[Jack Bauer]

Yeah, the more serialized a show is the less I know the individual episode names. With Lost I usually only remember the name of the season finales for some odd reason. Maybe because they're so eventful and epic?

 

[Starbreaker]

Yeah, the more serialized a show is the less I know the individual episode names. With Lost I usually only remember the name of the season finales for some odd reason. Maybe because they're so eventful and epic?

I can remember the flashbacks if you give me an episode title, but I have a hard time distinguishing what happened on the island for most of the episodes unless they were really eventful.

 

[sidious618]

I always pay attention to episode titles so I know what happens in most of them.

 

[D Man]

^^Me too. I'm good at remembering useless stuff like that. Rewatching the series on DVD a few times helps too, because I start to remember exactly when any given event actually happened. Or sometimes it goes the other way, like when I recently watched S1 and was very surprised to see the hatch really wasn't that important at all until the last few episodes. That wasn't how I remembered it.