Lost from the beginning (NO SPOILERS)

[OdoWanKenobi]

Across The Sea:

If this episode had come earlier in the season, it might not have been a problem. Three episodes from the end, though is a major problem. We just had four major characters bite it. Things are looking really grim, and there's very little time left with our remaining characters. So what do we get? An entire episode without a single one of the main characters, that focuses completely on the mythology. That alone wouldn't have been bad. But, like I said, three episodes to the end, that's absolutely awful.

There's some important information about the origins of Jacob and the Man in Black to be had, of course. It's kinda ridiculous that the Man in Black is still not given a name, though. There's also the introduction of "the light." Seriously? We're three episodes to the end and you're introducing more mysteries? This is the time to be wrapping mysteries up, not bringing new ones.

In the end, Lost was never a show about its mythology or mysteries. It was a show about the characters. To lose a whole episode from them in the home stretch like this is downright disappointing.

 

[DonIago]

I rather liked the episode, though I acknowledge the timing was possibly...sub-par. That being said, in a way I feel like TPTB deserve some points for having the balls to divert completely away from the primary storylines here and now.

Kind of like blowing up Vulcan. Even if it was the worst move ever (and I don't think it was), there's something to be said for being daring enough to do it in the first place.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

Just because someone has the balls to do something, doesn't mean it's a good thing to do. I agree with you that the episode is not bad. It just needed to be much earlier in the season. In this place, it's a jarring and unwelcome break from the story.

 

[startrekwatcher]

I look at "Across the Sea" in two different contexts.

Viewing it as just a standalone tale of two brothers on a mysterious island it is a pretty decent story.

But if you watch it as a critical piece of the LOST mythology it fails on many levels and the cracks in the mythology's planning become evident. It gave us answers but they weren't the most satisfying ones. I also had a very bad feeling about the feel good mumbo jumbo surrounding the Light/Source. Could it live up to the big Mystery of the Island? Also we get our first indication of how MIB became the smoke monster and again didn't like it. Weak. Adam and Eve--okay but not mindblowing. So I have to say the idea of making Jacob and Smokey humans and not the first creations or even God or the devil are a little disappointing. I didn't care for Allison Janney. I didn't care for the mumbo jumbo of how Jacob became Protector. Also the more I think about everything Smokey is doing to get off the island comes back to his "Mother" telling him there isn't anything out there and he wants to show her! That is a pretty thin bit of motivation to explain his actions.

Everything kept building and building over seasons 3-5, more and more pieces coming into play and at the end of last season I felt like season six would take them the final mile in their development but I've kept waiting and waiting and nothing. And now looking back I'm a little surprised things were just left where they were and have not been revisited. I wanted more about the injections Des took in season two, more about what the monster did to Rousseau's team and why, more about Dharma and those in Ann Arbor, why Paul's body was taken last season to the Others etc.

When Widmore ominously hinted at the coming War I expected that would drive this season and be the epic vehicle to frame the season but looking back it was rather lacking in scope--it fizzled. Even moreso with the way Smokey was built up by Ilana and the early parts of this season as Evil Incarnate. Even Smokey as the season progressed became less malevolent despite what the writers suggested with the whole episode last week.

I also expected Eloise and Widmore to have a more prominent role this season too.

So overall pretty disappointing.

Across The Sea:

If this episode had come earlier in the season, it might not have been a problem. Three episodes from the end, though is a major problem. We just had four major characters bite it. Things are looking really grim, and there's very little time left with our remaining characters. So what do we get? An entire episode without a single one of the main characters, that focuses completely on the mythology.

I might take exception to this. This series has had such an expansive cast of characters that it has always spread the screentime around. MIB and Jacob are important characters and deserved their showcase.

LOST and other shows like it always sprinkled clues and built up the mysteries of the year throughout the season always waiting just right before the final stretch of the season to pull it altogether and showing their hand before launching into the resolution for the year. This was no different. I do think though the season could have been tighter and I question whether the writers needed 18 episodes or maybe I should ask did they do the best they could with them.

In the end, Lost was never a show about its mythology or mysteries. It was a show about the characters.

Totally disagree. One can argue that LOST was about more than just Mythology but to say it wasn't about its mythology or mysteries is ridiculous. Look into most threads over the course of the series, hang around the water cooler the next day at work and people are talking about clues, last night's twist, the big revelations, speculations, theories, what the statue was, who is DHARMA etc etc. Fans didn't spend hours on the characters or analyzing them they were busy scouring scenes for easter eggs and hints to help them unravel the mysteries. Why did people get frustrated at the stalling for answers in S3 if the show was about the characters. If that were the case they wouldn't have gotten frustrated--afterall who cares about the mythology we have the characters to watch.

What did the bulk of Q&As with L/C center on--mysteries/mythologies. Also the last two seasons -4/5 were almost entirely plot based.

I know producers of these big mythology shows love to say at the last minute it was always only about the characters but that is flat out BS. Moore did it with BSG and L/C did it with LOST. Why if the plot/mythology wasn't part of the show did L/C encourage fans to look for something more that they never intended to resolve always with their cheshire grins egging us on?

Kind of like blowing up Vulcan. Even if it was the worst move ever (and I don't think it was), there's something to be said for being daring enough to do it in the first place.

I hate it when writers pull cheap stunts like that for pure spectacle--just because they can.

 

[DonIago]

Do you have any evidence that the writers in either case were doing what they did just for pure spectacle, or are you just making that claim to belittle them?

 

[DonIago]

Just because someone has the balls to do something, doesn't mean it's a good thing to do. I agree with you that the episode is not bad. It just needed to be much earlier in the season. In this place, it's a jarring and unwelcome break from the story.

I kind of thought it was intended as an intermission and to draw out the suspense from the end of the previous episode. Mileage varies as to whether or not that was a good call, but I can appreciate that POV.

 

[startrekwatcher]

Do you have any evidence that the writers in either case were doing what they did just for pure spectacle, or are you just making that claim to belittle them?

My comment was mainly in reference to Star Trek XI and Vulcan. Short of being inside their heads, I can't definitively prove it but the circumstantial evidence strikes me as it being for spectacle given so very little effort put into building up to it and addressing it in the aftermath. It struck me as to do something big like blowing up a planet for the sake of the film's awe-level. Obviously you disagree.

 

[sidious618]

I loved Across the Seas. It's better on second viewing, though, after you've seen the end of the series.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I found the episode a disappointment. As you say, the timing seemed very much off - earlier in the season I wouldn't have minded it nearly as much. However, at this point there was only three episodes left, and I thought to myself, they can't possibly put off resolving these mysteries and character plots any longer, this is the point at which they have to start answering questions. As this episode was airing I felt pretty disappointed as I realized that maybe they really weren't going to answer the important questions or tie up some big loose ends. Even the answers they did provide were just...lame. The whole episode felt a bit cheesy and not all that exciting. It left me quite worried about what to expect in the last few episodes.

 

[Aragorn]

I personally don't care for Jacob, but didn't mind where they went with it. I just think the show would've been better off without him.

Didn't care for this episode.

 

[RoJoHen]

I loved Across the Seas. It's better on second viewing, though, after you've seen the end of the series.

And after you've gone back and rewatched a lot of the earlier seasons. Turns out that crazy awesome Light has been there the whole time. Remember when Locke got attacked by the Smoke Monster and saw "the heart of the island?" Remember the big glowy light when Ben turned the donkey wheel?

 

[sidious618]

I loved Across the Seas. It's better on second viewing, though, after you've seen the end of the series.

And after you've gone back and rewatched a lot of the earlier seasons. Turns out that crazy awesome Light has been there the whole time. Remember when Locke got attacked by the Smoke Monster and saw "the heart of the island?" Remember the big glowy light when Ben turned the donkey wheel?

Plus the elctromagnetic energy from the hatch. That's what the Light/Source is; electromagnetism.

 

[Zaku]

Plus the elctromagnetic energy from the hatch. That's what the Light/Source is; electromagnetism.

That is indistinguishable from magic...

I'm not sure that the writers know what is really electromagnetism...

 

[Jaron]

Plus the elctromagnetic energy from the hatch. That's what the Light/Source is; electromagnetism.

That is indistinguishable from magic...

I'm not sure that the writers know what is really electromagnetism...

I'm just going to assume the Dharma Initiative folks were really bad at technobabble. It was obvious that the light is a quantum tachyon rip in the subspace antimatter neutrino field caused by a misalignment in the island's deflector di--

Oops, I didn't mean to spoil the finale for Odo.

 

[DevilEyes]

^ True. Just throw in some technobabble (which Damon Lindelof would probably know how to imitate, he was a TNG fan after all ), and Trek fans would have probably accepted that as a legitimate SF plot.

 

[Lindley]

In the LOST episode recaps, they refer to her as "Crazy Jungle Claire with her Crazy Jungle Hair." I can't watch her in Season 6 without that popping into my head.

I prefer "Claire de Lune", which I saw in one of the review threads.

 

[Aragorn]

Hurry up Odo and finish the series!

I want to know what you think when it's revealed the island is Genosha and both Magneto and Professor X arrive to recruit Smokey.

 

[DonIago]

Magneto using his powers on Desmond and inadvertently creating the flash-sideways reality was one of the best sequences, though.

 

[OdoWanKenobi]

What They Died For:

Here I am at the penultimate episode. Most of it is what I expected: Setup for the finale. There is plenty of note, though. Jack steps up to his destiny and becomes the new guardian of the island. While I'm not at all surprised that it's Jack who does it, I am surprised that it happened here. I was expecting that to be saved for the finale.

I'm also glad that the show remembered that Ben, Richard, and Miles still exist. It seems like forever since we've seen them. I loved seeing Richard get the world's biggest bitchslap from Smokey, as well. We also get the death of Charles Whidmore, another thing I expected to happen. I'll admit, I find his alleged heel-face turn a bit unbelievable. He just stopped being a power hungry douche because Jacob told him to? Oh well, we're at the end, so loose ends need to be tied up. Not all of them can get the screen time they deserve. I does seem just....right, that Ben is the one to do him in. So, Benjamin Linus: irredeemable villain, or savior of the island? I hope the finale tells us once and for all.

There's the final setup where Whidmore tells Smocke that Desmond is a fail-safe of sorts. Smocke then says he's going to use Desmond to destroy the island. Is that how this will end? I dunno, as much of an explosive apocalyptic finale as it would make, I can't see the show ending with the island destroyed. How is Desmond going to destroy the island, then? If the light is the source of the electromagnetism, and Desmond is resistant to electromagnetism, then does that mean he's the only one the can go down into the light without going all smokey?

The flash-sideways sees everyone coming together. They mention a concert a couple of times. I'm assuming this is the Daniel/Driveshaft concert? It would seem that is the place everyone will converge. Ben seems to have an awakening in this episode as well. I find it absolutely hilarious, and appropriate, that Ben's constant is getting a beating.

One episode left. I'm almost kinda sad that it's coming to an end. Unfortunately I won't have time to watch it tonight. Tomorrow, though. Tomorrow I reach the end. Stay tuned.

 

[DonIago]

Hm...perhaps I should set my subscription to this thread to insta-notify by email upon new posts...

Nah.