So season two of Lost has come and gone. What’s amazing is that my girlfriend and I finished it in about a week. That’s right: 24 episodes watched in one week’s time. What, do we not have lives? Yes, we do, but we don’t have much money. However, before moving forward I feel it’s necessary to let you, dear reader, know there are spoilers ahead. Then again, I’m probably the last person on the planet to watch Lost so I doubt I’m spoiling Lost for many people.
Season one ended with the gang opening the hatch; season two ends with the hatch’s status in question. This season we’re also introduced to a few new characters (some of who depart quickly) including Anna Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez). I was told she departed from the show within a season because of a DUI – a shame since her character was really beginning to develop and after watching her in Predators and Machete I believe Rodriguez is a competent action actress. The previous characters are developed further and more sexual tension arises between the island’s passionate trinity – Sawyer, Kate, and Jack.
Like my previous post on Lost I created a list of certain observations regarding the show. I feel Lost purposefully inserts various twists and fuzzy logic so the viewer isn’t aware of what will happen next or what’s actually going on. This ambiguity is what keeps me watching – I want to know more – and without it the show would be subpar. In essence, I’m just going along for the ride, not really trying to extrapolate on any theories I might have crawling around in my head. So here’s a list of my observations from the second season of Lost.
1. Punching: People are still punching each other all the time. Jack punches Sawyer, Locke punches Charlie, and even Hurley attacks Sawyer. This show is punch happy, like an old episode of Gunsmoke. I really feel all this punching isn’t good for the television watching audience; it’s possible it’s making its viewership more violent. Only time will tell.
2. Crying: Man, do people cry on Lost. The thing is, most of the actors aren’t actually crying – they’re going through the motions of crying but there aren’t any tears coming out. Sure, some tears do flow but it seems disingenuous; usually these tears fall right after the camera cuts to the character. Do I detect eye drops at work? I’ve heard this is a common method used in Hollywood but it’s obnoxious. Maybe it’s just the sign of a television actor – incapable of crying on cue; maybe the actors whom can cry on cue are the one’s winning Oscars or engaged in lucrative, rewarding careers. Then again, people like Brad Pitt are at the top of the A-list and I can’t recall a time he cried on cue. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
3. Michael: Michael was always a depressing character. In the first season I had a difficult time watching his back-story, experiencing his pitfalls and his losses. His love for his son, Walt, is without question but their relationship, at least at the beginning, was strained and distant. Over the course of the first season I saw them coming together and forming a genuine bond – until Walt was kidnapped by the “them” during the season one finale.
Michael’s zealous quest to reclaim Walt was difficult also but I understood his vehemence. He disappears into the jungle for multiple episodes and then returns, revealing a surplus of information about “them” – then he shoots Anna Lucia, Libby, and then himself in the arm. This allows the group’s captive, Henry (one of “them”) to escape. I went from liking, albeit pitying, Michael to despising him. As he pulls away on a boat (provided because he gives up his friends to “them” in exchange for his son and an escape vessel) I was hoping he’d never appear on the show again.
4. Mr. Eko: When the plane crashed in the pilot the plane broke into three parts; the show begins by following those in the middle section. In season two we find out what happens to those in the tail section. In fact, there’s a whole episode devoted to their first 48 days on the island, where we find out they were attacked frequently by “them.” This is where we meet Mr. Eko: a former Nigerian gangster turned Catholic priest. He’s quite, soft spoken at times, and very direct. He’s also devoutly religious. He’s an enigmatic character and I’m curious to see where he goes as the show progresses.
5. The sexual tension between Kate, Jack, and Sawyer: Will somebody fuck already?
6. Them: As the season progressed more information about the others arises. Evidently the man in the beard doesn’t have a beard (as we see when Kate and company find one of their research stations) and their whole existence is a charade. I’m certain they hold the answers to all the questions I’ve been asking but then more questions will come up – I’m not certain they’ll have those answers.
7. The music: When the group finds Desmond (“brother”) down in the hatch where he’s been pushing a button every 108 minutes for the last few years they also find his record collection (in addition to a kitchen and all the amenities of the industrialized world). Upon entrance they hear Mama Cass’ Play Your Own Kind of Music and now I’m addicted to this song (I thought I was done with Mama Cass and The Mama’s and the Papa’s a long time ago). You also hear Otis Redding and a bunch of other great music from the ‘60s and ‘70s throughout the second season. However, this topic now leads into…
8. The Hatch: What is the deal with the hatch? What is the Dharma Initiative? All of these questions are both intriguing and obnoxious. Obviously a six year long show will draw out the answers but Lost has a way of pissing me off with this. Why every 108 minutes? Why not every 110 minutes? You can’t even watch a good movie in that time. What kind of torture is this?
I am about to embark on the third season of Lost and I couldn’t be more angry with myself. It is a well crafted serial, always leaving on a cliffhanger but that doesn’t mean it’s actually a great show. It’s clever and well thought out but those qualities don’t qualify it as television’s best – at its best Lost is a quality piece of popcorn entertainment. I keep comparing it to shows like The Sopranos, Rome, or even Six Feet Under and keep realizing Lost isn’t in the same league as these. Whereas the formers took television to a new level, brought the cinematic into affluent living rooms across the world (and eventually into the homes of the less financially fortunate through DVD and the internet), Lost is a mainstream network television series, appealing to the lowest common denominator. My praise of Lost is based on its attempt at making something clever for a broad audience – a task network television has avoided on many occasions (look at CSI for a prime example). However, regardless of its excellence, Lost’s achievements can only be measured against those in the same confederation, shows which are more interested in selling detergent and new cars than shape visual media.
Then again, all of television is bullshit and we’re all dupes for watching it.
DAMN YOU LOST!!!!!
Abortions For All 
I never got into Lost. The ONE scene I can recall was when I had to record an episode for my sister. They came upon some TNT and this guy wrapped it up with a soggy rag or whatever. I’ll say that the comedy in that scene made me laugh, yet the rest of the episode was bleh and I quickly made it back into my internet realm as I “Lost” interest.
Popular shows, or even movies for that matter, seem to piss me off more often than not because I am amazed that thousands and thousands of other people actual praise it constantly. “Call of Duty/Modern Warfare is the BEST shooter in the world, man! Bar none!” Bollocks it is!
The funny bit is that Lost ticked me off for the same reason you are currently enjoying it: The smoke and mirrors, (to the extent that they actually have a Smoke Monster on the island /facepalm) and the information that goes nowhere. Like you said, why 108 minutes? Why does the hatch have those specific numbers? Why does yadda yadda do yadda?
I just did not care. I did not want to expend the effort into the show that I was clearly not enjoying just to have something to gaggle about around the water cooler. (And since you are just now getting into it, I suspect you were in somewhat the same boat as I :P)
A teacher once told me a story of a friend of her’s in college that, for whatever reason, wanted to enjoy the taste of beer, even though they hated it. They drank it heavily every day for months until they got over their… well not so much ‘fear’ of it, but whatever that person was trying to achieve, they achieved it. In the process they killed off endless amounts of cells in their brain and pretty much just shot themselves in the foot for the damage immediately caused as well as in the future. A lot of things that the mainstream dictates that I must enjoy remind me of this tale.
I do not wish to spoil anything, but based on what I heard, the final ending is less than gratifying. But, you seemed to enjoy Sopranos and that ended terribly. Well, not so much terribly, just that the writer didn’t know how, so he literally just stopped. Sadly he did it a page too soon and the audience had to pay for his lack of determination.
Enjoy the show for all the reasons that tickle your fancy as these are just my opinions and I do not mean to damage yours of the series, but I suggest that you’d be correct in keeping the ‘it’s popcorn entertainment’ in mind as you continue watching it. At the very least that’s… (24 episodes, probably 45 minutes long without commercials… carry the one…) 1,080 minutes you get to spend with your lady, and at the very least, you’ll be spending your time with her ^_^
I am enjoying the time spent with my gal – she’s more into Lost than I am. That doesn’t mean I’m not enjoying the show but there are countless occasions where I literally scream, “what the fuck!” She gives me a look and we continue watching. Actually, it’s her mother’s fault since she started watching it on Netflix and bribed us into watching it. She claims she, “needs somebody to talk about Lost with,” and we’re the victims.
That aside, I do like Lost. It’s a weird love/hate kind of thing. There are moments I really enjoy the show and there are moments I despise myself for committing to it. Ultimately, I think it’s great I decided to watch it after the series finale since I don’t have that weekly anticipation which most of my co-workers harbored for six years. I also said I’d never watch Lost and now I’m here, watching the show and cursing it repeatedly.
That episode you’re talking about is in the second season. A middle school science teacher (whose name I forget) grabs this old dynamite from a slave ship and accidentally blows up. It’s a comical scene but it’s also gruesome at the same time – Lost is capable of doing that. I will admit the character development on the show is excellent and every time you think you know the characters you’re given a new piece of information, forever altering your view of them. One of my favorite parts of The Sopranos was the character development, where characters are both loveable and vile at the same time. Lost is capable of doing this with many of the protagonists.
We just finished season three tonight. I know we got through 72 episodes quite quick but I had a root canal last week and was doped up and cuddled up on the couch under a thick blanket for a few days straight. Without that unfortunate medical situation I’d probably still be on the first or second season. I will say that coming into Lost from anywhere but the beginning is a mistake and I understand why you didn’t tune in. The pilot episode, with the plane crash, is excellent. That scene on the beach, with the characters reacting to a horrific plane crash was intense and didn’t seem to end. There were dead people everywhere, a young woman screaming at the top of her lungs, the sounds of a dying plane engine going, and human activity moving around the frame constantly. It was a 15+ minute scene and it was very anxious – in short, that first scene attracted me to the show. I want to see Abrams’ new movie, Super 8, just to see what he can do with a two hour film and I’m curious if he can channel that passion again.
Again, thanks for reading and I hope all is well up in Illinois. =)
Take care.
So what you’re sayin’ is that it took a root canal to make you watch the show? 😛 I keed’, I keed’!
So far the ol’ I.L. has been doing ok, but for nearly a month now every Sunday on the dot we’ve had severe weather threats. No nearby hits, thankfully, but still it’s weird. (Not to mention weather/news reporting is TERRIBLE on a Sunday as the almighty pigskin and other variants of sports are cast non-stop. Weather channel has been a horrendous failure since January as well in terms of predictions. All hype and live coverage, barely anything else.) Currently we are about as sticky as you guys down thar’, it’s something like upper 80s and 60-70 dew point. Had to fire up the AC for it. ‘Can’t wait’ till the ninetys start croppin’ up…
I looked at the thermostat in my car yesterday and it saw 106. Now I know having a red car is like a lightning rod for the sun’s rays but 106 is just terrible. I’m sure it was really about 100 but with the humidity it was torture. It’s like that in Saudi Arabia, not Florida.
Today it’s raining cats and dogs and we’re about to “get Lost” as the saying around the house goes. =)