Lost: 3/7/07

[Cthulhudrew]

Locke being near a computer kinda kept the world from ending throughout season 2. Shouldn't we cut him slack for one little house?

Yeah, but his flip-flopping on whether he should press the button nearly led to the destruction of the world, too.

 

[John Crichton]

I assumed Sayid told Locke about the rigged C4 off screen, and Locke blew up the building deliberately so that they could not fix the equipment and they remain stranded on the island.

I don't know about Locke knowing about the C4, but he probably did - he's no dummy. However, I think everyone is this thread has it wrong, except you. I thought immediately that Locke entered 77 on purpose, so the Others/Hostiles would no longer control the Flame Station. And we already know he doesn't want off, so like you said - he had motivations.

 

[Felon]

Also as contrary evidence - Lost's ratings are at an all-time low. Also, a few seasons into X-Files, when it was evident nothing was going to be answered.

I've said it in other Lost threads, I'll say it again. The quality of writing on Lost is good enough that they could answer questions and keep things interesting. For whatever reason, they're afraid to do that, I don't know why.

Again, I suspect Lost's ratings drop has more to do with giving too much away rather than holding out on us. The castaways have ceased to have their own fascinating little mysteries, thanks to copious amounts of flashbacks. While I enjoyed Sayid's flashbacks, they didn't tell us anything about him we didn't already know.

The big disappointment is that the Others are, apparently, nothing special. Also, the other ominous elements of the island have been played down. No more appearances by dead people, no more monster attacks. Remember when the big theory was that the island was Purgatory?

As to Heroes, the plot seems pretty straightforward so I don't know why folks think there's a lot of mystery there. They hid Sylar and Linderman from us for a while, but just showing us their faces doesn't strike me as a big revelation. Seems these days they're keeping things fresh by rotating guest appearances by new characters.

 

[BryonD]

Again, I suspect Lost's ratings drop has more to do with giving too much away rather than holding out on us.

You in a great minority if you think that is the case.

There is a ton of potential for answering one question while bringing up two more.
But nearly everything I read and everyone I talk to is getting sick of the growing understanding that the amazing mystery does not exist at all. Mysterys stop being mysterious or even slightly compelling when they become just the next random and ultimately meaningless unlikely event.

For example, Desmond's time travel/prophecy ability would have been awesome during season 1. But now it was just "yet another thing" to distract you from the lack of resolution on smoke monsters and Jack seeing his dead dad and polar bears and the numbers and and and and

Making up your own answer to a mystery is a lot of fun. But then when you find out that there was no real answer it just turns into a rip off. Most people want to find out how close to the answer they were as well as to have that "Oh WOW!!!!" moment when that thing you couldn't figure out is revealed.

 

[dravot]

Again, I suspect Lost's ratings drop has more to do with giving too much away rather than holding out on us. The castaways have ceased to have their own fascinating little mysteries, thanks to copious amounts of flashbacks. While I enjoyed Sayid's flashbacks, they didn't tell us anything about him we didn't already know.

The flashbacks serve as explanation for the character's motivations in the current storyline, so when Sayid spares the Russian's life, we know specifically why he did it. That's what the flashbacks are for.

In many ways, the show is more of a character study, and in that sense, it's very well done. When I lose sight of that, and hunger for the mysteries/meta-plot, I find Lost lacking. When I relax, and enjoy the character exploration, I enjoy the show immensely.

 

[Felon]

You in a great minority if you think that is the case.

Meh. Got anything to back that claim up with, or should I just award you points for self-assuredness?

In regards to your additional comments, they correlate somewhat with what I've come up with upon reflection: it's the surprises that keep shows like Lost and Heroes going. Whether it's a revelation or a brand new mystery, these shows need to keep the viewers on their toes. Unfortunately, this season they've relied overmuch on the same emotional heartstring-yanking tricks, and people get jaded with that stuff.

Although I gotta admit, I thought the scene with Sayid and his torture was victim was still powerful. Beautiful cat too.

As to the polar bears and smoke monsters, I'm not sure what's left to be revealed on the subject. The island is the focal point for a big source of electromagnetism, and eventually attracted the attention of some hi-tech military-industrial-complex-type organization who used it as a big laboratory with all kinds of crazy experiments going on.

The flashbacks serve as explanation for the character's motivations in the current storyline, so when Sayid spares the Russian's life, we know specifically why he did it. That's what the flashbacks are for.

Thank you Captain Explain-the-Obvious.

 

[Mimic]

Meh. Got anything to back that claim up with, or should I just award you points for self-assuredness?

How about the fact that the ratings are taking a nose dive? Or the ever increasing complaints about the show not giving any answers. Those are pretty big points in my opinion. Also making the characters do incredibly stupid things time and time again is really getting annoying. Everyone that I have talked to has agreed with me that walking away from a captive to go play chess on a computer is about as dumb as you can get.

Although I gotta admit, I thought the scene with Sayid and his torture was victim was still powerful. Beautiful cat too.

I also liked Sayid's flashbacks but how did it move the show forward? Nothing we learned about him was new, nor about the others

As to the polar bears and smoke monsters, I'm not sure what's left to be revealed on the subject.

I don't know about you but I still have a couple of questions about the polor bears and smoke monster, questions such as:

1) How did the polar bears get there?
2) How did the polar bears get out of captivity?
2.a) Were the polar bears experimented on?
2.b) What kind of experiments were done?
2.c) If you are going to do experiments, why polar bears?
3) How did the polar bears get from the small Island to the large one?
4) How do the polar bears survive in a tropical climate, considering that they are artic creatures

a) What is the smoke monster?
b) How does it get around?
c) Who created it? Why? Why does it seemingly kill at random?
d) If its made of smoke, how does it grab people?
e) What is it made of?

None of these questions have been answered and they have been around since season one. It seems to me that the writers have shrugged their collective shoulders and moved on to other things.

 

[Asmo]

Also as contrary evidence - Lost's ratings are at an all-time low. Also, a few seasons into X-Files, when it was evident nothing was going to be answered.

What unanswered questions from the first few seasons are you referring to?

Asmo

 

[Cthulhudrew]

The big disappointment is that the Others are, apparently, nothing special.

I don't know about that. If Eyepatch's story was right, then the Others/Hostiles were already present when Dharma got there, and that continues to beg the question of where they came from. Moreover, Dharma apparently found them enough of a threat that they declared war on them, and lost. With all the resources at their disposal, Dharma still lost.

 

[Felon]

How about the fact that the ratings are taking a nose dive? Or the ever increasing complaints about the show not giving any answers.

How up to speed are you on this thread? Here's a quick recap: Bryon says the ratings dip is due to not revealing enough, and I say it's due to revealing too much. That the ratings are dropping is new info, it's actually the source of some discussion.

I also liked Sayid's flashbacks but how did it move the show forward? Nothing we learned about him was new, nor about the others

Again, you seem to be off-page. I said the same thing earlier, so you're preaching to the choir.

Your polar bear questions don't seem like they would make for riveting television. I don't want Lost to turn into the Hard Science Channel, and I have to wonder how many other folks do. The polar bears were transported to the island as part of some whacky experiment. Considering it was just a throwaway scene for purely surrealistic effect, how much dissection does it warrant?

"Smokey" has been a much bigger part of the show, so it merits some genuine attention. Probably a bunch of microbots that concentrate the island's that achieve mobility by concentrating the island's magnetic field. They can read a person's own magnetic aura and can act as a guardian by reacting to hostile emotions, hence it ignores you if you can blank out your mind. Again, it's pure pseudo-science, but I've been saying you'd be better off just enjoying the ride in blissful ignorance, and perhaps in time you'll realize I was right rather setting up expectations that the show can't deliver on using hard science.