Reply With QuoteI've basically been following these rules from the beginning of the show (esp. passive viewing) and haven't noticed a drop it quality at all! I'm having much more fun than the complainers.
Good advice about watching Lost (even though the theories they talk about are obviously wrong).
How to Keep Enjoying 'Lost'
Yes, it’s not as good anymore. No, it hasn’t jumped the shark. As season 3.5 of ABC’s hit series gets rolling, there’s only one way to stay in love with “Lost”: stop trying to fix it.
Web-Exclusive Commentary
By Devin Gordon
Newsweek
Updated: 6:06 p.m. ET Feb 6, 2007
Feb. 6, 2007 - When the third season of “Lost” got off to a bumpy, wandering start last fall, folks in my profession began writing heartfelt user manuals about “how to save” the show. The suggestions were pretty uniform: cut down on the flashbacks, weed out some dead weight from the cast and, for God’s sake, give us some answers already. The only part I disagree with is the original assumption—that “Lost” can still be “saved,” which is to say, restored to its early greatness. It can’t be, and it’s high time we made peace with that reality. We got a season or two of thrilling, original television—genuine popcorn art—and now “Lost” is onto its commerce phase. In spurts, it can still be enormously entertaining, but it’s no longer groundbreaking because being groundbreaking, by its very nature, is hard to sustain. At this point, “Lost” is merely in the business of being fun to watch. And what’s so terrible about that?
Anyone could’ve seen this coming. As the supremely clever creators of “Lost” began piling on more weirdness and more characters, their giant spider web was bound to start sagging under its own weight. Back before the season two premiere, I predicted that the island was getting so crowded, survivors would soon start falling out of trees. But the writers one-upped me: they didn’t fall out of trees—they came from a whole other island, right next door to the first one. Touché. (Here’s a theory for all you “Lost” nuts: we know that the show is filmed in Hawaii, but maybe the survivors are actually in Hawaii and don’t know it. At the very least, that would explain how the Others’ book club gets service from Amazon.com.) Fans of the show keep begging for some clarity and some closure, but that simply isn’t how hit television works. There’s nothing dramatic about an unbroken string of “eureka” moments. At its heart, “Lost” is a mystery series, and when it comes to serialized TV mysteries, the money is in the clues, not the solution.
And frankly, though it may aggravate devoted fans, executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof—“Lost”’s two-headed creative monster—are still really good at thinking up spooky scenes, wacked-out twists and enigmatic characters. So as the minutes tick down before Wednesday night’s season 3.5 premiere, here’s something in lieu of yet another manual about how to save “Lost”: a three-step guide called “How to Keep Enjoying ‘Lost’.”
1. Stop clamoring for answers. Sure, they’ll come, but only in drips and drabs, and usually paired with a fresh batch of questions. And even though Cuse and Lindelof keep insisting that they’ve got a master plan, that every loose thread will eventually be tied up, I don’t believe them, chiefly because it’s impossible. Hundreds of little details, filed away and catalogued by obsessive followers, are bound to remain unresolved, like cowlicks that simply won’t lie down. And you, dear “Lost” fan, need start being OK with this. If you think I’m joking, go find some “X-Files” fans. Those sorry clowns are still waiting for answers, a decade after the show ended; they’re going from geek convention to geek convention trying to find them. Don’t turn out like this.
2. Stop trying to figure it all out. That splendid first season of “Lost” was a rare example of participatory television. The creators handed all of us the same giant puzzle and invited us to put our heads together and figure it out. Not since “Twin Peaks” had a show been so playfully engrossing. And like everyone else, I joined in, trading e-mails with friends about our grand unification theories of “Lost.” But at some point during the second season, as the effort began to seem futile, my head started to hurt and I gave up. Smartest thing I ever did. For me, “Lost” has gone from active television to passive television, and I’m much happier this way. My advice: pick a theory, either the “Wizard of Oz” theory (they’re all dreaming) or the “Sixth Sense” theory (they’re all dead), and stick to it until you hear otherwise. You’re probably wrong, but you’ll sleep easier.
3. Just watch the darn show. If “Lost” is no longer revolutionary in form, it’s still well-made television: great characters, nice writing, cinema-quality storytelling and, especially, first-rate acting. If you stop expecting the whole to be greater than the sum of its parts, the parts can still satisfy. Take Wednesday night’s episode, the first in a nonstop sprint to the season’s May finale. It’s the backstory of the Queen Other, Juliet, played by the delightfully placid Elizabeth Mitchell, and though we learn a ton about her during this hour, it’s still a mystery whose side she’s really on and what her angle is. But the episode is nevertheless engaging, emotional and, in small doses, enlightening. And even though there are way too many characters on “Lost”—remember John Locke? What happened to him?—that doesn’t mean the new ones aren’t exquisitely crafted. Consider what we do know about Juliet: she’s either a ruthless, stone-cold Lady Macbeth … or Jack’s new love interest. That’s quite a gulf of possibilities and, as usual with this cast, Mitchell makes it fly. So instead of trying to guess which way the writers are going to swerve, just watch the darn thing. You’ll enjoy it more—I promise.
I've basically been following these rules from the beginning of the show (esp. passive viewing) and haven't noticed a drop it quality at all! I'm having much more fun than the complainers.
In a nutshell, he's saying "stop thinking." Have the fun of the show is extrapolation.
Really, this goes for most forms of entertainment. Life is just better. That ignorance is bliss has its upside, I guess.Originally Posted by Ben
Winter is Coming.
Couldn't agree more.
And you get to be surprised by twists and turns instead of sitting bored because you've already predicted everything that's going to happen. You can think a little, but don't push yourself to figure everything out. It's no fun.
That said, it didn't take much thought for me to call the two demises on the show last night as soon as the precipitating events took place. But I don't mind doing that because (almost always) the show rises above the predictibility of the players to present us a fresh move in the larger game.
Winter is Coming.
I don't think LOST has dipped in quality in the slightest, and I have loved the 3rd season so far. And we get answers to questions all the time! What's in the hatch? What happens when you don't press the button? Are there others? What caused the plane to crash?
Click on AM/UK Banner for Rock n' Comix:
The only mystery i'm afraid they'll never answer, is just HOW THE HELL DID THAT SHIP GET ON THE ISLAND!?
You know, the ship with the dynamite.
Yeah, I don't understand the "we want more answers!" whining. I think people think back to the first season and forget about all the episodes where there weren't answers given about the island. They forget how long it took to get in the hatch, so they think answers were just getting thrown around left and right.
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