Thoughts on the last two episodes of Lost

I really liked the one with Juliet and the poison gas. It's exactly the kind of episode I want to see. The island plot chugs along, we find out more relevant information, Ben's a bastard, etc.

Then we went from that to a by-the-numbers Jin and Sun episode. These are always well-done. The writers really have a handle on them and the actors are very good fits for their roles. We can see more of what's essentially the same story about them as it has always been and it doesn't get tired. But it's not the episode I wanted to see. This season has been happily heavy on plot arc episodes and light on character-driven minor nods at the plot of the show.

That's where I part company with the Lost writers. The list of characters on the island I find compelling for themselves and their circumstances is, well, pretty much down to Ben. He's evil in a fascinating way, even when he's shaking his money-maker as he stomps off from Juliet. I am taking a strong liking to Faraday, but Locke can feed Miles a grenade and walk away any time. I haven't cared about Kate in two seasons, and Jack is about a tenth of the character they seem to think he is. Locke is wonderfully insane, and dumb as a bag of hammers most of the time, but they can't seem to take him from his old character arc into a new one. Did he kill his father? I don't remember. I liked Charlie a lot, but I'll take their word on it that the writers were out of ideas that didn't amount to him falling off the wagon again and again. It was time for him to die. But I'm digressing. I'm not in this show for the characters, and I'm definitely not in it for their love lives. I'm in it for the island's story.