The New Lost

Much, much better. We're back to a psychological thriller with Ben manipulating everyone, and one of his plans (at least, maybe two) is collapsing. It's great, but I think I'm going to miss Mira Furlan.

I say maybe two of Ben's plans went awry, because this would hardly be the first time Ben's sent people to their deaths. So far as we know, whoever Ben considered a good person from the ship could already be on the island.

I was surprised to see the ship's crew practically tell Michael they were there to kill, and in large numbers. This raises questions about what Faraday and Charlotte were doing at the Tempest. Is it to Widmore's and Ben's advantages both for the gas to be disabled? If Widmore is going to kill everyone but Ben anyway, why be squeamish about the gas? Maybe just to deny Ben recourse to it. I could see that.

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.

Last Week's Lost

Watched it on ABC.com last night and the flash-forwards bothered me the whole time. How long have they been off the island when Kate is at her trial? Her kid is at least two and she's obviously not yet pregnant. The subtext between her and Jack is that the kid's Sawyer's. Even if she got pregnant this episode, which is probably the intention, I have trouble believing an open and shut case would get caught up in two years of pre-trial shenanigans.

They can't reasonably delay her getting off the island too long, since I think Juliet said the mandatory die-off for pregnant women is at about six months. Even allowing that six months you still have eighteen months of mystery time.

But continuity: judging by how Kate and Jack are behaving in the flash-forwards, Kate's trial happens before they get married. Is this where the show is going? The first season was mostly about who these people were before they got to the island. The second was mostly about the island. The third was largely about the Others and deepening the island mystery. Now we're abandoning that to dwell on what happens a few years later? I'm interested in what seems to be going on with Ben, Sayid, and what seems to be their personal war against the Dharma Initiative's successors, but it smells suspiciously of the writers washing their hands with the island and all of its unresolved questions.