LOST

Polarising episode "Across The Sea" but I liked it. I liked it because it gave some purpose in the grand scheme of things, it was a big mythology episode but also gave some real character substance to it all. I like its positioning, and I think it might be appreciated more during big Lost Marathons (as in not much really happened, reminded me of Fringe's "Peter" flashback episode). If I could complain, it would be the that its another Darlton's Bad Parenting storyline (though this time, it wasn't an "All Good Cowboys Have Daddy Issues" one. Mother Issues are used for once) and that Jacob being such a mothers boy was a bit weird. It worked when they were kids (good casting there), but not so much for Mark Pellegrino. There random cave was a bit amusing as well, I mean, it was totally awesome but it's shocking that they have probably spent about a combined year (or four) on the Islands (depending on who went where) that there's still odd bits around. I guess there's something more mystical going on there.

Nice flashback to "House of the Rising Sun" as well. If we're getting Adam and Eve answered, I would laugh so hard if there was another Hurley Bird in the finale.

Erm... I think one of the things that keeps me viewing stuff like this in positive light is because I'm not focused upon the fact its ending in three hours. Something almost every critic seems to be. MetaCritic says the episode has a "58" and I bet if I took the time to read every episode, the fact that this is so close to the end is one of its prominent complaints.

I also liked that it was another origin-type story. This is Lost. It's built around them It's good to see it.
 
Indeed it is. Considering all I've been thinking about for the past few nights (and days) is Lost I've contemplated getting up but I don't think I'll be mentally and emotionally prepared to take it all in if I do that. Going to record it and watch it from around 7 or 7:30PM on Monday onwards to lead nicely into Glee.

Anyway, What They Died For - it's a pretty awesome episode. There's a lot I could say (and have elsewhere) but I'm going to wait until I've seen the finale first.
 
The ending was OK, seen better endings, but at least it didn't disappoint. Won't be buying the series on Blu-Ray though, well unless the whole series is available for under £20 someday, the last two seasons let the whole series down for me, if they were strong, it would have been an instant buy (exactly my thoughts during Season 4). Say more later, once the ep sets in.
 
(Spoilers be here for those who haven't seen it.)

Thought it was brilliant - emotional, well performed, with a tad of exploration and an exceptional time for Michael Giacchino to get nostalgic on his score. Well, brilliant until the last ten minutes when it became one of the most uncomfortable experiences ever. I can't believe Damon and Carlton even tried to twist it around. I didn't want a twist, if it can even be called such a thing.

Basically, since because the Island-world was real and the sideways was purgatory before heaven or something - I would have loved an extra ten minutes to see Richard, Sawyer, Frank and the rest land safely in LA. That, for me, would have made it a much better ending. I got dead character resolutions, but I wanted real ones. Kinda.

Couple of other thoughts:

- Thought it was a little bit predictable Hurley became the number 1.

- I initially went away from the BSG ending feeling pretty pumped and it took me a couple of hours to calculate how many issues I had with it. That being said, this could mean well for the Lost finale. It's been quite a few months (maybe a year?) since I watched it but now I can pretty much understand the ending with less hostility and am mostly happy with its ending. Couple of issues standing, but if I can get past my big problem with Lost I should love how it ends.

- Am very curious at what stuff is going to be on that 20 minute DVD extra that's going to "answer questions". I don't really have any questions, or didn't, going into it so... there's that.

- As I'm typing this (and collecting my thoughts) I'm understanding it more. The sideways was just... limbo. The other stuff happened. It was good, it was real, it was life. It was just the sideways and that is that. Even thinking back to the first episode of this season, LA X, that flight is even a bit heavenly.

- Sayid meeting Shannon again was absolutely wonderful.

- I cried when Charlie got enlightened with Claire. I cringed during that same scene since... why would Kate just deliver the baby? On the island I understand, but damn.

(- It's been a few hours since I've typed this now, since I got distracted but I'm now pretty comfortable with how it ended. I'll have to rewatch and I think I have some niggles, bit of disbelief and some other stuff, but I'm alright.)
 
The purgatory bit is what I have an issue with, as everyone must have at one point thought the Island was that, though it turns out the LAX verse was. I was just expecting something more imaginative and creative - something people wouldn't have expected the Island or the LAX verse being.

I very much enjoyed the enlightenment 'moments', especially Sayid's (I didn't think Shanon would be in the Finale).

I thought the episode could have been longer, it was supposed to be 2.5 hours including breaks, though it turned out to be just a little more then 2.25 hours, I agree they could have added about 10 more minutes to flesh out some other scenes, was really looking forward for some Hurley as #1 and Ben as #2 comedy.
 
My thoughts: the main story (Island) was as top notch as ever this season and in the finale, only beef with this is that not all the questions were answered, though I guess they were never gonna be. This seasons side ark "flash-sideways" stuff was pretty pointless imo, all it did was distract from the main show and it seemed like a poor excuse to put dead characthers back in the show and ****, the ending for it was as pointless as the ark seemed.
 
Yes.

And you should rewatch then continue to finish the show.

(Pretty much all the questions get some type of resolve, just FYI.)
 
Jayme said:
Yes.

And you should rewatch then continue to finish the show.

(Pretty much all the questions get some type of resolve, just FYI.)
Click to expand...

I'm not really bothered, I just wanted to know if the polar bear got explained. I never followed the show but one of my mates had a S1 marathon one time and i went to that.
 
I'm liking it more and more as the hours go by. It really was a great emotional payoff to these characters who have been through hell and back over the past three years or so. They were lost, all of them, but specifically Jack and its his story of redemption.

To quickly revisit the series again, I watched "Lost: The Final Journey" docu-thing and its all very emotional, exciting and well... Lost - but towards the end when the focus came onto the sideways I've gained such a understanding eye for that world now. They find themselves again. And then they had to find each other. It's rather fantastic. (And fantastical!).

I found it irritating originally because of what's been said - Darlton stated that the Island wasn't purgatory and that whole thing got discussed. But it worked. Island isn't purgatory, obviously, and in the bigger picture of it all - it worked. I think the sideways helped to give the resolution to our characters, even if we didn't get to see the every single moment of their lives, it didn't matter, because we saw what was important. They were together.

It's a little bit heartbreaking to see Matthew Fox after seeing the final episode for the first time on Kimmel's "Aloha To Lost" as well. He knew it would end with him dying all along, but he still seemed overwhelmed by it all.
 
I've been avoiding this thread like the plague! But now, I've finally seen the rest of LOST. I worked out what was going on by the end of Episode 16, well I had an idea anyway. I enjoyed the finally though now I kind of feel empty. I've devoted so much time to this series too. I may have to turn to drink when 24 ends aswell.
:(
 
I bet you have seen this already, but mine (and your) wishes are coming true, with the special extra thing. Ben Linus chats about it here. I expect it will be more interesting than them random "Lost: Missing Pieces" clips and this also has potential to fill in some of the weirder questions people want answers to, depending on the direction it takes - could either tell who the outrigger shooters were or even something like why Aaron and Walt were special (I figure that they are future-candidates, as it is or just were special. They just are.)

Me personally? I'd be happy with a couple of Number 1, Number 2 jokes.

Also -

500x_106463731.jpg
 
Complete series boxset. It's not like it won't be up on YouTube the day of its release if you don't want to get it but I'll be getting the collection no matter what anyway. Oddly enough, they haven't announced the Complete Collection for the UK yet. It comes out mid-August in the states.
 
I was just starting to watch the Lost: The Final Journey (though I'm not going to watch the rest now, watch it later) and the intro made me realise how much I enjoyed watching these characters become who they are over the first couple of seasons, and how then I just had enough of them (Jack was stubborn, but seeing his stubbornness the 100th time didn't add anything new to him, like it might have the first 5 or maybe even 50 times). I blame the show runners, they had a good thing going, and thought it was good enough, so carried on doing the same thing again, and again, and again (and I could write again many more times), till I just didn't enjoy the characters any more. Most of the characters development stopped around Season 4-5 and then they might get a little more in S6 before it ends. Maybe why I enjoyed the newer characters so much more (they hadn't done exactly what made they interesting, too many times yet - give lost two more seasons and I would have been sick of them as well). Maybe also the reason Lost is always adding more characters, they realised the old ones weren't interesting enough any more.

And, yes my opinion is going to be very controversial with some people, but if a show is bad, blame the show runners. If its very good, and then becomes just good enough to carry on watching, blame them even more, and maybe find out where they're hiding (like they said they would after the show was over) so I can let them know in person - lol.
 
Jack might be the easiest target, but he's always had a stressful role to fill and his journey is that of becoming a very hard Man of Science to the Man of Faith. He's always in disbelief, and that's a integral part of his character (and why, from... S4-5 he is so unlikeable). In the sideways, he didn't understand what was happening until Christian literally spelled everything out for him. Everyone knew straight away, they got enlightened - he didn't; he's always resistant. I don't particularly love Jack, but I realise his importance and I respect that.

I wouldn't say any development stopped, throughout. Season 4 probably lacks a lot of the 'nuance' of some of the other parts of the story because its pretty heavily plot-oriented. Writers strike and all, but its cohesiveness is very good. Season 5 is my favourite because of the many interesting scenes that came out, and I can't deny loving the Dharmaville. There's Sawyer there with his pretty obvious development and Miles deals with his daddy issues, kinda, but Jin -- I remembering being so happy at seeing Jin living his life there, he was like a new person.

Structurally, I think the first three seasons offer something very different to the last three anyway. S1 - 3 is loaded with its emotional castaway slow-mo shots, beautiful locations and a small dab of some mystery. I think this is probably what you've been said and I would need to rewatch them all again to note when between when and when distinct differences take place, but they are just such different shows. I might agree, in some cases, the development is stronger in the first three but no, not in the case of Jack.

(Bit of a muddled post. Very tired.)
 
Jack was just an example, but I think it applies to most characters from season 1 (and maybe even for some later seasons). The characters only get about 4 or 5 seasons of character development (other than at the end), so you miss that in between. Most characters only do in later seasons exactly what they done in the earlier seasons, and you don't understand them any better by them doing that. Kate still can't decide what she wants, Sawyer still thinks that he's the leader - the one who is right, Hurley is still Hurley. If they spread some of the character development out more, have some of them explored and even resolved (to some extent) in S4-5 and maybe even in earlier S6 eps, it would have been more balanced. Like you said, it does feel like 2 different shows, Lost S1-3 and S4-6. The later half of S4-6 seems like it was tacked on to the rest of the series, these eps do not feel like they 'fit' with the rest of the series, and they feel a little forced.

I still enjoyed Lost, but it just wasn't able to keep at being 'very good' throughout. Some of the later eps weren't much better than average. I had high expectations (based on earlier seasons), and they weren't met.

I'll re-watch it someday, I'm sure my younger brother will buy the Blu-rays, I'll just borrow them from him.
 
Are you mostly talking about season 4 when we miss things, due to the timeskip and flashforwards? I can somewhat agree but there's a level of consistency that needs to be kept for the story they are telling.

I also don't fully understand what type of development you are asking for either. McNulty in The Wire, he basically stays the same throughout. He goes through different relationships and struggles with his relationships (mostly non-romantic) but during the source of the five years we see him - he's always the hard-working, poleeeece loving cop. Jack, or heck, anyone, wouldn't change that quickly. Just like McNulty. The first three seasons take place over about 90 or so days, so there's, realistically, not that much that could go on. All of season 4 takes place within a few hours and, of course, season 5 takes place over a few thousand years - "otherwise known as last week".

If you have seen Angel, there's Wesley. A lot of people praise his development because he literally goes from one place to another over the course of the show. He changes. So Much. I like certain scenes and the way he reacts and interacts with some of the cast, but I still don't see his development as natural so much as developing to fit the point of the narrative.

I'm also not trying to change your view or anything. I just think there's a few character layers to a lot of the stuff Darlton threw out there.
 
By character development, I mean allowing us to understand the characters, their motives, who they are, why they are like that, etc (i.e. characterisation). I do expect some changes to characters, whereby they change over time (i.e. dynamic characterisation), but I don't expect that for every character.

What I'm saying is that both of these types of development tend to stop at certain points in the series for many of the older characters, and that just feel uneven to me.
 
I think we will have to just agree to disagree for now. The first season isn't as fresh in my mind as I'd like it to be to make arguments like this.
 
As this is my first propper postage i'd just like to say it that i relish there being such a number of y'all who enjoyed Lost as much as me.
The show was increyablé, and it's a god-damn shame to see it go.

You had to take it all metophorically. The People, the Plane, the Island, the Hatch, the Button, The Dharma Crew, even Jacob and Smokey Joe, Johny Locke (Smocke welly).

The simple idea of Fate over Choice, and Science vs Faith. I just found it was great that a few simple sentences could explain near to all events in the show. (cept Walt -wtf). But yeah..."Christian Shepard" Come on! smacked meself silly when Kate realises the obviousness of the name's meaning. Imense.

The final scene, Jack's eye closing, Perfect.

- Linus
 
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