Lost in Translation (Big SPOILERS)
Monday, May 24th, 2010
Ah...Fresh meat for the slaughterhouse!
I’ve been accused of deliberately shifting to an unpopular position just because I want to be different from other people. To my knowledge, I’ve never done such a thing consciously. Now that THAT’S out of the way, I thought I’d write a little review of the Lost series finale from last night, and if you haven’t guessed from my first sentence that what I have to say might piss you off, you’re even dumber than I look. So, I tell you what…I like your patronage and the fact that you come to this site. I’ll try not to be as inflammatory as I want to, and you just sit there, drink a Dharma beer, and relax. I’m pretty certain that ending was meant to inspire at least some vitriol. Anyways, find out what I had to say about the Lost closing after the jump.
I’ve been pretty vocal (well, at least to my girlfriend in the comfort of our own living room…people get scary upset when you badmouth Lost) about this season, at least. My whole point has been that the first season of Lost was one of the greatest entertainment coups of the decade. The show was started with a premise that didn’t appear to be self-sustaining (and wasn’t), with a ridiculously overblown budget (12 million on the pilot alone…GASP!), and was completely unwilling to reveal any answers to any of the questions being posed by the odd plot of the show. This formula should not have worked. I put it to you that it was some amazing acting from damn near everyone involved, and a LOT of patience from the audience that kept the show running in the first season. Oh, and a little hatch in the ground. Come on…you had to keep watching for the hatch!
I’ll tell you what kept me coming back in the beginning. It was the troubled relationship of Sun and Jin Kwon. I was a fan of Daniel Dae Kim’s since his work on Angel (and, boy, did he get the shaft on THAT show!), and I was so very impressed with his acting, knowing that his regular speaking voice held not even a trace of a Korean accent. It was Sun peeking out from behind her overbearing husband, and Jin’s slow realization that he really was a good person that kept me tuning in in the beginning. Jack, Kate, Sawyer…blah…Except for John Locke. And, that just goes to show what a powerhouse of an actor Terry O’Quinn can be. Also, I was very impressed with Jorge Garcia’s portrayal of Hurley as possibly one of the nicest guys you could ever hope to meet. The growing mysteries of little boy Walt, the polar bears, the smoke monster, etc, etc, etc…There was nothing you could do BUT watch!
I don’t know what kind of picture I’m painting of the show, but the first season was nothing short of miraculous television.
And then…sigh…David slept with Maddie. Sorry, I meant to say that they opened that damn hatch. Don’t get me wrong, Henry Ian Cusick was a fine addition to the cast, and the character of Desmond is awesome, but once you start exploring what the island’s really about in season two (or what you think it’s about) The Dharma Initiative, then you start to let the air out of the mysticism of the island. For good or ill, and in this case, it was ill. While the Tailies storyline managed to finally reunite Bernard and his beloved Rose, it also brought the problematic Ana Lucia and Libby. Season two was sucha let down for me that I started considering not watching the show anymore.
Then season three comes along and totally convinces me that there’s something better I could be doing with my time. I’m going to be rewatching the entire show very soon, because I think I’ve blocked out significant information from that season. We started seeing Jack lose his ability to lead (one of the biggest disappointments to me), and the show continued to not answer questions that were posed in the first season! I’m all for the long draw, but come on! Season 4 comes along with it’s innovative flash forwards (that were shown to us as the regular flashbacks until the very last second) and the introduction of Benjamin Linus as a total badass (we already knew he was bad…but damn!) sucked me back into the show. I got caught up on what I’d missed, which wasn’t much, and never missed another episode.
Season 5 was actually a fun season, something which was missing in a lot of Lost. The time jumping adventures of everyone involved was entertaining and just, well, fun! Several answers were given to several questions, finally, mostly concerning the past history of the island and what had occured there. Season 5 reminded me very much of season 1, and showed me that I had made the right decision to stick with the show.
And then…season 6 made me question all that. Jack still wasn’t the leader we were led to believe he was. Locke wasn’t Locke at all, but the physical embodiment of the black smoke monster. What? And the new flashes weren’t flashbacks or flash forwards at all, but flash sideways! I hate to point this out, but it stretched all the credibility the show had gained in my eyes. Sure, we got some answers, but the answers that were given were NOT why I watched this show for six years! Particularly galling to me was the explanation of the black smoke monster, which was, to me, more confusing than it’s mysterious abilities! Extraneous cast is introduced when Charles Widmore SOMEHOW got back to the island, though he’d been looking for it for years (yes, yes…electromagnetic event and all that…it’s just a bullshit explanation, is all I’m saying.) Kate was with Jack…she wasn’t with Jack, she was checking out Sawyer, etc. That love triangle, which bothered me from its inception was simply aggravating in the last season. I was a fan of Elizabeth Mitchell’s portrayal of Juliet, and I was more than disappointed to see her go. And then…the biggest slap in the face, for me. The finale.
The flash sideways dimension was some pocket universe created by the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 (among others) so that they could meet up in the afterlife after they had died. WHAT…THE…FUCK? What about Walt? What about Ben? How the fuck did Lepidus survive the sub explosion? For me, it all ended with superstitious hoakum and a lot of deus ex machina on the part of the writers, who, let’s face it, had gotten a little lazy at this point. Ilana and Arzt have the exact same fate? Why the hell did Jacob even bring her to the island? I’ve been watching six years of what boils down to a misunderstanding amongst twin brothers? But, all that has almost nothing to do with the finale. But seriously…Where the fuck was Walt? Where the hell was Michael, for that reason? You’re telling me, with a straight face, that Sayid gets to go to heaven, though he had killed dozens of people, and Michael, who killed two people because his son was being held hostage, not to mention gave his life for a friend, doesn’t get to go to heaven? There are some wonky things at work here, and while I’m fine with not getting ALL the answers, I would have been happy with the ones that mattered.
And, getting back to that ending. Again, what the hell? I would have had more respect for the show if Jack had went to the bathroom, and Patrick Duffy was in the shower. It was almost as abrupt as the Sopranos ending. Jack’s able to get the island’s buttplug back in place (Not explained again, by the way. I can only hope that it brought the island all sorts of pleasure, cause it sure got mad when it was removed.) and then he drops dead. At that moment, he and all hs friends get to go to heaven from the Safe Landing Universe. And, after that, all the buzz was about how great the episode was. You’ll pardon me while I disagree wholeheartedly. So, they’re in some weird side purgatory? Or, they were in the sideways universe. So, the most obvious guess about the what the island was since season one is the true answer? Or, it was, with a twist? Kiss my ass! Six years! SIX YEARS, I watched this show, and you’ll pardon me if you didn’t give me what I needed.
Sorry…I’m just a little bitter about this. Seasons 1, 4, and 5 were some of the best television ever. Parts of 6 weren’t terrible (Ab Aeterno, the Richard Alpert story being a highlight for me) but that ending. I just can’t get my head around how bothered I am by it. But, it’s not the end of the world. Truth be told, I wasn’t as invested in the show as I could have been. Save one part. Sun and Jin. They have the best episodes, the best story, and were, for me, the best part of the show, even when they were SEPERATED FOR YEARS ON END! I’m sorry to say, but Lost really ended for me the second they died.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, some guy named Jacob wants me to meet him for a drink. If I’m lucky, his asshole brother (never named, by the way…feh!) won’t be there wanting to play Senet, or Chutes and Ladders, or whatever bullshit game he likes to play. See you in the afterlife! Peace!
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