Lost musings
Last night, in the middle of the night, after yet another nightmare, I think I finally figured out what's bothering me about season 4/the Oceanic 6.
At the end of season one, Lost set up a situation that seemed absolutely horrifying: a child taken away from his parent and a group of scary child-stealers. It fully stood to reason that this would overshadow season 2, right? And it could have/should have been incredibly compelling.
But instead we got Michael moaning "Waaaaaaaaaaalt" in an annoying way and nobody else cared very much. Did they even look for Walt or try to get him back? It's like when Claire went missing and they expended more effort looking for Vincent when he wandered off. (Course, that's how they found Claire.) The Others ended up being portrayed as bad and scary cause they did things like shoot Sawyer, hold a gun to Kate's head, hit people with poison darts. Michael showed some desperation, too little too late, and in the wrong direction, and now I can't think of one viewer who doesn't hate his character.
Now with the Oceanic Six, we see the same sort of situation being created. (Assuming Kate doesn't end up with Aaron because Claire dies, which is always possible.) And in this case, we have the big prophecy from season one hanging over it, the "you must raise this child yourself" deal the psychic told Claire. (Course when he waffled, he told her there was a nice couple in LA, which people have spec'd was Jack and Kate by way of plane crash -- wouldn't it be interesting to retroactively learn his prophecy changed because of changes in the timeline/his new visions by way of wacky island time-traveling like Desmond?)
Theoretically, next season, we'll have Claire on the island without her child. Her infant child, which she gave birth to, what, 6 weeks ago by island time? But all of the focus so far has been on...Kate, and peripherally Jack. Nobody really cares. After Claire's reaction to Charlie's death, I have to wonder if Claire will even care.
There's not much indication things will change, either. This season seems to have focused almost entirely on the Oceanic 6, and that's a large part of what bothers me. The island is being literally left behind, and its loose threads and mysteries are ending abruptly -- some of them shot, execution-style, in the head. We're not getting answers, we're getting distraction and "look over here, shiny!" For the past 2 years, the groups and storylines have been split mostly for the purpose of soap opera style storytelling, alternating the good or "A" plot with the boring or "B" plot. On soaps it's usually MWF vs. TTh because they have five days to fill. With shortened seasons, Lost doesn't really have Tuesday-Thursday anymore.
Now, there are indications that the focus may shift back. For Jack (and Hurley), at some point in the future, the island becomes important again. Maybe the alternating storytelling pattern will ultimately apply to seasons -- this year ramping up to off-island is the focus, next year the pendulum swings back? It's just too easy for me to see the island and the tiny handful of people left on it slip away into obscurity, with their disappearance supposedly heightening the mystery of the A plot.
I realize this all sounds like it could be summarized as sour-grapes, "What happens to [my favorite character]?!" whining. Which was absolutely my previous position until I realized the parallel with season 2.
Writing this out, I've realized something else. It's all just a crisis of, or utter lack of, faith in TPTB. That's not really anything new, either. I want to believe...they just make it so hard.
At the end of season one, Lost set up a situation that seemed absolutely horrifying: a child taken away from his parent and a group of scary child-stealers. It fully stood to reason that this would overshadow season 2, right? And it could have/should have been incredibly compelling.
But instead we got Michael moaning "Waaaaaaaaaaalt" in an annoying way and nobody else cared very much. Did they even look for Walt or try to get him back? It's like when Claire went missing and they expended more effort looking for Vincent when he wandered off. (Course, that's how they found Claire.) The Others ended up being portrayed as bad and scary cause they did things like shoot Sawyer, hold a gun to Kate's head, hit people with poison darts. Michael showed some desperation, too little too late, and in the wrong direction, and now I can't think of one viewer who doesn't hate his character.
Now with the Oceanic Six, we see the same sort of situation being created. (Assuming Kate doesn't end up with Aaron because Claire dies, which is always possible.) And in this case, we have the big prophecy from season one hanging over it, the "you must raise this child yourself" deal the psychic told Claire. (Course when he waffled, he told her there was a nice couple in LA, which people have spec'd was Jack and Kate by way of plane crash -- wouldn't it be interesting to retroactively learn his prophecy changed because of changes in the timeline/his new visions by way of wacky island time-traveling like Desmond?)
Theoretically, next season, we'll have Claire on the island without her child. Her infant child, which she gave birth to, what, 6 weeks ago by island time? But all of the focus so far has been on...Kate, and peripherally Jack. Nobody really cares. After Claire's reaction to Charlie's death, I have to wonder if Claire will even care.
There's not much indication things will change, either. This season seems to have focused almost entirely on the Oceanic 6, and that's a large part of what bothers me. The island is being literally left behind, and its loose threads and mysteries are ending abruptly -- some of them shot, execution-style, in the head. We're not getting answers, we're getting distraction and "look over here, shiny!" For the past 2 years, the groups and storylines have been split mostly for the purpose of soap opera style storytelling, alternating the good or "A" plot with the boring or "B" plot. On soaps it's usually MWF vs. TTh because they have five days to fill. With shortened seasons, Lost doesn't really have Tuesday-Thursday anymore.
Now, there are indications that the focus may shift back. For Jack (and Hurley), at some point in the future, the island becomes important again. Maybe the alternating storytelling pattern will ultimately apply to seasons -- this year ramping up to off-island is the focus, next year the pendulum swings back? It's just too easy for me to see the island and the tiny handful of people left on it slip away into obscurity, with their disappearance supposedly heightening the mystery of the A plot.
I realize this all sounds like it could be summarized as sour-grapes, "What happens to [my favorite character]?!" whining. Which was absolutely my previous position until I realized the parallel with season 2.
Writing this out, I've realized something else. It's all just a crisis of, or utter lack of, faith in TPTB. That's not really anything new, either. I want to believe...they just make it so hard.