TV blogging returns!
Continuing my entry from yesterday, when I was going to write about the new TV I watched this week, but got called away and didn't get a chance. One of my goals for this year is to blog about new episodes of the shows I watch, something I often get behind in very quickly. I don't think I'll always have lengthy or brilliant thoughts, but I usually have fun writing them down. I do think I'll have to start writing these entries the night I see the episodes, though. It's only been 3 or 4 days and I already feel like I can't remember the details.
I don't normally watch the recap episodes before the season premiere, but I did this time- because, hey, there's a lot to remember, and it's been several months, and I do have huge gaps in my viewing from seasons 3 and 4 when I got behind on taping it. I was surprised when it revealed something that I hadn't noticed when I was watching the episodes beforehand. The recap pointed out that Richard (the guy from the Others) never seems to age! He always looks the same, whether he's on the island in the present day or visiting Locke as a kid in flashbacks. I had spent so much time focusing on identifying the characters that I hadn't picked up on that. It lends credence to the time traveling that the island apparently enables people to do, something I don't really understand but am attempting to accept.
While we're on the topic of accepting the strange things that "Lost" does, I think I'll mount a quick defense of this show.I know so many people who really dislike it, who are either fans who fell out of love with the series or viewers who never liked it to begin with. And I'm not saying that everyone should- it's perfectly fine to dislike a show. But I've been trying to figure out why I like it, especially since shows like "Heroes" are doing similar things (slightly unbelievable plot circumstances, crazy jumps in space/time, etc.) and it annoys me on those shows.
I think what appeals to me about "Lost" is that it goes deeper than the surface. From the first time I saw the trailers in 2004, I realized that by watching this show I was seeing something completely different from anything else on TV. The random polar bears and smoke monsters and dead people don't bother me because I've always approached the island and the events in it as a deliberately unfamiliar place. The whole plot device of stranding people on an island is to strip away their normal lives, to put them in a place where anything can happen. I watch the show with the assumption that I don't know what's going on- that there are rules to life on the island that I'm not aware of yet, because the characters aren't aware of them. I like that everything is very deliberately interconnected, but subtly so. Also, unlike many, I do have faith that we're slowly getting some answers, and that by the end it'll be explained. I'm sticking with it because it keeps me guessing, because the reveal at the end will probably be very satisfying, and because a subsequent full-series rewatch will be awesome once everything has been discovered.
I also think the character development on this show is superior in some ways to that of other current TV. Watching the recap, I saw characters who had a fully established past, a continuously unfolding present, and glimpses into the future. My current gripe with "Heroes" is that it seems to be sacrificing consistent and engaging character in favor of action and cool powers and playing with time travel. Those characters don't grow as they should. These characters do. "Lost" does occasionally fall into the soap-opera plot lines- amnesia, Sun's dilemma over whether her baby is Jin's or her illegitimate lover's- and I sincerely hope it doesn't fall into the cycle of time-travel complications that "Heroes" has, but I feel like time and effort has been put into developing these characters. It's as much about their personal journeys as it is about the show' overarching path.
So, anyway. That's most of what I have to say, because I only have scattered thoughts about the episodes from last Wednesday. The time-travel thing was confusing, and I do kind of wish there hadn't been so much of it in one episode. I'm still not sure where (when?) we are at the moment. I was intrigued, however, by the scene with Faraday and Sawyer banging on the hatch door. I can't remember because it was so long ago in the series, but wasn't there a moment in an earlier season when Desmond heard banging at his door? If so, that would make me really happy. I love when things connect back.
I'll have to rewatch online to gather any additional thoughts for this episode.
Comparitively not much to say about these episodes. I tend to get behind on my "Bones" watching, and actually was in and out during "Fire in the Ice" because my computer was running the latest in its neverending series of virus scans. I really liked "Double Trouble in the Panhandle", though- particularly the priceless Booth/Brennan interaction. I'm impressed by Brennan's ability not only to let Booth throw knives at her, but to actually keep smiling through the whole thing. And they had the British trivia intern back! He was my favorite. (I have to add, though, that it really annoys me that they refuse to choose a replacement for Zack, and just keep rotating through a group of people. It would really help me as a viewer if they would just settle on someone already so we could start getting to know the guy.)
I found Brennan's comment in "Fire in the Ice" about everything changing to be sort of ominous and foreshadowing. I suspect very interesting things are going to happen in the rest of this season.
Lunchtime! Gotta go. :)
Sarah
I don't normally watch the recap episodes before the season premiere, but I did this time- because, hey, there's a lot to remember, and it's been several months, and I do have huge gaps in my viewing from seasons 3 and 4 when I got behind on taping it. I was surprised when it revealed something that I hadn't noticed when I was watching the episodes beforehand. The recap pointed out that Richard (the guy from the Others) never seems to age! He always looks the same, whether he's on the island in the present day or visiting Locke as a kid in flashbacks. I had spent so much time focusing on identifying the characters that I hadn't picked up on that. It lends credence to the time traveling that the island apparently enables people to do, something I don't really understand but am attempting to accept.
While we're on the topic of accepting the strange things that "Lost" does, I think I'll mount a quick defense of this show.I know so many people who really dislike it, who are either fans who fell out of love with the series or viewers who never liked it to begin with. And I'm not saying that everyone should- it's perfectly fine to dislike a show. But I've been trying to figure out why I like it, especially since shows like "Heroes" are doing similar things (slightly unbelievable plot circumstances, crazy jumps in space/time, etc.) and it annoys me on those shows.
I think what appeals to me about "Lost" is that it goes deeper than the surface. From the first time I saw the trailers in 2004, I realized that by watching this show I was seeing something completely different from anything else on TV. The random polar bears and smoke monsters and dead people don't bother me because I've always approached the island and the events in it as a deliberately unfamiliar place. The whole plot device of stranding people on an island is to strip away their normal lives, to put them in a place where anything can happen. I watch the show with the assumption that I don't know what's going on- that there are rules to life on the island that I'm not aware of yet, because the characters aren't aware of them. I like that everything is very deliberately interconnected, but subtly so. Also, unlike many, I do have faith that we're slowly getting some answers, and that by the end it'll be explained. I'm sticking with it because it keeps me guessing, because the reveal at the end will probably be very satisfying, and because a subsequent full-series rewatch will be awesome once everything has been discovered.
I also think the character development on this show is superior in some ways to that of other current TV. Watching the recap, I saw characters who had a fully established past, a continuously unfolding present, and glimpses into the future. My current gripe with "Heroes" is that it seems to be sacrificing consistent and engaging character in favor of action and cool powers and playing with time travel. Those characters don't grow as they should. These characters do. "Lost" does occasionally fall into the soap-opera plot lines- amnesia, Sun's dilemma over whether her baby is Jin's or her illegitimate lover's- and I sincerely hope it doesn't fall into the cycle of time-travel complications that "Heroes" has, but I feel like time and effort has been put into developing these characters. It's as much about their personal journeys as it is about the show' overarching path.
So, anyway. That's most of what I have to say, because I only have scattered thoughts about the episodes from last Wednesday. The time-travel thing was confusing, and I do kind of wish there hadn't been so much of it in one episode. I'm still not sure where (when?) we are at the moment. I was intrigued, however, by the scene with Faraday and Sawyer banging on the hatch door. I can't remember because it was so long ago in the series, but wasn't there a moment in an earlier season when Desmond heard banging at his door? If so, that would make me really happy. I love when things connect back.
I'll have to rewatch online to gather any additional thoughts for this episode.
Comparitively not much to say about these episodes. I tend to get behind on my "Bones" watching, and actually was in and out during "Fire in the Ice" because my computer was running the latest in its neverending series of virus scans. I really liked "Double Trouble in the Panhandle", though- particularly the priceless Booth/Brennan interaction. I'm impressed by Brennan's ability not only to let Booth throw knives at her, but to actually keep smiling through the whole thing. And they had the British trivia intern back! He was my favorite. (I have to add, though, that it really annoys me that they refuse to choose a replacement for Zack, and just keep rotating through a group of people. It would really help me as a viewer if they would just settle on someone already so we could start getting to know the guy.)
I found Brennan's comment in "Fire in the Ice" about everything changing to be sort of ominous and foreshadowing. I suspect very interesting things are going to happen in the rest of this season.
Lunchtime! Gotta go. :)
Sarah