7 February 2008
TV Musing: Lost Season 4 (Thus Far…)
Spoilers for every episode of Lost ever. Just don't read it if you're not up-to-date. Or if you don't care. Like when I spoiled myself on the ending of that movie "Untraceable." Because I just didn't care. And it was dumb. So don't see that movie.
Well, we're two episodes in. And… eh! "Eh" for the premiere, and "!" for the second episode.
Don't get me wrong, I still wasn't super excited during the second episode because, honestly, Lost doesn't excite me like it did during it's awesome first season. But that's all right. At least stuff happened in the second episode, titled "Confirmed Dead." But let's not get ahead of ourselves… let's talk about the premiere.
As is now typical of Lost season premieres (with the exception of the first season, of course), episode 4.1 was underwhelming. For one, it's pretty much impossible to live up to the expectations that have festered over the months since season three ended. So I'll grant that; the writers just can't be expected to completely live up to those kind of expectations. I do kind of expect things to happen, though, and not much really did. In fact, 4.1 was a good example of the one thing I hate about Lost: its absolutely glacial pace. Sure, we learn that there is the "Oceanic 6" and that Jack and Hurley are confirmed as two of the six. But given the lack of context of the 6, I find it hard to care about who is and who isn't a part of that number. For example, not being a part of the 6 doesn't guarantee that a character is dead. We don't know enough about what it means to be a part of the Oceanic 6, so caring about who is and who is not a part of that number seems like a waste of energy at this time.
I guess what really bothered me was the handling of Charlie's death. I expected Desmond to get back to everyone else and warn them, and for everyone to band together and figure out what to do. What I didn't expect was for everyone to kind of just sort of move quickly but also take their time because what the hell, we're on a beach and everything is pretty. The whole episode lacked urgency, is what I'm saying. Which is kind of strange considering the information that Charlie imparted seemed to be very important.
What else? The group splits in two. Whoopee. Ben gets beat up. Been there, done that. Tension between Jack and Kate. Again, retread. Naomi dies. Don't care about that, either. Who the hell is she anyway, right? The cliffhanger at the end of the episode, if you can call it that, was ruined by the commercials. Overall, just a stagnant episode.
Which brings us to 4.2. This episode was a lot better. Yes, things are getting even more convoluted with the introduction of these new characters, but at least the new people add some interesting mystery to what's going on. More than that, the episode seemed to have a pulse, seemed to be moving toward something, and therefore it was interesting. I could care less about the Oceanic 6, I want to know more about the helicopter people and the freighter. The idea that Dharma had polar bears all over the world is interesting, as is bringing the original pilot of 815 back to the island. And what's the damn deal with creepy Oceanic lawyer dude? And who faked the wreckage of 815? All questions that tie into the mythology of the show and don't seem arbitrary, and enough clues were given in this episode to make it feel like the writers weren't just answering a question with more questions, but were instead laying the foundations for the answers. So kudos.
Love the casting of these new characters as well, especially Ken Leung. And c'mon, get Fisher Stevens on screen!
So far, so not so bad… we'll see how this truncated season plays out.
hyalineskies