I still haven't found what I'm looking for
Well, I finished watching Lost last night - all of it, so I feel like I did something productive with my christmas.
That's a grand total of 54 episodes - two series on DVD and the first six episodes of series three. In total, I've watched 50 40-minute episodes in the last week - that's 33 hours of Lost. (I skipped the first four in this sitting as I'd already seen those).
It's an incredible piece of writing. The first series is undoubtedly the best so far, but then much of its appeal lies in the mysteries on the island - where is the island, who are the others, what's down the hatch? What is the monster? After watching series two, I now know the answer to some of those questions, but now I want to know what the effect of the electromagnetic pulse was? What is the purpose of the Dharma Initiative? How the hell do polar bears end up on a tropical island and what has the Black Rock got to do with the story so far? Also, what's up with the giant statue of the four toed foot?
Hmm.
Probably the most impressive thing about Lost is that after watching 50 episodes of this show, I'm still not sure what it's about and if it's a supernatural thriller or a techno thriller. Does magic work in this world or not? Is there are reasonable explanation for everything that happens or not?
This breaks one of the rules of well, rule breaking in writing. If you want to write science fiction or fantasy, to maintain believabilty you're meant to make it clear early on in the story what rules of the real world don't apply. In Lost, they haven't done that, and strangely enough it works. Still, I'm starting to wonder whether the very thing that makes it the excellent TV series it is will be its undoing. The script writers have a tricky problem - how long can you pose unanswered questions before people tune out. At the same time, if you answer those unanswered questions, will that cause people to tune out as well?
Roll on the second half of series three, though, I'm seriously hooked. This is the best television I've ever seen.
posted by Alex Meehan @ 9:59 AM
4 Comments:
I know that the show's creators have said that there will be an 'explanation' for everything that happens on the island, that they won't have to invoke magic.
The secret power source at the centre of the island will not be love ;)
While all the crazy happenings on the island can be explained by its unique effects, what about the innumerable coincidences connecting people before they got there?
I started watching Lost because I thought a show about survival would be really interesting, the weird science and conspiracy/end of the world stuff means it hits all the buttons.
Have you kept up with 'the lost experience'? There are many short videos and pages with extra information about the companies and characters only vaguely or indirectly mentioned in the show.
Lower production values all 'round but there is some interesting information to be found.
I haven't seen any of the Experience stuff - but then I only started watching it lately, so unlike the rest of the world, I haven't been watching it for two years or so.
Any suggestions on where to track it down?
(After a random switching of account)
there's more Lost information than you may ever need on
Lost experience themes
The lostpedia follows the latest from the U.S. so there may be spoilers if you haven't watched the latest episodes
Cheers Declan, I'll take a look!
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