The Official "Lost" the series discussion

[Deberg_1990]

I figured I would start a thread for this and see what happens....there seemed to be quite a few viewers on the board for this show the past few weeks.....I like the direction the show is taking so far......episode 3 tonight at 7 central on ABC....

[Red Brooklyn]

You're a rockstar, Baby Lee. Thankee, sai.

[irishjayhawk]

Well, gonna catch up on Mad Men so I can join the party on July 25th.

Up next in the queue is Sons of Anarchy and Community because they're airing. Otherwise it'd be Sopranos or BSG.

[irishjayhawk]

Also, Buck, I can distinguish between "fun" shows and "art" shows, per se. LOST was more of the latter. Chuck and 24 are more of the former, though 24 has a lot of commentary angles that could be construed as "art".

[Buck]

Originally Posted by irishjayhawk

Also, Buck, I can distinguish between "fun" shows and "art" shows, per se. LOST was more of the latter. Chuck and 24 are more of the former, though 24 has a lot of commentary angles that could be construed as "art".

I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with that, but I was personally more interested in the story than the art of the show.

[Third Eye]

Originally Posted by irishjayhawk

Also, Buck, I can distinguish between "fun" shows and "art" shows, per se. LOST was more of the latter. Chuck and 24 are more of the former, though 24 has a lot of commentary angles that could be construed as "art".

Really? I've always put LOST in the former category. I guess maybe I just feel that there is really very little television that actually aspires to that aesthetic. I can see the craft in a show like Breaking Bad, but I've always thought of LOST strictly as fluff. It was loveable fluff with some great storytelling at times and some characters that I enjoyed, but fluff nonetheless.

[irishjayhawk]

Originally Posted by Third Eye

Really? I've always put LOST in the former category. I guess maybe I just feel that there is really very little television that actually aspires to that aesthetic. I can see the craft in a show like Breaking Bad, but I've always thought of LOST strictly as fluff. It was loveable fluff with some great storytelling at times and some characters that I enjoyed, but fluff nonetheless.

It can't be fluff when dealing with the content it was dealing with (or attempting to). I just don't think "fluff" could balance time travel, Castaway, good v evil, physics, science v faith, etc etc. I guess you could argue LOST didn't balance it well which made it fluff, but I wouldn't.

[Red Brooklyn]

Yeah, LOST was way to cerebral and philosophical to be classified as (what I would call) "fluff."

[Reaper16]

So, I'm halfway through episode six of Season 5 ("316"). I've been mostly digging season 5 for the most part; a lot of B+ episodes, imo, if one were using the AV Club scale. I have qualms with the particulars of the time travel (like why is Charlotte dying from the time travel; she recognized Faraday from her childhood, so wouldn't he be her Constant?) and I have issues with the infamous "sickness" that overtook Rousseau's crew (and the same sickness that Dharma Initiative employees were constantly vaccinated against) being retcon'd into Smoke Monster possession (though it confirms, I think anyway, that Smoke Monster takes possession of bodies and is able to present itself in different forms to different people).

BUT, I paused to write this in the middle of "316" because I just laughed out loud at two lines in a row. This marks the first and second times I have laughed out loud at this show.

lawlz moment #1: Frank Lapidus deadpanning "We're not going to Guam, are we?"

lawlz moment #2: Jack, to Ben - "How can you read?" Ben, to Jack: "My mother taught me."

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

So, I'm halfway through episode six of Season 5 ("316"). I've been mostly digging season 5 for the most part; a lot of B+ episodes, imo, if one were using the AV Club scale. I have qualms with the particulars of the time travel (like why is Charlotte dying from the time travel; she recognized Faraday from her childhood, so wouldn't he be her Constant?) and I have issues with the infamous "sickness" that overtook Rousseau's crew (and the same sickness that Dharma Initiative employees were constantly vaccinated against) being retcon'd into Smoke Monster possession (though it confirms, I think anyway, that Smoke Monster takes possession of bodies and is able to present itself in different forms to different people).

BUT, I paused to write this in the middle of "316" because I just laughed out loud at two lines in a row. This marks the first and second times I have laughed out loud at this show.

lawlz moment #1: Frank Lapidus deadpanning "We're not going to Guam, are we?"

lawlz moment #2: Jack, to Ben - "How can you read?" Ben, to Jack: "My mother taught me."

I'd be shocked that if after you've completed the entire series, you don't come to the same conclusion that I have about the show.

Enjoy!

PS - If you haven't read my post about the series finale, don't. It'll ruin your experience.

[Reaper16]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I'd be shocked that if after you've completed the entire series, you don't come to the same conclusion that I have about the show.

Enjoy!

PS - If you haven't read my post about the series finale, don't. It'll ruin your experience.

I have read your thoughts about the finale. I know how the series ends, and so far anyway, I'm having trouble agreeing with your view that the show happened in a lucid instant, Jack's mind constructing a redemption narrative to allow him to pass peacefully into death in the immediate aftermath of the crash of Oceanic 815. But I suppose season 6 will have the most to do with whether or not I see things your way.

Speaking of knowing how the finale is: I raged when, during the season 5 episode "This Place Is Death," Ben told Jack that "of course" Doubting Thomas was eventually convinced of Jesus' resurrection. I've known all along that the show is setting up a big faith-based resolution and I'm already balking at the signs. But there is a dichotomy concerning faith that I think lies at the very heart of the show's artistic pursuits and I will explain this in detail once I've seen the entire series.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Reaper16

I have read your thoughts about the finale. I know how the series ends, and so far anyway, I'm having trouble agreeing with your view that the show happened in a lucid instant, Jack's mind constructing a redemption narrative to allow him to pass peacefully into death in the immediate aftermath of the crash of Oceanic 815. But I suppose season 6 will have the most to do with whether or not I see things your way.

Speaking of knowing how the finale is: I raged when, during the season 5 episode "This Place Is Death," Ben told Jack that "of course" Doubting Thomas was eventually convinced of Jesus' resurrection. I've known all along that the show is setting up a big faith-based resolution and I'm already balking at the signs. But there is a dichotomy concerning faith that I think lies at the very heart of the show's artistic pursuits and I will explain this in detail once I've seen the entire series.

You probably will have difficulty until you watch and digest the every episode up and until the end.

After that, we'll discuss. But I don't want to influence your viewing one way or another by discussing further at this point.

Oh and FTR, I haven't spoken to one person here in LA, in and out of the Ent business, that hasn't seen it the same as I have. The only people in which I've encountered any resistance to my "theory" are here in this forum.

For whatever that's worth (probably nothing ).

[007]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

You probably will have difficulty until you watch and digest the every episode up and until the end.

After that, we'll discuss. But I don't want to influence your viewing one way or another by discussing further at this point.

Oh and FTR, I haven't spoken to one person here in LA, in and out of the Ent business, that hasn't seen it the same as I have. The only people in which I've encountered any resistance to my "theory" are here in this forum.

For whatever that's worth (probably nothing ).

Nope. I still disagree with ya.

[irishjayhawk]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

You probably will have difficulty until you watch and digest the every episode up and until the end.

After that, we'll discuss. But I don't want to influence your viewing one way or another by discussing further at this point.

Oh and FTR, I haven't spoken to one person here in LA, in and out of the Ent business, that hasn't seen it the same as I have. The only people in which I've encountered any resistance to my "theory" are here in this forum.

For whatever that's worth (probably nothing ).

Still don't buy it's all in Jack's head.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by irishjayhawk

Still don't buy it's all in Jack's head.

I didn't say that it was "all in Jack's head". I said that it was his life flashing before his eyes as he died (Eyes open/Eyes closed) and in that instant and in order to move on, he knew that he had to do something to go from a man of science to a man of faith to save his soul.

But of course, you're free to believe in magical islands where the sick are healed, the Egyptians had a massive presence, as a did a top a secret scientific corporation that studied the strange EMT on the island, the same EMT that turned a boy into a smoke monster, against the will of his mother.

Oh, also, Jacob (Jack) was the ruler of this island that could come and go as he pleased, although his twin brother could never leave, all the while, Jacob (Jack) "touched" people using mystical numbers (seat assignments) that could take over the island and continue to trap his brother.

That and polar bears, dead people alive and walking around, people trapped forever and but no escape for anyone other than the "Oceanic Six" (again, seat numbers).

Ah, and pregnancy in place where pregnancy couldn't exist and in the end, didn't have a damn thing to do with story because the pregnancy didn't actually exist.

Did I miss anything?

[irishjayhawk]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

I didn't say that it was "all in Jack's head". I said that it was his life flashing before his eyes as he died (Eyes open/Eyes closed) and in that instant and in order to move on, he knew that he had to do something to go from a man of science to a man of faith to save his soul.

But of course, you're free to believe in magical islands where the sick are healed, the Egyptians had a massive presence, as a did a top a secret scientific corporation that studied the strange EMT on the island, the same EMT that turned a boy into a smoke monster, against the will of his mother.

Oh, also, Jacob (Jack) was the ruler of this island that could come and go as he pleased, although his twin brother could never leave, all the while, Jacob (Jack) "touched" people using mystical numbers (seat assignments) that could take over the island and continue to trap his brother.

That and polar bears, dead people alive and walking around, people trapped forever and but no escape for anyone other than the "Oceanic Six" (again, seat numbers).

Ah, and pregnancy in place where pregnancy couldn't exist and in the end, didn't have a damn thing to do with story because the pregnancy didn't actually exist.

Did I miss anything?

So they opened up too many loose ends and couldn't tie them together so they just said screw it, let's do a "dream" ending?