Found Lost Again

Found Lost Again

May 26

I’ve been pretty iffy on Lost this season, for the simple reason that I started to feel like the show was yanking my chain.

NOTE TO READERS: Do NOT yank my chain, people. I do not LIKE it. It is not, as the kids say, “kewl.”

But of course, being an obsessive nerd who loves TV, I haven’t had the cajones yet to stop actually WATCHING the show, so we did catch the Lost finale. And I must admit, I think they finally yanked my chain in an attractive-enough way to bring me back in the fold…at least, a little bit.

Here’s what I’m saying re: chains being yanked. Even after this great finale, where a lot of questions sure SEEMED to be answered, and a lot of new questions most DEFINITELY gurgled to the surface, I still think the show’s writing team lacks understanding for the fine line they walk between mystery and revelation. In other words, there’s only so many big fat weird unknowns I can handle before I’m thinking, “QUIT YANKIN’ MY FUCKIN’ CHAIN!”

It’s exploitative in a sense, for one thing, and it also seems like lazy writing. Worst of all, it can lead to the scary realization that maybe there is no “grand plan,” and that instead, we are just being led around on our respective chains, constantly teased by the illusion of this master plot that will explain all, when the master plot doesn’t exist at all.

It also reached a point this season where I felt like they were falling victim to the great fallacy of television, which also happens to be the great fallacy of comic books, and so was articulated best by Stan “The Man” Lee as “the illusion of change.” So things sure SEEM to happen, but in reality, the characters are just being pushed around incrementally, and don’t really change at all. There were many moments this season where I felt like I was watching a sitcom–the characters grew and changed not at all, the plots were just constant circular teases, and the end of every episode may as well have featured one final gag and a freeze-frame of all the characters laughing uproariously.

Ah, but the finale…the finale. They write good finales. Really good finales. Whether they knew where it would go at the start of season two, or whether they know where it will go next year, they are masters at creating that unmistakable feeling of the tumblers clicking into place, of the varying plot threads of the season being drawn together tightly and in some cases tied into a neat little bow.

Things finally RESOLVED. It sure seemed as though we saw the last of the button. Michael got Walt and left the island–he could never be heard or seen again and it’d be all right with me, although they still might want to touch upon whether Walt is a crazy insane telepathic wonder child.

The remaining questions, of which there are too many to even list, seem reasonable and emerged organically from existing plot threads. There were plenty of surprising moments but none of them seemed totally random, with the possible exception of that last scene in the snow. THAT was random. But intriguing.

At first, the flashbacks were meaty enough to offer plenty of sustenance even if the plot felt a bit too manipulative. As time has gone on, I personally have grown a bit weary of the flashbacks, and have wanted more and more to just see some serious attention paid to the show’s mythology. I’m a firm believer in honoring that pact of trust with an audience–we make the story, and we will give it to you, and we will not fuck around more than is absolutely necessary.

This season two finale of Lost definitely brought me back into the fold–the trust is back, at least a little bit. Were I able, I’d love to give the writing staff a big group hug. If any of them are reading this now, please send along address and schedule information, so we can make that shit happen.

I’m a really good hugger.

WikiWikiWhack: Lost, The DHARMA Initiative