Off-Topic Tuesday: Lost, Season 2

I know you get your Lost fix from e, but it's time for me to chime in. After taking almost a week to let the Lost Season 2 finale “sink in,” I think I’m ready to assess the show. In my opinion, the 2nd season was better than the 1st. It is very similar to how I feel (errr, felt) about the show 24. With both shows, the 1st season was amazing because they were so original. But in the 2nd season, both shows hit their stride. With the writers knowing that they could write a full season (and beyond), and knowing what fans loved and/or hated about the 1st season, improvements were made. I can only hope that with Lost, the producers/writers don’t make the same mistakes that have been made on 24 – can you really drive from anywhere in L.A. to CTU in less than 5 minutes?!... but that is a complaint for another time.

Random thoughts Lost Season 2:

(1) The first episode of Season 2 ("Man of Science, Man of Faith") was possibly one of the greatest 2-hour segments in TV history. The opening shots, causing many fans to ask “am I on the right channel?,” were brilliant. This certainly made up for what I considered a disappointing Season 1 finale. The introduction of Desmond and “the computer” presented so many great questions – many of which were answered by the end of the season. While the season did drag during a few episodes, it really kept my interest most of the time.

(2) I was about to say “strike one!” when Libby was killed. I usually have a “three strikes and you’re out” policy for TV shows. And it appeared that Libby was killed off due to “off the field incidents,” which would have made me mad, considering her creepy presence in Hurley’s flashback. But, with Libby popping up in Desmond’s flashback during the finale, it seems as if she has some sort of “evil” (Dharma, Widmore, Hanso) ties. I expect her to appear in other flashbacks as time goes on. One thing to think about – if she was a “mole” for Widmore Labs, or The Others, or something like that, what impact will her death have on them?

(3) It appears that, assuming he survives, Mr. Eko will be the only (living) Tail section person to be a major player in the series (sorry, Bernard). That seems kind of odd to me.

(4) I enjoyed the episode “The Other 48 Days,” which showed what the Tailies went through after the crash. I thought that “Dave,” Hurley’s psych ward flashback, was pretty worthless. I understand the point (it’s not all in Hurley’s head, it's not all a dream), but that hour didn’t give us much (other than the Libby craziness, mentioned above). On the other hand, an arguably "pointless" episode that I really liked was "The Long Con," which was a Sawyer flashback and had some good writing.

Season 2 Finale random thoughts:

(1) It was very good. To the people complaining that it didn’t answer enough questions, or that it just added more confusion… Hello?! That is what the show is all about. If you want a nice, clean 42 minutes of predictable television, tune in to Law and Order: Special Idiots Unit or some other garbage. You will get your answers in an hour, and you won’t have to use any brain power to do so. Enjoy!

(2) The biggest complaint people seem to have is: “Why would Desmond go along with Locke’s idea to let the counter run down past zero, considering that Desmond had seen “the magnet” activated before.” To this, I say: Desmond had seen the counter run past zero, and seen the magnet start working, but he had not let it run its course. For all he knew, originally, letting the counter run down might have only done minimal harm, and the magnet might have eventually stopped, or only effected metal items in the hatch. But, later Desmond realized that the magnet was likely much more powerful (“I crashed your plane”). As soon as Desmond realized this, he was not willing to follow Locke’s plan. So, (1) I don’t think it was stupid for Desmond to originally follow Locke’s plan, but (2) I think Desmond was kinda dumb for not telling Locke what he had seen before (counter running down, magnet working for about 20 seconds, etc.). But can you blame Desmond? He was likely still a bit drunk (or at least hung over), and mentally unstable. His actions (or inactions) were understandable.

(3) The biggest complain that I have is why is everybody just chillin' out by the fire while Eko and Locke are still missing? Charlie just plays it off like he's still on smack or something. Idiots.

(4) The last scene was another “am I on the right channel?” moment. Quickly cutting to some random arctic region, with dudes playing chess and speaking Portuguese (gibberish, to me) – that was weird. But the importance of that scene should be noted. It was obviously the producers’ way of saying “this is not a dream, this is not purgatory, and there are people in the ‘real world’ that are going about their business while the Lostaways are stuck on the island.” Now, was Penny (a.k.a. Desmond’s woman) looking for Desmond, or for the island, or for something else? That was somewhat ambiguous.

(5) Will we ever see Michael and/or Walt again? Will they encounter more Seabillies? Will they run out of gas? The answers are out there, if you look hard enough. I won’t spoil it for you, but I doubt you’ll make it through the summer without hearing the info.

On to Season 3:

The Three (button-pushing) Amigos… Who survived?! Locke, Eko, and Desmond were all (theoretically) in harm’s way when Desmond turned the key to kill the hatch magnet. But did that kill him?... Or them? Immediately after the show aired, most people believed that Desmond was a goner. And most believed that at least one of Locke/Eko would be back. A week later, many are thinking that Desmond will be back, and both Locke and Eko will be back. Here are my un-spoiled odds:

89% chance that Locke will be back. Probably the safest bet, although I can’t put it at 100% because (1) I don’t write the show, and (2) Terry O’Quinn has expressed some frustration with the way the character has developed.

73% chance that Eko will be back. While he’s (apparently) not as integral to the storyline as Locke, Eko is another fan favorite, and (1) he still has to build that church!, and (2) when he looked into “Smokey” (a.k.a. the monster), the audience could see a picture of a woman (along with his brother, a crucifix, etc.). Since Eko has had flashbacks involving those other things, I expect him to come back and have a flashback involving said lady.

14% chance that Desmond will be back. Many people believe that Desmond has been “redeemed.” Others argue that he still has to get back his “honor,” and that he must be alive when Penny finally rescues the Lostaways (in the series finale, possibly?). Now, I don’t know anything about Electromagnetic Pulses, or whatever that was, but since he was the closest to the source, and considering the drama involved in that scene, I think it’s over for him. As Desmond would say, “The End!”

Again, this is probably another instance of “you can find out if you look hard enough,” but as I mentioned above – I don’t know anything here, so these odds are spoiler-free. On to other things…

Many people are expecting a Henry Gale flashback sooner rather than later. This makes sense, considering the producers have gone on record as saying that while Season 1 focused on the Lostaways and the island, and Season 2 focused on the hatch, Season 3 will focus on The Others. Let me go on record as *really* hoping that we eventually get a flashback of the DeGroots, shot on the University of Michigan campus. East Hall, East Quad, East Engin, what-what?! [More Michigan & Lost stuff here]

In case you missed it, the schedule for Lost won’t be as annoying this fall/winter. There will be “a seven-episode arc in the fall [beginning some time in September], followed by a 13-week break, then a straight consecutive airing of the remaining episodes [through mid-May].” Sounds good to me.