Can We Get Lost Yet?
The Lost premiere was a definite disappointment. The first five minutes were just as cool as the first five minutes of last year’s premiere, although a little derivative. It was cool to see the plane crash from the Other’s perspective. The real problems came shortly after that.
To begin with, we had yet another flashback into Jack’s well-trod list of Daddy issues. It told us little that we hadn’t figured out long ago and the flashbacks basically ground the episode to a halt. The flashbacks stopped working as a plot device after the first season and they get worse with each progressive episode. I have enough backstory about the characters. What I care about is what happens on the island and this episode provided only a dribble of information about that.
The separation of Kate, Sawyer and Jack was another drag on the show. There was only one scene in which any of the characters we care about got to interact (a pretty good scene in which we see Sawyer and Kate share a moment). The rest of it had the three of them dealing separately with the obvious and uninteresting mind games of The Others. Frankly, The Others grow less interesting with each passing episode and the flashback structure gives us little time to get to know them so all we are left with is their actions, which are being purposely obscured so that we can’t understand their motives.
If I don’t understand their motives then I really don’t care about them. I can’t see a reason to root for them or against them. Moreover, I don’t feel like watching them intently, trying to glean little clues about why they do what they do, when I know the real reason is probably going to be something completely different (so that the writers and producers can surprise us). What a waste. Everything about this show seems designed to prevent the viewers from knowing what is going on and I for one don’t intend to waste all of my time trying to figure it out. Yes, I understand that the island is mysterious and it should be. However, there is a difference between slowly revealing the secrets of the island and purposely obscuring the motives and actions of the characters.
A quick look at the overnight ratings confirms that there are people besides me, and the rest of the Internet crowd, who were annoyed by the whole thing. The show shed about 4 million viewers from the start to the finish. That’s a lot of people who got frustrated and turned the show off. You can ask the people over at Studio 60 how easy it will be to get them back.