LOST - 4815162342

I recently had a period of time, while convalescing from surgery, that afforded me the opportunity to spend some time just watching movies or t.v. I had undergone hip replacement surgery--my second in six months--which meant a certain lack of physical mobility along with a certain lack of mental motivation, and watching some shows would seem to be just what was required. What to watch? Well, Lost had just finished its run and it seemed to have been successful. It had lots of fans and seemed to wrap up well. I had never seen even a single episode as it is the type of production that frustrates me because of the delay between episodes and the potential to miss an installment altogether.

So I set out to watch all 6 seasons straight through and it took me about three weeks. I probably averaged about 4 hours a day. I have seen many comments on The Internet regarding the complexity of the plot and how it was resolved. Sitting through it in that way kept many of the subtle aspects of the plot fresh in my mind, although I didn't re-watch any episodes to analyze them for fine details.

So here is my take on this series, first the good things. I think the setting was one of the strongest aspects of the production. It was filmed on location in Hawaii and having that consistently beautiful backdrop was a major plus for the show. I thought that the character development, particularly the use of "flashbacks" to help establish the complexity of the characters and their entangled relationships really helped the viewer to "bond" with the characters. I liked the sci-fi aspect of a discovered retro-seventies research project that had gone to seed. Although I didn't mind the fantasy aspects of the spirits on the island and the island itself, ultimately I think it went too far. The pacing of the plot development was very rapid and quite addictive.

On the down side I would have to say that the pace of plot also resulted in many sub-plots dangling. In many ways I would liken this to a Ponzi scheme in the sense that, as a viewer, one is led to believe that elements of the plot would be resolved but they never were, the show simply pushed on trying to keep the viewer on the hook with new twists while resolving outstanding plot issues where they could. The use of flashbacks to flesh out the characters and the plot is a great tool, but I am always wary when the writers start resorting to time travel anomalies or parallel universes because it means that ultimately I have to accept their resolution to the plot whether I find it acceptable or not. It is also a problem when the writers start down the path to the supernatural, often, as it did for Lost, this path leads to an escalation that ultimately undermines the credibility of the plot development. At the end of the day I would also have to say that the program was much more graphically violent than it needed to be.

The resolution of the fate of the main protagonists was satisfying. The resolution of the parallel universe/time anomaly aspects much less so. The supernatural aspects of the island were not really dealt with that well. So while having the Lost experience was enjoyable, and am glad that I watched the entire run, it also left me feeling somewhat cheated -- sort of like I want to re-write major chunks of it on my own.