Without a doubt, my most favorite show on TV is Lost. I wasn't in on the first season but was intrigued with all the commercials I saw for the second season. I thought I'd give it a try and, by the end of the season opener, I was hooked. I bought the first season on dvd to catch up on what I'd missed from the year before, joined some fan email lists and got TB hooked on the show as well.
Check this out! It basically describes how I feel about Lost! This is a commercial from ABC that appeared during last year's Super Bowl.
I think what I like best about the show is that the characters are "lost" in more ways than one. For those few out there that haven't heard of the show, the basic idea is that a plane carrying passengers from Australia to Los Angeles goes off course and crashes onto some unknown island in the south Pacific...maybe. In that way, the survivors of the crash are "lost"--they don't know where they are. They are also "lost" because this is not your typical island. Magnetic north is off kilter, there are polar bears on this tropical paradise, monsters in the jungle, and "other" groups of people up to no good. The characters themselves are "lost" in their lives--they are at crucial turning points or are in need of redemption.
Another thing I really like is that the producer and the writers pay attention to what the fans say. Of course, this is not necessarily a good thing. When it worked well, the writers would "shout out" to the fans. Fans who are really into the show watch the episodes over and over, looking for clues and more details. So in the opening episode of the second season, two of the main characters find and watch a very important video. One says to the other, "We have to watch this again." Or the VIPs would take note of questions the fans had about something on the show and they'd have an episode that srt of answered the question.
The downside to all this of course, is that old cliche "if you give them an inch, they want a mile." Fans began to be more critical and demanding, wanting to know the answers to everything right now instead of being patient and letting things play out. Fans complained about the number of repeats last season and I was with them. The network has a stupid policy of beginning the season late (October) and then running repeats because of the World Series, the Christmas season, March madness and all kinds of ridiculous reasons. Who wants to watch 3 new episodes followed by 4 repeats, some of which aren't even from that season? This season, the Lost VIPs convinced ABC to let them do a "mini-season" of 6 episodes, followed by 14 long weeks of nothing, and then a full season starting last Wednesday and running for the next 15 weeks--with NO repeats.
You'd think the fans would be grateful but no, they bitched and moaned about the hiatus too. There is just no pleasing some people.
As for me, I was riveted to the seat by the opening of the "new" season. I thought it was one of the best episodes ever, with a marvellous cast well thought out plot and lots of action!
My theory about where the castaways are: I think it's an alternate reality, a totally different place that they got to via a wormhole or something. As for "the Others", I think there are several groups of inhabitants. The castaways found an old slaver abandoned in the middle of the island. I think one group is descended from that ship. There's another group, scientists, who are affiliated with "The Dharma Initiative" which was a seemingly benevolent bunch of researchers studying behavior, magnetism, zoology and lots of other stuff.
Recently, there's been a new introduction of another group that may or may not be related to Dharma, called the Mitelos Institute. They are more openly sinister (committing murder to recruit a fertility specialist) and may be into the grimmer aspects of the Others' behavior. Maybe they're behind the brain washing and other acts of violence. At least one group of Others is obsessed with chlidren and babies. Maybe their women can't have children and that's why they need fertility specialist Juliet Burke.
Maybe there's yet another bunch of others that have broken off from either this group or the Dharma initiative.
Then there is a lone other: Danielle. She was part of a team that crashed or somehow became "lost" 16 years ago. Her teammates all got some kind of sickness and she ended up killing them. She had a baby girl, Alex, who was baby-napped by the Mittelos Others.
It's going to be fun, these next 15 weeks, watching how things fit together. As one question is answered, another one comes up. That's all part of the fun and intrigue of the show too. I love it!
Posted by Cassie at February 11, 2007 10:18 AM | TrackBack