As an exercise in DIY surrealism, I watched the final episode of Lost, not having watched any of the previous episode of this season or any others — maybe three or four episodes of the first but that's it. I lost interest once I realised the writers didn't actually have an idea where it was going, though I marvel at the masochism of the fans who stayed the distance, dutifully helping out the show's creators in its efforts to make it make sense. Kind of DIY-dramaturgy. Masochism, but maybe something else too — a kind of benign acceptance of what comes down the tube, together with an almost maternal love for the programme's all-too-evident flaws. It would have driven me around the bend to try and accomodate the series' confusions but blessed are those who tried. Tolerance is a virtue. And patience. The finale seemed very sweet: lots of weeping and white lights and sweet hereafters, like an episode of the X-files in Jungian therapy. Man, though: those are for some of the most boring-looking actors ever to grace the screen, large or small.
As an exercise in DIY surrealism, I watched the final episode of Lost, not having watched any of the previous episode of this season or any others — maybe three or four episodes of the first but that's it. I lost interest once I realised the writers didn't actually have an idea where it was going, though I marvel at the masochism of the fans who stayed the distance, dutifully helping out the show's creators in its efforts to make it make sense. Kind of DIY-dramaturgy. Masochism, but maybe something else too — a kind of benign acceptance of what comes down the tube, together with an almost maternal love for the programme's all-too-evident flaws. It would have driven me around the bend to try and accomodate the series' confusions but blessed are those who tried. Tolerance is a virtue. And patience. The finale seemed very sweet: lots of weeping and white lights and sweet hereafters, like an episode of the X-files in Jungian therapy. Man, though: those are for some of the most boring-looking actors ever to grace the screen, large or small.
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Aye, it always sounded like rubbish to me. Call it solipsism if you like, but I suspect that, unlike series with more concrete (even if open-ended) universes such as "Star Trek", "The West Wing", "Friday Night Lights", etc., the show will soon be entirely forgotten, and that's because the main appeal of "Lost" was its core vagueness. Now that there's an definite answer, which is not substantially different than "it was all a dream", will anyone want to watch the whole thing all over again? Why, exactly? To see what happens in the dream?
ReplyDeleteTom, I'll grant it wasn't the most soundly structured couple hours of television. But it did have the kind of emotional generosity you've been clamoring for in cinema. Plus Michael Giacchino's score...you had to have liked that.
ReplyDeleteYes I was definitely taken by the amount of emotion on display. It probably would have meant more if I knew who everyone was, but the theme of remembered past lives always gets me.
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