It's All Over

LOST is no more.  We will never see a new episode of our favorite television series again.  I should feel sad.  Deep down I kinda do, but I was ready for it to end.  The magic was starting to wane; the wonder was starting to fade.

Now that the finale is over and all the questions that are ever going to be answered are out on the table I have to keep telling myself one thing.  It was a great journey, and you can't let the ending take away from how much fun you had along the way.  There was no possible way to present an ending that would totally satisfy.  It just couldn't have been done no matter how much time they spent on it.

This is a long one, keep truckin'.......

The End Is Near

It is amazing to think that the series finale of LOST will take place tomorrow. It doesn't seem possible that it can be over. At the same time, I am almost happy to see it go. There has been a lot of talk about quitting while you are on top. At the start of Season 5 I would have agreed that was exactly what would happen. They would blow us away with a solid final 2 seasons. However, I cannot feel that way anymore. The second half of last season and this entire season has been a major disappointment. The show had so much going for it. It is hard to imagine that it fizzled out so much for me at the end.

I don't have a problem with the story that is being told. There is no way I could have planned out and written a better ending for the plot. My problem is with the execution. Aside from the great characters and writing, LOST was so good at telling the story. The way the events have played out over the past 20 episodes has been a mess. Back in the day I loved analyzing everything that was presented to us, and thinking about what it could all mean. I listened to podcasts that talked about the show and how everything connected. This past season I have only had brief moments of interest like that. This season I have stopped listening to the podcasts. I have stopped even getting excited for the new episodes. I watch because I want to know what is going to happen, but I no longer really care about it. We are getting answers to the questions we so badly wanted to get, but they are being presented in a way that is completely anti-climactic.

LOST: The Final Season

From the beginning of the show I felt like the writers were walking along a path and I was eagerly following behind.  I was excited for this final season to see where they would lead me in the end.  However, from the first episode of this season I have felt uneasy.  I feel like I stopped being able to just follow behind the story.  Instead the story has turned around, put me in a headlock, and forced me to go along with it.  Every once in a while it loosens its grip and allows me to breathe, but it hasn't completely released me yet.

The last few weeks have been a lot better, and I am excited to watch it this week.  It seems they had to forcefully take me off of the main path onto some side path I never would have willingly followed them to.  Now that we have reached this new path the writers are going to release me and walk on ahead, allowing me to resume following as I was before.  I will obediently follow to the final destination.  I have been critical of this final season thus far, but I am back on the wagon now.  Now I just have to see where it takes me in the end.

Even if the final episode of LOST totally stinks I will still not regret watching all seasons of the show.  It has been a really entertaining ride regardless of how they decide to end it.  Surely they won't answer all of the questions they have posed.  The first season was packed with tons of questions, most of which remain unanswered to this point. However, most of those questions seem completely irrelevant now.  They didn't answer the questions, but they somehow made the show seem so much bigger than that.  No matter how it ends, I will always be a fan and supporter of LOST.

-deric

LOST: "Sundown" & Other Crap TV

Another episode of LOST has come and gone.  I don't know what it is, but this season just isn't doing it for me.  I don't feel nearly as excited about it as I should.  This season seems really awkward, and the flash sideways thing still isn't working for me.  Just a few weeks ago I loved the episode with the strange little kid and the cave.  Those memories seem like they were so long ago.  They haven't been able to recapture that excitement in me.  I think a lot of LOST fans really enjoyed "Sundown", but I didn't care for it that much.

I don't know what I was expecting out of the final season, but I don't feel like my hopes were too high.  I wanted them to answer questions, and hopefully bring a satisfying conclusion to the story arcs of our favorite characters. They are definitely answering questions, but not much has been satisfying about it.  There are moments in every episode this season that are really good.  I will undoubtedly continue watching.  There is just something that feels very empty about it all. For me, they haven't been able to create the high stakes like they did in past seasons.  I am starting to not even care, which would be the most disappointing end.

LOST: "Lighthouse"

After last week's episode of LOST I was really excited about the remainder of the final season.  However, that excitement was significantly tempered after this week's episode.  I am not able to articulate why I didn't like it, but I really didn't like.  The flash sideways stuff really seemed to drag, and the on island stuff was meandering and unsatisfying.  I have heard a lot of positive talk about this most recent episode, but I don't agree with that at all. I thought it was weak.  Even though it gave us some more answers than "What Kate Does", I found it just as pointless to watch.  Maybe I need to watch it a second time and see if I will change my opinion.  


This episode did remind me how much I enjoy the character of Hurley.  I love how he says the things that the audience is thinking.  He is one of the few things about LOST that has been solid from the beginning.  I love the show, and without Hurley, I wouldn't like it nearly as much.  The other thing this episode reminded of is how much of a bitch Jack is.  I really liked the guy at first, but as this series has progressed he gets worse and worse. When he smashed the mirrors I actually got a little pissed.  It seems like the characters of LOST are always undermining their own chances at making sense of their situation.  When Jack smashed those mirrors he screwed us.  The is the final season and there aren't that many more episodes left.  He could have turned the thingy and we all could have seen what Jacob looked at as he checked in on his candidates, or whatever he was doing.  Instead of indulging us a little bit, Jack had to go and bust shit up.  How much longer are the writers going to pull this crap.  We're running out of time.

LOST: "The Substitute"

Holy freaking crap LOST was pretty awesome this week.  There was a lot of information, but I am not sure how many answers were given.  There were a lot of things to talk about in the episode, but I will try to focus on just a few things in an attempt to keep from rambling incoherently as is so common when attempting to discuss LOST.

Let's make one thing clear.
Man In Black = Smoke Monster = Evil Locke = Fake Locke = Flocke

First off, I wanted to make an observation about the episode "What Kate Does".  We still don't know what is possessing Sayid, but there were a lot of clues that would hint it is the same thing that Russo thought to be possessing her crew back in the day.  As part of the test to see if Sayid was "infected" they electrocuted him.  Not coincidentally when Sayid first met Rousseau back in season 1 she strapped him down and electrocuted him.  In that meeting Rousseau was very skeptical of Sayid saying things like "I know what you are" and "you, and the others like you". At the time the meaning was unclear, but she seemed to be saying he was "infected". After shocking him a bit they start to talk about Nadia.  Sayid states that she is dead because of him.  Upon hearing this Rousseau completely changes her tone and touches his face, looking very close into his eyes.  Like the temple dwellers, was Rousseau testing Sayid by shocking him?  What was it that made him pass this test back then, that he now failed?  Whatever has taken over Sayid is going to be very important to the rest of the season, and remains a pretty big mystery right now.  I am confident that when we find the answer to that, we will also learn what was going on with the French crew, and possibly other inhabitants of the island. (Christian Shepherd, Claire)

LOST Is Back: LA X

This past Tuesday we all got to watch the first episode of the final season of LOST.  One of my biggest fears was realized when we saw them all on flight 815 making their way safely to Los Angeles.  However, I think the writers tempered my disappointment by having the alternate timelines.  We aren't sure exactly what is going on, but it seems like there is an alternate universe where Jack's plan worked, and the plane never crashed.  It is unclear whether there is any connection between this alternate world, and the one we are seeing back on the island.  There were a few small clues that may suggest that for instance that the Jack that landed in LAX is effected by things that happen to the Jack that is on the island, and visa versa.  I have no clue whether this actually is the case, but it will definitely be interesting to find out.  I have a feeling that at the end of this season the two timelines are going to merge, and somehow become one.  No real evidence for that, I just think that might be the direction they are going.

There were a few small, but noticeable changes from the flight 815 that crashed, and flight 815 that lands safely.  I need to watch the episode again, but here were the ones that I picked up on.  First off, Hurley makes it a point to say that he has only had good luck.  He doesn't have to worry about getting scammed because nothing can go wrong for him.  This is very different from the "original" Hurley who is convinced that the numbers have cursed him.  We also saw a different attitude from our buddy Boone.  He was flying back to LA alone, unable to convince Shannon to come with him; and he seemed happy.  I thought it was a nice touch that at the end of his conversation with Locke he made a comment to the effect of: "If this plane goes down I am sticking with you."

Things Of Relative Importance

1. Colts won this weekend! The Indianapolis Colts defeated the NY Jets for the opportunity to go to Miami and compete in Superbowl #44.  Their opponents will be the New Orleans Saints quarterbacked by none other that Purdue alum Drew Brees.  It should be less clear who I will be rooting for.  However, there is no doubt that I will be donning the blue and white and cheering for my Colts.  I wish Brees and the Saints the best, but I hope they lose.

2. Today Apple released the "game changing" iPad.  It seems to me that it is just a ipod touch that is too big to fit in your pocket.  For all the hype this product has got it seems pretty lackluster.  Don't get me wrong.  It looks cool and I wouldn't complain if somebody gave me one.  However I will not be running out to buy one when they go on sale.  I am looking forward to see what they do with the iPhone this year.  Maybe they will finally get me to drink the cool-aid and pony up the cash.