Last night, between the hours of 9 and 11 pm, my television was a place where miracles happened. As I predicted, season 4's finale would not be quite as jaw dropping as season 3's because of a number of things that "needed" to happen, but that didn't stop Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse from providing us with 2 hours of captivating television. And unlike last season's finale, for once it can be said that the show actually seems to be headed somewhere. Lost draws a lot of comparisons to The X-Files for its supernatural themes and inverse proportion between questions presented and questions answered. Unlike The X-Files, it seems like we the viewers will catch up with that dangling banana that the producers have been holding out in front of us since the beginning. When we do, I'm not sure the final explanation will be nearly as good as the one Locke provided tonight, though.
I, like many others I'm sure, was shocked by the final reveal that Locke was Jeremy Bentham. Over the last 2 seasons, Desmond has become my favorite Lost character. Since he was the only major character that escaped the island and was not confirmed alive in the future, I dreaded that it would be him in the coffin. I was so convinced it would be him that it made the Locke reveal all the more shocking. I failed to consider that someone else might escape the island. The reveal hit pretty hard too. Locke was Lost's first truly great character. Terry O'Quinn has done magnificent work on the show, and unlike say, James Spader, is completely deserving of his Emmy. If that's the last we've seen of Locke, O'Quinn's already done enough to ensure the character will go down in TV history as one of the all time greats.
Some other quick thoughts:
- Now that Malcolm David Kelley's growth spurt seems to be done, maybe it's time for Walt to rejoin the cast. After all, Locke had been visiting him, and Ben said "everyone" had to go back to the island.
- Speaking of "everyone" having to go back, when are we the viewers going to learn to not believe a word that comes out of Ben's mouth? I think Claire's warning to Kate will prove to be significant.
- Michael got his redemption. In a recent TV Guide interview Harold Perrineau was less than pleased with how his character was brought back only to be killed. I thought the send off for Michael was fitting, but it did seem a little reminiscent of what 24 did to Tony in Season 5.
- Desmond got his happy ending... or did he? Ben's still out to get Penelope. Henry Ian Cusick and Michael Emerson are complete joys to watch, but Desmond and Ben haven't interacted much on the show. Here's to hoping we'll see some of that in season 5.
- There seemed to be some serious lusting between Juliet and Faraday going on last night. If any of that was going on in prior episodes, I certainly missed it. It strikes me as an odd pairing, but it's one we may never see, given that Faraday wasn't on the island when it "moved".
- Speaking of the island moving, Jack, the Man of Science, doesn't believe what his eyes are telling him. Last night we saw Jack at some all time lows, and for once it seems Lindelof and Cuse have staunchly sided with the "Faith" side of the debate. But Jack hasn't had his last say, and this debate isn't over yet. Not by a long shot.
- Lost seemingly killed off 3 series premiere characters last night, and it really seems like Claire is dead. I think we haven't seen the last of at least 1 of these characters in living, breathing form (but I doubt Michael's one of them). The producers really can't afford to kill off many more major characters. Who's really left on the island that Jack would have to go back for?
"Jack, I said all of you. We're gonna have to bring him too." - Ben Linus
"It's not an Island. It's a place where miracles can happen." - John Locke
5 comments:
x-files > lost
just because a show confuses you doesn't mean it's brilliant.
The X-Files is one of my favorite shows ever and will definitely be on my top 10 list when I make it. Lost has it beat though. X-Files got bogged down by the "dangling banana" and wasn't nearly as consistent, with some occassionally poor freak of the week episodes. Lost is rarely if ever bad. I don't think you're exactly qualified to compare the shows though, Greg.
well if you're turning this into an actual debate then you're right. i've only watched the first half of the pilot of lost and i could not get into it. too weird. so maybe i'm not qualified. however, i do know that the x-files had probably the best standing story arc of any tv show period. and while the monster of the week eps did sometimes suck, some of my favorites episodes are among the stand alones. i never felt as if it was bogged down by the dangling banana either. each season revealed a bit more to the alien arc, and even the feature film tied in. you really can't ask for much more from a network sci-fi show.
Some of the best episodes absolutely were the stand alones, just as some of the worst were in the mythology arc. It quickly became apparent the writers were making stuff up as they went along, and that was fine for a while because they had so many ideas. By the time the show reached it's 6th or 7th season, it still wasn't answering long standing questions and was beginning to make less and less sense. It's a great show that simply outwore it's welcome by about 2 seasons. The Lost producers are learning from The X-Files but having a set endate. Around two years from now Lost will be over and all the questions will be answered.
then maybe ill watch all of them during a summer.
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