What marked the beginning of the end for LOST was season three. Season two ended incredibly strong. I remember watching the finale at least four times one day, gleaning every possible clue to try and figure out what things meant and where the show was going. Suffice to say, it was a low-key summer. I was on LOST boards on a nearly-daily basis, discussing theories with other Losties. I could not wait for the next season to start in the fall. But, boy, was I in for disappointment.
Season three limped through the fall until the winter break. At that point in time, the LOST executives announced that they would wrap the show in 2010. Season three seems to be J.J. Abrams' Achilles heel. ALIAS, starring Jennifer Garner (a lot of movies) and Victor Garber (if you saw him you'd recognize him), also suffered a weak third season as well and slowly tapered to a close after a fifth season.
The primary weakness of the first half of LOST'S third season was that the characters that we loved were separated, and we did not have the dynamic relationship evolution that made the first two seasons strong. The story shifted from what could be considered a primarily internally-driven plot, derived from conflicting objectives and feelings between characters, to an externally-driven plot, where our protagonists had to escape from physical perils.
LOST, remarkably, found redemption after the winter break. They came back strong. Brian K. Vaughn, a fan-favorite in the comics world, and one of the men who helped make season two end so powerfully, was brought back as a co-producer and writer for a few episodes. The characters were brought back together, and more astonishing plot twists were created. As I watched the season finale that year, it was by far the most breath-taking. An incredible twist left viewers salivating for season four, though they would have to wait until the spring season started the next year-- LOST decided that less was more and seasons four through six were slated to have a half-length run starting after the winter break. With a defined endpoint in sight, the producers and writers could now budget the necessary revelations to bring the show to a successful conclusion.
Yet somehow the writers again lost sight of the underlying strengths of the show. I was surprised when I started seasons four and five and found myself being thrown between times and places. Again, conflict was external and our heroes were separated. The problem was that the ensemble was so strong together, but individually, were not particularly remarkable.
Season five made things worse by time-traveling until I half-expected Marty and Doc, and let's not forget our canine pal Copernicus/Einstein, to pop onscreen. LOST definitely forgot why we started watching in the first place. Characterization in the script suffered as well. We were able to predict who did what and why. I still don't understand why the time-traveling was important to the story. Even the characters didn't know.
There was a moment when Hurley and Miles are talking about the time-traveling and continuity (something the audience had been trying to wrap their heads around and something that theoretical physicists can't resolve either) and the only conclusion they are able to come to is that it doesn't make sense. It felt like a cop-out on the part of the writers. And that is not the only time when that was the route the writers took to answer questions. Another time (spoiler alert!) Sun hits her head and understands but cannot speak English. Miles uttered my exact thoughts, "and we're supposed to believe this?"
Despite my critical review in this post, I am still a fan of LOST. I am looking forward to the rest of season six. Two episodes ago there was a literally mind-blowing revelation. It restored my faith in the show to produce further unexpected twists and provide high-quality storylines. Hopefully the show will end on a similar note. In fact, given the publicity, including a competition for fans to create a promo trailer for the finale, we can be sure the show will end strong.
The finale is gonna big! May 23, 2010, 9:00 pm.
BE THERE
