Lost (spoilers)

[polkablues]

It was a good episode, I guess.  It worked better to get me intrigued about how the hell they're going to pull this all together than it did as an actual episode.  I kept getting distracted by the totally out of control commercial-to-show ratio.  It was like watching an American Idol results show.

[MacGuffin]

The end is nigh: Lost finale date set
Source: SciFi Wire

The sixth and final season of ABC's Lost has just kicked off, and now ABC is saying when it will end: May 23.

That's a Sunday, when the two-hour series finale will air starting at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Following is the official announcement.


"LOST" SERIES FINALE EVENT SET FOR SUNDAY, MAY 23 ON ABC

Finale to Air on a Special Night, Sunday, May 23 from 9:00-11:00 p.m., ET,
Preceded by a Recap Special from 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET

Stephen McPherson, president, ABC Entertainment Group, today announced the "Lost" series finale date, airing as a primetime event on a special night on Sunday, May 23 from 9:00-11:00 p.m., ET. Preceding the finale will be a recap special from 8:00-9:00 p.m., ET.

"Lost is an example of what happens when you put creativity above everything else, trust the creative vision, and take the risks required to be truly original," said McPherson. "It's a testament to staying true to the creative vision of one of the most iconic shows ever on television, and we're giving the producers an unprecedented opportunity to respect the fans and really satisfy the viewers with a spectacular conclusion."

The critically acclaimed, hit drama premiered on September 22, 2004. The series was nominated for numerous awards and was a 2008 recipient of the prestigious Peabody Award, and awarded the 2005 Emmy and 2006 Golden Globe for Best Drama Series. At the end of its sixth and final season, "Lost" will have aired 114 episodes (121 episodic hours).

Executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse appeared on ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live" after "Lost's" season premiere on Tuesday, February 2 (12:05 a.m., ET) to discuss the upcoming season.

Oceanic Air flight 815 tore apart in mid-air and crashed on a Pacific island, leaving 48 passengers alive and stranded on a remote island in the South Pacific. The survivors include a diverse group of people from different walks of life -- a doctor, an escaped fugitive, a con man, an Iraqi interrogator, a married Korean couple and a man formerly confined to a wheelchair who is now inexplicably healed. As the castaways attempt to get home, flashbacks (and forwards) illuminate their troubled lives before and after the crash, as the island that they find themselves stranded on begins to slowly reveal its mysterious nature. Faith, reason, destiny and free will all clash as the island offers opportunities for both corruption and redemption... but as to its true purpose? That's the greatest mystery of all.

"Lost" stars Naveen Andrews as Sayid, Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, Emilie de Ravin as Claire, Michael Emerson as Ben, Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, Matthew Fox as Jack, Jorge Garcia as Hurley, Josh Holloway as Sawyer, Daniel Dae Kim as Jin, Yunjin Kim as Sun, Ken Leung as Miles, Evangeline Lilly as Kate, Terry O'Quinn as Locke and Zuleikha Robinson as Ilana.

"Lost" was created by Jeffrey Lieber and J.J. Abrams & Damon Lindelof. Abrams, Lindelof, Bryan Burk, Jean Higgins, Elizabeth Sarnoff, Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz, Jack Bender and Carlton Cuse serve as executive producers. "Lost," which is filmed entirely on location in Hawaii and premiered on September 22, 2004, is from ABC Studios. For more information on "Lost," visit ABC.com.

[diggler]

anyone else notice in the alternate universe sun and jin aren't married? the security lady calls sun "Miss Paik" and they're both not wearing wedding rings. i love that kate lifted jack's pen off of him on the plane, didn't notice that the first time around. oh jack, you sucker.

[mogwai]

I felt the first episode of this season was overlong. But I realise it had to because they have to cram a lot of information into the episodes this last season. And I also believe that the last episode will be a bit unexpected, people WILL be disappointed. But I love the Jack central part. I think we'll stick with this over the entire season and Jack will meet Christian and... BOOM!!!

[©brad]

Now Preparing for Descent
As Lost enters its final season, a fan worries she's lost her faith.

By Emily Nussbaum
NYMAG

I first watched Lost in a binge, on DVD, shortly after my older son was born. I'd never recommend that anyone acquire a newborn in order to properly enjoy a television show, but this turns out to be an excellent technique, at least if you want to be imprinted on a series, like a duckling on a goose. Up at 2 a.m., 4 a.m., and 6 a.m., with headphones on and the lights low, I experienced the show less as a story than as a loopy, unforgettable dream, the kind that alienates you from strangers when you try to explain the damn thing.

Which is why I was so surprised, and unsettled, when last week's premiere filled me with dread. What was this wild goose that I had been chasing so loyally for five seasons? Lost is almost finished, with sixteen episodes to go, and I, like any fan, was relieved when ABC set an end date: Now the writers could hammer out a true conclusion, without any more episodes analyzing Jack's tattoos. They could do a conclusive shake-up on their highly original mix of genres: comic-book cliff-hangers set in a surreal symbol-scape, puzzle-box thriller plots mingling with sci-fi fantasy, plus the moody vibe of a video game like Myst, with its Easter-egg hints and quests. The result was less a traditional TV series than a skillful magic show, designed to be an Internet-age phenomenon, with fans happily mob-solving its most elaborate tricks.

Yet the thing that initially attracted me to Lost during the first few seasons was not the structural experimentation but the characters, with their psychic wounds and dreams of escape: Sawyer's quest for vengeance, Sun and Jin's marital tensions, and especially John Locke, one of the strangest and most original characters on television, a man who was hoodwinked out of a kidney, who was shoved through a window, who had spent his life in a frustrated, quasi-spiritual desire to be chosen and special. Later on, we met Ben and Juliet, villains with nuance and charm. (I was a particular fan of Juliet, whose cold affect hid a great backstory, about an abused woman who develops manipulative coping skills that rival those of her captor.)

Maybe the writers themselves developed manipulative coping skills. A show can be held captive by its own success, as the audience, roaring for action, smashes at the narrative piñata. But what if what is on the inside is just some stale candy? I have enormous admiration for the experimental quality of Lost, which has taken savvy risks with each season—a leap off the island! Time travel!—but my love was always fueled by the sense that there was something more perverse, more adult, buried beneath, that the show had something to say about guilt, about the way society (and individuals) re-form after a crisis.

Now I'm worried those themes are gone for good, that the island is just a chess game played by Egyptian gods, and within that chess game, a pissing match between a coldly scheming CEO and a warmly scheming weasel, Ben, the last great character left. Locke is dead, his fantastic arc brought to a satisfying (and grim) conclusion. Sawyer resolved his central conflict over two years ago, when he killed Locke's dad. Juliet is dead, too, having first been shriveled from a fascinatingly ambiguous player into a beatific sacrificial sweetheart—along with Charlotte, Ana Lucia, Naomi, Rousseau, Penny, and Libby, spunky women reduced to love interests or unceremoniously offed. (Kate is still around, but I wasn't thrilled when she was redeemed by motherhood last year—at least in the current season, she's back to her pen-stealing, con-chick ways.)

I don't want to be the viewer who watches with her eyebrow raised; it's more fun to be a fan. But narrative playfulness isn't meaningful unless it rests on a something real—the way it did in the great chronology-shuffling movies of the last decade, like Memento and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which resonated with deeper ideas about identity and the nature of love. Lost's creators designed the lovable Hurley (and sometimes the annoying Arzt) as their stand-ins for an audience of demanding nerds. But right now, I'm praying I don't end up like Locke, that crazy bastard who just wanted to know that the path he followed had some meaning and who ended up instead with the saddest possible thought: "I don't understand."

[picolas]

really well-written article but she's completely missing the point of the first episode. it is 100% still about people reforming themselves after crisis/tragedy. it's about how tragedies can make us stronger, less damaged, more whole. by showing us how far these people have come.

[Gamblour.]

I think her fears are real and totally legitimate, but in the end, these guys have created a series around these characters, and they are going to resolve it with these characters. When Jack comes into play in the end, it will be wholly fulfilling, I can feel it. I feel like they are brilliant storytellers bad at filling in the gaps. When we fill a gap and get to the next great point, it is ultimately rewarding, despite the means to get there. The show's flaw this season is it having so much to unravel and reveal that it will do so in a way that will often disappoint, I'm sure. But at the end, we'll be satisfied, but maybe we'll demand shows in the future be a bit better planned.

[Kal]

There is a billion commercials in these episodes... I don't think this was such a good episode, but every minute left is priceless right now. There is some good stuff happening but they need to move faster!!!!!

[Gamblour.]

There is some good stuff happening but they need to move faster!!!!!

No kidding! I sometimes feel like they're a bunch of fucking slackers who wait until the last minute to write these episodes, and by the time they're making it, it's too late to realize "Oh shit, NOTHING HAPPENED in that episode." Either that or they really think that was a good episode, in which case yeesh!

What Kate Does = [Sawyer mopes around + Claire has nonsensical motivation x (credit card + don't get in the cab!) - (Jack swallowing pill/learned nothing from Dogen) + Throwing ring in lake^cliche] x Kate will never not be boring

Edit: BTW that polaroid of Claire being all "wazzzzup" about her baby was probably the most laughable, fucking stupid thing the show's ever done. Who thought that looked good?

Also if there is a bunch of weird evil Rousseau types walking around, why are they trying to squeeze this in at the last possible minute?

[©brad]

So agree. There is no excuse for this kind of sloppiness, not at this stage of the game. Lindelof/Cuse and co. should know better.

[Pubrick]

so i havn't seen this since like the season that ended with a flash-forward episode. years ago.

i just wanna say that it's been so long that none of these posts in the last year hav made any sense and i've always been reading just for general impressions to see if the show's gone to shit or whatever. what i've noticed is that EVERY season has a few episodes where everyone gets massively infuriated with the writers for either moving too slow ("NOTHING HAPPENED!") or moving too fast ("TOO MUCH HAPPENED!"). so i'm not really suprised that the show has jumped the shark yet again. let's just hope that the roulette of quality lands on a fucking excellent spot for the home stretch.

just thought i'd share my observations from my position as a formerly obsessed Lost fan, now regular dude with passive interest and secret desire to catch up on dvd a couple weeks before the final final final finale.

[RegularKarate]

It's funny because everyone ALWAYS gets a bug up the A about a "slower" episode and then they LOVE the show again on or two episodes later.  Why not let go?

Was this really sloppy?
All the things everyone's bitching about are probably going to pay off at least a little and the stuff that WASN'T good is just par for the course... you take the bad with the good and with Lost, the good is always more present than the bad.

I don't get Gamblour's equation (why did it start with the equal sign?  It seemed like you have it out of order), but since it's loaded with complaints, I'll add (more confusing math) my two Cs.

"Sawyer mopes around"and "throwing ring in lake" - This is clearly an important part of Sawyer this season, he's lost someone he loved and it's going to affect him.  We have to see something that big played out... it's important.  It will either lead to him doing something unexpected or he's going to forget about her and move on.  Either way, if we didn't have this episode to show this step in his arc, everyone would be bitching too. 
and you're right about the cliche, but in television, sometimes you have to use cliches to get a point across... it's T.V., not HBO.

"Claire has nonsensical motivation x (credit card + don't get in the cab!) " - I was bugged by this at first, but slow down the anger at not getting a season finale by the second episode and consider that it might make sense.  There may still be a connection between all these characters in this alternate universe.  Claire doesn't really know Kate, but she may still retain a subconscious trust and sense of warmth for her that carried over from the Island world.  This could be wrong and if so, you're right, the motivation was dumb, but we don't know yet.

"Jack swallowing pill/learned nothing from Dogen" (is that division?) - he did though, right?  He learned that they were trying to kill Sawyer with the pill.

"polaroid of Claire" - I think the picture is realistic... Claire is young, she would totally pose like that.  It's a little strange that she would carry around that picture of herself, but it's far from the "Stupidest thing Lost has ever done"

Claire/Rousseau - why do you say "a bunch" and why are they squeezing it in at the last minute?  Claire has been missing for a long time... this is what has become of her.

[polkablues]

RK is right and everyone preceding him is wrong.  This was a really good episode, much stronger than the premiere.  Sawyer's arc over the course of the show has been one of the least expected and most satisfying parts of the series, and his scenes in this last episode were some of his strongest of all.  

RK is also right about the motivations in the sideways world.  They're giving us a lot of little indications that the characters, on some subconscious level, retain some knowledge of their connections to each other.  This will no doubt pay off big as we go through the season.

People have no patience anymore, it's ridiculous.  I blame energy drinks.

EDIT: I just remembered the one truly hilarious part of the episode, which was the Other that went out after Sawyer with Kate and Jin and Mac from It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, who physically could not stop himself from giving away information that was supposed to be secret.  Sample dialogue -- JIN: "Tell me where the other plane is." MAC: "I don't know what you're talking about." CINDY BRADY: "Oh, do you mean the plane that recently landed on the runway over on the other side of the island?  Ajira Airways flight 316 from Los Angeles to Guam?  The one with--" MAC: "SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP! Shut up! Will you SHUT UP SHUT UP! SHUT SHUT SHUT SHUT SHUT UP... SHUT UP!!!"

[©brad]

I'll admit there were some interesting seeds planted in this otherwise meddling, filler episode. But this has nothing to do with attention span. When I say sloppiness I'm talking about how LOST seems to have no regard for basic storytelling tenants like character motivation, which across the board has been scattershot for the past couple seasons now. These bitches wander around all wide-eyed and mouth-breathy only to get a fire lit underneath their asses out of nowhere. I'm not talking about Sawyer, who I agree has one of the better arcs right now, but take Kate. She is by far one of the most inconsistent, schizo characters on tv right now, as is Jack. I don't think this is par for the course because their arcs in the early seasons were more coherently executed.

[Pozer]

it's more fun to be a fan.

it is.

the tomb stuff is growing a bit tiresome though. some ultimate filler garbage up in the tomb moments.

and everything spoken by the tomb guys leaves everyone (in and out of the damn show) more clueless than they were prior to coming upon the tomb. still IN the damn tomb, BTW?? got it, laying down pieces for something later, but in two episodes weve already grown staggeringly tired of every word that comes from the henchman who pointlessly interprets speech from the tomb leader guy who looks like the dude who played a henchman in every 80's action movie.

it's more fun to be a fan.

it is more enjoyable to just roll with the bad cos in most episodes the good does outweigh the bad. ill put up with weak bits like: (and i did just get back from a trip that required me to be Clooneyed in the air quite a bit so this might seem a bit more slapdash to me) handicap Locke sitting midway down the aisle on the plane/last one to exit in wheelchair, women's bathroom at LAX being completely empty for long period of time..but cant pardon exchanges of dialogue such as:

Hurley: Dude, are you a zombie?
Sayid: No, I'm not a zombie.

it's

more

fun

to be

a

fussy

fan.