Lost (spoilers)

[©brad]

during the christmas break i went back home to my mom's house in good old south carolina for 10 days and, not surprisingly, found myself with a lot of free couch time. i was netflixless, and i had already exhausted my mom's modest yet still pretty damn good dvd collection (11 discs in total, mostly Woody Allen and Almodovar), so when my little brother came home with the first season of lost i figured okay, here it is, a perfect opportunity to finally start watching this.

i watched season 1 in about 3 days. then i preceded to rent season 2 from blockbuster 2 discs at a time (so stupid, should've just bought the whole damn season) and then when i got back home to nyc i started netflixing season 3 and just yesterday, i finally finished the season 3 finale.

so of course i love it. the show is cinematic heroin. part of me is kicking myself for waiting so long but another part is glad i experienced it on dvd, sans commercials or repeats or having to wait months and months between seasons. i must say had a blast reading this thread as i went along. i'd watch a few episodes, then read y'all's insightful, overzealous and often hysterical commentary (the tricky part was not accidentally reading too much and spoiling myself). off the top of my head some of the greater moments were mac's adamant hatred of ana lucia (i actually ::gasp:: kind of liked her!), mod the tough critic with his "lost has lost its way" reviews only to be immediately followed the next week by a "LOST IS THE BEST THING EVER CREATED" post, the more level-headed analysis from polka and RK, p popping in every now and then, sickfins.... i must say i was pleasantly surprised to disagree w/ most of you on the lull in season 3, for i thought it was by far the best season, save that one episode w/ nikki and paulo. but i think the DVD factor definitely helped.

i guess the only buzzkill about catching up w/ a show on DVD is that it's a lonely endeavor. jumping about my apartment in complete freakout mode after seeing the season 3 finale was fun but also kind of a drag. like waiting in a ridiculously long line for a club only to finally get in and see that everyone already had the fun, drank the bar dry and left. i called my little brother and a few friends to talk about it and they took pity and entertained me for a little bit but it wasn't the same as experiencing, as picolas so eloquently said, the completely paralyzing finale with the collective lost audience. 

but anyway, the point remains, i'm now a lost junkie. and i can't wait for my next fix in two days.

[ElPandaRoyal]

©MBBrad, Your experience basically equals mine, I just beat you for a few months, but I went through all that, including reading the whole goddamn thread and also liking Ana Lucia as a character. Also, I watcheded the finale with my brother who got me hooked on Lost in the first place, and it was great and we kind of discussed it and couldn't wait to see it again. I then saw with my younger brother again, and was delighted that he was as thrilled as I was when I saw it for the first time. He was like "hey... is that KATE? What the fuck? When does it start?".

It's just a show that keeps getting better and, well, either they fuck it up the next three seasons or it's going to be, indeed, the best thing ever created (on TV anyway)...

[Gamblour.]

Glad you're hooked cbrad, maybe you can give some nice, fresh, objective insight...

So one thing that I've found weird was a group of friends, who are huge fans of the show, recently qualified it as "cheesy," and when I was said wtf? they said at the very least "very melodramatic." While I guess I can understand this, the show doesn't seem to overindulge any more than any other tv drama. Every show's a bit ridiculous, I guess being on this island makes it moreso. But I haven't ever had the word cheesy or melodramatic cross my mind the entire time watching this show. Do you guys think these apply? Maybe I just don't worry about whatever conventions (manipulations?) the show utilizes as it moves forward.

[MacGuffin]

also liking Ana Lucia as a character.

The fuck is wrong with you people? 

[diggler]

melodramatic would certainly be the word i would use.  cheesy? perhaps in some parts, but only when the show is at it's worst (i'm specifically referring to the infamous "jack's tattoo" episode.)  a show that relies so heavily on character development in order to stretch out it's storyline can't help but be melodramatic, and even thats a somewhat negative word to describe it.  every serialized drama can easily be pinned as melodramatic, but as long as it has the right scripts and the right actors it will work.  if not, it will end up like heroes, a show that relies ENTIRELY on cheesy, obvious melodramatics. 

one thing the show does to redeem itself of this is to become self referential. in the finale when rose says to jack "if you say live together, die alone, i'm gonna punch you in the mouth"(not sure of the exact line), it shows that the writers are aware of how melodramatic or "cheesy" some of the concepts can be. These elements are necessary to make such a high concept series work. when the show is over, it will be easy to describe the basic story arc to someone rather quickly.  In order to stretch the storyline out to a multi season series, it's necessary to have a large cast of characters, each with their own complicated (melodramatic) past. you never know what information is valid, and the constant guessing game is the reason the show is so fun to watch. 

it's basically a combination of a great story, mixed with the conventions of a television series. (cliffhangers, transitional audio cues to commercial breaks, etc.)  you could make a series with the same exact concept and very easily have it turn out horribly. the show as it is has teetered on the mundane, but the investment in the characters are what keep us defending it's flaws. 

[Ravi]

I'm going to be watching Lost in HD for the first time this season.  Its gonna rock.

[ElPandaRoyal]

also liking Ana Lucia as a character.

The fuck is wrong with you people? 

I really think the character was interesting, and her backstory really worked for me. Plus I kind of think she's hot. I don't know why, but she has something. And she can act (maybe only in these kind of tough girl roles who would smack me against a wall and eat the pieces of the brain the came off, but still...).

the investment in the characters are what keep us defending it's flaws. 

Couldn't agree more. That's why it kind of (because I can understand) pisses me off when people say that Lost is sucking because the story doesn't evolve. It DOES evolve, but it takes some time with the characters, and that's what makes it so special.

[grand theft sparrow]

I'm going to be watching Lost in HD for the first time this season.  Its gonna rock.

Me too and yes, it is!

And Gamblour, your friends are ridiculous if they're watching TV and expecting anything to not be melodramatic.  Are they hoping Lost will go mumblecore and just have the characters spend an entire episode talking about sand or what type of fish/fruit combination they had for dinner last night?

[cron]

I'm going to be watching Lost in HD for the first time this season.  Its gonna rock.

Me too and yes, it is!

And Gamblour, your friends are ridiculous if they're watching TV and expecting anything to not be melodramatic.

?

[polkablues]

It's not TV.  It's HBO.

[MacGuffin]

also liking Ana Lucia as a character.

The fuck is wrong with you people? 

I really think the character was interesting, and her backstory really worked for me. Plus I kind of think she's hot. I don't know why, but she has something. And she can act (maybe only in these kind of tough girl roles who would smack me against a wall and eat the pieces of the brain the came off, but still...).

Need I remind you?

[Sleepless]

There's a new preview of S4 on the front page of ABC.com just in case you want to get hyped up just that little bit more before tomorrow.

[picolas]

it's stuff you've already seen with brand new text.

[diggler]

wow, this "enhanced" version of the finale is nothing like i thought it would be. i wish i could disable it somehow.

[grand theft sparrow]

I had to stop watching after 30 minutes.  They should never do that again.