Lost Season 3 Comments

I had been pretty sick & tired of all their bullshit around this time last season. Seriously, I was about ready to walk away from those incurious motherfuckers (a technical term, to be sure, coined by screenwriter John Rogers on his blog, Kung Fu Monkey, linked at right).

I still think they had about 6 episodes of story stretched across, what, 24-26 eps/hours?

But then they turned it all around by introducing the prisoner Henry Gale (played by the brilliant Michael Emerson) with a gripping is-he-or-isn't-he-an-Other? arc. His interrogation and torture scenes were intense, beguiling, scary -- reminiscent of Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs.

They were also deeply revealing of the interrogators--principally Jack, Sayid, Locke--which got me interested in them again. And when it turned out that Henry wasn't just an Other, but the Other--their leader--the show gained a strong villain at its core.

And that's making all the difference. Henry Gale -- who we now know is named Ben Linus -- has basically become the star of the show. It all revolves around him now... and, to a lesser extent, his group, including some intriguing new characters e.g., Juliet, whose flashback ep is the first one back from the hiatus. I don't imagine we'll get the Henry/Ben flashback til late in the season (similar to the placement of Desmond's flashback last year).

I don't care if we ever go back to the beach. The beach was boring last year -- but it's entirely irrelevant now. The beach is where the principals go in between harrowing adventures (during which they sleep in beds--or at least, in buildings--and watch sports on TV).

For the beach to work, the producers would have to decide to actively pursue a storyline I had expected them to pursue from the start -- The attempt by these people to survive in the wild (as wild as it can be with regular food drops) and to forge a new society.

And they did start down the path in the first season, with Michael wanting to build that elaborate plumming system in the caves, with showers and wash basins, and toilets--all the mod cons--but they dropped that plotline pretty quick.

I'd love the show to also examine the idea that, more and more of these people, the ones we only see in background, are starting to think the real world is where they were lost, and the island is where they're found. (Which is what Locke believes... Kate, too... Rose.... Charlie... etc.)

They're setting down roots, building a new world, surviving.

I suppose after so much time away, Jack and the others could--at the conclusion of this storyline--return to a beach that looks more like a little town.

The could find that others have stepped into the breach, taken up leadership roles, and actually gotten things done.

Though I think I'd still rather see them head the other way up the coast to see what fearsome (or friendly) creatures may be in the next cove... Maybe descendents of the slavers and slaves from the Blackrock?

Maybe they should commence a Grand Tour of the island...