The folks here at TV Squad have been having quite an interesting conversation behind the scenes regarding last night's season premiere of Lost. I don't watch the show (I know J.J. Abrams has no idea what he's doing and is making it up as he goes along. That's what he did with Alias and it's likely what he's doing on Lost) but thought that the way those who had tuned in was worthy of publishing for the masses to see. So after the jump you can read the uncensored thoughts of the TV Squad staff.Keith McDuffee
What did you other watchers of Lost think of the premiere? I thought it was pretty disappointing myself.
Tom Biro
I'd have to say that while there were some cool things that were unveiled (umm, like a civilizationish place on the damn island?), but while we keep learning a bit more about characters on the show, I can't decide if I'm happy or not that we just keep weaving and weaving and weaving. In a way, I can agree with the harsh critics who say that JJ and Co. have no idea what is going to happen. Then again, anyone who just decides that "we can make the show go seven years" is just setting themselves up for failure.
Brett Love
I found the first episode rather annoying, but wasn't sure if we wanted to put up negative Lost posts. My big issues with the show are first, enough with Jack and his freaking dad. We get it. There are a thousand more tales to tell, all of which would be more compelling. And more importantly, the show is becoming a game to see just how little they can actually tell the viewer and still manage to fill the hour. Walt? Kidnapped? Tests? Experiments? We're just forgetting about that? It was the cliffhanger
for season one for cryin out loud and they still haven't rapped that up. The thing that really burns my ass though is the Lost fan rally cry. After each episode that is ultimately a disappointment I never fail to read somewhere, "But next week looks good."
Jonathan Toomey
Am I the only one who liked it...? Despite what did seem like an excessive amount of commercials (there wasn't though, the ep was still about 45 minutes long), I thought it was good. We got more background on The Others in the first 5 minutes than we've gotten in two seasons even if it is still vague as to why they are there. And I honestly liked the Jack flashbacks in this one. Up until now, I wasn't really getting the tension between him and his father... now we do.
Tom
I think it's less about disliking and more about just shrugging and saying "oh, okay, whatever."
We "learned" more about the Others, but not really. It's like we saw the beginnings of Anakin Skywalker turning "bad" and then seeing the scene where the Emperor says "Rise, Lord Vader." Umm, okay, but like what about all the crispy stuff we've been hearing about?
We still have zero clue about the whole island area that they're on, how you get there, etc., what was that earthquake, and are they doing it on purpose, i.e. the remnants of the whole Hanso stuff, WTF was with the polar ending to last season, did we leave that alone? It's just frustrating to cherrypick stuff like this and not really have any consistency. One other thing - did Sawyer have a band-aid on his arm, too? Didn't notice.
As for the 45 minutes, that amazes me, but then again maybe it's just that they did like all the ads in four minute blocks, because that's just brutal. Even then, it's probably more because ALL the ads are stacked up in the last 40 minutes or whatever.
Annie Wu
I was desperate for some news about the other characters and... NOTHING. I got NOTHING. I know Kate, Jack, and Sawyer are generally the fan-favorites, but c'mon. That was just plain mean.
Bob Sassone
I actually liked it a lot. It would have been nice to see the other castaways, but this was a strong episode. I loved the beginning, because not only did we see the Others in their homes, it was really cool to see the plane crash from another angle, the Others' reaction to it, what Henry Gale told Ethan and others to do.
Another thing: I think we finally know that this whole thing REALLY happened. Remember all the talk of the plane crash wasn't real, it was an illusion, they're in hell, all that stuff, but now we've seen the plane crash was real, and I'm glad we've moved on to showing another community. (Oh, and the guy who brought Kate to her cell told Sawyer it took the bears only two hours to get the food...I guess that answers the polar bear question, sorta).
Jen Creer
I would have thought the little civilization that the Others have created was very cool if they didn't persist in conducting these humiliating psychological games with the plane crash victims. It was reminiscent of The Village-- only instead of fucking with the villagers' perceptions of reality and the time they really live in, they are fucking with the plane crash victims. And honestly, after you have survived a crash like that, do you really need this shit?
All we really know is that there is some kind of tension between Ben and Juliette (which we mostly get delivered in the form of her liking to read schmaltz and him not liking it), which just sets us up for knowing that she is eventually going to turn on Ben and help Jack. Anyone want to take that bet?
But who was the other guy in a cell, who tried to escape? And if you don't want people on your island, why don't you just get them the hell off your island?
I thought it was promising at first, but the weird-ass way the Others are treating everyone was just too unsettling. I promise to like it only if this is an allegory of the current political climate, and we are getting a full glimpse of the ramifications of recently passed legislation...
Brett
Did anyone recognize the boyfriend of Jack's wife? He looked familiar to me, but I'm not quite nutty enough to place him.
Joel Keller
So... what is this 'Lost' show you all are talking about? Is this on network TV?
Tom
BTW, what was the name that Juliette had for Henry Gale when they were in their little town, and he was upset that he was out of the book club?
Keith
Jack's wife's boyfriend sure looked a lot like McDreamy on Grey's. It's not though.
Richard Keller
I thought last night's episode was fantastic. All of the major plot points were resolved and we saw everyone on the island return to their normal lives. Of course, that was the episode I performed with finger puppets in my basement; I have no idea what happened on the television version. By the way, my finger puppet version is FAR superior and commercial-free!
Wil Wheaton
I loved the first season of Lost, and watched the entire thing on DVD in less than a week. When I got to the end, I went straight to iTMS and bought a subscription to season two, which I also watched in less than a week to get caught up to the new episodes on television.
Season two wasn't nearly as solid as season one, trading character development and those fantastic flashbacks for episodes that stretched ten minutes of story into an hour of broadcast. Once the creative team decided to make the show all about trickling out new bits of information about The Others and Dharma, I started to feel like I was watching Twin Peaks all over again. When I saw that giant four-toed foot at the end of last season, I was pretty sure the joke was on me.
Nevertheless, I'm invested in the characters, and the previews looked good, so I settled in last night with an eager and open mind.
For the first few minutes, I was as excited as I'd ever been. It was very cool to see the plane come down, and see The Others spring into action. In many ways, it reminded me of The Other 48 Days, but the episode quickly stumbled (not helped by the frequent commercials) and ended up being as unsatisfying as Three Minutes.
From a practical storytelling point of view, the excessive and frequent commercials were a very bad idea. They came so frequently, the show never really got a chance to develop much dramatic tension. The commercial breaks were obviously not a writing or creative decision, though; it's a network decision, and I think it was a big mistake that hurt the show. (ABC needs to recoup a lot of their investment in Path to Bullshit, though, so maybe they're using Lost ad sales to refill the company coffers.)
Commercials aside, from a creative point of view, the episode just wasn't that good. I waited all summer long to see where the story was going, and all I got was 45 minutes of what I sincerely hope is a set-up for a big payoff very soon, like in the next three episodes. A Tale of Two Cities did very little to move the story forward, and it had no second act. The lame flashback didn't help, either. (Okay. Jack has lots of problems with his dad. We get it. Do we really believe that his dad would sleep with his wife anyway? Come on, writers. That was lame.) Was anyone surprised by anything? Other than Henry Gale being "Ben," I mean. Thanks for that big revelation, writers. That was worth waiting all summer for.
While I understand that the story will play out over the rest of the season, as a fan of the show, I wanted the first episode after the hiatus to be a good one -- no, a great one -- one that validated my wait all summer and left me counting down the minutes until next week. When the show was over, I felt neither of those things. The content of last night's episode would have been a passable first hour of a two hour show, if the second hour was phenomenal, but I was left feeling annoyed and disappointed. I didn't even want to watch The Nine afterward, because I'm not falling for another show where I invest thirty hours in characters and a complex storyline, only to discover somewhere around the middle of the second season that the writers are
just making it up as they go along.
While it's too early to say that Lost has jumped over one of Dharma's mysterious sharks, their creative team is clearly strapping on water skis. I'm willing to give Lost two more episodes, but if they're like this one, I'm done punching in the numbers.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-05-2006 @ 3:39PM
RevJonathan said...
It could only have been better if there were a CHAT!
No I'm not letting this die. We loved the chats and Liveblogging is far less interactive.
Ryan Budke is laughing at you all from some basement at AOL.
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10-05-2006 @ 4:16PM
jeff smith said...
This show is just a constant tease. I totally agree with Brett that all the fans say is "wait until next week." I watched every episode of the first season but fell off during season 2 cause the payoff is too damn slow. I mean you dont have to give up a lot to keep me as a viewer but this constant dragging on of the plot followed by hiatus that last months make it laughable how the networks have duped so many viewers....Kidnapped by the way is very underrated and its a shame its getting canceled.
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10-05-2006 @ 3:45PM
Man said...
This was the most predicatable episode of the series but still nice. Imagine in two years a plane or cruise ship is about to crash into the island and Sawyer orders Sun and Eko to mix among the survivors and gather info.
Best scene: As The Others reviewed the Stephen King book and called it religious-science-fiction.
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10-05-2006 @ 3:45PM
Greg said...
JJ Abrams has very little to do with the show, and hasn't had much to do with it since the second half of season 1. The showrunners are Lindelof and Cuse now.
And they have said, over and over again, that they know where this is going. That doesn't mean they can't improvise along the way as long as they get to point B eventually.
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10-05-2006 @ 3:50PM
Sean Juan said...
I loved last night's episode and there were answers to smaller questions but not the bigger questions. It's weird because I'm patient enough to see how everything is going to play out but I feel like I'm in the minority when I hear people while after every episode that there wasn't enough information. If you got all the answers upfront, what would be the point? Seriously, if you don't have the patience to wait and see how things play out, stop watching now because you are just going to be frustrated and talk about how you aren't going to watch this show anymore every week, end up watching it again, get more frustrated, talk about how you're done with Lost, etc. etc.
I judge seasons not episodes and as far as this season goes, we're off to a really great start.
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10-05-2006 @ 3:59PM
RevJonathan said...
Also,
We didn't find out what happened to the seperated people on the raft until the second ep of the season, instead it focused on the hatch. Same thing is happening here, we get entire episodes dedicated to each side of the island.
Did anyone complain then? Let's see-
http://www.tvsquad.com/2005/09/21/lost-man-of-science-man-of-faith/
Consider your chops busted!
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10-05-2006 @ 4:02PM
dannyp64 said...
Tom:
It wasn't an earthquake, it was the magnetic buildup because Desmond didn't push the buttons on time.
Also, Henry Gale's real name is Ben.
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10-05-2006 @ 4:15PM
chris said...
I love LOST!!!
But this premiere was LACKLUSTER. For a season kick-off... especially w/ a "high-caliber" series that LOST is, this was a disappointment. The producers concentrated on the most boring aspect of the season 2 finale--the capture of Jack, Kate, and Sawyer. Sure, I love these characters, but I wanted to see some Locke, Eko, and Desmond. I wanted to see Sayid. Everyone knows that the producers were going to do an episode "A DAY IN THE LIFE OF DHARMA PRISONERS: JACK,KATE,& SAWYER" But did it have to be the PREMIERE episode? It was a weak way to start the season . It is my opinion, but I think one should "bust out the gate swinging". And LOST just sat there...
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10-06-2006 @ 11:46AM
Kevin Gavioli said...
We learned a lot in the 1st episode of season 3.
We learned that there is discord in the land of the others.
We learned that there is indeed some link between the others and people in the outside world evident by the file on Jack.
I believe we learned the others are interested in winning Jack over to their side, why else keep him seperate from Kate and Swayer.
I was happy with it.
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10-05-2006 @ 4:29PM
dh said...
I'm sure glad I don't have one of those TV's that prevent the watcher from changing channels. If I don't like a show... click. Others seem to be forced to watch shows they don't like, then spend more time complaining about said show on blogs...
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10-05-2006 @ 4:31PM
dannyp64 said...
Not sure what everyone expected here. The kidnapping of Jack, Kate & Sawyer was the cliffhanger and that is what they followed up on. Would it have been more interesting if they ignored that and came up with something new involving Charlie & Claire? People would've freaked out. Plus the revelation that the island is a friggin zoo/aquarium should have been enough of a "payoff".
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10-05-2006 @ 4:50PM
Alex said...
Um we learned that last season, and it was implied in the first season with the polar bears.
I was a bit frustrated with the premier because I was expecting to have something big revealed, but all in all I wasn't that disappointed. What I really want to know is what happened to Locke, Echo and Desmond. The episode really left more questions than answers, typical Lost bs.
Oh and if they spend more than five minutes on the Charlie-Claire relationship I am gonna snap. I almost had a heart attack last season when instead of explaining what happened in the hatch, they wasted five minutes on a kiss between Charlie and Claire, honestly, like anyone cares.
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10-05-2006 @ 5:07PM
Carissa said...
I thought it was a better premier than last year. I loved the opening scene, and at first thought it was a flashback to a new character. Since it "got" me, I have to give it a heads up.
Am I the only one who wanted Jack to answer the "what do you want to know" question like this: "I just survived a horrific plane crash. The one thing I want to know is why I'm being treated like a terrorist, when I'm just happy to be alive!"
Why don't they ask that? I really want to know why they are treating crash survivors like that. They know the plane crashed, and it isn't some sort of infiltration, unless someone came up with a rockin good way to take a plane down in two pieces to infiltrate enemy camps. That's what is bothering me the most right now. It just doesn't make sense.
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10-05-2006 @ 5:07PM
Misty said...
"Tom
BTW, what was the name that Juliette had for Henry Gale when they were in their little town, and he was upset that he was out of the book club?"
BEN.
BenBenBennyBenBenBen.
Or, as we prefer over on the discussion thread I frequent, Benry.
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10-05-2006 @ 5:13PM
Ben said...
Am I the only one who bothered to do ANY kind of research before the season premiere? I don't mean spoiler-type stuff, just looking at the basic schedule, episode titles, and descriptions? We aren't going to find out what happened with the hatch until the THIRD episode. I knew that last week. It was originally going to be the second episode of the season, but ABC switched the second and third episodes. Jesus Christ, I remember when the second season premiered and me and my friend watched it. The first episode ended with the outragous cliffhanger when Jack met Desmond and then instead of addressing it the next episode, you watch the whole thing and it ended in exactly the same place. And I loved it. It makes it so that the seven days I have to wait to see the next episode is that much more exciting. And hopefully this isn't a spoiler or anything, but has anyone actually bothered to look at the print ads for the third season. Locke, Desmond, and Mr. Eko have headshots just like everyone else. Something tells me they just might survive.
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10-05-2006 @ 5:24PM
Tom said...
According to Evangiline (spelling?) Lilly (Kate) on Z100 (100.3FM NYC) Wednesday morning, the writers of Lost have planned it out to EXACTLY 6 (SIX) Seasons. She said that all will be revealed assuming it survives that long. The writers have also already said that the know the ending and who needs to be alive for it, but the rest can change at their will without effecting the overall outcome of the show.
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10-05-2006 @ 5:34PM
Omar said...
is anyone else confused as to how they didnt find this civilization yet? im assuming that the 'line' that survivors shouldn't cross was basically where the village was, but ben started the episode saying if todd (the guy the ended up killing, i forget his name) ran, he could make it to the crash in an hour. that means they were a few hours away walking the whole time and never noticed there were houses and cds or an aquarium and all these things.
i want the show to be good but i might end up just letting a bunch of episodes pile up on my tivo and watch them in a row instead of feeling unfulfilled after every individual episode.
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10-05-2006 @ 5:47PM
Akbar Fazil said...
Omar, its pretty safe to assume the Island is full of tunnels and secret passage ways. Where does the "security system" go?
Goodwin (thats the guys name) probably used those to get to the tail crash in an hour. Don't expect all of the answers all the time. That is what makes Lost great is the way they are revealed and make you think.
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10-05-2006 @ 5:51PM
chris said...
Yeah Ben...we dummies don't know the Season3 show schedule. But I guarantee that this episode will probably be the most forgettable this season. The point is, LOST should not be complacent or (god forbid) ordinary. The season 2 premiere was BRILLIANT. This was a soft episode. And for a SEASON PREMIERE, especially LOST...disappointing.
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10-05-2006 @ 6:42PM
Chris W said...
The second season opener was unbeatable, and will remain as such for a while. The whole "wait a minute where are we and who's that guy working out to Mommas and the Papas?" was stunning and the best-executed montage I've seen on TV. And seeing it was Desmond holding a gun to Locke's head at the end was the one of the first real WTF Lost moments for me.
That being said, this one was great too. It just didn't wow me as much as the season 2 opener. I absolutely expected the episode to focus on only one of the three-ish cliffhangers, and I wasn't disappointed at all in that regard.
We learned a bunch about the Others; they actually live on Wysteria Lane with all sorts of modern amenities.
They were involved with the DHARMA initiative, but defected.
They are sticklers about behavior and manners ("I'm sorry I involved you in my breakout attempt" / "Can I trust you to sit against the wall?").
They are humans (Ben and Juliet's post-romantic tension).
They were surprised by the plane crash, but found it necessary to find the survivors, take some of them, and find out about their lives.
The next two weeks are gonna suck for our three friends.
Sawyer is dumber than a polar bear.
Jack's issues are deep and twisted; what sent him off the deep end, though?
Something happened to Kate between the beach and the cage.
That's a lot to take in, and I for one will be stewing on it until next Wednesday.
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