So, my feelings on Lost.
Mar. 2nd, 2010 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sihayadesignsWhen you watch a series, most plot/character arcs get resolved in a season or so. Maybe two. Verrrrry occasionally, you get a mystery about a character that lingers and lingers, teased on until the finale reveal. So, in other words-- in most series, your brain gets some resolution, and is able to temporarily shelve those arcs so you can focus on the stories comin' down the pike. That allows those new stories to retain your full attention, and therefore maximize emotional impact. Voila! Viewer satisfaction.
But no, no, not on Lost. We've had something like 30 main characters and an equal number of bit parts, the bulk of whom still have some of the same unresolved arcs/mysteries that they've had since the moment they first got screentime.
In the words of my husband-- there is too much data. My brain harddrive has failed. Must dump info. Must defragment. Must-- *short circuits*
This is what happens when you introduce two new mysteries per every salient detail or clue. This is what happens when direct questions are asked that will certainly help the viewers get their bearings, and the response is a rambly unrelated personal tale of woe-- if there's even a response at all beyond "but we have to!" This is what happens when people no longer have any motivations beyond "well, we all have really shitty communication skills, so panic ensued."
Character details, connections, motivations-- they all get forgotten. This massive influx of unresolved data makes it way hard to remember enough of a character's backstory to honestly care-- it's just simply too much to keep track of. It's all manipulation. It's no longer about the characters, and it's no longer an emotional investment-- merely an intellectual exercise of sifting through a pile of infuriating vagueness in order to record and connect disparate dots separated by seasons of air time, and out of order, to boot.
Fandom has been going "can anybody tell me what the HALE is happening??" every week for for, uh, six years now. There's no North, nothing to orient to, and so everything becomes so confusing as to be pretty much meaningless. And of course, after six years, when those threads are finally picked back up and dusted back off, the response isn't so much "yay, resolution!" as "um, what?" as we struggle to remember why those threads were important in the first place. Because dude, I had to consult Wiki on several occasions this season just to remember what were once major plot points, but have since been buried under a mountain of approximately 3,642 'mysteries.'
This isn't to bag on the show for being 'too complex.' I like complex. TV needs MORE complex. But this? This is just shitty writing that uses "we are so complex and mind-bendy!" for cover.
This show has become totally unsatisfying beyond a mocking it standpoint. At this point, I'm just in it to finally figure out what is happening. Seriously, you guys. I need to validate the last six years of my life I've given to this limping show. The prospect of being strung along for ten more weeks makes me profoundly unenthused.
But no, no, not on Lost. We've had something like 30 main characters and an equal number of bit parts, the bulk of whom still have some of the same unresolved arcs/mysteries that they've had since the moment they first got screentime.
In the words of my husband-- there is too much data. My brain harddrive has failed. Must dump info. Must defragment. Must-- *short circuits*
This is what happens when you introduce two new mysteries per every salient detail or clue. This is what happens when direct questions are asked that will certainly help the viewers get their bearings, and the response is a rambly unrelated personal tale of woe-- if there's even a response at all beyond "but we have to!" This is what happens when people no longer have any motivations beyond "well, we all have really shitty communication skills, so panic ensued."
Character details, connections, motivations-- they all get forgotten. This massive influx of unresolved data makes it way hard to remember enough of a character's backstory to honestly care-- it's just simply too much to keep track of. It's all manipulation. It's no longer about the characters, and it's no longer an emotional investment-- merely an intellectual exercise of sifting through a pile of infuriating vagueness in order to record and connect disparate dots separated by seasons of air time, and out of order, to boot.
Fandom has been going "can anybody tell me what the HALE is happening??" every week for for, uh, six years now. There's no North, nothing to orient to, and so everything becomes so confusing as to be pretty much meaningless. And of course, after six years, when those threads are finally picked back up and dusted back off, the response isn't so much "yay, resolution!" as "um, what?" as we struggle to remember why those threads were important in the first place. Because dude, I had to consult Wiki on several occasions this season just to remember what were once major plot points, but have since been buried under a mountain of approximately 3,642 'mysteries.'
This isn't to bag on the show for being 'too complex.' I like complex. TV needs MORE complex. But this? This is just shitty writing that uses "we are so complex and mind-bendy!" for cover.
This show has become totally unsatisfying beyond a mocking it standpoint. At this point, I'm just in it to finally figure out what is happening. Seriously, you guys. I need to validate the last six years of my life I've given to this limping show. The prospect of being strung along for ten more weeks makes me profoundly unenthused.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 03:45 am (UTC)I had to stop watching Lost early on for the same reason. I could NOT do that to myself again. Also, I lack faith that everything WILL be resolved. How can it possibly be? I don't even think whatshisname knows the ending anymore.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 04:42 am (UTC)It's like the season where Willow was The Big Bad on BtVS. I assumed TBB would be the Nerd Trifecta, but they wrapped up that storyline while paving the way for the proper TBB (Willow) - and opening up character development for future seasons.
no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 06:07 am (UTC)I don't think 10 episodes (even with a 2 hour finale) is enough to wrap up even HALF the storylines they started.
Either J.J. Abrams is going to make a cameo in the finale, wake up and have it all be a dream. Or
StarbuckLocke will explain it all as "angels."no subject
Date: 2010-03-03 03:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-04 02:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-04 02:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-03-05 08:54 am (UTC)You've nailed it exactly, though. It's become overwhelming to the point where it's easier to be apathetic than to invest farther.