Is LOST Finding Itself?
Last night’s episode, “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” was the best one of the season so far… the first time I felt really emotionally engaged and moved by a character’s plight. Locke is a really complex character, so I’m glad to be groping through the darkness with him.
And I realized for the first time WHY I’m dissatisfied with the show this season (besides the obvious; it’s clear by now that the producers do not intend to ground The Answers in anything that makes scientific/rational sense… so it’s like we’re at a bullfight, watching a really talented toreador do his thing, and suddenly find out there’s no bull… which can be fun, but a lot less thrilling).
For me, the real oomph of Lost came from each character’s story on-and-off island, and the way the island represented an opportunity for redemption, and the way it wove everyone’s back story together. Oh my god, there’s Libby in the background of the bar! Oh my god, there’s Jack’s dad on the roof of the building across the way! The story of Kate’s crimes and punishments, her troubled relationship with her mother - these were all really powerful. Smoke monsters and bombed slave ships and polar bears and magic hatches are great storytelling, but they’re not what makes a show great. Sawyer’s history of scamming, and the note for the man who scammed his family that he carried with him all the time - THAT is some really compelling, powerful stuff.
We’re winding down now, and all of that stuff has fallen by the wayside. We know these characters - their flaws and their secret sadness, their loves and hates - and the new characters we meet remain flimsy. They are there to fulfill a narrative function, but they have no agency. Daniel and Myles are damn close to caricatures.
I miss that sense of magic, that deep emotional resonance, that comes from watching these people break down… but this episode held out hope that the old magic will be replaced by something new - and wonderful - and terrifying.
) Your Reply...