The Old Wookie Trick: LOST Returns

As I said yesterday, despite my intermittant misgivings about LOST, I was still pretty pumped for last night's episode. It had gotten good buzz, and in my mind the show had really gone out on one hell of a cliffhanger prior to its winter hiatus, after a string of intense, dramatic episodes.

So what did I think of last night's long-awaited return of LOST? Well, overall, I found a lot to like. The cast, for one, continues to amaze - and the spotlight here on Elizabeth Mitchell's Juliette was very much welcome, as she has been phenomenal on the show this far. Effectively mysterious enough to almost be frustrating, yet always interesting because Mithchell does such a great job of subtley hinting that there is more going on with Juliette than meets the eye.

Also, for much of this episode I was just struck by how fun this show is. Sure, shows like 24 and Prison Break deliver plenty of intense action week in and week out, but Lost is really the only show on TV that manages to have such a sense of real ADVENTURE. All the Star Wars references in this ep were pretty appropriate, because so much of the show had that pulpy, imaginative sense of fun and danger about it that George Lucas brought to the mainstream in Star Wars and Indiana Jones. I mean who didn't love Sawyer almost playfully taking a minute to bash that one Other's head into the electric machine-thing a few times for good measure before running off into the jungle? Unlike the *hero-ic* efforts of a certain other primetime serialized show, Lost always seems to know when to have fun and when to get serious.

And most of all, it's the great characters that make the show, brought to life by a great cast. Despite the absence of much of the main cast, last night's ep had a ton of great character moments. Ben asking for a moment alone with Julliette, whispering disturbingly from his hospital bed. Kate and Sawyer cast as Han Solo and Princess Leia, on the run. Jack botching the surgery and then working to repair the damage. Great stuff.

In all these areas, Lost excels above and beyond similar TV fare. Its biggest failing, however, continues to be in the area of plot advancement. Last night we got another "Holy $%&#" type plot-related reveal, as Kate and Sawyer stumble into some tripped-out sensory-deprivation chamber blasting trance music with a guy, Carl (aparently Ben's son ...?) strapped to a chair, wearing odd glasses, and forced to watch some kind of crazy subliminal video wall flashing images and quotes like "God loves you like he loved Jacob." Just like the infamous four-toed statue, this was a classic Lost WTF moment. Also just like the four-toed statue, it's something that will probably not be explained any time soon.

And you know, I've been watching The Prisoner on DVD - the classic 1960's show that was a big inspiration to the tone and theme of Lost. In The Prisoner, you never really know what's going on. You're constantly guessing and a lot, if not EVERYTHING, in terms of details of the plot and in terms of what, exactly, is going on, is left to the imagination. And it works - it works really well. When you see these giant white spheres on The Prisoner that seem to magically roam the island village where the show is set, devouring anyone who tries to escape, half the fun is simply wondering what they are.

So why can't Lost work as a totally mysterious, Prisoner-esque show that thrives on keeping viewers in the dark? Because, perhaps to its fault, Lost has set itself up as a show that IS supposed to give answers. The very nature of the show - with its flashbacks that constantly reveal more and more about the main characters - is designed to create the expectation that, each week, more WILL be revealed. So that's why Lost can be so frustrating. On one hand, we're conditioned to constantly expect layers to be pealed back, for the mystery to be cracked open piece by piece. On the other hand, the show seems to also want us not to focus on the plot and just sit back and enjoy the ride, taking all of the mysteries in stride. Two contradictary messages - one pervasive reaction of frustration on the part of viewers. And it's too bad, because for all of the show's amazing strengths, this flaw continues to create a nagging sense of incompleteness.

When it comes to last night's episode, this incompleteness was evident in Julliette's flashbacks, where much of what already seemed apparent was "revealed" to us. Juliette, and presumably the rest of The Others, are standout / rogue scientists brought to the island under false pretenses, perhaps even brought and compelled to stay by force. On one hand, it was interesting stuff, on the other hand, as per usual, it creates about 1,000 more new questions. Even in terms of the strictly character-based stuff, we are left with A LOT to ponder. What was wrong with Julliette's sister? Why did she need Juliette's experimental fertility treatments? Why did Juliette still work for her ex-husband, and why did he stil lseem to have so much control over her decisions? To some extent, these questions are intriguing. On the other hand, the reality is that given the fact that this is the first time we really meet Juliette as a character, we were given woefully little with which to fill in the blanks. But also, as per usual, the character stuff was well-done, and Elizabeth Mitchell, as I said, was great.

So once again, I loved getting caught up in the crazy, psychedellic, adventure-filled world of Lost, brought to life by exceptional production and a great cast of characters. Still, I wish I didn't have that familar, slightly bitter, post-Lost aftertaste.

My Grade: B+