Lost – It IS “The Beginning of the End”

On January 22, I wrote in this blog that I have lost interest in “Lost.” And after watching the season premier, I’m a little lost myself, and somewhat disappointed.

Maybe the show is too slow paced for me. It’s not like things aren’t happening, it’s just that they are not happening with the pace and intensity of the first season. It’s as if the show has become overly cerebral and complex.

I have to admit that the “flash forward” has more interest for me than the previous seasons’ flashbacks. My hope is that they don’t overuse this technique as they did with the flashbacks. If they start to flash sideways, we’re in trouble.

If I understand this episode correctly, 6 people got off the Island. We knew from the end of last season that Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Jack (Mathew Fox) had returned “home.” In this episode, we see Hurley (Jorge Garcia) in the “future” so we know he is another. I suspect the show is trying to build buzz about who make up the other three. I am not sure that it really matters to me. For some reason I have never been overly attached to any one character on Lost.
Hurley is back in the nut house. He's a little off his rocker due to something that happened on the Island that apparently Jack is concerned that he’ll tell about. The presumption may be it’s something that we haven’t seen happen yet, but so far so much has gone wrong on the Island it could be anything.

Jorge Garcia seemed to portray true grief at the loss of Charlie (Dominic Monaghan), but then also true fear at seeing Charlie reappear as if he was alive. I have to admit that Garcia did a great job in his role in this episode, maybe his best yet.

Other than that, I am not sure that this episode had any major revelations. Or at least nothing that grabbed me. For the most part, I felt they could have done a far better job with this season premier. Maybe I am more of an action-oriented person, or maybe that’s what this series started out to be before it entered the Island’s land of confusion. (Are the writers making things up as they go along?) I am more than willing to invest in a show and be mindful of information gleaned from tiny details, but this show actually seems too much like hard work to watch. And sometimes I just want to be interested and entertained, and not sucked down into a vortex of a multi-layered mystery.

The one thing this episode did not leave me with was a burning desire to learn more or solve the mystery more. I really want it to be over and get some closure.

As a side note, so much time seems to have passed that some of the characters look a little different. Maybe it’s just me, but I thought Matthew Fox looked much thinner. And nice to see that as a ghost, Charlie looked much healthier. I wonder how that works?

So for now I will stick with the show. Like the Island, clearly the show wants me back. I suspect I’m in it for the long haul. If anything, I haven’t “lost” my need to close the loop with this show. Hopefully the investment will pay off.

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