Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Lost: A Leap of Faith

Prefect SlogFor those of you who, like me, are irrevocably hooked on Lost, something to think about. This whole thing with the bunker and the pressing the button every 108 minutes, it's just a metaphor for us, the hopelessly addicted viewers, isn't it? We have to keep tuning in every 168 hours, otherwise we're afraid something dreadful will happen. In our case, of course, we're afraid something dreadful will happen and we'll miss it. C4 kept trailing the series' return with the tag line, "Finally, some answers" and, as expected, all we have are more questions. They really threw a curve ball my way by having that guy, Desmond, turn up in the bunker. WTF? I thought, not for the first time. Yes, I can accept polar bears, black smoke, bad robots and all sorts of twisty turny stuff, but for some reason I can't quite explain, Desmond was possibly a stretch too far. Now, for all I know, the producers have a wham-bam, huge WOW of an explanation for all of this, but the more the series goes on throwing curve balls, the better that explanation is going to have to be. If you've ever read a Peter F Hamilton SF epic, you'll know that the conclusion has to be proportionate to the time invested in following the story - and that it rarely is! So I do wonder if the whole business with the button is a deliberate tongue-in-cheek metaphorical piss-take stuck in there by the producers because they know what they're doing to us. Naturally, they're afraid we'll all stop tuning in every 168 hours. In the case of poor old Locke and Jack and the others it's only by *not* pressing that damned button they will ever find out the truth - whether there's anything really explosive to it, or whether it's just a scam to keep them pressing the button. All I can say is, to the producers, I am going to keep pressing the button, but there had better be something big at the end of all this; and to anybody out there who has stopped pressing the button, what is it like? Did the world implode? Are you plagued with curiosity? Or do you just get on with your lives and snigger at the rest of us poor deluded individuals who are continuing to take the Lost leap of faith?

7 comments:

Stuart Douglas said...

I'm sure I've moaned about Lost to everyone before (if this doesn't count as advertising, my thoughts on season 1 are here.

I stuck with season two for half a dozen episodes or so and thought the answers they gave to, for instance, the numbers Hurley won the lottery with, were quite celver and satisfying, but the plethora of new questions that were then thrown up were just too likely to lead to another twenty made-up-as-they-go-along episodes. So I gave up.

I'll rely on you to tell me if it's worth getting back into it.

SAF said...

Amd I'll rely on you to tell me I should have quit :)

Stuart Douglas said...

Well one of us has to watch it to decide - and it's damn fine of you to take one for the team like this...

SAF said...

Hm, you'd think anyone promoting a college degree would be able to suss out how to stay on topic.

Stuart Douglas said...

lol - a PhD in two weeks? I wonder if that's how messrs Potts and Purser-Hallard got theirs...

SAF said...

Yeah - but bagsy not be the one to ask PPH :)

What I really wanna know is why it needs to take that long. I mean, a spot of cramming and the occasional all-nighter and that's all there is to it, surely ;)

Stuart Douglas said...

SAF: "Yeah - but bagsy not be the one to ask PPH :)"

Well I'm not doing it - God knows what levels of violence lie beneath that calm, scholarly exterior :)