Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Lost Seeks Way to Sea, Black Rock

Lost is a show of journeys, discovery, mystery, and myth. All of those themes came together wonderfully in yet another taut and well written episode this week.

The pacing is quickening and I feel as though I’m coming to the end of a great novel or a spectacular film. The fact that it’s the first season of a television show only increases my enjoyment as I’m confident there will be more to see, more to be revealed over time.

But it also brings the paradox of great dramas and great serialized stories: there’s got to be much more conflict, much more hardship ahead to keep me and the rest of the viewing audience interested.

There was a wonderful coalescing of the back stories as we were shown intermingled accounts of different characters within the same episode for the first time. Characters like Kate, Jack, and Walt are becoming all the more real, which makes seeing their pre-crash personalities wind their way toward the airport and their subsequent fates all the more strange and fascinating.

Meanwhile, events are coming to some kind of major head back on the island. The French woman is back – a little more sane, none the less creepy – with the warning that The Others are coming. Man, aren’t the vague, ominous warnings the scariest by far? The drug smugglers with the machine guns and helicopters are coming is just way less scary (or interesting) than The Others are coming: your three options are run, hide, or die. Throw in some black smoke that looks like the People of the Damned are having an old fashioned cook out, and you’ve basically got me glued to the sofa, eyes on screen.

You had me at The Others.

So while the French lady leads a group to find explosives at the Black Rock, our heroes discover a wrecked ship… at the top of a hill. It looks like some kind of pirate ship, so who knows what them thar adventures lie behind its hull. Or something.

And the raft has finally set sale with the fearless crew of Michael, Walt, Sawyer, and Jin. Among the touching moments: the rapprochement between Jin and Sun, and little Walt leaving Vincent the dog with a for once non-evil Shannon.

What will happen with the raft? What’s the deal with the hatch? Will The Others’ offensive be repelled?

Two-hour season finale next week, kids.

Get the dog walked, break out the TV survival kit, dampen the Noises of Madness from within, kick back and enjoy.

No comments: