Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Lost in Order

When Lost was on re-runs, I caught up on the episodes I missed from the first season, which turned out to be about two-thirds of the season. I thought it might be confusing watching first season episodes when we're already deep into the third season, but it wasn't. Quite the opposite. The show's always been kind of non-linear with the flashbacks on the lives of the characters, which have never been shown in chronological order, and characters making references to things that we don't know or understand until later on. In fact, the third season has become richer for me, knowing all the things that went on before, and I think knowing later episodes enhanced my understand of the first season as well. For example, in the first season, we didn't know anything about the Others, which meant that when Ethan was running around, we had no idea who he was or where he came from. Now I do, so I understand what Ethan's goal was and why he was there while he was stalking the survivors. I think that's a sign of a truly unique and well-written show, that the earlier episodes are just as strong as the third season episodes, if not stronger.

2 comments:

Maurice Mitchell said...

Yes and no. It does explain what Ethan was doing and it is fascinating to think about the story arc, but on the other hand have you been watching this season's episodes? It's like watching a completely different and more disjointed boring version of the show.

Still, that last plot twist was good.

Nigel G Mitchell said...

I agree, this season has been really disappointing. One guy said it best when they said they've made the Others as frightening as the Cleavers in "Leave it to Beaver." Where are the whispers? The silent walking through the forest? What I'm hoping is that they'll eventually reveal that the people we know as the Others aren't the Others, but there's another more sinister and mysterious group on the island. Because these losers aren't it.