Lost! Round III ***spoilers***

[42]

I agree that things are moving too slow. They really needed to take a different direction with the third season.

So my suggestion, fewer flashbacks and more stuff happening on the Island.

[Shrain]

Yeah. Less flash, more action. I am okay with focusing on what's going on at the Hydra station, but it does need to start giving us some payoffs.

Also, since when did Sayid get so stupid? Or Jin for that matter? "Let's leave Sun on the boat. It'll be so safe! No one will know we have this huge boat anchored out here. Besides, who wants a boat when you're on an island?" I mean, come on! That is just idiotic.

I am hoping that Lost will speed up again now that we're a few shows into it. Right now, Jericho is really grabbing my attention more than Lost.

[Tekiel]

Also, since when did Sayid get so stupid? Or Jin for that matter? "Let's leave Sun on the boat. It'll be so safe! No one will know we have this huge boat anchored out here. Besides, who wants a boat when you're on an island?" I mean, come on! That is just idiotic.

Well, to be fair, Sayid did tell Sun about the gun.

Don't get me wrong, I still love this show and will watch every single episode.  But what bothers me the most is that they never mention the "monster." You know, that thing that stalked all the people way back in season 1.  The cloudy-mist thing that can move on it's own. That's what I want more of! The Others are just annoying and mysterious.

[fuzzyoctopus]

The Others are annoying because we know they're nowhere CLOSE to explaining what the heck they're up to.  And that's really what we want to know about them.  They act like... like Cylons.  But they're obviously not. They act like the baddest of bad guys, but they THINK they are not bad guys and seem to think their mean actions have a higher cause.  So until we know that cause it's going to drive me batty.  At least the Cylons have an excuse for being stupid.

[Tink]

Okay, was I the only one that laughed out loud when Charlie said, "Yeah, trees. I've heard they're wonderful conversationalists."

LOTR reference, if you ask me.

[42]

Yes, it was funny.

I was a lot happier with last nights episode. It had shorter flashbacks and more action. It also seemed to progress the story further than the previous episodes so far this season.

[Parker]

I still loved last night's episode, but I thought there'd be a lot of haters of it out there.  Plot wise, it seemed to only establish that everyone was still alive, and that Locke was going to be more active. That's something that could have been shown in about five minutes.

[Shrain]

Parker, isn't Lost annoying you now? It is me, to be honest. I mean, this past episode we got two new people for no apparent reason. They were completely flat and boring. The episode is full of re-hashed flashbacks from Echo, which still don't make his death very meaningful at all. It was cool to see the electromagnetic beastie again, but it's almost not scary anymore. THey tried to make his death all significatnt and stuff, but I just don't see much there.

Also, who hadn't already guessed that Ben is the one with the humongous tumor on his spine? Anyone? Duh. Though I like that Juliet is trying to tempt Jack into "throwing" the surgery. Still, this stuff was just pretty boring, with only meager little questions being thrown at us and no meat. I don't care about the tumor so much as who these dang people are and why there's this island suburbia. Or why the electro-magnetic beastie exists in the first place. Grrrr.  

[Parker]

Frankly, I've been pretty surprised at how quickly the Lost fervor has died down on Timewasters--and across the country in general, actually.  (Since its ratings are down).  I've enjoyed this season so far, and the only thing that has me really irritated is that I'll have to wait until January to get new episodes after this week.  I think that with Lost, a lot of people are switching to the "Get it on DVD" mentality--it's a great show, but because of the cliffhangers, it's rough to watch from week to week.  But if they were to go and answer all the questions in a week or two, then the show would be over.

I really enjoyed this past week's episode.  I felt like we found a lot out.  The biggest reveal (for me) was what the smoke monster was.  I think it's pretty clear that it's the thing that's been manifesting itself to people on the island--from Jack's Dad to Eko's brother to Hurley's Imaginary Friend.  So we have a psychic defense system that can take any shape, and it apparently has an agenda--it wanted Eko to do something/behave a certain way, and when Eko said he wouldn't any more, he died.  Think of it--earlier, Eko saw the smoke monster, and he was fine.  But that was at a time when Locke was losing his fervor.  Now Locke's back (inspired by what I believe to be the smoke-monster-as-Boone) to his zealot roots, and so the smoke monster didn't need Eko anymore.  I was sad to see Eko go--he was one of my favorite characters--but it seemed like they tied up his story really well.  Heck, they even explained what was up with that church he was building.

Question: all the Tailies are dying.  Why?  True, one could argue it's because of their off-the-set behavior, but I don't think the writers of the show are just going to let it off that easy.  I'm interested for an explanation at some point.

What else did we learn?  I thought that ploy of Juiet's was fascinating.  The eyepatch guy was zany.  I agree that the new characters are really sucking right now.  (Arzt, anyone?)

Overall, Lost is staying constant for me.  I'm getting some answers, but not all of them.  This season has been fast moving, and I'll miss it after this week.  My prediction for Wed. night: it ends with a big cliff hanger, probably with that scene of a gun to Sawyer's head, and maybe even an offscreen gun shot going off.  We'll see, though.

[Shrain]

 I felt like we found a lot out.  The biggest reveal (for me) was what the smoke monster was.... So we have a psychic defense system that can take any shape, and it apparently has an agenda

Yeah, I completely agree about that. It's like a sentient force that has a specific agenda and can project certain images to get what it wants.When Locke and Eko are good, they are immune from its wrath. The thing is, I had already figured as much. I came to this conclusion around the time that Eko saw it for the first time (while Charlie was up in the tree.) Pardon my sloppy statement of wondering "why it exists in the first place."

I meant to say that while I know what it's *purpose* is, I don't know *how* it was created. We sort of know what it's after and how it gets what it wants, yet where did it come from? Is it actually sentient? Did someone create it? Or did someone just catch it? Does it live in the depths of the Earth, created by the electromagnetic rich charge in this part of the world? Or maybe it's just a programmable phenomenon?

*Ahem* Anyhow, the eye patch guy could prove interesting. But his appearance actually made me giggle rather than jump. Oh, and I'll take Arzt [Arnzt?] any day over newbies as forgettable as the two new people we saw last time. Arzt actually knew a little something about dynamite. Not enough though...which made for some very explosively humorous moment, I must say.

I sure hope the next episode gives us more than a few old tidbits. I will miss Eko, though. But he was a pretty scary guy, and becoming a "priest" couldn't even begin to cover up the baaaad stuff he's done. I do wonder if the electromagno beastie is controlled by the same people or person who created the Others' suburbia or if they're working at cross purposes. Hmmmm.

[Parker]

I can see your point.  You have very good questions, and they're questions I'm sure the writers are well aware of.  I just wish people would trust them and stick with the show, because if they don't then you get what happened to Alias.  Studio execs come in and start dictating the direction the show "needs to go," and all you have is crap.  I say, let the story arcs do their thing, and don't rush it.  As soon as we have all the answers, then the show's over.

[Shrain]

I can see your point.  You have very good questions, and they're questions I'm sure the writers are well aware of.  

Thanks.

I just wish people would trust them and stick with the show, because if they don't then you get what happened to Alias.

Whoa now. All I'm saying is I don't want them going over the *same* ground yet treating it like it's uncharted territory, is all. And don't introduce new main characters just to "delay" what happens with the original alpha characters.

The last two seasons of Alias were particularly muddled and disappointing. My mom's a die-hard fan of Alias and even she got really annoyed with it. I am totally on board with you about letting story arcs take their course, but the middle can't be full of same-old, same-old, right?

[Parker]

I agree with you.  No same-old same-old.  But to me, that's totally what the plot line with the Others breaks free of--the same-old.  True, I'm dying to know who they think they are, but already this season, we've gone from thinking the Others were crude people living in huts to advanced people with contact to the outside and some sort of overarching agenda.  That's an example of providing a whole lot of info/answers all at once, and now they're taking their time revealing the rest.

Like I said, it'll be interesting to see what they have in store for the end of this "miniseries" portion.

As far as my "people should be patient" statement, it wasn't aimed at you in particular.  It's more of a statement of confusion about why the boards here have gone silent on what I think is still a great show.  Everybody seems to be over in the Heroes thread, or Jericho or someplace.  Here?  Nothing but tumbleweeds.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

We stopped watching partway through the 2nd season, caught a few episodes here and there (like the season finale), and have no desire to start again. There are no sympathetic characters left to enjoy watching.

[42]

I wouldn't say that there are no sympathetic characters left. I still like Hurley--who hasn't done anything illegal, immoral, or unethical yet.

Some I like because they are be repentant, like Charlie, Echo, and Claire.

The problem is that these characters get little to no screen time.

I really would not be sad is Sawyer, Kate, or Jack died. I used to like Sayid, Jin, and Sun a lot, but now I won't mind if they die either.

As for this season, the story really needs to pick-up. They are re-hashing too much character development.