Is Lost Lost?
Disembodied Brain posted on the subject of NBC’s lost essentially regretting its “move away from sci-fi and into mystical”. This was picked up on by SciFi Daily who questioned why it mattered if it was Sci-Fi or not.
Personally I’d actually prefer it if the show wasn’t Sci-Fi as I think the early episodes did an excellent job of being something else entirely. Whats wrong with it being a survival show with a strong emphasis on character?
Certainly the show appears to have toyed with both the supernatural, sci-fi and other fantastical elements, but at least so far its been walking a very careful and fine line. Right now there are several alternative explanations for everything that’s happened. That is one of the things I like about it. That and the fact that characters are actually allowed to be complex.
Our initial “hero” figure turns out to be rather overbearing and have a hero complex. The ego-maniac redneck has a complex background and may just want everyone to hate him. Our heroine appears to be a bank robber of some sort. These are not simple people with cookie-cutter backgrounds.
Adding in vast quantities of “sci-fi” just to make it genre wouldn’t add anything to the show’s strong points and would probably take away from some of them. Just because I’m a genre fan, I don’t have to have everything I watch be science fiction or fantasy.
But I notice that my enthusiasm for Lost has been waning lately. I still watch it, but it doesn’t build the same tension it did earlier in the series. I think the problem is that of late it has been treading water.
A number of revelations have sat in place without investigation for several weeks now and the feeling I’m getting is of a show stalling to make up the necessary number of episodes for a network tv season.
What bothers me most about that is that it’s exactly the worst trap for this show to fall into. It doesn’t want to become another X-Files where the “big mystery” just becomes more incoherent and illogical with each season and with never any resolution.
I’m hoping that the lead up to the end of the season will see the pace of the show pick right back up and that we will see some sort of mini-resolution to some of the problems on the Island.
Eoghann Irving is amongst other things the creator and Editor of Solar Flare. He has a life long interest in all forms of science fiction and fantasy and a pressing need to share this interest with anyone who will listen. Find out more at his personal website eoghann.com..
One Comment, Comment or Ping
Sci Fi Ranter Girl
I agree that the show has been treading water lately. It’s not blowing me away like it used to. They are taking to long to get to the meat and potatoes of the story. I fear that they don’t have anything and they are going to start desperation writing. The sharks are swimming but they aren’t jumping just yet.
Mar 2nd, 2005
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