Yeah I know Lost has been on for six year now and somewhere around 1.2 million articles have been written about it over that period but one more couldn't hurt. Could it?
Before last week I had never watched a minute of Lost and really up until late last year had no intention of ever checking it out. When Lost started I was going to night school to get a degree I'll never use and had a newborn baby at home. This didn't leave much time for exploring new shows. Once my schedule had cleared up a bit the show was already a few seasons in and without investing a chunk of money into season box sets there was no way to catch up. Even without having watched it before I could tell this was a show that you couldn't just jump into the middle and pick up.
Over the past few years Netflix and technology have combined to give us the wonderful gift of instant watch. Last year I noticed that all the Lost seasons had been added to Netflix's instant watch library. This combined with recommendations from people whose opinions I respect like Josh, Danny and Doyle gave me the push I needed to dive in and immerse myself in Lost.
Now a week after I started the series, I've just completed season 2 with the first episode of season 3 paused while I write this blog post. I must say I love the show so far. No series has done mystery and intrigue this well since Twin Peaks took TV by storm my freshman year of college. I have put all of my regularly scheduled television viewing (and I have a lot) on hold while I pound through the first 5 seasons episode after episode.
Luckily, I have avoided articles, reviews and recaps of Lost for the past 6 years just in case I ever did decide to give the show a chance. So, I've gone into with no information aside from commercials I've seen on ABC. Here's some misconceptions, thoughts on characters and hopes for future seasons I have so far.
Jack - I cannot identify with this character. Apparently I missed the episode where he was anointed king of the island. I don't get his connection with Kate a woman who has continually lied and betrayed him. But from ads and what not I went in with the idea that he was the protagonist of the show so I've had to overlook some of the problems with his character.
Locke - I always got the impression from commercials that he was the bad guy on the show. At least through season 2, and this could change, he's not. He is however, a more interesting and believable character than Jack. His faults and actions make more sense to me and I think or at least hope there's more to his story to be revealed.
Kate/Sawyer - There's a double wide, 3 filthy kids and an episode of island cops in your futures.
Boone/Shannon - Thank God for high cliffs and heavy airplanes. My only wish is that the heroin plane would have fallen on Shannon so we could have wiped them both out at the same time.
Jin/Sun - I like island Jin now and Sun is just kinda white noise but the flashback stories involving these two are borderline unwatchable. I'm sure Sun's dirty daddy will somehow all tie in to this stuff but good gravy I don't need anymore scenes in Korea.
Sayid - I like Sayid and if I was in the shit, he's the guy I would want watching my back. However, the fact that he's there requires you to suspend reality quite a bit. Let's just be real. If a plane explodes or breaks in half in air and a group of you survive. If there is an Arab guy none of you know among the survivors, mob rules dictate that this guy would have been convicted and torn apart by all these white people and no amount of reasoning could have stopped it.
Hurley - I like Hurley. He annoyed me at first but quickly grew on me. This is most likely because I too am a fat guy that says dude a lot and sometimes sees things that aren't necessarily there.
Michael - From jump street, I found Michael more than a bit irrational and defensive. I chalked this up to being stuck on an island with a bunch of angry, confused, scared, self important white people. Now after season 2 I just want him to suffer a horrible death.
Claire - I've been crushing on Claire for a while now. I don't know if it's the accent or that we're stuck on an island with few other options but she's alright with me.
Charlie - Charlie is the most pathetic character of all. Part of this is that he's a junkie and like Jesse on Breaking Bad, junkies are usually bumbling idiots and make bad partners. I also can't get over him being Merrie from Lord of the Rings. I keep hoping that Pippin will come walking out of the jungle and they will just disappear in a cloud of hobbit love and shire weed.
Eko - Anytime you can bring Adebisi onto your show you do it. Mr. Eko brings his wooping stick to the party and isn't afraid to use it. This guy could play an accountant on Designing Women and would be the baddest accountant on the planet.
The Others - Honestly, I'm a little disappointed in the others so far. I wanted them to be some kind of mystical aboriginal peoples that didn't appreciate the presence of intruders on their island but did appreciate the taste of barbecued place crash survivors. What I didn't expect was a clan of Scientologist led by Tom Cruise's nerdy uncle.
I'm looking forward to peeling this onion a bit more and starting season 3. So far Lost definitely looks like it will make my list of series that defined scripted television this past decade along with The Wire, The Sopranos and Dexter.
