Thoughts on Lost, One Day Before the Series Finale

One day to go before the series finale of Lost, and my expectations are not high. We will be left with more unanswered questions, which to some people will seem ingenius, to others it will reek of laziness and a lack of creativity.

I wish I could have a bit more of a positive attitude towards this show, but season six so far has just been way too much of a let down. As I have said before, this season really should have been about Ben/Widmore, and what is going on between them, rather than about Jacob, MIB, Dogan, and even more "other others." We had no clue about any of those characters before last season, and it makes the show reek of being made up on the fly instead of being pre planned as it should have been. I can't stand the jarring turn it took from sci fi, to supernatural.

The traumatic episode two weeks ago, in which they killed off Sun, Jin, and Sayid was the kicker. None of these characters were really focused on this season but now, Sayid has become the Muslim man who kills himself via bomb. Sun and Jin's died pointless deaths which felt like something which was written just to create some Joss Whedon style, end of series pointless drama. Jin's death especially stung because he abandoned his daughter. Sun's family is not the most trustworthy, and because of Jin's decision to do what he did, he will now presumably be raised by them. What is going to become of little JiYeon? I think that is going to be something to add to the list of unanswered questions and loose ends that this show won't be tying up.

Right now, I don't see the point in buying the DVDs, or watching reruns knowing the ultimate fate of Sun, Jin and Sayid. Heck, because of these "twists," I think that in five years, Lost will be like Twin Peaks, and be a show that is forgotten because of a badly done conclusion, opposed to Buffy which is now seen as something groundbreaking.

As for the penultimate episode, the passing of the torch scene was a bit too much of a cliche. Jack as the chosen one who will save the island? Way too predictable for this show, most people including the writers seem to not like Jack, and if things are not changed by the final episode I will be disappointed.

In terms of Ben they have written themselves into a corner, it is going to be an ultimate downer if he turns out to be in cahoots with the MIB. However at this point, we know Ben isn't the ultimate evil. They have been dropping anvils about that in the flash sideways this season. His motives for killing Widmore were because truly loved Alex as a daughter. I'm going to hedge my bets that we will get a "ha ha, I was only pretending to be in cahoots with you evil MIB," at some critical point of the series finale. I've seen too many shows and movies using this technique, and nowadays it just doesn't work, especially on a show like Lost.

Charles Widmore at the end? Darlton needs to take some tips from Joss Whedon and if we aren't supposed to know that a character will be making that surprise appearance until the end of an episode, don't show his name in the opening credits. The minute I saw Alan Dale's name in the credits, I was looking over my shoulder for his appearance, knowing that he was going to come as a "surprise." When we saw that reveal in the end, I wasn't startled the way I should have been. It is kind of like playing hide and seek with a three year old and they pop out and say "boo." Also reveals like that in the end of TV shows just aren't quite as shocking as they were ten or fifteen years ago? Is this because they have been done to death, or because I'm getting jaded in my old age?

Overall I will admit it was an okay episode, but not a great episode. As I have said, things are getting predictable. Yes it was nice to give Michael Emerson the "monologue of redemption" and to make the character a shade less gray. However in doing that, they've managed to defang him, we don't fear him the way we did seasons three through five. One of the things that was most interesting about Ben is that he was a dark shade of gray, and unpredictable. After tonight's episode and that monologue, the character is just a bit more predictable, and I hate to admit it but a tad less interesting.

There is just something missing this season. While I don't watch this show for the love triangles, but one of the things I've always liked were the relationships, specifically the friendships, between the characters. Over these past few episodes, we've really lost that with all the characters spread in different places across the island. What can I say, I miss seeing everyone in one place!

I'm sorry, Tonight's Lost episode, What Kate Does, did not live up to my heightened expectations for for this show. Partially because I've never liked Kate, partially because they are making the exact same mistake they did during the first half of season three. focusing on Kate, Jack, and Sawyer,and their adventures after being captured by "The Others." Those three in zoo cages is really not something I want to remember! It was a particularly low point of the show, and a number of Lost fans I knew ended up giving up completely. Not that I'm giving up on Lost, but I miss this show having a larger ensemble, and hate it when they focus on those three characters.

Poison pill? Tea? Really? I thought Lost was above things like the James Bond "shall I sip the champaigne?" cliche.

Why does this show love Kate? The character is dull, we know just about everything there is to know about her. Watching her escape the cops, and prove that she is the bad girl with a heart of gold once again? They might as well flush an episode down the toilet. Although on the other hand, if she were portrayed by a tougher actress, I'm thinking someone like Eliza Dushku, would I like the character any more?

Must so much be devoted to the Kate/Sawyer/Jack ship? Watching Lost for the 'ships, is like going to an exotic place on vacation, then eating McDonalds and staying in your hotel watching TV the entire time. Yes, I know that Sawyer is depressed over losing Juliette, but emo Sawyer just seems wrong and is a waste of the limited number of episodes this show has left.