In the immortal words of Steve Zissou, “this is an adventure.” Any long time Lost watcher can’t help but feel the same way. We are on an epic journey, one that has been as entertaining and engrossing as any TV series has ever been. I am constantly in awe of the scope of what Lost is doing and my appreciation only grows as new episodes come along. Lost is probably, at the very least, the most ambitious show to ever grace the television medium. I’m prone to hyperbole, but I can’t help myself – this stuff is just plain incredible. It might not have been the best episode of Lost ever, but “Confirmed Dead” opened up a chest of mysteries and set up the remainder of season four in a way that I didn’t think possible. Tonight’s four-headed flash back was a perfect introduction to the rescue squad (or whatever you want to call them) and, now, I have absolutely no idea as to how this will all be resolved.
Months ago, maybe over a year, I was watching Conan O’Brien being interviewed on The Charlie Rose Show. He was talking about how incredible the current crop of scripted television was. Conan began his career as a television writer on The Simpsons and he, quite modestly, spoke to the fact that he probably wouldn’t be able to cut it as a TV writer in the current landscape. He singled out Lost, saying that from episode to episode, he had absolutely no idea what would come next. I don’t think this is talked about enough when it comes to Lost. Intuitively, audiences generally know how stories will end. Whether it’s a movie or an episode of television, our sheer experience as viewers allows us to predict what will happen in any given piece of dramatic work.
Not with Lost.
Even the biggest Lost fans, pundits and theorizers have to admit that it’s pointless to try and predict the outcomes of future Lost episodes. Before last night’s episode, there’s no way I could have even thought about who the parachutists would turn out to be, that they would all be, basically, rabid conspiracy theorists, believing that Oceanic Flight 815 didn’t really crash in the Indian Ocean like the rest of the world believed. I would have never entertained the idea that the rescuers mission would be to find Ben, that Ben knew they were coming and even has a mole on their freighter, or that Locke put so much stock in Walt’s brief appearance.
I try to find some perspective. Think back to what was a monumental moment in season one (they found a hatch!) – how small is this event given what we know now? Going forward this season, I cannot wait to find out more about Myles, Daniel, Charlotte and Frank. I want to know more about the crash of 815. Was it a set up? How involved is Abbadon? What does he want?
-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of ABC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
