....maybe the show is itself a psychological experiment
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I WAS a big fan of "Lost".
There, I´ve said it. OK, it´s not the end of the world and it is certainly not the end of my relationship with the show. But somewhere along the way, from the end of Season 1 to the middle of the second season, they lost me (pun wholly intended).
In the show's premiere season, "Lost" strongly came across as something really innovative and new, certainly not another run-of-the-mill crime procedural or family sitcom. I would even go as far as complimenting "Lost" for its inspired storytelling structure of using flashbacks and coincidences. However, for me, the show did not really inspire much confidence before its premiere. Many thought it was just another campy 60´s sci-fi clone, albeit an updated, special effects-heavy version. Consider the show´s basic premise: a disparate group of survivors whose plane crash-lands on a mysterious island that is inhabited by strange unseen creatures. That alone did not really seem like an idea that would marginally attract today´s increasingly finicky TV viewers, let alone take off like it eventually did. Yes, the island has its fair share of confounding secrets that are just begging for some real answers. I´m sure everyone wants to know what that mysterious being in the jungle is or how one of the plane crash survivors, Locke (Terry O´Quinn) a paraplegic before the plane crash, could walk again. And who the heck are these people called the Others? But the much sought after answers to those questions alone are not the main reason why the show became as big ahit as it is now.
So what is the main driving force of the show then? Without a doubt, the show´s success is in large part due to its strong cast of diverse characters. Every one of them has an interesting story and in that regard, "Lost" takes it to the next level by adding layer upon layer of imaginative circumstances and emotional nuances to its group of flawed characters. Every one of them comes with their own set of baggage and you could never tell if any of their actions and motivations is truly for the benefit of the rest of the castaways or just a selfish ploy to help themselves.
This gray area not only heightens the drama but also serves to keep the viewers on their toes. For example, designated bad boy Sawyer (Josh Holloway), as we´ve come to know, is a con artist who is always on the lookout for his next mark. But there is more to this Southern charmer than meets the eye. Sawyer, as it turns out, is not his real name (it´s James Ford) but is actually the name of the conman who destroyed his family. It is ironic that he eventually took the name Sawyer and became who he despised most--someone who cheats people and in the process, destroys entire families. The same goes for Kate (Evangeline Lilly), whom we learned in the first season, is a fugitive on the run from the law. Her crime turned out to be blowing up her house with her father still in it. But her father is not all that innocent. He has been physically abusing Kate´s mother for years and before killing him, Kate took out a big insurance policy on him, solely benefiting her mother. Even the good doctor, Jack (Matthew Fox) has a couple of skeletons in his closet, as we´ve seen with the troubles in his marriage and his rocky relationship with his now-deceased father.
This less than subtle approach to painting all the characters different shades of gray can be found all over "Lost". No character is beyond condemnation but salvation is almost always in sight, if they seek it. And that is precisely why I continue to tune in every week to the show. However, when coupled with the almost stagnant motion of the main plot, the good quickly devolves into the tedious. From the opening episode on, we have all been bombarded with various hints about this mysterious island´s well-kept secrets. But as the season wore on, more and more questions pile up and the mystery gets deeper with no possible end in sight.
Then came the now-infamous hatch.
Yes, finally. We are sure to get some answers now! The revelation that there is an underground bunker deep in the jungle gave us fans hope that at least some burning questions might finally be answered. Imagine the infuriating disappointment when in the final episode of Season 1, the stubborn hatch door was opened and then.........nothing.
Pssssttt! Wait for Season 2!
OK, cliffhanger, I get it. TV shows do that all the time. I´m cool with that. So throughout the summer, the anticipation built. Speculation became rife throughout cyberspace as to what our castaways would find inside the hatch. Season 2 rolls along and we finally get to see what was inside the hatch. But instead of answering any of the important questions, we get, you guessed it, even more questions! The mystery deepens even further. In short, Season 2 brings us no closer to answering any of our burning questions than when the show first started.
Oh well......
In this second season, we now know most of the main characters much better and we are introduced to some new ones. It seems that there is another group of survivors from the plane who was in the tail section that broke apart from the main body and landed on the other side of the island. This ragtag group is comprised of the Nigerian drug lord turned Catholic priest, Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), tough chick and former cop Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), clinical psychologist Libby (Cynthia Watros) and Bernard (Sam Anderson), Rose´s (L. Scott Caldwell) husband. Unlike the main group of survivors, this group has been under constant attack by the Others, kidnapping members of the group when they least expect it. And this group too have been infiltrated by one of the Others, pretending to be one of the survivors. These two groups of survivors are finally united when Michael (Harold Perrineau), Sawyer and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), who were last seen being attacked by the Others while sailing on their makeshift raft, find themselves washed up on the other side of the island.
The other new development in Season 2 is of course the underground bunker that the mysterious hatch leads into. Equipped with antiquated computer technology, it looks like a giant time capsule from the 70´s. Inside, the survivors meet up with the bunker´s nervous and rambling occupant, Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), a former Scottish soldier and a sailor, whom Jack had met briefly some time before the plane crash (yes, this show is full of such coincidences). From the bits and pieces of information they could gather from a badly damaged film reel, it is revealed that the bunker is part of a research project called the DHARMA Initiative, funded by the Hanso Foundation. DHARMA is supposed to bring together scientists and thinkers from around the world to conduct experiments in various fields. Apart from the well-stocked living spaces, the bunker´s central focus is an old computer terminal where the occupants must enter a set of specific numbers every 108 minutes. So the top question becomes, what if the numbers are not entered into the computer by the end of the countdown? Subtle hints are given as to what would happen but Locke, for one, is not willing to take that chance, convincing the rest to continue Desmond´s work of inputting the numbers (after Desmond had ran off into the jungle). So is this all just a psychological experiment? Maybe or maybe not.
If not for all of its many open questions, "Lost" would have been the perfect sci-fi mystery thriller. The show seldom lets up on its intensity, as the survivors fight among themselves and against the Others. But as some questions get answered, even more crop up in its place, like the mythical Hydra. Two steps forward, one step back. If you are willing and able to endure the seemingly never-ending loop of questions upon questions, then "Lost" is the show for you. For people who are impatient, they should stay far away as "Lost" would definitely test your limits.
Season 2 of "Lost" is made up of 24 episodes and they are evenly distributed among the following 6 DVDs (4 episodes on each disc):
Disc 1: "Man of Science, Man of Faith", "Adrift", "Orientation", "Everybody Hates Hugo"
Disc 2: "....And Found", "Abandoned", "The Other 48 Days", "Collision"
Disc 3: "What Kate Did", "The 23rd Psalm", "The Hunting Party", "Fire + Water"
Disc 4: "The Long Con", "One Of Them", "Maternity Leave", "The Whole Truth"
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