Lost--Season 6 - Spoilers Abound!!!

[Zarathustra]

Murrin, those are excellent points about the narrative structure. I was thinking how redudant the numbers + names was, too. They used the same damn revelation to end two back-to-back episodes. Your solution is brilliant. It wouldn't have seemed repetitive if they'd done it side-by-side. And the Claire/Kate juxtaposition would have been a lot better, too.

Perhaps once these come out on DVD and we can watch them all straight through, the effect you're describing will be the one we get. I've always felt the pace was better when I knew what was coming and didn't have to wait weeks or months to see the next part.

LF, I thought there were a couple awe-inspiring shots in S5. The statue in all its unexpected glory was incredible--even from behind. Seeing all the different time periods was exciting. Seeing the construction of the hatch was ominous.

And I thought at least one episode off island was fantastic: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham. I didn't think the adventures of the Oceanic 6 in S5 were any worse than their S4 adventures off the island. In fact, I thought it was fascinating seeing how they all ended up on that plane, a nice counterpart to seeing how they all ended up in the helicopter in S4. In both cases, you know who ends up where, but the writers still managed to provide suspense in how exactly these people get from point A to point B.

[I'm Murrin]

I agree that it took them too long to return to the island, and took Locke too long to get from the plane to the statue.

Then again, I have the same complaint about a bunch of pieces of the earlier seasons. Man of Science, Man of Faith begins with Jack going back to the caves and Kate gonig down the hatch, and ends with Jack going into the hatch and seeing Desmond. The next episode, Adrift, we see the exact same sequence of events, but we see Locke and Kate's perspective, and end on the same cliffhanger. Nothing really happened in the island storyline of the first episode. It was pretty much an addendum to the cliffhanger of season 1.

[Worm of Despite]

LF, I thought there were a couple awe-inspiring shots in S5. The statue in all its unexpected glory was incredible--even from behind. Seeing all the different time periods was exciting. Seeing the construction of the hatch was ominous.

And I thought at least one episode off island was fantastic: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham. I didn't think the adventures of the Oceanic 6 in S5 were any worse than their S4 adventures off the island. In fact, I thought it was fascinating seeing how they all ended up on that plane, a nice counterpart to seeing how they all ended up in the helicopter in S4. In both cases, you know who ends up where, but the writers still managed to provide suspense in how exactly these people get from point A to point B.

Yeah, the Bentham episode was good. And you're right about those exceptions, but I felt the overall camera work was lacking. Some things stuck out. Season 6 opener had an amazing, long underwater shot. Great. But the rest just isn't doing it for me.

I suppose I liked the off-island scenes in Season 4 more because all the "how" of how they got off-island was told on the island. The whole main plot was always allocated there, chugging along nicely, with off-island stuff on the periphery as spice.

No matter how interesting getting them back together was in Season 5, it: A) didn't feel nicely balanced with the island scenes; the island scenes became the periphery once most of the cast was moved off of it. So you B) wait, and wait, and wait, and it simply took too many episodes for me to be impressed as to how they got back. I think the whole season would've benefited from less episodes, like Season 4.

These Season 6 eps. work for me far more than 5, because now the cast is back--and everywhere, ironically--in both timelines. Season 5 almost felt like waiting for Covenant to return to the Land during The Last Chronicles; or, Variations on Linden Crying).

[danlo]

I didn't think it was too bad, compared to the last two. There were at least three spots where eye contact almost rivaled better episodes. Maybe the current reality is markedly wrong and that Jack's experiences is what leads him up to being broken. OK maybe his "brokeness" was explained earlier and I missed it-but what would really warp it is if he met his ex wife at a medical conference and she turned out to be Juliett. .... The tic-tac-toe may be symbolic for insanity, "doing the same things and expecting different results". I liked the Claire stuff and Jin lying and then "un-lying" and the reappearence of non-Locke.

As long as smokey/evil aren't a combination of Foul and the Worm, and Kate's name isn't Linden and David isn't really

Spoiler

Roger

(and Sawyer or Sayid isn't Hile Troy) I'll be okay. Given that I'm getting pretty dam impatient.

[ItisWritten]

A request: Please avoid references to the Last Chronicles. I have not read any so far, and will not until the final book's release date is imminent. I absolutely despise literary cliff hangers and won't subject myself to them. I did the same with the Gap. That's the reason I haven't been involved with the Covenant forums.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Anyway, Murrin mentioned the worst 3 episode stretch of Lost that started S2. I don't believe 30 seconds of tic-tac-toe compares remotely to that. The writers seem ball-and-chained to their format of the centric episode and sometimes the storytelling suffers for it. But it'll all come down to how they conclude the damn thing. The greatest impatience I feel is at the end of each episode, but that's my frustration with the series-long storyline. I can't avoid spoilers on a TV show like I can something written.

[Zarathustra]

Anyway, Murrin mentioned the worst 3 episode stretch of Lost that started S2. I don't believe 30 seconds of tic-tac-toe compares remotely to that.

Fair enough. However, though I've repeated this complaint, I've also made more substantive ones besides it. I was using it as emblematic of a deeper problem: these characters don't have much to do now.

But I'll balance it out with something positive: it was nice seeing Hurley stand up to Dogan, and for him to have a "quest" that was actually meaningful. Getting a van running and building a golf course has been his most notable contributions in 5 years. So it was nice to see him be important.

[Cagliostro]

There is one big thing you left out, Z - he took out some of the Others with that van at the end of Season 3 and saved the people on the beach who stayed behind. Not huge, but significant.

[ItisWritten]

Anyway, Murrin mentioned the worst 3 episode stretch of Lost that started S2. I don't believe 30 seconds of tic-tac-toe compares remotely to that.

Fair enough. However, though I've repeated this complaint, I've also made more substantive ones besides it. I was using it as emblematic of a deeper problem: these characters don't have much to do now.

No doubt they've made some questionable story choices. You know what I was thinking during the ttt game? How long did it take to make the X's and O's? Now that's distracting from the story.

But don't mind me. I'm not going to worry about the pace until after episode 9. It's kind of the pattern of each season.

[Orlion]

Anyway, Murrin mentioned the worst 3 episode stretch of Lost that started S2. I don't believe 30 seconds of tic-tac-toe compares remotely to that.

Fair enough. However, though I've repeated this complaint, I've also made more substantive ones besides it. I was using it as emblematic of a deeper problem: these characters don't have much to do now.

No doubt they've made some questionable story choices. You know what I was thinking during the ttt game? How long did it take to make the X's and O's? Now that's distracting from the story.

That, at least, is easily explained. I'd propose that they were made beforehand, that Tic-Tac-Toe is a favorite game of the other Others

[ItisWritten]

You know what I was thinking during the ttt game? How long did it take to make the X's and O's? Now that's distracting from the story.

That, at least, is easily explained. I'd propose that they were made beforehand, that Tic-Tac-Toe is a favorite game of the other Others

I came to the same conclusion, which led to the secondary, why? It's a boring game. Not the kind of thought processes I want to be having during the final season of Lost.

[Orlion]

You know what I was thinking during the ttt game? How long did it take to make the X's and O's? Now that's distracting from the story.

That, at least, is easily explained. I'd propose that they were made beforehand, that Tic-Tac-Toe is a favorite game of the other Others

I came to the same conclusion, which led to the secondary, why? It's a boring game. Not the kind of thought processes I want to be having during the final season of Lost.

[ItisWritten]

And while I like fake Locke recruiting Sawyer, he didn't have to take him to the cave to do this. He could have just told Sawyer everything at Sawyer's house. Anyone (incl. fake Locke) could have written their names on the cave wall. I don't see how that was proof of anything. It was filler to stretch out the reveal for a full hour.

Ah, but if we didn't get to the cave and see the names scrawled there, we wouldn't have realized that we didn't see Kate's name. Was her name on the lighthouse wheel?

But did we need the rope ladder scene? Or was that in there just so they could show Sawyer falling in previews?

Nahhhh....it's a rolley-coaster!

I like the chain idea myself. See, 'cause then I can call non-Locke Marley. Then we'd have Jacob and Marley, and all the ghosts of Lost season's past. I'd question adding present or future since time is so muddled already.

[I'm Murrin]

Did you folks have the same problem with Hurley and Sawyer playing Horseshoes in Otherton in S4? Hell, they had a whole multi-episode arc in S3 devoted to ping pong. It was a tiny moment in a big Hugo storyline for the episode, what's the problem? What else are they supposed to do when they're sitting around waiting for something to happen?

[Akasri]

Ah, but if we didn't get to the cave and see the names scrawled there, we wouldn't have realized that we didn't see Kate's name. Was her name on the lighthouse wheel?

Yes. She was #51... I saw it on the lostpedia site

[Orlion]

What else are they supposed to do when they're sitting around waiting for something to happen?

Which is the main complaint, they're not the only ones waiting for something to happen

[Zarathustra]

There's a lot of things from previous seasons that would bug me if they were still doing it in the final season. Trying to catch birds to use as a carrier pigeons. Killing each other over stolen diamonds. Building a raft. Trying to get inside a hatch. Etc. While these things were interesting in their time, now is not the time for it. Yes, the game was only a second or two in the show, but (as Orlion says) it points out that they're just waiting around for something to happen. I'm glad that something did actually happen. But that "quest" led to Jack sitting and staring out at the ocean. We got more drama from him in the shark tank.

As I've said above, I don't mind the actual direction the characters are going (Sawyer and Jack being "recruited" to different sides), but I agree with Murrin that the execution could have been a lot tighter.

[Akasri]

So does anyone know exactly how many episodes are left? Is there a date set for the finale to air yet?

I'm guessing we're around the 15-hour remaining mark or so... but I'm just not sure.

[I'm Murrin]

It's a short season like season 4. 13 episodes, finale airing April 20th.

They seem to have rearranged the list on wikipedia - the name they originally had for the finale is now on the penultimate episode.

[sindatur]

It's a short season like season 4. 13 episodes, finale airing April 20th.

They seem to have rearranged the list on wikipedia - the name they originally had for the finale is now on the penultimate episode. The finale is listed as The Last Recruit.

(I bet Ab Aeterno is Richard's episode.)

Only 13 episodes now? It was originally scheduled for 16 or 17 (18 horus, I believe, with the finale and the premiere being 2 hours?)

[Zarathustra]

I would consider the title of the finale a MASSIVE SPOILER! Please do not post facts about episodes that no one has seen yet. Especially the finale episode of Lost!! Thank you.