Better late than never?
I knew this would happen: TV shows would pile up, things would get intense at work, I'd get distracted by good weather and New York's annual transformation into the Hot Women Capital of the World and this blog would go off the tracks before it even got rolling. Well, I couldn't have bargained on the stomach ailment that laid me up for awhile, but life ain't life without a few surprises. I've got plenty to say about the way Grey's Anatomy, Veronica Mars, 24, Alias, The Office and House wrapped up their seasons, but that's all old news now...though in the interest of "responsibility" and putting my thoughts in order, I may yet eke out an omnibus post with a quick paragraph on each. But first things first...
Lost 2.23 "Live Together, Die Alone"
So they really did have it planned out all along.
Well, OK, I guess it's possible Lindelof and Cuse retroactively connected the dots, but notwithstanding a couple of strained coincidences (Libby's cameo immediately comes to mind), the Lost season finale didn't cause any excessive eye-rolling, at least not chez moi. By and large, "Live Together, Die Alone" did what it needed to do: provide somewhat logical answers to longstanding questions while creating new mysteries for the third season. More importantly, it needed to do so while at least appearing to make sense. It needed to avoided the mistakes of The X-Files, the series that will forever be synomymous with chain-jerking bait and switch bullshit.
And they pretty much pulled it off.
I haven't talked to enough fans (or read enough TWoP) to know how the Desmond/Penny angle went over with the fans, but I suspect not too well. But while the Dickens references were apparently a tribute to ultimate CD fanboy John Irving, citing Dickens automatically bought Lindelof and Cuse some license to engage in the kind of sentimental, convoluted plot mechanics that turned the guy's name into an adjective. And the story of Desmond's relationship with the hatch and his slow descent into madness had more honest emotional impact than anything the show has served up in quite some time (anyone who's reading should feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Kate Arthur made a huge mistake in the New York Times this morning--Des wasn't driven by Pen's letter to make the supreme sacrifice; rather, the letter drove him to the brink of sucide, from which he was pulled back by Locke's banging on the door--and it was the memory of how Locke saved him that gave him reason to give his life so that everyone else might live...right?).
But while everything we'd heard about the hatch seems to be entrirely deserving of being taken at face value the whole time, the "others", the "hostiles" are as mysterious as ever. And there's a huge honking logical fallacy there: "Henry Gale" was still a prisoner of our heroes when Michael was sent to free him...so how did they know the names of the folks they wanted Michael to bring back? Again, if anyone who knows better is actually reading this, feel free to explain.
In some respects, this was a finale that we can't really judge until the fall. It'd be a shame if Terry O'Quinn and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje were written off the show, but there's no real way they can stay around without making us roll our eyes...is there? And though the split cast gimmick worked for the first few episodes of this season, it'll be a challenge to keep the show from seeming too diffuse with Jack, Kate and Sawyer cut off from everyone else.
No matter: The episode got its job done. We got two hours of decent entertainment laced with solid character moments, confirmations of things we'd suspected and plenty of new issues to keep us guessing for four months. On that note, there's one thing we learned that I'm completely certain will prove to be true: Gale and his people are the good guys.
Lost 2.23 "Live Together, Die Alone"
So they really did have it planned out all along.
Well, OK, I guess it's possible Lindelof and Cuse retroactively connected the dots, but notwithstanding a couple of strained coincidences (Libby's cameo immediately comes to mind), the Lost season finale didn't cause any excessive eye-rolling, at least not chez moi. By and large, "Live Together, Die Alone" did what it needed to do: provide somewhat logical answers to longstanding questions while creating new mysteries for the third season. More importantly, it needed to do so while at least appearing to make sense. It needed to avoided the mistakes of The X-Files, the series that will forever be synomymous with chain-jerking bait and switch bullshit.
And they pretty much pulled it off.
I haven't talked to enough fans (or read enough TWoP) to know how the Desmond/Penny angle went over with the fans, but I suspect not too well. But while the Dickens references were apparently a tribute to ultimate CD fanboy John Irving, citing Dickens automatically bought Lindelof and Cuse some license to engage in the kind of sentimental, convoluted plot mechanics that turned the guy's name into an adjective. And the story of Desmond's relationship with the hatch and his slow descent into madness had more honest emotional impact than anything the show has served up in quite some time (anyone who's reading should feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Kate Arthur made a huge mistake in the New York Times this morning--Des wasn't driven by Pen's letter to make the supreme sacrifice; rather, the letter drove him to the brink of sucide, from which he was pulled back by Locke's banging on the door--and it was the memory of how Locke saved him that gave him reason to give his life so that everyone else might live...right?).
But while everything we'd heard about the hatch seems to be entrirely deserving of being taken at face value the whole time, the "others", the "hostiles" are as mysterious as ever. And there's a huge honking logical fallacy there: "Henry Gale" was still a prisoner of our heroes when Michael was sent to free him...so how did they know the names of the folks they wanted Michael to bring back? Again, if anyone who knows better is actually reading this, feel free to explain.
In some respects, this was a finale that we can't really judge until the fall. It'd be a shame if Terry O'Quinn and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje were written off the show, but there's no real way they can stay around without making us roll our eyes...is there? And though the split cast gimmick worked for the first few episodes of this season, it'll be a challenge to keep the show from seeming too diffuse with Jack, Kate and Sawyer cut off from everyone else.
No matter: The episode got its job done. We got two hours of decent entertainment laced with solid character moments, confirmations of things we'd suspected and plenty of new issues to keep us guessing for four months. On that note, there's one thing we learned that I'm completely certain will prove to be true: Gale and his people are the good guys.
posted by Andrew Johnston at 10:36 PM
1 Comments:
Here's a good chart showing all of the character connections.
[This comment was accidentally posted in the Gilmore post first. Sorry!]
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