Lost finds its way back onto TV
Who is the voice on the other end of Jack’s radio call? Is there really a freighter ship coming to rescue everyone off the island? What is the real story behind Ben and the Others? Who is Jacob? Why do all the pregnant women die? Is Charlie really dead? Where is Walt? So many questions, so few answers. And we still aren’t any wiser as to what the monster made of black smoke is.
What am I talking about? Well if you don’t know, you deserve to be dumped on a remote island and tortured mercilessly by a combination of unexplainable forces and your own psychological fears, forever suffering flashbacks to terrifying incidents in your past and flash-forwards to how doomed your life is destined to become. Oh wait, this is sounding familiar…
Yes, after more than seven months, Lost Season 4 has finally found its way onto our screens with the season premiere airing in the US last Thursday night. The writers claim that this season will answer a lot of questions, but it’s probably worth remembering that they’ve said that every season since the show began.
I’ve just gotten round to watching the first episode tonight and so far it looks like the format has been largely unchanged, albeit with flash-forwards instead of the usual flashback sequences, which became an integral part of the detailed character-building process of the last three seasons.
Despite popular accusations that the show is ‘taking its audience for fools’ by making everything up as it goes along, it’s hard not to be impressed by the quality of story-telling in Lost. Sure, all the unravelling layers that lead to ridiculous coincidences are far-fetched, but that is how the show manages to capture the imagination of its audience.
It offers a sense of escapism that not only engages viewers from all around the world, but has them positively hooked - something that is only intensified when you consider how successfully it taps into the underlying paradox of modern life. We all want to be lost and we all want to be found. There’s your show.
Unlike the previous 24 episode format, Season 4 will feature sixteen episodes to be shown back-to-back, although at the moment only the first eight have been confirmed due to the still-unresolved Writers Guild of America strike. If the strike lasts long enough to disrupt the series there may well be more than a few crazy Lost-fans ready to create a protest of their own.
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March 14th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Of all the phenomena going on in Lost, I think the best one is what’s been going on with Desmond and his future mind leaps. I was nearly in tears when he had his reunion with Penelope, not sure why–though I think it’s like you said, with the writers’ and their marvelous skills to captivate. Perhaps you should take over their pens!