The Trouble with Lost

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The trouble with Lost is this: you can’t build a long-running show upon the conceit that the viewers will be told nothing of consequence, because those viewers will eventually get bored of being strung along. With six episodes of the third season now down, I’ve finally reached that point.

I first evangelised about Lost back in March, 2005, and back then I found it to be thrilling stuff, compelling and completely addictive. The entire first season seemed tightly paced, carefully measured, each episode ending on a cliffhanger so tense that you had to — had to — keep watching. The mystery of the hatch in the ground, the mystery of The Others, the mystery of the forever-unseen monster in the jungle, the polar bears, the 50-year-old ‘Adam and Eve’ corpses, the French transmission…there was always something to keep you thinking, to keep you guessing.

It wasn’t just about the mysteries, but the characters as well. Getting to know them, not just from their island lives but from the glimpses shown to us via an effective flashback mechanism, was all part of the show’s appeal. Characters who appeared to be sinister — who can forget the episode that closed with a close-up of Locke, staring intently at Walt, the one child on the island — were revealed to be likeable, solid individuals, while those who seemed ok to begin with — Charlie, for instance — turned out to be weasley little gits.

The show was full of memorable moments; the chilling moment when the French transmission is translated; Boone briefly getting in touch with those who would later be revealed as survivors from the tail-end of the plane; Locke shouting into the hatch in desperation, only to have a light switch on below him — it was, basically, damn good television.

But that was then. This is now.

I no longer look forward to watching Lost, and when I do watch it, I don’t feel compelled to watch any further. If the show was cancelled tomorrow, I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it. Why? Because the writers have demonstrated that there’s no real story here: for every minor mystery that’s cleared up, another five are found to take its place. Because if they revealed everything, there wouldn’t be any show left — having made the show about the mystery, they’ve backed themselves into a corner, only able to provide further mystery to keep people watching.

Furthermore, the characters are now just mostly irritating. Having learnt all we really needed to know back in the first season, the flashback mechanism to reveal their pasts has now been massively overused — it’s not unusual for half an episode to be nothing but flashback, often to a part of that character’s life that has never been hinted at and will never be mentioned again, just so the show can make one small point about someone’s personality. As dead characters are resurrected via other people’s flashbacks, and some flashbacks are actually flashbacks to other flashbacks, they’ve become incredibly contrived.

“They’re making it up as they go along,” is what I keep thinking to myself as I watch each episode. By opening up so many unrelated mysteries to start with, by not planning ahead, by refusing to explain events so as to keep me enthralled, Lost has lost me.

1 | At 21:28 on November 12th, 2006, Steve Williams wrote:

Sadly, LOST is going the way of The X Files and disappearing up its own *rse.

2 | At 23:24 on November 12th, 2006, Emma wrote:

It’s crap, yes, and it doesn’t make sense…

But I’ll tune into the start of Season 3. Then it’s make or break.

3 | At 00:14 on November 13th, 2006, Ben Ward wrote:

I must admit, I’m quite glad I didn’t get into Lost when it first came around. Housemates were compelled to keep watching while I hacked away on my final year project and by the time I had a free moment they were so far into the season I’d have needed a solid week to catch up.

The thing is, even without watching; just taking in the ‘event’ of Lost second hand, it seemed obvious that this couldn’t possibly be a long term programme. But there’s a culture around US television that insists programmes must be dragged on forever. Some are better suited than others to last seven seasons, but from the very concept of Lost was not.

Longevity is aided by the ability to develop the surroundings and, on occasion, add new characters (with some restraint, please). On a desert island, there are so few ways to feasibly do that. As the creator, surely you must plan for a shorter run (say, three seasons)?

As much as it can be disappointing for fans to see their programme end, I would far prefer three or four years of something of outstanding quality than watch it slowly slump toward cancellation. It strikes me there’s a lot more respect for the art of television that way.

On this evidence though, I wouldn’t be welcome as a television executive.

4 | At 10:35 on November 13th, 2006, Clarie wrote:

I hit that point when I learnt there was a season 2.. I was addicted all the way through season one and loved it.

Realising that it wasn’t a one season thriller but that it could conceivably go on for years without any final conclusion was enough to make me give up.

Do you remember when I came to visit you in Oxford, and you told me your hypothesis for the whole program? That satisfied me, and I haven’t felt the need to find out anymore since.

5 | At 03:23 on December 13th, 2006, Culture Snob wrote:

The shame of Lost is that it didn’t have to be this way. The writers could have done radical things — for instance, giving the island itself flashbacks within an episode, or just some of the Others, or the French woman — to keep it fresh. Instead, they give us redundant backstory on characters we already know intimately, and they refuse to push the show forward.

Beyond that, they’ve abandoned the mystery of the first season for badly written, repetitive drama. The strength of the show has always been its conceit, not its dialogue or characters.

At the outset, the creators said they envisioned a five-season run; it’s apparent now that they probably have enough story for three seasons.

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