The Thrill is Gone

Tuesday night I sat down in front of the television for something I had been anticipating for years … the beginning of the conclusion to the epic tale that is Lost.  When we last saw those left from Oceanic 815, along with all the other ‘passengers’ they picked up along the way, a hydrogen bomb had been detonated by our friends, leaving us with the cliff hanger of whether they had stopped the ‘incident’ that ultimately lead to their presence on the island, or whether they themselves had caused the ‘incident.’  But, instead of getting resolution to this question, what I got was … well … I really don’t know what I got. 

During the Lost hiatus, after having heard rave reviews about it, my wife and I sat down with the first season of Fringe.  Immediately, I knew I didn’t like it … it was just a little too sci-fi for me personally, though my wife (the daughter of a scientist) loved it, and continues to watch.  But, whereas with Fringe, I knew what I was getting and just opted to pass, the writers of Lost seemed to have pulled something akin to a bait and switch.  Lost was a character show playing brilliantly off the philosophical themes of faith versus reason, free will versus determinism.  While there were initially a few spooky elements that raised one’s curiosity about the mysterious island, elements that in all fairness did increase as the show progressed, you were essentially getting diet sci-fi, and thus it was palatable to a much larger audience. 

However, though season five began to cheat on the diet with the entrance of time travel into the equation, season six has abandoned restraint completely, embracing some sort of binge indulgence of island spirits inhabiting other bodies and multiple life scenarios simultaneously existing … and you thought time travel was complicated.  I’m sure I should have been prepared for this, given ‘Locke’s’ efforts to kill the mysterious Jacob and at the same time laying on the beach in a box. However, all in all, the first episode just left me confused and disinterested.  I don’t know why we spent 30 minutes killing off a character I assumed to be dead.  I don’t know why there are even more inhabitants on what must actually be a fairly large island … (maybe they landed back in Australia).  I don’t know why Desmond is on the plane with Jack, while missing are Mr. Eko, Anna Lucia, Shannon, etc.  But what’s worse is I don’t know if I care. It would take something drastic for me to give up on this show after my commitment thus far, but the fact that it even crossed my mind points to a very disappointing premier.