Letters to the Editor
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*eyeroll*
So Heather is disappointed with Lost because the "problems" are getting solved in each episode to her particular satisfaction. It's taking too long! The answers aren't right! Whine, whine, whine. Why doesn't any of this surprise me?
Lost isn't for people who want answersnowdammit! It's for people who are willing to go the long haul, to have patience and see how it all turns out. What so many people don't get about the show is that it's not a series of short stories, like most TV series - it's one long novel. Do you expect a mystery novel to give you answers in every single chapter? If you wouldn't feel cheated by that, you're not a mystery lover.
You're miffed by all the guns and think it's boring? (Have you been watching, Heather? People have been waving guns on that island since the third or fourth episode of the show, or didn't you notice?) The show goes through phases precisely because of the long novel-like rhythms of it. Last season, I was getting bored when the whole King-Benry dynamic was being played out over lots and lots of episodes. But I stuck with it because I realized it's a long story that has many ins and outs, and just because I don't get why a piece of the puzzle is there doesn't mean it's senseless. It just means I don't have all the information yet. And getting that information is most of the fun. Sometimes I think I know the answer, but then I don't. Sometimes a plot twist seems silly or self-serving, but two or three episodes (or a whole season) later, it falls into place and I get why it was there.
That kind of intricacy is pretty rare in television, and I for one, love it. I know this story won't be completely told until the end, two years from now, and that's okay with me. If it chaps your ass, Heather, why the hell are you still tuning in? It's not like the show's convoluted nature is news anymore. You can always watch Boston Legal if you really really need to get your answers each week. (Another great show, by the way, but in a different way.) The rest of us will be happy with the odd, intricate, goofy grandeur of Lost