TV Watch: Lost, The Beginning of the End

Television shows often remind me of large scale allegories of real life hardships. Sports Night, for instance, is surviving adversity often despite oneself. Buffy is about overcoming problems with the help of your friends. Star Trek is about how one should never, ever, ever build a holodeck.

Lost is about gross project mismanagement. In this sense, it shares an interesting narrative space with 24 ... a show who's entire premise is that our whole government is weak were it not for one action hero.

Lost is kinda the same without the action hero.

Before I make it sound like I didn't enjoy the Season 4 opener - let me say I did. Enjoyed it quite a lot and am rather looking forward to this season. If this is the tone the show is taking, I think it will a good finish with a lot of focus on the mystery elements of the plot without losing track of the characters. The flashfowards are being used brilliantly and I think the producers are proving that they can use last season's twist to very good effect.

But it's been three seasons in now and I can't help but be reminded as to how we got there. Seriously, Ben, at some point being vague and mysterious ... I mean, clearly as a strategy this has really sucked. People have died. Your people, their people, apparently putting the entire planet at risk in some mysterious and vague way people might actually help work against if you weren't so vague and mysterious.

Locke - that goes for you too. The reason why Hurley is my favorite on the island is that he's the only one I trust would actually tell everyone to stop, shut the hell up and listen when he knows something important.

Anyway, that's just a burden the new season will have to deal with. I can say I'm probably not nearly as interested as I was into trying to figure pretty much anything out. I mean in the first season when it was weird polar bears and noises, I could liken it to a game where you might be able to put clues together. Now we know the writers are willing to throw just any old wrench at you to keep you from doing just that.

Oh, did we forget to mention that time and space might jump around? Did we? Oh, sorry. Thought we had.

Anyway - I am looking forward to the final episodes, which hopefully we'll actually get on time (pending the WGA strike).

Oh - my favorite moment? Abaddon. Great to see the actor getting a sweet cameo, hopefully we'll see some more of him. Wonder what side he's allied with.