dsayers Posted January 22, 2014 Posted January 22, 2014 Never seen or had an interest in the series. Was curious if the premise of plane crashes on an island leads to anarchic, peaceful coexistence. Or is it lefty, sensationalist, we need rulers to keep us from killing each other.
Wuzzums Posted January 22, 2014 Posted January 22, 2014 It's not like that at all. It's meant as a character driven mystery-thriller. First two series are really great actually, then they got a contract for another 4 seasons and everything went downhill save the production value. Contrived plots and plotholes after plotholes, not even the writers knew what was going on... or cared. In a nutshell (spoilers more or less): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdTfkpHDZ0k
Wesley Posted January 22, 2014 Posted January 22, 2014 I generally would agree. It is about characterization and interactions. The pilot is probably one of the best pilots in TV and you get little snippets into people's lives that provide context for what is going on. The show then moved slowly away from deep characters into abstract plots and confusion to provide mystery with a series end that is generally considered to be very unsatisfying. I think it is worth watching the beginning. You may find interest in it to watch until conclusion. If not, when it starts getting weird you can always stop watching.
Canoe_Captain Posted January 22, 2014 Posted January 22, 2014 Stefan spent 20 minutes on a review of Lost (includes Spoilers). He calls it an epic of reason versus superstition. I understood that Stefan thinks that Lost is a good depiction of how the majority people see the world today and live their lives. I enioyed to watch the first two seasons. The latter seasons are less rational, with more magical things happening. I heard somewhere that the producers decided after the 2nd season to develop the story more to the likings of the core group that was watching it. Apparently this core group wanted less science and philosophy and more magic and god related topics.
Kevin Beal Posted January 22, 2014 Posted January 22, 2014 I saw every episode. I thought the first couple seasons were pretty good, but everything else I watched so that my questions would get answered. But they never were. I bitterly do not recommend the series.
nathanm Posted January 22, 2014 Posted January 22, 2014 Thanks Kevin, that is helpful advice! Although whenever I see Stef review something I've never seen or heard of I have a curiosity to see how the analysis stacks up. But I think I can pass on Lost. I'd go for Firefly instead. (Thank you, Gardner Goldsmith) I sweetily do recommend that series. Not as long too.
Kevin Beal Posted January 22, 2014 Posted January 22, 2014 There is a funny video of like 3 billion unanswered questions from lost. That might give you some sense of how big of teases the story writers were. http://www.collegehumor.com/video/6099973/unanswered-lost-questions
PatrickC Posted January 22, 2014 Posted January 22, 2014 Scuse any repetitiveness on my part. I am continually surprised by how many movies and series I can get interesting philosophical thoughts from. Despite this, I never watched Lost. But Kevin's analysis from being best in the first series to then becoming less interesting thereafter isn't the first time I've heard that. Which has always dissuaded me from watching the series seriously.
MysterionMuffles Posted January 27, 2014 Posted January 27, 2014 It was a great character study of a show. I loved how they had flashbacks to the survivor's lives before they crash landed, it really brought life to the challenges they had to deal with on the island itself. The first 3 seasons were very strong and very intense. I would say it's a well worth watch, but pace yourself. You'll find yourself devouring episode after episode in the first 3 seasons or at least that was my experience. Season 5 was so so, I think they waste a lot of time in it. Season 6 came back strong though, and although many people disliked the way it ended, I think it was very fitting. I know it could've been better, but with a uber high quality show like Lost, it's hard to maintain the awesomeness that it was when it first started. Now that you guys mention the less science and philosophy, even though I wasn't that educated on the stuff when I used to watch it, I think that is what eased me out of my addiction to it lol. It did become less and less sensical and grounded in reality. It did throw me off with all the supernatural crap they infused in it, but in the end, I still found it enjoyable. dsayers: I'd say check out the first 3 episodes (because the pilot and 2nd episode set up the whole series well, and the 3rd I think was the first introduce the land-life parallels in flashbacks with Jack, the doctor). I do remember that he was actually supposed to die the very first episode, but it would make no sense to as he did become the most rational character and a good leader to the group--despite of his personal flaws you'll find out about in the first episode that explores his land life.
ProfessionalTeabagger Posted January 30, 2014 Posted January 30, 2014 It's actually a lot of fun to watch, however it thrives mostly on what JJ Abrams calls the mystery box. There are ultimately no straight answers; just more boxes within the boxes and Lost takes that to the nth degree. IF you enjoy that kind of thing then I'd say watch it. If you want something that does a similar thing but more subtly then, if you haven't seen it already, you should watch Battlestar Galactica (2004). It out-Lost's Lost in some ways but the characters are much better and their arcs are fantastic. It also has more nuclear explosions. I'd go for Firefly instead. (Thank you, Gardner Goldsmith) I sweetily do recommend that series. Not as long too. Could Mal Reynolds be described as a libertarian or voluntarist?
Magnus Posted February 15, 2014 Posted February 15, 2014 Both Lost and Battlestar Gallactica were the biggest disappointments in fiction in the last 10 years. It was obvious from the first episode what Lost was about. I won't give it away, but they make it clear early on that they're not in the ordinary world. The writers had nowhere to go, so the storylines just got progressively more ridiculous, culminating in a finale that was Seinfeldian levels of bad. Battlestar Gallactica started with a bang. The Cylons looked human. How amazing is that? The ships all had to use retro technology as an anti-Cylon countermeasure. Then the show was a huge hit, and the show runner clearly had some kind of crisis about where to take the story. So he disappeared and started listening to Jimi Hendrix records and decided to weave "All Along the Watchtower" DIRECTLY into the sci-fi storyline. I'm sorry, but that's about as subtle as a ton of bricks. I get that the Late Boomer generation revered Bob Dylan as some kind of god, but come on -- inserting your teen music tastes into a space drama is just bad writing. The Cylon prison camp was good, but every other aspect of the second half of that series was unwatchable.
cynicist Posted February 16, 2014 Posted February 16, 2014 That's funny, I was just about to mention Battlestar Galactica. Similarly, it was disappointing, and for the same reasons. (the ending was strangely religous/mystical and seemed to come out of nowhere with respect to the main plot) I was far more disappointed by Lost though. I would have been ok with a crappy ending if they had not left numerous mysteries completely unresolved.
Magnus Posted February 17, 2014 Posted February 17, 2014 I think the Lost writers/producers were satisfied with "it's all magical so we don't have to explain it." Again, that's just bad. It's lazy and insulting to the audience. Doctor Who has been on TV for 50 years. A lot of it has sucked, but if anything, the writing has gotten better the longer the show has been on. It's silly stuff, perfectly suitable to my 10 year-old son, but there's a thread running through 50 years of episodes -- that it doesn't matter who, where or when you are, just do good, all the time. The protagonist has no weapons, just a magic screwdriver. Because the protagonist can go anywhere in time and space in his magic box, the specific enemy, timeline and location of each episode are trivial. The core of every episode is just doing the right thing to prevent murder and genocide. It could be set as a western, or a variant like the old TV show Kung Fu, or as a police procedural -- the core is the same. Restore order in a chaotic world. Neither Lost nor Battlestar Gallactica had anywhere near a coherent theme like that. Not a consistent one, anyway.
J-William Posted February 17, 2014 Posted February 17, 2014 It's hot garbage! Someone should have asked "What about the second season?" before getting to the end of the first season. The first season was really intriguing because they played up the suspense pretty well and had plenty of action... after that it slowly degraded into incoherent nonsense (though not as quickly as "Prison Break").
Horseradish Posted March 23, 2014 Posted March 23, 2014 Never seen or had an interest in the series. Was curious if the premise of plane crashes on an island leads to anarchic, peaceful coexistence. Or is it lefty, sensationalist, we need rulers to keep us from killing each other. I think it kind of led to peaceful existence, but then crazy, impossible shit happened that ended that.
Gunnhvatr Posted March 23, 2014 Posted March 23, 2014 I reckon the best way to enjoy it would be to find some other people that have never seen it and watch it with them. Limit yourself to one episode per week, or something like that. You won't get the "experience" from just marathoning that show, by yourself.
Julien Posted July 19, 2014 Posted July 19, 2014 Thanks for the review. I see Lost in a very different light now, in particular the button pushing. Stef's analysis of that part reminded me of a whimsical cartoon I watched growing up (in France). I have to share ;-) One of the relevant sayings (illustrated below): "It's better to keep pumping - even to no effect - than risking that something worse might happen if you didn't." (source and other illustrations and nonsensical quotes in french) Cheers, Julien
Microwave Posted July 19, 2014 Posted July 19, 2014 Like almost everyone else has said, the first two seasons are great, but after that it really gets weird and goes downhill. I'd still recommend watching it (mostly just because the first two seasons are excellent), but unfortunately you might feel the need like I did to complete the series. I'd say put it lower on your tv show priority list, as there are way better shows out there (breaking bad, dexter, house of cards, etc).
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