Friday, February 23, 2007

Solving Three of Lost's Biggest Mysteries

Wednesday's episode promised big returns. Three mysteries would be solved. Kinks from seasons one and two would be massaged flat again, the program's terrain simplified, explained.

What did we get?

  1. Jack's tattoo says one thing and means another. I thought that line was really stupid. A groaner. "It might 'say' that, but that's not what it 'means'." Oy. The entire Thailand backstory felt contrived and disconnected. But good lord a'mighty, did he get roughed up for demanding to be marked.
  2. The Others have yards. Their lives are domestic. They only work on Ben's island (the former zoo/aquarium outpost). The Others, including Cindy, the flight attendant, saw Jack in the cage and didn't do a thing. "Oh, hey Jack, what are you doing in that cage?" The encounter between Cindy and Jack was almost the low point of this episode. First, I figured she and the kids had been mind-scrubbed, drugged into passivity and foggetfulness. But no: "Anna Lucia?" asked the girl. Sheesh.
  3. Alex and Carl are in love. The pan from Alex to the stars to Carl was almost the low point of this episode. They named a constellation together. The plot sellout conspiracy theorist in me thinks this is hokey teenage outreach. Rose and Bernard were too old; Alex and Carl are sort of young. Plus, Carl's brain, like the brains of so many youth these days, is jellied from overloads in the media-barrage room. Poor Carl. Honestly, I might not be capable of caring less about these two characters.

Are these the three mysteries? Or was one of the solved mysteries that there are no longer Dharma-stamped sharks guarding the straits (which Sawyer, Kate, and lazy Carl paddled through uneventfulzzz)? Or was it that Michael and Walt are not coming back? Or was it that Ben's surgery didn't go so well after all? Or was it that Isabelle, the sheriff, knows her Chinese letters but has no real authority? I don't know what the three mysteries were. But, like Collin, I was disappointed. As good as the previous Desmond-centric episode was, Wednesday's episode was a disappointment of equal weight. I didn't buy the line about Ethan being a doctor, and I thought the closing Titanic-esque scene with Jack and Julliette wondering silently at the stars from the front of the tug was corny. I mean, what is it, a fifteen minute tug boat ride? Oh, and I almost forgot, the aloe application scene ("hey, snap me off a sprig from that aloe plant"). I'll count that as the low point of episode 3.9.

Enough grumping. With the three biggest mysteries solved, we need to move on to mysteries 4-6. They're the new 1-3, according to the latest Coaches' Poll. These are the three mysteries I think should be the next big three:

  1. If the island worked its healing magic on John's legs and Rose's cancer, why in the heck isn't it ridding Ben of his tumor?
  2. What of the giant four-toed leg-statue thing we saw at the end of season two?
  3. Is Alex really Rousseau's daughter or Ben's daughter? Both?

Add others to the list as you see fit. Maybe the writers/producers will catch wind of this and give us another answer-filled episode of Solved, Mysteries 4-6.

Bookmark and Share Posted by at February 23, 2007 9:15 AM to Lost
Comments

Damn. Good question about why Ben isn't getting any of that healing love from the Island. Maybe the Island doesn't heal its own? Some kind of anti-nepotism policy?

Posted by: Donna at February 23, 2007 2:29 PM