Lost: Slight return

Maybe it’s because it was away for so long. Maybe it’s because my expectations were low. Or maybe it’s because they finally have done something I’ve been waiting for them to do all season. Whatever the reason was, Lost’s first episode back after a 12 week hiatus represented a high point for the show.

The second season of the show was decidedly wobbly and the third season’s first six episodes prior to its hiatus were also irritating rather than enjoyable. That episode seven finally granted a flashback to a new character (Elizabeth Mitchell’s Juliet) was a step in the right direction. That the flashback was an absolute doozy was purely a bonus. Answering some questions while posing a whole bunch more, I found the show genuinely gripping in a way it hadn’t been for quite some episodes. Keep it up, people.

I am highly amused by the press conference held by the producers during the hiatus though. In that conference, they stated they were already looking into ways of wrapping up the show after its fifth season and it was never their intention to take the show much past 100 episodes. Interestingly, the cited Alias as one of the shows which suffered from studio intervention. Another JJ Abrams show, they do have a very valid point as the decline in the show’s quality can be pretty much directly traced back to the episode where the studio started meddling (Season 2, Episode 13, in case anyone cares). What amused me most though was clearly the producers of Lost have short term memory loss. When Lost debuted and was an international ratings phenomenon, they were only too quick to announce that they had eight seasons of material thought out. Eight multiplied by twenty two is one hundred and seventy six. That, and the fact the producers posted on Yahoo Answers asking viewers what they thought the monster on the island really was, leads me to believe they don’t actually know themselves. Shame.