When the pilot of this show was broadcasted, I was astonished. I still think it's one of the best ever. Intriguing, thrilling, extremely well shot. As the story started to develop throughout the first ten episodes, the show kept the pace. Some story lines seemed to have been left behind, but everything appeared to make sense.
It was only with the second season, that the whole thing showed up for what it was: a massive, insulting swindle.
Apparently, something must have happened with the cast or the production. Sometimes writers have to adjust the plot to real-life incidents: a pregnancy, an actor who dies or leaves, some characters whose relevance is downsized because the audience dislikes them, or vice versa... Sometimes you can twist the plot a little, sometimes you actually have a great idea and take benefit from the incident, sometimes you do your best but the outcome feels just awkward.
Well, this show seems to undergo these incidents (third kind) on a daily basis, or so I hope. Story lines abandoned and completely forgotten, useless characters that become pivotal and then disappear with no reason. Actually, everything seems to happen for no reason at all, and the audience is skillfully tricked into believing that there is something really interesting going on somewhere under the surface. Problem is, under the surface there is nothing at all.
LOST forces you to try and give a meaning to what you see. Except that the writers can't keep track of what they do. It tries to create loads of "extra tension". Except that splitting a very important scene in two or three parts, and placing them randomly across four episodes, isn't a very smart way to increase tension. It tries to give a progressive insight on the characters. Except that filling every episode with a bombardment of flask-backs isn't a very smart way to do that either.
I could go on this way for an hour, but I think I made my point. This show could have been great, interesting, amazing. But it's not. It's just an experiment on how much a viewer can be deceived before he realizes he's watching a massive bunch of crap.
It was only with the second season, that the whole thing showed up for what it was: a massive, insulting swindle.
Apparently, something must have happened with the cast or the production. Sometimes writers have to adjust the plot to real-life incidents: a pregnancy, an actor who dies or leaves, some characters whose relevance is downsized because the audience dislikes them, or vice versa... Sometimes you can twist the plot a little, sometimes you actually have a great idea and take benefit from the incident, sometimes you do your best but the outcome feels just awkward.
Well, this show seems to undergo these incidents (third kind) on a daily basis, or so I hope. Story lines abandoned and completely forgotten, useless characters that become pivotal and then disappear with no reason. Actually, everything seems to happen for no reason at all, and the audience is skillfully tricked into believing that there is something really interesting going on somewhere under the surface. Problem is, under the surface there is nothing at all.
LOST forces you to try and give a meaning to what you see. Except that the writers can't keep track of what they do. It tries to create loads of "extra tension". Except that splitting a very important scene in two or three parts, and placing them randomly across four episodes, isn't a very smart way to increase tension. It tries to give a progressive insight on the characters. Except that filling every episode with a bombardment of flask-backs isn't a very smart way to do that either.
I could go on this way for an hour, but I think I made my point. This show could have been great, interesting, amazing. But it's not. It's just an experiment on how much a viewer can be deceived before he realizes he's watching a massive bunch of crap.