I think the last couple of episodes of Lost have been pretty good, don't you? They're advancing the plot and revisiting longstanding mysteries and generally moving forward in a way that makes it feel like they know where they're going.
So I've decided it's okay to start watching the show. I realize I'm a few years late to the party, but I wanted to be sure I wasn't going to get dragged into a show that had no intention of ever providing any sort of resolution. That's what happened with Push, Nevada, the Ben Affleck mystery show that got cancelled after seven episodes. I only mention that so that I can make three or four people say "Oh, yeah! I remember that show!" Anyway, I've been aware of the show, in a general sort of way. I've known enough about it that I could toss around casual jokes about polar bears. You know, like how you don't have to have actually watched 24 in order to make mountain lion jokes.
So I've been listening to people talk about Lost for years now. And I've been checking in occasionally, asking how things are going, and never really felt the need to dive in myself. But this season has changed my mind. For one thing, it's actually on my television, which is what happens when you have roommates. For another, they've been wallowing in time travel, which I happen to enjoy a lot. Not only do the usual time travel plots appeal to me, it means that they have yet another way to show backstory, which I think is the show's real goal. Instead of wanting to know "what's going to happen," the audience is on the edge of its seat wondering "what happened here?" So instead of showing a flashback where something happened decades ago on the island, now they've got characters actually experiencing the events of 1977 (or whenever), which I think is cool.
Of course, I have made no attempt to avoid spoilers, if such a phrase even makes sense for a show where the first season takes place thirty years after the fifth. In fact, I'm now watching the new episodes when they air even though I'm only partway through the first season. This is actually working out pretty well, since season five is paying off things that were set up in episode one.
And the important part is that I'm enjoying watching the show this way. In season one, I like the flashbacks that show everyone getting on Oceanic 815, because they show the same scenes from multiple angles. I'm the sort of person who enjoys saying things like "Hey, see that guy in the ticket line behind Jin? That's the guy in the spotted shirt who gets flung against the ceiling when the turbulence hits! I think that makes him the first casualty." And in a way, it's like I'm finally seeing things I've heard about, whether from people talking about them or because they're referenced in later episodes. And in season five, I enjoy that I get to see both the source and the results of the events of season one.
So the moral of the story is this: Spoilers aren't hurting my experience of the show. Um, although I guess I'm talking about a show where the spoilers are things like "Oh, and here's what happened to this character twenty years before the show started" so I don't know if it counts as a general rule for life.
but won't you get mired - lost, even? - in the shenanigans of the middle seasons if/when you watch Seasons 2 and 4 in that fashion?
I'm not sure it's possible at this point to reveal any plot points in Lost because that'd imply the show makes sense, which it doesn't. I don't know how they do it, but the show's creators manage to make a series I absolutely cannot wait to see each week while never ever ever answering a single question. Nothing is ever resolved. It just sort of wanders off into another plot point in lieu of actually explaining anything.
This season started off uneasily, to my mind, but has really taken off. The show where nothing ever happens has become the show where WAY TOO MUCH happens, every episode.
But it's still about the characters. And, unlike so many TV shows, in Lost the characters change and grow, and the line between good guys and bad guys...well, I'm not sure there is a line.
Actually, Chris, I think they're explaining things right now. The most recent episode showed the origin of the Numbers! Now we know that they're just the serial number of the hatch that will go on the Swan. And at some point in the future (before 1988) they'll be broadcast via the transmission tower, where they'll be heard by both the French woman and the two guys in a South Pacific listening post. Then one of those guys will tell the numbers to Hurley in an asylum, who will use the numbers to win the lottery, then end up on the island where he'll see the numbers on the hatch. It all pretty much holds together, and most of the other appearances of the numbers can be chalked up to either coincidence (when they appear one at a time) or Hurley being obsessed and prone to hallucinations when he's off his meds.
Oh no, that's not the origin of the numbers at all. No way. There's got to be more to them than that. They've shown up in too many places. The stamping on the hatch is just one more appearance of them.
Also, I was thinking there's no way the numbers would survive in the wild on a piece of metal if they were just stamped by hand like that. They really needed to be etched or something.
They're explaining things but not really explaining them, just adding a new level of questions. That's the thing about this show. Nothing's ever solved. You just get new questions. What's amazing to me is how I forget the previous questions without caring much.
You have a different perspective, seeing the episodes the way you are. I'm sure there's a lot more going back and forth I'd pick up if I went back and watched the first season again. Lost is designed as a DVD series, something to see more than once. I don't know if I really feel up to that, though.
The numbers appear in many places, but they can all (I think) be traced back to being the hatch's serial number. Why does pushing the button input the numbers into the computer? Because the numbers are the serial number for that area. Why do Dominique's notes include the numbers? Because she heard the broadcast, which has yet to be explained but I'm sure will involve The Incident or something. And so on.
The most recent episode did not reveal any new answers. We already knew the numbers were on the hatch. Hurley freaked out and tried to stop Locke from using dynomite to blast open the hatch door in season one. And it is pretty clear that there is more to the numbers than "just" being the serial numbers on the hatch door.
Sure, we knew the numbers were on the door, but we didn't know *why*. I propose that this is the reason, and all other appearances will somehow trace back to "they were the serial number of that door".
(I've only been watching the show for a couple of weeks and already I'm squabbling over the real meaning of the numbers; I can only imagine how the people who've been squabbling for five years must feel at this point!)
You haven't hit this episode yet, but if I remember correctly, the numbers were being broadcast from some place in Australia. That's why Hurley was on the plane: He was investigating the broadcast.
There's more to the numbers than their being the hatch serial number.
I'm pretty sure we'll never find out where they really come from (other than the writers' list of all "magic" numbers, like 23 and 42).
Monty, your general guide to watching LOST:
Season 1: Awesome.
Season 2: Treadin' water, killin' folks.
Season 3: Starts poorly, finishes well.
Season 4: Wall-to-wall excellence.
Season 5 (to date): Not too shabby.
Chris, you remember incorrectly. The numbers were broadcast from the island, not Australia, and that broadcast ended in 1988 when Daniele Rousseau (whose scientific research team had come to the island to investigate the broadcast) replaced it with her own distress signal, which Sayid eventually picked up on the transceiver.
The numbers broadcast was heard in the South Pacific (before 1988) by two guys at a listening station, one of whom wold eventually tell Hurley the numbers while in an asylum with him. That's how Hurley learned about them so he could use them to win the lottery and come to the conclusion that they were cursed.
Now, according to Lostpedia (when I don't care about spoilers, I *really* don't care about spoilers!), one of the Alternate Reality Games provided an explanation for the numbers, saying that they were key to some equation that the Dharma Initiative was trying to change, and that the broadcast was supposed to keep going until they managed to change one of the numbers, at which time they'd change the broadcast, thus alerting the home office that they'd been successful. Personally, I do not care for the idea of essential plot elements being buried in ARGs, Web Exclusives, or Podcasts, so I regard this information with skepticism. I much prefer the idea that they could be an entirely random set of numbers that managed to propagate all over the world. But here's the thing: at this point, I do have faith that they'll show the origin of the broadcast, which is really all they need at this point.
Nathan: thanks!
I think they covered the origin of the broadcast, but not the reason behind it. I'm not sure. I also regard non-show information with skepticism, but you can see I'm not all that clear on show information, either.
That's what's good about Lost: It doesn't matter anyhow.
Was Season 2 the one with the tail section? Because that was the WORST.
The fucking numbers? Really?
Most of the appearances of the numbers in the show are easter eggs. They are meant to be fun. Or creepy, in the case of Hurley's car's odometer. How could there ever, EVER be a logical explanation for the numbers, that would make them show up on Hurley's car, and on his lottery ticket, and on the hatch?
Well, Jason, given that the show also involves raising the dead, time travel, EMFs powerful enough to pull a plane out of the sky, a guy who can read the minds of corpses, and Terry O'Quinn as a good guy, I'd say the show can pretty much explain the appearances of the numbers in any of a million ways.
That'd assume the show's ever going to explain anything, which I doubt.
Not only did I watch Push, Nevada, but I followed all the clues and called in when they did the contest for $1 million. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out the phone number in the puzzle, by which time somebody had already solved it 9 minutes before.
The more they explain, the less I'm interested. I don't really like any of the characters, so without the mystery there's not a lot that appeals to me.
That said, I can't help but think that for the true Lost experience, you should watch the shows randomly.