I usually refrain from watching stuff that's overhyped by friends. When Lost started in 2004, everyone was so guano crazy about it that I though it would be absolutely terrible, since these hypes often die as fast as they start. So I avoided it, and after hearing about how awful the last season was, didn't even watch the rerun. Until the 2021 coronavirus break, when I decided to give it a chance after 15 years.
There's no doubt that this had the potential to be one of the greatest, if not *the* greatest, TV show ever. It starts off fast, with one fantastic idea after another, and it redefined the word "cliffhanger" for me. The editing and pacing was so exciting that I finished the first season in an unbelievably short time.
The second season was also nice, but towards the end, I started to sense something. With the third season, it became clear: the show had lost (no pun intended) that feeling of fantasy / adventure / thriller, and turned into something else. I hate to admit it, but that something else was... soap opera.
The feeling of immediate danger, being stranded on a mysterious island where strange happenings and deaths were a daily reality, was completely gone: now there was such a casualty, such an indifference among the characters that I didn't really care what happened next. There was no longer a "survivor" aura, it had already become a tourist aura. It was like watching Fantasy Island with the late great Ricardo Montalban.
The worst thing about it, at least for me, was that the show seemed to be written exclusively for a female audience. Now, I know this comment is considered a war crime these days, but it's the truth. How else do you explain the constant giggling, the never ending innuendos, the sickening coyness, the forced sexiness? "Oops, look at me, I had to rip my shirt to dress the cut in your muscular arm, and now I'm left around with just my bra, while you give out sexy unnnhs and aaagghhs from your wound." Please. Bachelor Island would be a better title than Lost.
Fantasy does not mean nonsense. Any book or movie or TV show with a strong element of fantasy needs to have one foot firmly rooted in reality. Otherwise it's just a bunch of ideas, not a consistent show to be enjoyed. The first one and a half seasons of Lost provided that. They were enjoyable, gripping and exciting, because there was a sense of reality and urgency in their situation. Later it became something else. They're on an island where they keep burying new bodies every two days, there's a smoke that changes shape and kills people, strange and mysterious scientists with guns, and even a polar bear... yet these people are arguing about who kissed who, and which guy fancies which woman. Pathetic.
I gave up after season three, perhaps someday I'll finish it. But honestly, I don't think so.
There's no doubt that this had the potential to be one of the greatest, if not *the* greatest, TV show ever. It starts off fast, with one fantastic idea after another, and it redefined the word "cliffhanger" for me. The editing and pacing was so exciting that I finished the first season in an unbelievably short time.
The second season was also nice, but towards the end, I started to sense something. With the third season, it became clear: the show had lost (no pun intended) that feeling of fantasy / adventure / thriller, and turned into something else. I hate to admit it, but that something else was... soap opera.
The feeling of immediate danger, being stranded on a mysterious island where strange happenings and deaths were a daily reality, was completely gone: now there was such a casualty, such an indifference among the characters that I didn't really care what happened next. There was no longer a "survivor" aura, it had already become a tourist aura. It was like watching Fantasy Island with the late great Ricardo Montalban.
The worst thing about it, at least for me, was that the show seemed to be written exclusively for a female audience. Now, I know this comment is considered a war crime these days, but it's the truth. How else do you explain the constant giggling, the never ending innuendos, the sickening coyness, the forced sexiness? "Oops, look at me, I had to rip my shirt to dress the cut in your muscular arm, and now I'm left around with just my bra, while you give out sexy unnnhs and aaagghhs from your wound." Please. Bachelor Island would be a better title than Lost.
Fantasy does not mean nonsense. Any book or movie or TV show with a strong element of fantasy needs to have one foot firmly rooted in reality. Otherwise it's just a bunch of ideas, not a consistent show to be enjoyed. The first one and a half seasons of Lost provided that. They were enjoyable, gripping and exciting, because there was a sense of reality and urgency in their situation. Later it became something else. They're on an island where they keep burying new bodies every two days, there's a smoke that changes shape and kills people, strange and mysterious scientists with guns, and even a polar bear... yet these people are arguing about who kissed who, and which guy fancies which woman. Pathetic.
I gave up after season three, perhaps someday I'll finish it. But honestly, I don't think so.