Last night's episode was horrible in several ways. Here are some problems, for anyone in class who is a Lost-y.
- Jacob and his brother are not believable enough as emotional characters to care when they get upset or triumphant. The beauty of Lost has been that character development builds slowly, with lots of data to back up decisions, arguments, etc. This episode was like trying to get to know someone well enough to marry them while speed-dating. As a counter example, we can look at the episode several weeks ago on Richard Alpert's background. Everything that happened in that flashback was emotionally wrenching because it made sense. The Jacob/AntiJacob background does not make sense.
- Too many unanswered questions. Where did False Mom come from? How does she have power to make her surreptitiously adopted sons immortal? How can she build metaphysical laws all on her own ("I've made it so that you cannot kill each other.")?
- Remember in the movie The Abyss, when a great story was ruined in the end by a giant psychedelic-looking bathtub that came up out of the ocean because of aliens. Ugh. That's what the glowing light in the waterfall-cave reminded me of. Who in the world knows what that thing does or why it's important? Why does AntiJacob think it can help him get off the island?
Pete, have you ever watched Arrested Development?
ReplyDeleteYep. That show sucks. I passed over it and thought of all you Lost lovas. It's just too magical/mystical/random and not in a dope Toni Morrison kind of way.
ReplyDeleteI haven't watched AD Michael, but have had it recommended to me by several folks. Can you give me 25-50 words on what it's about (I know that sounded like an assignment, but it was just a request). I know it's got Jason Bateman in it, but I don't know anything else. He creeped me out in Juno.
ReplyDeleteTori, I agree that Lost can't hold a candle to Morrison, but if use that standard we might not end up watching very much TV shows, see many movies, or read many other books. What show do you watch, if any?
My new addiction (and yes, that word is intentional) is Breaking Bad. Watching a normal guy go super nuts/liberated/etc. is a fascination of mine. One day I would like to write a film studies paper on Falling Down, American Beauty, Fight Club, and the Matrix in an effort to explore what living "like everyone else" does to individuals in film and how desperately it seems characters in movies in the last 10 years want to break out of that. Violently.
I was at the beach this week but got sooo badly sunburned after the first week I had to stay inside the rest of the trip hahaha.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, last week's Lost was quite possibly the greatest and most excited episode ever. This week's failed horribly. I know the writers are just pulling shit out of their...yays...but still..
Again, hundreds of more questions and very few answers. And there's only how many episodes left in the show???
And didn't the fake mom look like Hurley's dead girlfriend?
Weird. Didn't think of Fake Mom's resemblence to Libby. Maybe. I don't know. She looked like Carol Burnett to me.
ReplyDeleteWe going to see you Tuesday Pat?
Arrested Development, explained super-briefly in the introduction of each show, is about the wealthy/materialistic/dysfunctional/eccentric Bluth family that goes to pieces after the father(Jeffrey Tambor)is imprisoned for larceny, or something related, involved in the family business. The Jason Bateman character then feels obligated to take full responsibility of the family's welfare and direction by taking over the business and attempting to dig them out of debt while simultaneously brining them all closer together. It's a hilarious, really farcical show. The humor and situations kind of remind me of Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, but funnier. My roommate just recently brought it back up from Augusta so it's all I've been watching.
ReplyDeletePete- I'll be there.
ReplyDeleteArrested Development is awesome. So is Curb Your Enthusiasm. So is Dexter. That one is MY major addiction. It kind of meets Pete's description of shows/movies that feature "normal" character that go off the deep end, and I have to agree...those are the most interesting.
ReplyDeleteI loved Fight Club and American Beauty. I haven't seen Falling Down or The Matrix (I'm way behind the crowd on this one) yet.
Pete, Have you watched Antichrist yet? It'll blow your mind. It's psychotic.
I saw Mary and Max at the Plaza theatre in ATL a little while ago and I recommend it to all. It's a claymation with super serious themes which I think is an awesome approach to film/art. If anyone has seen it, let me know what you think.