Lost: Dead or not-Dead?

Now that it's out in the open, I figured I'd take a stab at a brief discussion about Lost and the all-consuming question of what happened to Oceanic 815 and where exactly are the fortunate survivors. Now that Locke's father has let the cat out of the bag, seems like a fair question.

Dead
--How else does John Locke get up and walk after 4 years in a wheelchair after getting thrown out an 8-story window?
--How else does the plane of Eko's brother find it's way to a tropical island after filing a flight plan that originated in Nigeria?
--How does Jack catch glimpses of his dead father on a tropical island, the same way Locke confronts his supposedly dead Dad?
--Why couldn't Desmond sail away from the island, to escape completely this strange place?
--We watched Mikhail die just a few weeks ago. How is it he was alive enough to administer first-aid to Desmond's would-be parachuting rescuer?

Not-Dead
--It doesn't adequately explain the Others. Why are they there? What purpose do they serve?
--If Desmond couldn't get away, how did Michael and Walt manage it?

Answers, answers...we want answers!

Lost has been on a roll of late. Well, with this announcement the cat is out of the bag. All that's left is for the fat lady to start singing. And sing she will:

The end is in sight for ABC's acclaimed island mystery "Lost," but fans will have to wait until 2010 for all the answers.

In a highly unusual move, the network announces plans today to end the show after three more shortened seasons of 16 episodes each. The episodes will air consecutively, repeat-free, from February to May.

ABC's bold step marks a response to the show's producers, who have been eager to set a finish line to better plot out their convoluted mystery of plane-crash survivors and to placate fans who are frustrated that the show seemed to be vamping its way to a conclusion.

Is being Lost still fun?

J-Pod could not disagree more:

Trust me. Lost can't "unjump the shark." It's over, and viewers have figured it out, which is why it's lost 40 percent of its audience over the course of this year. The show's central gimmick has been to lay out a mystery, leave it unresolved, then go on to layer a new one on top of an old one. There are, I think, at least 20 pieces of plot that have been left out there to rot. For you fans, they include: What happened to Michael and Walt? How did Eko's plane from Africa end up on the island? Why did the Smoke Monster kill Eko? And on and on and on. You just can't do this to an audience. It's a giant con game, and eventually the people you're trying to con get wise and turn on you with savage anger.

I must disagree. Yes, we have been floating along that river of discontent since the middle of last year as well. Something has changed though.

What was so exceptional about this episode was a very simple, basic thing: it was fun! And because it was fun, it was entertaining in spite of the Twilight Zone-ish knock-off plot.

Last week was likewise fun. Is it plausible that Hurley could out-con Sawyer? Of course, but it was entertaining watching him do it anyway.

All this consternation was a result of this post earlier in the A.M. that pointed to this discussion of tonight's episode:

What’s good?

* The great Elizabeth Mitchell.
* The great Nestor “Batmanuel” Carbonell.
* The many exciting reveals.
* “Well, we’ll do our best.”
* “I think your research is really gonna have a major impact on us.”
* “Why were you fine with those things?”
* Benjamin Linus, who appears on the dock from nowhere.
* James Ford, finally behaving like a human being.
* Hurley’s sit-down with Juliet generally and “We buried him over there” in particular.
* “She’ll be dead before then.”
* “Because I did it to her.”
* The scene in Ben’s kitchen.
* The return of the 815.
* The return of Mikhail.
* “Do you trust me?”
* “I know why you want me to go there.”
* “Downtown.”
* Much more.

I guess what it's boiling down to for me is that for the first time since Season 1, I'm finding myself wanting to watch again. Even if it's simple, implausible entertainment-television. That's not so bad.

If it can't be ground-breaking, meaningful TV, I'll settle for fun.

Lost: Paulo lies!

Last night's episode would have made Poe proud; truly elegant in it's sadistic simplicity.

UPDATE: J-Pod hated it: let me say that Lost has grown so absurdly bad that it's now alternating between its pointlessly convoluted central mystery-within-a-mystery-within-a-mystery — which clearly its own creators no longer understand or can follow — and unbelievably stupid episodes like the one last night, which was little more than a Twilight Zone knockoff.

I empathize and understand his frustration about the over-arching plot line, but last night's episode having nothing to do, essentially, with that plot arc was a breath of fresh air. It was pure, simple, unadulterated, mean fun in the jungle.

It was the first time in nearly a season-and-a-half my wife and I have turned off the tv with a smile and a snicker. Relatively speaking, rip-off or not, it was a pleasure to watch.