Lost, first season

[selenak]

After receiving the first season of Lost on DVD, I watched it in the last few days. Previously, I had seen four or so episodes but for RL reasons kept missing them as they were broadcast in Germany, and then the schedule changed... anyway, the DVDs were the first time got to watch the first season in its entirety and in order.

My reaction is similar to the first season of Alias - I am in like, but not in love, though that perhaps will come later; mind you, I think Lost the better written show. As an ensemble girl and an arc addict, I was thrilled to see how the huge cast was used.



Which is lucky, since Jack, who is the closest thing the show has to a leading man, doesn't do much for me. Naturally, he has daddy issues. Show me the lead in an American tv show who doesn't. (londonkds once wrote a funny description of the B7 episode Breakdown as it would have been were B7 an American show.) And I'm as guilty as the next viewer in finding them interesting, much of the time. I mean, Sydney's daddy issues, both with her real daddy Jack and her Not!Daddy Sloane? Interesting. Angel and Connor? Fascinating. But to quote andrastewhite, why can't anyone save Ivanova have Mommy issues for a change? Well, okay Syd has Mommy issues in addition to Daddy issues, but back to Lost now.) Naturally, as he's a doctor, he's got a must save everyone complex. Naturally, a flashback reveals he was married to a former patient. It's not that I dislike Jack, but his flashbacks are the only ones I'm really tempted to flash forward through, because they're so eminently predictable.

Now Locke, on the other hand, started out intriguing and got more interesting (and morally ambiguous) all the time. The big revelation in Walkabout - that he had been in a wheelchair and that the crash had essentially healed him (physically), and that, far from having been the assured military type he seemed to personify in the pilot, he had been a bullied salesman sharing Fox Mulder's penchant for phone sex - was a stunner, and the best thing was that they build on this. Locke grew into the wise man/shaman/hunter role, but at the same time if you paid attention you could see the growing dark side of this role as well. By the time we got our other big Locke-centric episode, Deus ex Machina, and he described himself as a man of faith, I was all but yelling "I knew it!". What did I know? Locke is this show's Arvin Sloane, and not just because they share descriptions. When said episode had him essentially sacrifice his adopted son Boone to his island deity while the flashbacks showed us what was done to Locke by his father when he was innocent and trusting, I squeed. Not that I wanted poor Boone to die, but you know, it makes for a great story. JJ really knows how to play his Abrahamic resonances. Seriously, I was just waiting for the Rambaldi symbol to show up somewhere on the hatchet. Locke, you ruthless desperate morally ambiguous mystic, Arvin would understand you completley. He's been there. Also? You should hook up with Danielle Rousseau. You two are meant for each other. More about her later.

Locke aside, my clear favourites were the couple displayed on the icon for this entry, Sun and Jin. Loved, loved, loved how their story and characterisation unfolded throughout the season. Mostly in Korean, no less. And how this story of a wife and husband which looks so simple in the pilot turns out so much more complex. Tragic and tender and with a note of hope at the end. "Rife of the House of Sun" and "In Translation" were two of my choices for best episodes, and the way they used the Rashomon principle was amazing. Moreover, given that neither Gavin Park on Angel (aka he who was there to give Lilah someone to snark at after Lindsey had left) nor Matheson on Crusade were roles that really gave their actor the chance to impress (well, not me), I was delighted and awed by what Daniel Dae Kim did with the part of Jin. He and the actress who plays Sun came across as the two most subtle and expressive ones of the show.

Crusade brings Babylon 5 to mind, so this is as good a point as any to say that it was great to see Mira Furlan again. Despite her very distinctive voice, I didn't think "Delenn"! once during her performance as Danielle Rousseau (whereas Alyson Hannigan on Veronica Mars' first season was really not convincing as notWillow aka Trina - though she improved greatly in the second season).. She was just the right balance of unhinged, determined, ruthless and vulnerable, and she had fabulous chemistry with Sayiid aka Naveen Andrews, both when she tortured him and when they talked. Loved her, want her to come back.

Speaking of torture: I think both Sayiid as torturer (of Sawyer) and as the tortured (by Danielle) handle the subject responsibly. Good that the show made it clear good guy Jack gives his consent. Sayiid in general was a great invention of JJ's - a sympathetic Iraqi character - and the episode in which the CIA blackmails him into first infiltrating a terrorist cell and then into persuading his old friend who doesn't want to become a martyr and kill people to do just that so they can catch the leaders presents a far more unflattering (and, given the news, realistic) picture of the CIA than your avarage Alias episode. Which is strangely reassuring. Of course Sayiid being eye candy isn't objectionable, either.

Sawyer became more interesting as the season progressed, and I like him more than I do Sark or Alex Krychek, two characters whose popularity has always mystified me a bit and who I saw as his counterparts earlier on. Turns out I was wrong, at least in parts; he's not just there to smirk at the leads and provide one liners and UST. They're cyphers, he's a character. Nice touch not just to give him the childhood trauma - and as childhood traumas go, your father shooting your mother and then himself in the same room with you certainly is a heavy one - but the additional twist of Sawyer becoming, and realizing he became, exactly the kind of man who caused this tragedy to begin with. You're a twisted little puppy, James. Continue.

Boone and Shannon: now, J.J., I know you like the pseudo incest (i.e. relationships that aren't incestous biologically, but certainly emotionally, i.e. Syd/Sloane, Jack/Nadia subtext), but can you tell me what was gained by chickening out of the actual incest in that case? I mean, seriously. How would the story have been different if Boone and Shanon had been biological siblings instead of stepsiblings whose parents married? Not at all. Wanting to have your cake and eat it is what I call this coyness.

In other news, Shannon strikes me as a passable Cordy imitation, and Boone suffered well, but was mostly interesting for his relationship with Locke and ending up as Locke's human sacrifice to faith.

Kate: I like her. They're a bit repetitive in with the "Kate did something dastardly... oh, wait no, actually, she didn't, or well, she had a motive!" pattern of her flashbacks, but she's believable as a mixed-up girl, and lo and behold, if Born to Run is anything to go by, she doesn't have Daddy but Mommy issues. The triangle with Jack and Sawyer is predictable, but not boring, as opposed to Jack's flashbacks.

Claire: as someone who always liked Tess on Roswell and was infuriated by the last two eps of season 2 which bashed her character to bring back the dreary Max/Liz romance, I was delighted to see Emilie de Ravin again. She's good in the ingenue role here and has a nice chemistry with Merry, err, Charlie. Speaking of whom, good work by Dom. He doesn't go over the top in his recovering drug addict thing, either.

Michael and Walter: were at the center of the first Lost I ever watched, which happened to be on a CD with an Alias episode last year. Returning to them in context was interesting. Yep, another father-son combination, but see, they're more interesting than Jack and his dad, because we're not meant to think just one of them is in the right, and them going from total strangers to being close in the course of the season was well done.

Hurley: is adorable. At first, I thought he was just background, but no, the man gets more and more text and background. Go JJ for showing us not just the pretty people survived the crash!

As a fan is wont to do, I checked out the fanfic situation after finishing the season, using crack_van's list of recs to do so. And wouldn't you know it, as with Alias, I managed to pick the less popular ones for my main focus of interest. Fanfic seems to be all Jack/Sawyer or Sayjid/Sawyer, and some Jack/Sawyer/Kate, or Charlie/Claire. All of which I don't want to read. With just two story recs centered on the intriguing Mr. Locke. And where is the Sun/Jin? And the Sayiid/Danielle, if no one has written Locke/Danielle yet? Ah well.

Comments

[pjferret.livejournal.com]

Ah, someone else has been sucked into the Lost love. *g* Even if it is only like for now.

I have never really liked Jack. He drives me nuts and no offense to Matthew Fox, but I really don't find him that attractive. I'll admit, Sawyer is my favorite of the guys, though I also have a soft spot for Charlie. And Claire is my favorite girl (though Shannon grew on me as the seasons progressed, too. I think, like you mentioned, it's the Cordy similarities. I must have a soft spot for misunderstood, bitchy spoiled rich girls. LOL!)

Sun and Jin also grew on me as time went on. At first, I disliked him because he seemed like such a controlling jerk, but he softened over time and I really like him now. I also adore Hurley. Like with Xander, I love the "class clowns" of a show. :)

I could ramble on forever about this show, but I'll try to refrain. *g*

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

hey! Starbuck has mommy issues. or are we just talking men? *g*

I have only seen a few eps of Lost so really can't contribute much except to say that it's definitely my impression that the fic in this fandom is all about pretty desert-island slash. not that there's anything wrong with that but --

in fairness, I think the format of the show somewhat discourages fic that goes much beyond "see the pretty people kiss" -- because the character backgrounds are deliberately mysterious, with the understanding that they may be filled in later, and present-tense stories are a little tricky to negotiate, with the constraints of the show.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

And you know, it gets even better in season 2. :-)

I adore Hurley (dude!) and Locke is fascinating. I think the show suffered from making its near-lead so boring--I know some people stopped watching--but the other characters are just so good and ever more complex. I especially like how they confound our assumptions, as with Locke and Jin. There's a nice moment in S2 when Hurley says just what we're thinking: "Who expected that?"

I was incredibly distracted by the younger Locke looking just like Michael Keating does now except for the pale eyes.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Hurley is adorable indeed. And yes, so good about confounding easy assumptions.

So that's who he reminded me off? I was distracted, too, but by the fact the actress they cast as his mother looked nowhere near old enough to be his mother. Ah, Hollywood. Can't you cast actresses around 70 again?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Starbuck, like Ivanova, isn't the lead of her how. Adama is, and his son has daddy issues with him. Q.e.d. *g*

Well, the show itself manages present-day stories in which the pretty people do not kiss, so that's no excuse!

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Oh, not refrain on my account (except for season 2 spoilers). Do continue.*g*

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Well, the show itself manages present-day stories in which the pretty people do not kiss, so that's no excuse!

I clearly haven't seen the right episodes *g*

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

You have to suspend your disbelief and accept that 30-year-olds are teenagers still at school, and attractive 50-year-old women with long hair (they never have the short hair most older women here do) are middle-aged people's mothers. It's like the 666 phone number, a convention we're supposed to accept and ignore. Sigh.

[vilakins.livejournal.com]

Hee: and all the way through that ep, I kept thinking, "Ah-hah! That's how he injures his legs!" But no. We still don't know. I love how they play with us.

[bats_eye.livejournal.com]

See, that didn't bother me. Yeah, Swoozie Kurtz is only seven years older than Terry O'Quinn but Locke really looked younger to me (with the wig and all). It didn't seem at all a stretch to me to say that those flashbacks were 10-15 years ago.

[andraste]

And there I thought I was crazy for wanting to write Locke/Danielle and that nobody would read it. I should have known that you would see what a great pairing that could be *g*. Sayid/Danielle would be nifty, too. I haven't got any Sun/Jin plot bunnies so far, but I've got a vid bunny for them to make up for it *g*. (Also, they're in the vid-that-will-be-posted-very-soon.)

I also want a crossover where Locke meets Sloane, because like you say, they would understand each other so well *g*.

Also, word on Daniel Dae Kim. He really is fantastic. Also, did you know that Yunjin Kim auditioned for the role of Kate, and managed to impress the Powers That Be so much that they wrote the role of Sun just for her?

Spoilerish comments

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I'm mildly entertained rather than hooked, but Hurley is excellent. I particularly like the bits where he talks people into doing things so that it's no big deal where other people make it a Whole Big Trauma. Like Jack and Sayid have to torture Sawyer and Kate has to kiss him to get... not much progress, whereas Hurley just saunters up and suggests it would improve his ratings if he handed the info over. And Sayid gets tortured by Danielle, whereas Hurley just walks up to her, demands some answers, hugs her and gets a free battery.

I do keep wondering what's happened to the nice motherly black woman. I can't remember whether she mentioned having kids, but I couldn't help thinking she was the person I'd have gone looking for when it came for help on delivering babies.

Unfortunately I took against Locke, on account of his being right too much of the time. I'm quite relieved he's started cocking things up.

[pjferret.livejournal.com]

All right, though now I'm not sure what else to say. LOL! I'm suffering right now from a Lost draught, as they're on hiatus until mid-January over here. *whimpers* And naturally, J.J. Abrams being the evil man that he is, they had to leave it on a cliffhanger. Damn him!

Now that you've seen the first season, you should check out cleolinda's hilarious recaps over here. (http://www.livejournal.com/tools/memories.bml?user=cleolinda&keyword=Lost&filter=all) She didn't finish up the season due to school and the stress of finishing a book for publication, but the ones she has done are priceless.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Great minds, etc.*g* Yay for a Sun/Jin vid!

Of course, Locke would first have to proof he's not a CIA agent, but then they certainly would.*veg*

No, I hadn't known that. But I can certainly see why she impressed them that much.

[leia-naberrie.livejournal.com]

no offense to Matthew Fox, but I really don't find him that attractive.

Why are you apologizing? :p He's not!

[leia-naberrie.livejournal.com]

So you've finally got Lost! :p

The episodes were hit and miss for me. (Season 2 isn't out in the UK yet). Locke is easily the most interesting character (funny, I never noticed the Sloane parallels until you pointed them out. No *wonder* I found his character so fascinating.) Walkabout was the first episode I watched straight through and I think that was the most brilliant. Consequently, the others fell below standard for me and although there were some winners, it was downhill from there.

Sun/Jin - a really cool pairing. And their episodes are always poignant. I love them.

Kate - I liked her at first when I thought she was a fugitive/crook/whatever. But from her flashbacks, she was more of a victim of circumstances/misguided character, than a true con, and that I find annoying and cowardly of the series-makers. Why couldn't she have been a well and true bad girl (con artist, cat thief, whatever), who was being arrested/extracted for crimes she did commit? When will filmmakers/storytellers in general - realize that people *can* empathize with morally ambiguous/completely evil women as well as men? I’m not saying they should make her the Lauren-equivalent of ‘Lost’ or a completely heartless bitch, but she shouldn’t be a misunderstood, really-heart-of-gold person either.

Sayid - Of course Sayiid being eye candy isn't objectionable, either. But of course. I really liked his scenes. Really liked the risk the writers are always taking with him – having an Iraqi in the series in the first place, whose allegiances are never in doubt, and having him be one of the *good* guys on the island, without taking his character to extremes in either way. I like his blossoming relationship with Shannon which leads me to…

Shannon/Boone - but can you tell me what was gained by chickening out of the actual incest in that case? Story-wise, that would be hard because the whole essence of Shannon conning Boone repeatedly with her ‘bad boy tendencies’ was that due to their parents’ marriage, Boone stood to inherit the money that initially should have gone to Shannon – hence, her twisted motives. But a similar background that would have supported incest could have been just as easily and interestingly contrived. This *is* storywriting after all. :p So yes, it was a deliberate effort of the writers not to go into a taboo subject. Not the first time, American prime time has chickened out of a sensitive subject area, not the last time. :p

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Why am I massively not surprised that you would become a Locke fan? ;-)

I'm watching it on British TV and have four episodes to go of the first series (they've just shown the one where Boone dies and Claire's baby is born) and will have more to say when they finish the season. I will just say that Boone and Shannon being stepsiblings is something of a cop-out, but that given the current political climate regarding TV censorship in the US I can see why anyone in the TV industry would want to avoid doing something that transgressive.

Re: Spoilerish comments

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

For me that "nice motherly black woman" is the most annoying and mockable element of the series. I mean, she literally *never* appears unless some white character has angst that she can solve with her homespun salt-of-the-earth wisdom^tm. Why don't we get to see her angsting over her dead husband? Does she actually have a name? Ever heard the term "magical Negro"?

Of course, she may turn out to be the secret mastermind after sll, in which case I will be highly amused.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Because you know my type by now? *g*

Okay, I'm looking forward to your overall reaction once you've seen the last four episodes.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I’m not saying they should make her the Lauren-equivalent of ‘Lost’ or a completely heartless bitch, but she shouldn’t be a misunderstood, really-heart-of-gold person either.

Oh, agreed. But you know, there are morally ambiguous or evil women on tv which the viewers are supposed to empathize with (aside from the one and only Irina, I mean) - Faith and Lilah on BTVS and AtS, for example, a bit back in time there was Kai Winn on DS9, and right now on BSG, there is Laura Roslin who while one of the good guys in terms of storytelling is characterized as ruthless and Machiavellian to a high degree (which I adore), and arguably one of the chief villains of the show, the Cylon Six. But I agree, presenting Kate as mostly misunderstood comes across as a double standard on this particular show. Mind you, they do have Danielle who killed her entire team and is shown as competent and vulnerable in addition to being crazy, so...

having an Iraqi in the series in the first place, whose allegiances are never in doubt, and having him be one of the *good* guys on the island

Oh yes. When he said in the pilot that he was in the Republican Guard, I knew JJ wasn't going to go the easy way by presenting Sayid as an exile who always was against Saddam etc. Now that was courageous storytelling.

[leia-naberrie.livejournal.com]

I certainly would have loved Kate as Faith - she's no angel, but she's not *evil* either. She's a human being, whose *made* wrong choices, not some sorry victim of circumstances. (Maybe the reason why I'll always prefer strong evil women to misunderstood angels is that at least the former are responsible for their own bad life. They took charge - wrongly, yes - but they took charge all the same).

I guess that's the reason why I like Summer from the OC more than I like Marrissa. Summer's the unapologetic bitch who speaks her mind and slaps people around - and you *adore* her for it. All you hear about her stepmother is how much Summer despises her, but you can bet that Summer doesn't let *her* ruin her life. I was rooting for Summer all through out the Summer/Seth/Anna triangle and I applauded every underhanded trick she pulled to get her man. Marrissa's the good girl who's been messed up by her lousy parents and Bad Things, whose boyfriend almost left her for his pregnant ex- and whose been almost raped. *yawn*

[leia-naberrie.livejournal.com]

yeah and that was gutsy about Sayid too. maybe they decided that one gutsy move would make up for the cowardly Kate, Shannon/Boone plotlines...

[anenko.livejournal.com]

maybedarkpink is a Sun fan (she's writing Sun for fanfic100, I believe). Check out her fics, and her recs: http://www.livejournal.com/users/maybedarkpink/tag/lost_recs.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Thank you, that's fantastic! *goes to check out*

Re: Spoilerish comments

[ireadthat.livejournal.com]

Does she actually have a name?

That would be Rose, and she does have husband angst (before she decides to stick with stubborn faith in her husband's continued survival).

Re: Spoilerish comments

[kalypso-v.livejournal.com]

I mean, she literally *never* appears unless some white character has angst that she can solve with her homespun salt-of-the-earth wisdomtm.

But see, that's why I don't like Locke, though perversely I quite enjoy his episodes. Because in Locke episodes he gets to do Really Stupid Things, whereas in other people's episodes he hangs about being Wise and Mystical and Understanding What Others Want.

Whereas Rose is just waved at us and then vanishes, and I want to know more about her.

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

Interesting and thought-provoking, as always.

As you know, I adore Jack, and reading your review I think I'm beginning to understand a little better why I like him and so much of fandom doesn't--I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I'm still pretty new to fandoms, and TV shows outside the Whedonverse, so I don't find the Jack-type boring or predictable. Maybe in my 6th fandom, or something. *g* I'm also incapable of not liking characters that I would like and/or respect in real life, so there's that, too.

I totally missed out on the darker aspects of Locke's characterization, or rather, hadn't articulated them to myself. All I knew was that I felt vaguely terrified. But now that I've read your essay, he frightens me even more. You're absolutely right, Boone was his sacrifice to the island. Gah.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely right, Boone was his sacrifice to the island. Gah.

The great thing (from a storytelling pov) is that Locke's guilt in this regard utterly depends on whether the audience - and Locke - believe. Because he doesn't harm Boone, and I don't think he clearly spelled it out to himself until after. What he actively does is no more than not tell Boone about one aspect of his dream, the fact Boone was covered in blood in it. If he had told Boone this part, would Boone still have come along to search for the air plane? Probably. But the fact is, Locke didn't tell him. (Also, the whole "Theresa fell up the stairs, Theresa fell down the stairs" is a fascinating parallel - the child Boone caused the death of that maid. Not intentionally, no, but he caused it.) And given that Locke starts to lose the ability to move his legs again en route, only to regain it once Boone is dead, might be psychosomatic - or it might be the island prompting him. Either way, Locke is his own only accuser, defender and judge in this regard, because nobody else knows, and how can you possibly explain? It takes until an early season 3 episode in which Locke meditates and we get one of those tv typical visualisations of a mental landscape by someone talking to people they know taking on various aspects that we get spelled out how he (still) feels about Boone and what happened that day.

[12-12-12.livejournal.com]

It takes until an early season 3 episode in which Locke meditates and we get one of those tv typical visualisations of a mental landscape by someone talking to people they know taking on various aspects that we get spelled out how he (still) feels about Boone and what happened that day.

They pick up that thread again in Season 3? I'm so impressed. I can hardly wait to get started on S2. :D