Thursday, March 26, 2009

(Land of the) (Lost)

You know what's driving me crazy about "Lost"? That cheezy sound effect they use every time somebody's about to time-travel. The light gets really bright, and then you hear that cheezy "whhhoooooOOOOP"!

Which I guess proves that the show has finally driven me around the bend. I can accept the whole time-travel thing, but I cannot accept the cheezy "whhhoooooOOOP".

I think, though, that I'm finally figuring out the show's formula. They spend the first 90% of every episode confusing the shit out of you, then they clear up just enough in the last 10% so you're all, like, "I GOT IT!! AM BRILLIANT!" And then in the next episode, they go with story lines totally unrelated to the previous episode, spend the first 90% confusing the shit out of you again, and then clear more stuff up in the last 10%. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I do admit I'll keep watching, mainly because at this point, I've wasted invested enough time in this show to make it silly to quit now, so close to the end. Even though last night's episode (Now they're in Moscow! Now they're in Costa Rica! Now it's the seventies! Now it's present day! She's a hooker - no, wait, she's a bounty hunter!) made me feel like that girl in Poltergeist, when she puts her hands to her head and screams "What's happening here?!?!"

Lost, indeed.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Never got into it. I have to be really careful about series TV because I usually just won't make time to watch it and I get aggravated that five shows have passed and I have no idea what's going on. Even things like The Wire and West Wing (which I am assured by people who know me well that I would think were the best thing evah) just seem like big time sinks.

I think that might be the reason why reality shows became so popular in the overworked 90s...you could just drop in whenever and it was like LifePlus, not real (because, duh, everyone's competing on an island) but also not narrative or linear in any way that would be hard to pick up on. "Fat naked guy is still on the island, I see."

Anonymous said...

I brought up Poltergeist in my class yesterday! I was referring to the fact that the chairs in the room had been arranged strangely. My students hadn't seen the movie. Dud.

I can honestly say I've never watched Lost. I tend not to watch series shows like that. I like shows that are neatly wrapped up at the end of each episode so I don't have to actually follow any story lines. About a year ago, when we first got Netflix, we rented season 1 of 24. That's as close as I get to watching a series show.

rockygrace said...

I hear you guys on the whole "series" thing - it just seems like too much of an effort. Everybody tells me "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad" are brilliant, but I just don't have the time/interest. I'm not quite sure how "Lost" sucked me in.

And kitkat, your students have never seen Poltergeist?!! That makes me feel old.