Lost!

Juliet Lapidos at Slate writes that it's strange how everyone has been saying what a complex narrative structure Lost has had, because in her opinion, it's not until this season (season 4) that it actually became that. I don't agree that the others weren't that, but it's a matter of degree because I agree that this fourth season is the best. My mind is just blown by what they've been able to do. Which reminds me of something. How often do I still occasionally hear someone complain that a movie or show was complicated and hard to follow? Every now and then to be sure, but usually when I see the show/movie in question, I can't see what they're talking about. Now it seems like every show or movie I watch has some non-linear complex narrative structure. I want to say this starts with Pulp Fiction, which was itself heavily a reference to Sergio Leone's classic, Once Upon a Time in America, both of which are highly nonlinear.

I don't really agree with a lot of her interpretation of the earlier episodes. For instance, the writers "dabbled in postcolonial theory, pitting the attractive, tank-top-clad plane crash survivors against island natives, an unkempt group in flannel and polyester called "the Others."" That seems like a weak interpretation to me. But I do agree the earlier seasons were more dabbling with theory in general. The first season seemed to drop into economic and political philosophies a lot, for instance, as well as overt religious themes involving sin, redemption, predestination and purgatory. That has almost disappeared in the fourth season, as has the previous discussions about politics, economics and social contract theory. The nature of society, for instance, seems to really be off the table as we dig deeper into what the island is and does. It feels less and less like a metaphor and more and more concrete and specific to the show. The show is also as suspenseful as it was in the first season. I'm not one of these that sees seasons 2 and 3 as flawed because they were less of that, because I think of those as chapters needing to establish facts about the island's history and its characters. But, nevertheless, I agree with Juliet (nice name) that this is the best season yet. I agree with her about how well they're handling the flash forwards, too. She writes:

Did the other crash survivors die? Are they stuck as they were before? Or have they managed to escape off-camera? Without these vital plot points, viewers don't know whether to think of the Oceanic Six as heroes or as Judases who have somehow betrayed their comrades."

This is what makes the flash forwards so interesting. Not to overuse a cliche, but they really are like jigsaw puzzle pieces. We cannot understand what these flash forwards mean because we don't know what happened, and so each flash forward we're shown has on so many different potential possibilities. Just to name one. Is Sayid, who is working with Ben to assassinate members of Charles Widmore's corporation, working with the other Oceanic Six, or are they all scattered and disorganized? It may seem like a small question, but actually knowing whether they're working together turns out is pretty crucial because we can't tell if the other Oceanic Six are moving on with their lives, or if they are conspiring. Is Jack independently trying to return to the island (as suggested in the season finale of season 3)? Is Sun's takeover of her father's corporation revenge or part of a plot concocted by the Oceanic Six to take on the Widmore Corporation? We're shown little set pieces that work coherently as "getting on with our lives/post-Island" stories, but which I suspect are unified by some larger plot on the part of the Island survivors.

Tonight, season finale. Tomorrow, watching it with J, H and P assuming my computer isn't broken.