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tori_reviews2024-02-14 08:38 pm
jedi_of_urth) wrote in tori_reviews2024-02-14 08:38 pm
LOST 1x03 – Tabula Rasa & LOST 1x04 – Walkabout
FYI, my intent has been Tues/Fri posting schedule, though I keep missing the Friday one. Then my computer got bogged down in updates last night so this week is entirely off. But this one is a double, so there's that. As these reviews have remained on the shorter side generally, doubles will be more common than in other review series.
LOST 1x03 – Tabula Rasa
This episode is…kind of weird really. It’s clearly very much a bridge episode between the pilot and things settling in for the series, and it’s okay at that, and it’s fine over all, but it leaves me a little…scattered in thoughts.
Might as well address the flashbacks first. I think my feeling about this story though has to do with my general feeling about how this show is presenting Kate. As we learn more about her past and get to know her better in the present there could definitely be layers added to what at present seems like a fairly shallow character. It’s going too far into criminal with a heart of gold instead of presenting her with much complexity.
Kind of the deciding factor to consider is whether she really was just asking if Ray got paid for turning her in. If that’s just what she’s claiming, now that she doesn’t have anything she can gain from the marshal, then that actually is layered and leaving mystery about what kind of person she is. But the way she acted since the crash definitely makes it seem like she could be telling the truth, which then feeds on each other to reject her being questionable.
An impression that feels all the more like the intent with the whole way the episode ends. Because a lot of the areas for conflict appear to already be being closed off. Some of them only tentatively, but like everything is settling in to a status quo without too many obvious Swords of Damocles hanging over them. Hence why the writers thought they needed to clear up the question of Kate before anyone else, since the reveal of her backstory would be an obvious bomb waiting to go off if left unaddressed.
I know that comes off as disparaging of the writers here, but it’s not really that choice that bothers me, it’s more a symptom of what bothers me most about the end. It’s been three days or so since the crash and the survivors just seem like they’re okay already. We don’t have people with broken bones from the crash, or people traumatized by their near death (I know) experience, or being surrounded by so many dead people. Hurley is the only one still somewhat acting like it’s horrific to be dealing with all this.
If it was a little more obvious that this calm was built of shaky ground it might help. They do bring it up, that everyone still has hope that they’ll be rescued and it would be bad to take away that hope from the group at large. But that element has kind of been forgotten by the time we get to the happy campers montage at the end of the episode.
That said, the final Jack and Kate scene is a bit more ambiguous I think. Jack’s words are giving the moral I think is carried through the end of the episode; but his demeanor isn’t quite lining up with his words. The idea that this can be a fresh start, a tabula rasa in fact, and being reborn is all well and good to say, I suppose, but I’m not sure I buy that anyone would have gotten there this quickly after the crash, much less that it seems to have become the default state for all the survivors.
I also kind of think we should have seen more of what Jack did to finish off the marshal. It’s definitely implied that he did, that it was to a point where the patient could not be saved and the only thing to do was put him out of his misery. But how long did Jack go on fighting that truth? Did he smother the marshal, cut his throat, or something else? How does it affect a doctor to have to do something like that? I have to say we really skim over all of that, and I almost want to call it cowardly and/or done to get a rating appropriate for network TV at the time, but I’m not sure I quite think that’s the reason. But I also don’t think it’s because the writers didn’t think about it, it more like it would be too heavy for the end of the episode to get where they wanted it to be. And that…I don’t love thinking that’s how the writing is guided.
Since I talked about it a fair bit in the pilot, I think the cinematography was a little less jarring in this one. The natural backgrounds were used better, even if I do think the show is coasting a little bit on the fact that they have those kinds of settings to work with. I was slightly aware that the ecology of Australia (with its lack of Australian accents) looks a lot like that on the island, but it wasn’t too distracting; no more than all the Vancouver shows where I’m sure I see the same forest patches on dozens of shows.
Also, late realization, but what happened to the guy in the pilot with the crushed legs? Why is the marshal Jack’s only critical patient? I think this may tie in with why I felt the flashback story was kind of in the way of things, because maybe this should have been a Jack focused episode. Jack would be more connected with the kind of questions the survivors are going to have to face. Having a second critical patient would really illustrate the hard choices that may have to be made rationing resources.
We also don’t really deal with the fact that Hurley also knows about Kate being a fugitive. And just because Jack has decided to ignore it for now, doesn’t mean Hurley is going to make the same choice.
LOST 1x04 – Walkabout
I think I can say I liked this episode, but it has one fairly notable drawback. It’s a good episode for almost everyone except the character we spend the most time focusing on.
Apart from how…insane he often seemed, I don’t know that I dislike Locke in this episode, but he sort of proves himself as the character I’m most worried about. Because Locke’s story is already super tied into the ~Mysteries of the Island~ (spooky sounds), rather than focusing on him as a character. Him as a character is pitiable, delusional, and way too angry, none of which make him a character I really care to spend much time with. But this episode assumes that he’s worth caring about because of the Mystery around what’s happened to him since the crash and then what happened out in the jungle and…I don’t care.
I don’t think it’s just because I know so much about where the show goes either. Although being in this weird half zone with the mysteries on this show may be one of the worst ways to approach it (I’m not caught up in the grand Mysteries, but I don’t know enough to view everything as setup for the future payoffs). But it comes back to what I’ve always worried about with this show; that it lets the Mysteries take precedence over other reasons to care about the story.
Thankfully, the rest of this episode doesn’t do that. It’s really only Locke that seems to matter to the Mysteries, while pretty much everyone else is being a character. Or…well…within degrees. People are acting according their character, as well as we can say we know them by now, but we don’t know them all that well. Unfortunately, these last couple episodes make me unsure if knowing the characters better is all that good for enjoying watching them. Kate’s flashbacks were underwhelming and Locke’s were…underwhelming in themselves and annoying in the bigger picture.
I think we learn more about characters though the little fish plot than we do in any of Locke’s backstory. For that matter, I might say we learn more about Jack’s character from his reluctance to do anything that deals with the people around him as people than we get from anything about Locke. I would however say that Jack’s plot is a little rushed, in that people seem to be coming to him as a camp leader very quickly after the crash, which I’m not sure would necessarily happen. Even the Council of Main Characters in the beginning treats him as the final word after they raise objections; which in itself is less a problem, as from an analytical point of view he’s probably right about what they need to do. But that he’s approaching things with that analytical point of view maybe ought to be a reason why others are reluctant to see him as a leader, or at least reluctant to want him as one. And yet everyone keeps on coming to him as though he is, and I’m not sure these elements go together. He is actually good with Rose (I think that’s her name) when he does take the time, although I still think it might have been a better idea if we’d seen someone else just take the time to sit with her and offer understanding. It’s pretty clear that…Shannon’s brother (guess I haven’t caught all the names yet) is the one who knows what the situation needs but he doesn’t make an effort on his own. Which is probably characterization too, but where it feels like just treating Jack as the default leader and hero I dislike it.
Look, I’m trying *really* hard not to claim it’s all about being a handsome white man, but I feel the need to at least gesture at it.
As for the previously mentioned fish subplot, I don’t know that I feel a lot of need to comment on it more. It gave us some more details on several characters, not always flattering looks, but I’m okay with that. It all seemed in character for what we currently know of the characters. I kind of want to say that the fish at the end looked kind of fake, but I feel like people are going to tell me it was totally real, and I clearly don’t know anything about fish. Which is fair, because I don’t really know anything about fish.
These reviews are starting out quite short, even the one for the pilot was pretty short for being a two part episode. I’m not sure exactly what that says about the quality of the show so far (I often have more to say when there are things to complain about after all; but I also don’t have anything to really dig into yet either), but I think it may say that there was a reason why I stayed away from the series back in the day. Having little to say on a subject others do find worth discussing can make that subject less and less appealing.
LOST 1x03 – Tabula Rasa
This episode is…kind of weird really. It’s clearly very much a bridge episode between the pilot and things settling in for the series, and it’s okay at that, and it’s fine over all, but it leaves me a little…scattered in thoughts.
Might as well address the flashbacks first. I think my feeling about this story though has to do with my general feeling about how this show is presenting Kate. As we learn more about her past and get to know her better in the present there could definitely be layers added to what at present seems like a fairly shallow character. It’s going too far into criminal with a heart of gold instead of presenting her with much complexity.
Kind of the deciding factor to consider is whether she really was just asking if Ray got paid for turning her in. If that’s just what she’s claiming, now that she doesn’t have anything she can gain from the marshal, then that actually is layered and leaving mystery about what kind of person she is. But the way she acted since the crash definitely makes it seem like she could be telling the truth, which then feeds on each other to reject her being questionable.
An impression that feels all the more like the intent with the whole way the episode ends. Because a lot of the areas for conflict appear to already be being closed off. Some of them only tentatively, but like everything is settling in to a status quo without too many obvious Swords of Damocles hanging over them. Hence why the writers thought they needed to clear up the question of Kate before anyone else, since the reveal of her backstory would be an obvious bomb waiting to go off if left unaddressed.
I know that comes off as disparaging of the writers here, but it’s not really that choice that bothers me, it’s more a symptom of what bothers me most about the end. It’s been three days or so since the crash and the survivors just seem like they’re okay already. We don’t have people with broken bones from the crash, or people traumatized by their near death (I know) experience, or being surrounded by so many dead people. Hurley is the only one still somewhat acting like it’s horrific to be dealing with all this.
If it was a little more obvious that this calm was built of shaky ground it might help. They do bring it up, that everyone still has hope that they’ll be rescued and it would be bad to take away that hope from the group at large. But that element has kind of been forgotten by the time we get to the happy campers montage at the end of the episode.
That said, the final Jack and Kate scene is a bit more ambiguous I think. Jack’s words are giving the moral I think is carried through the end of the episode; but his demeanor isn’t quite lining up with his words. The idea that this can be a fresh start, a tabula rasa in fact, and being reborn is all well and good to say, I suppose, but I’m not sure I buy that anyone would have gotten there this quickly after the crash, much less that it seems to have become the default state for all the survivors.
I also kind of think we should have seen more of what Jack did to finish off the marshal. It’s definitely implied that he did, that it was to a point where the patient could not be saved and the only thing to do was put him out of his misery. But how long did Jack go on fighting that truth? Did he smother the marshal, cut his throat, or something else? How does it affect a doctor to have to do something like that? I have to say we really skim over all of that, and I almost want to call it cowardly and/or done to get a rating appropriate for network TV at the time, but I’m not sure I quite think that’s the reason. But I also don’t think it’s because the writers didn’t think about it, it more like it would be too heavy for the end of the episode to get where they wanted it to be. And that…I don’t love thinking that’s how the writing is guided.
Since I talked about it a fair bit in the pilot, I think the cinematography was a little less jarring in this one. The natural backgrounds were used better, even if I do think the show is coasting a little bit on the fact that they have those kinds of settings to work with. I was slightly aware that the ecology of Australia (with its lack of Australian accents) looks a lot like that on the island, but it wasn’t too distracting; no more than all the Vancouver shows where I’m sure I see the same forest patches on dozens of shows.
Also, late realization, but what happened to the guy in the pilot with the crushed legs? Why is the marshal Jack’s only critical patient? I think this may tie in with why I felt the flashback story was kind of in the way of things, because maybe this should have been a Jack focused episode. Jack would be more connected with the kind of questions the survivors are going to have to face. Having a second critical patient would really illustrate the hard choices that may have to be made rationing resources.
We also don’t really deal with the fact that Hurley also knows about Kate being a fugitive. And just because Jack has decided to ignore it for now, doesn’t mean Hurley is going to make the same choice.
LOST 1x04 – Walkabout
I think I can say I liked this episode, but it has one fairly notable drawback. It’s a good episode for almost everyone except the character we spend the most time focusing on.
Apart from how…insane he often seemed, I don’t know that I dislike Locke in this episode, but he sort of proves himself as the character I’m most worried about. Because Locke’s story is already super tied into the ~Mysteries of the Island~ (spooky sounds), rather than focusing on him as a character. Him as a character is pitiable, delusional, and way too angry, none of which make him a character I really care to spend much time with. But this episode assumes that he’s worth caring about because of the Mystery around what’s happened to him since the crash and then what happened out in the jungle and…I don’t care.
I don’t think it’s just because I know so much about where the show goes either. Although being in this weird half zone with the mysteries on this show may be one of the worst ways to approach it (I’m not caught up in the grand Mysteries, but I don’t know enough to view everything as setup for the future payoffs). But it comes back to what I’ve always worried about with this show; that it lets the Mysteries take precedence over other reasons to care about the story.
Thankfully, the rest of this episode doesn’t do that. It’s really only Locke that seems to matter to the Mysteries, while pretty much everyone else is being a character. Or…well…within degrees. People are acting according their character, as well as we can say we know them by now, but we don’t know them all that well. Unfortunately, these last couple episodes make me unsure if knowing the characters better is all that good for enjoying watching them. Kate’s flashbacks were underwhelming and Locke’s were…underwhelming in themselves and annoying in the bigger picture.
I think we learn more about characters though the little fish plot than we do in any of Locke’s backstory. For that matter, I might say we learn more about Jack’s character from his reluctance to do anything that deals with the people around him as people than we get from anything about Locke. I would however say that Jack’s plot is a little rushed, in that people seem to be coming to him as a camp leader very quickly after the crash, which I’m not sure would necessarily happen. Even the Council of Main Characters in the beginning treats him as the final word after they raise objections; which in itself is less a problem, as from an analytical point of view he’s probably right about what they need to do. But that he’s approaching things with that analytical point of view maybe ought to be a reason why others are reluctant to see him as a leader, or at least reluctant to want him as one. And yet everyone keeps on coming to him as though he is, and I’m not sure these elements go together. He is actually good with Rose (I think that’s her name) when he does take the time, although I still think it might have been a better idea if we’d seen someone else just take the time to sit with her and offer understanding. It’s pretty clear that…Shannon’s brother (guess I haven’t caught all the names yet) is the one who knows what the situation needs but he doesn’t make an effort on his own. Which is probably characterization too, but where it feels like just treating Jack as the default leader and hero I dislike it.
Look, I’m trying *really* hard not to claim it’s all about being a handsome white man, but I feel the need to at least gesture at it.
As for the previously mentioned fish subplot, I don’t know that I feel a lot of need to comment on it more. It gave us some more details on several characters, not always flattering looks, but I’m okay with that. It all seemed in character for what we currently know of the characters. I kind of want to say that the fish at the end looked kind of fake, but I feel like people are going to tell me it was totally real, and I clearly don’t know anything about fish. Which is fair, because I don’t really know anything about fish.
These reviews are starting out quite short, even the one for the pilot was pretty short for being a two part episode. I’m not sure exactly what that says about the quality of the show so far (I often have more to say when there are things to complain about after all; but I also don’t have anything to really dig into yet either), but I think it may say that there was a reason why I stayed away from the series back in the day. Having little to say on a subject others do find worth discussing can make that subject less and less appealing.