The worst episode of Lost...ever

I need to preface this by saying I'm a HUGE lost fan.  I have a lost tattoo -that's how big of a Lost fan I am....big.

I was watching the last season over the past week or so (much to my wife's chagrin) and stumbled upon an episode I must have buried somewhere deep inside my brain in order to protect what I believe was the greatest show on television. It was buried so deep because it was, without a doubt, the worst episode written, produced and filmed for the show. (Sorry Tucker Gates -director, Carton Cuse and Damon Lindelof -writers)


Which episode was it?


Season Six,  Across the Sea #118

This is the one where the creepy mom steals the
twin babies from their biological mother, kills her (bludgeoning via rock) and raises them as her own. One kid always wears black, the other a light color -shocking, right?

 Eventually, creepy mom shows the boys "the heart of the island" which was the most ridiculous display of special effects I've seen from the show. The shot below looks like they carved a cave entrance out of cheddar cheese and hung some plants around the opening. Irritatingly pathetic.

The boys grow up and become Jacob -the good guy and the man in black -bad guy. Eventually, the boy in black runs away (shocking!) Where it becomes most irritating is when they try to explain so many things in this one poorly acted, poorly edited monstrosity of an episode.  The image to the right is the wheel Ben uses in a previous season to move the island. Is it necessary to the progression of the plot to divulge the origins of this wheel?   Similarly, explaining how the man in black became the black smoke -totally unnecessary.  This is Lost, not the Smurfs.  The viewers don't expect to have all the answers by the time the show is wrapped up and frankly, I don't want them if they're going to be as hokey as this.

Not everything needs to be answered. This is true in any piece of creative writing or film.  Yes, you must satiate the viewers/readers desire on some level -but not on every level.  Some things are mysterious. Some things never get answered.  I'm okay with that -most people are.  So don't cram a purely explanatory episode that includes none of the original cast in the final season when the main plot is reaching its denouement and there is so much that could have been told but wasn't.

They managed to turn it around in the last episode, which I thought was brilliant (aside from the whole 'protecting the light' nonsense). I loved how the characters came together in the alternate universe sequence.

So will I watch Lost again? Absolutely -but I'll be sure to skip this chapter that is so riddled with tie-ins to the main plot that my eyes hurt from rolling them at every one I saw. It reminds me of when George Lucas decided to have Anakin be the maker of C3P0 (did I intentionally reference Star Wars as Hurley did so often in Lost?...you'll never know!) in Episode I.  Like the kid who played Anakin wasn't annoying enough, now he had to build C3P0 as well?! Totally unnecessary for plot progression and a slap in the face to the original fans of the series.

Anyway, I continue to digress. So, on that note, whatever you do, DO NOT watch episode 118 and be satisfied that you aren't going to know everything -that's life...get over it!

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www.TheNeverChronicles.com

6-5-2012