Lost: A Tale of Two Cities

[prunesquallor]

Well, for a long time I've meant to do posts about the last seasons of Veronica Mars and Lost, but somehow it's premiere week for both. I'll do last night's Mars later - maybe tomorrow.

And again with the ever-popular bullet-points, which are perfect for me, since I can't be bothered to actually organize my thoughts in coherent paragraphs:

• Damn, tonight's opening pulled me in again! I really felt last season's finale massively jumped the shark (more on that later, hopefully), so I was prepared to go in this year with my full loathe on. But a cool opening hook and I'm their bitch again. For a while.
  
• Everyone's commenting that Ben and Juliet were obviously a recently broken-up couple (and if they're not, The Powers That Be obviously want us to think they were). What I found more interesting was Juliet's book club rant right before the shaking started: " . . . thinking that free will actually exists on - - " - - this island, maybe? Cult of personality, and some of the Others aren't fully on board (viz, Juliet, Danielle, & the old lady who was smiling as Juliet ranted).
  
• Ben sends Godwin to the Tailies and he's supposed to get there in less than an hour? Now, I'd need to watch "The Other Forty Days" again, but I thought Godwin showed up a lot sooner than that - almost instantly, I thought. Not certain about that, and if it is a mistake, it's not one I'm going to worry too much about.
  
• After the bravura opening, a mostly mediocre ep - claustrophobic godgames and another lame flashback: Jack's past continues to be a severe snooze. This new technique they've developed, where they fill up time by layering context on top of context, reinterpreting the meaning of previous flashbacks . . . Well, it can work; but they are really on the verge of overindulging in it and it's clearly a device to squeeze the last drops of blood out of an almost dry turnip. This show really would have been so much better as a completely planned out two or three season limited series. Yeah, not too bloody likely on commercial TV, I know.
  
• The damn Sawyer sequence - who the devil was fooled for even a minute by that obvious plant in the other cage?
  
• So the polar bears and the shark are explained . . . sorta.
  
• The title goes whoosh right over my head. What is the connection between one of Charles Dickens' cornier efforts and this ep? I haven't seen a good explanation anywhere in any Lostaway community tonight. Well, it's early days yet.
  

Well, I'll be watching next week. Sigh.