Re: Lost
I haven't been reading this thread due to spoilers, but I did just see an episode called "Homecoming" and I am going to go through it proper:
Basically, Preggo-girl returns with amnesia, and then Ethan comes and demands Charlie return Preggo-girl or he kills one person a day. Actually, this scene made me laugh for two reasons: First, when Ethan says, "I'll kill one person a day, every day until I get Claire" I couldn't help but be remembered of Lurr from Futurama going, "We will raise the temperature of your planet by one million degrees a day - for five days, until you give us McNeal". Secondly, Ethan tells Charlie that he will kill him last, and I laughed thinking that Charlie was safe. Anyhoo, Charlier tells Jack, Locke, Sayid, et al about Ethan and they set a trap and in a genuinely suspensful and exciting sequence, they capture Ethan, and then Charlie shoots Ethan and kills him dead before the others have a chance to take him back to the caves to interrogate him.
Now, it made sense to shoot Ethan, he was not only a kidnapper, murderer, and a huge security risk - but he was the bad guy and we wanted him dead - plus he hanged Charlie. The problem I have is that it's reaffirming my fears regarding this show:
There is no way that they have a pay off planned that's worth it all.
See, I learned something from X-Files, Babylon 5, Enterprise, Buffy, Sopranos, and the host of other tv shows that were serials but with long-running arcs in the background.
These shows created a mystery, a "big picture", a subplot that would on occassion, take over the show for an episode or two, disappear, but remain in the background being subtely hinted towards as the show progressed towards its finale. It's a great way to get the best of both worlds - single 'filler' episodes that delve into characters and long-running arcs to pay off on the nature of following television.
But the main difference between those that did it well and those that did it poorly was this: The bad shows would create a mystery and have the occassional "big picture" episode where they would not progress the arc at all. The characters would just get involved, not revealing much of anything, because it's all spelled out in the first "big picture" and then "explained" in the last one.
For example, look at Enterprise. Broken Bow tells you all about the Temporal Cold War, and then each other TCW episode doesn't progress the plot at all until it resolves in a half-assed manner. X-Files had "the conspiracy" appear once or twice a season, where no questions were answered, until "Redux" which was a great way to end the show, but then they decided aliens are real and did "One Son". When it did resolve, they invented a new mystery and carried on in the same manner until cancellation. Desperate Housewives also did this with the Zach/Dana thing.
The problem is that the "big picture" isn't worth building up to... or rather it would be if the build up payed off creating a progressive story that wasn't much more than just one season.
When a show does it well, what it does is it reveals a subplot, resolves it and creates a NEW ONE out of the old. Buffy had a different arcing story each season. The first season was The Master, then Angelus, The Mayor in the third, Adam for season four, Glory in the fifth, The Trio in the sixth and the First for the seventh. Not only that but each season had a couple of other subplots, for example, season 2 had Buffy and Angel's love subplot, Faith in season 3, and not only that, but these subplots resolved and created or complicated the big villain subplot. For example, in season 2, Spike and Drusilla and the big villains, and Angel and Buffy are having a love story. The love story results in Angel going evil, becoming Angelus and leading Spike and Drusilla in a plot to destroy the world. They did this every year.
The Sopranos has a very similar structure of Tony having to deal with a different enemy each year, the struggle played out over the whole year.
Babylon 5 had a five-year arc, that progressed amazingly well, in the form of the Shadow war, and the Earth civil war.
All the shows I mention kept the "big picture" evolving.
Now, here in Lost, the big picture is, "What's going on with that island?" which encompasses pretty much all the questions - who are the others, what's with the hatch, why can't they get off it, why is no one rescuing them, why are there polar bears, is Walt a Bill Mumy, will they ever get off the island, etc.
That has yet to progress in any meaningful fashion. Yes, there is more to the show than just 'the big picture'; we get Locke and Hurley and Michael, each of whom are terrific fun. But we also get Sawyer and Kate and Boone's sister, who are all bollocks.
Now, Claire got kidnapped. Very cool. Is it to do with her 'super baby'? Maybe. Will we find out?
In Homecoming, Claire returns - with amnesia, so she can't tell us anything about Ethan, why he took her, or where, or if there any more like him. When Ethan comes for her, he's killed before he can tell us anything.
Basically, we're three episodes behind now. Yes Claire is back - but the big picture has yet to progress. She was stolen, now she's back. The amnesia, Ethan's death - while the death was in character for Charlie, it reeks to me of those badly plotted arc shows where they simply do not have enough story to warrant multiple seasons of "build up". This is the problem. The well written shows don't just "build up", they pay off too. "Homecoming" was all poised to be the "pay off" episode on Ethan. Claire returns, and Ethan demands her return, and we are left with both characters completely unable to expand on the plot further until the writers decided to do so during sweeps.
I just get wound up, because the next few episodes will be Claire unable to remember anything worthwhile from her experiences, Locke and Boone mindlessly prodding at the hatch, Michael building a raft and so forth, none of which will matter until the last 2 episodes of the season.
When I started to watch Lost, I joked that I would just watch the last 3 episodes, and get "all the good bits". Well, thankfully, Lost does have some wonderful character episodes, but as for the "big picture"... eh.
