Flabbergasted
October 15, 2004
Well, since this is gonna be a weird thing what with Anthony, Matt and I reviewing a single show, and since this is episode four, I do feel the need to say “Man, where the HELL did ABC get this show?” This is the first time on the major networks that I feel like I’m getting a weekly movie. You know, the kinda thing HBO’s been working on for a few years. Lost is a breath of amazing fresh air and even more amazing that it’s coming from the network that just a few years back was so devoid of programming that it scheduled Regis Philbin in prime time five days a friggin’ week! Also, let’s not forget, the home of TGIF (which, despite popular belief stands for Thank Goodness it’s Funny according to ABC) and their one time line-up of Full House and Family Matters in the same hour. Oh, the saccharine.
But enough making fun of ABC for its past indiscretions. At least they had the good sense to greenlight this show. J.J. Abrams is at the helm, at least since his showAlias just didn’t seem to show up this year. I’m not a viewer, but I still wondered where it went. So, there’ve been reviews of the first three episodes, so I don’t need to catch you up.
There are things in this show that I’m afraid of. The monster on the island. The creepy communication that’s been playing for sixteen years. The polar bear. These don’t scare me because they’re scary on the show. They scare me because they’re a bit too quirky for prime time. Not Twin (little man dancing in a red curtained room and talking backwards) Peaks weird, surely. But not the norm. These are the things that sometimes get people to tune in in droves, but when they realize we may not soon find out what the monster is, or even see it, they may disappear. Though, the fact that ABC is a generally floundering network may work in getting Lost through at least to a second season.
Anyway, on to episode four. Walkabout. Just a little side note. What’s interesting about the title and theme of this episode is that it sorta sums up the type of mysteries we can expect from this series. A Walkabout is an Aboriginal tradition where a young man travels into the Australian outback to learn to live off the land and gain spiritual enlightenment. A sort of attempt to commune with destiny. So, anyway. Last week we found out about Kate (not enough, but anyway) and I’m thrilled to report that we get to learn some more about the fabulous Terry O’Quinn’s character Locke this week. A big mystery is revealed this week, what Locke’s big secret was. What the miracle is. I kinda don’t want to say it here. But I will say that he’s not evil. I kinda thought they’d shuffle him into the Windom Earle roll on the show. I’m thrilled that they didn’t, instead giving him a quiet back story and a truly beautiful moment of realization.
So the general thrust of this week’s plot (the part that isn’t dealing with Locke’s back story, which incidentally involves TPS reports.) is that the survivors are running low on food. And by low I mean out. So while a bunch of them complain and bicker about what to do, Locke calmly and carefully throws a hunting knife with dead eye accuracy and proclaims that they hunt the wild boars on the island. Meanwhile Sayid is trying to use miscellaneous parts he’s collected to build antennas to triangulate the signal coming from the transmitter on the island. Kate volunteers to take one along on her jungle hunt with Locke and perpetual klutz Harold Perrineau, Jr. When he gets winged by a boar, tell me it doesn’t remind you just a little bit of when he screwed up and stabbed himself in The Edge. I was waiting for the monster to come tumbling out of the jungle and eat him. But no, not this week.
Coolest of coolness, though, is the fact that David Fury wrote this week’s episode. That’s right, David “They got the mustard out” Fury! Rock my house!
Five out of five cookies. This has been Dave “Uses quotes in people’s names to describe them too much” Grelck. See you in three weeks. That is unless you read my Gilmore Girls reviews. Or other stuff. Maybe I should just stop now.