That’s noteworthy, because I never watch TV! Well, not of my own volition. I love my fiancée enough that I don’t leave the room when she decides it’s time to watch Desperate Housewives or Sex and the City, but lately I’ve been electing to watch How I Met Your Mother, because it’s amusing without being trashy and dumbed down like pretty much every other sitcom on television, and Lost, because it’s really quite interesting. It’s a solid mix-of sci-fi and character drama, with both elements ending up in very different places than where they began.
For instance, in retrospect, this scene is really kind of weird.
Anyway, I’ve discovered that the best way to deal with lengthy, serialized series like Lost is to pretend they don’t exist until their final season, and then catch up all at once. (Netflix is an invaluable tool for assisting with such an endeavor.) Taking the last-minute compressed approach helped me survive the later seasons of Alias, and it came in just as handily during the third season of Lost, which frankly I don’t even remember. There was a third season, right?
Unfortunately, Cat and I misjudged our Lost endeavor. We caught up to Alias about two episodes before the finale, but with Lost we still have like ten episodes to go. Going from five seasons in three weeks’ time, never having to wonder where the plot was heading, to waiting a week between episodes is a painful transition. However, I am making a sincere endeavor not to be one of those fans, the one who loudly speculates at length about his dopey, half-assed theories every Wednesday morning. If I fail, and you happen to pass within earshot, I apologize. The good news is that both shows I am watching are in their final seasons, so once we survive the spring I can go back to pretending TV doesn’t exist.
That’s about the same thing I did with Lost – I started when Season 5 was airing, and torrented most of that.
Spoiler Alert: Next episode, come crazy shit goes down and when you’ll see it you’ll all be like WHOA I NEVER SAW THAT COMING and then they don’t explain it, ever. Well, they do but it’s a total cop out so they basically might as well not even bother.
Note: this alert applies to every single episode of Lost.
I did the same thing with Battlestar Galactica. Burned through the whole series just slightly too quickly on DVD, then suddenly had to watch the last three episodes on *gasp* television with *choke* week-long gaps and *snarl* commercial breaks. Only that show could make me submit to such lows…
Now see, what I do is just wait until the show is totally over and THEN marathon it on DVD. Sure you have to avoid ever talking about it with anyone you know who watches it and then you end up being that weirdo who only just finished watching Angel 2 months ago and have no one to discuss it with, but hey! No waiting between episodes!
For the past 3 weeks, I too have caught up with Lost. And it definitely has surprised me. I just hit season 5, so I’m gonna slow down a bit now, so I don’t get TOO caught up.
Yeah, with Lost I’m taking the approach of waiting until it’s completely over, at which point I’ll see whether long-time fans are satisfied or enraged by the how the ending is handled. If the reaction is reasonably positive (and I suppose that includes a possibility of “enraging yet still *good*”), then I’ll consider plowing through the whole thing.
How I Met Your Mother will be back next season! This season has annoyed me with how irregularly episodes are released. Since I don’t watch it live, I never know when they’re going to take 1-2 weeks off between episodes. Thankfully, it’s still funny.
There was a season 3! That was the one that started out horribly because the writers had to write their way out of the hole they dug with the Season 2 cliffhanger, but then got amazing by the end of the season, possibly because they’d set an end date by then.
Yeah, I’d almost recommend waiting until the show’s over, although theorizing is kinda fun and that seems like it might feel a tad pointless after everything’s been resolved. But they do lay a lotta cruel cliffhangers at you, most notably the last shot of season 1…
Oh man, I’m that guy coming up with half-cocked theories every week. The writers are really going out of their way to prove anything I can come up with this season wrong, but at least they’re keeping me on my toes. Ah well, at least I keep my crazy theories to the TT Lost thread and people I watch the show with.
A friend of mine threw the Lost Season One DVDs at me (literally, threw them at me) after I made fun of his obsession over it. And, hey, it turns out it’s pretty good! I’m surprised at how well they develop the characters, how funny some of the dialogue is, and how good the performances are. I figure as long as I don’t take the ridiculous circumstances seriously, and see the Rube-Goldbergish chain of events for what they are, I’ll be okay.
It’s somewhat obvious Alixsar has never seen an episode of Lost.
With the way the TV industry is, it seems like the only sure way to know a show is worth watching is either when it’s finished or in it’s final season. I’m tired of watching new shows on their first season only to get unjustifiably cancelled (Pushing Daisies), become stupid (Heroes), or even get extended seasons way after it’s prime to the deep realms of dumbness only to please the suits (Scrubs, Prison Break).
Man, I love spreading my dumb theories about Lost, that is half the fun!
Also, How I Met Your Mother is awesome.
Actually, if I remember correctly, Alixsar has seen ONE random episode of Lost from, like, the middle of Season 4. Definitely the wrong way to judge the show.
Anyway, it warms my heart to come to Gamespite and be greeted by John Locke. Never thought that would happen. (I totally have a shirt with that picture of him on it. …yeah.)
I agree that scene is kind of odd in retrospect. It reminds me, though, that they have been very diligent of putting that scar back on Locke’s face every time it’s appropriate (time-line wise).
Yeah it symbolizes the ages-old struggle between dark, light, and orange.
I find it rather unnnecessary to to point out how much TV I don’t watch because it sucks, it seems like making fun of a disabled chap. That being said, Breaking Bad is the best thing on the tube right now, and it’s only got two seasons, making it rather easy to jump right in.
When was that scene?
Sometime, in the beginning. I think he’s just goofing off to Walt.
And Bavis, I didn’t even know where that scar came from. I’ve noticed it, and for some reason I didn’t catch it when it was fresh, as in this scene. Thought it might be shown in a flashback.
Funny story about Lost, I was playing Silent Hill Homecoming the other day and the part you meet your father I was all like “WTF its John Locke! D:” because it totally does look like him.
Having just watched Season One, I know this is somewhere in episode 2 – 4. He flashes this smile to someone who just experienced something traumatic. It’s an odd little scene, and I liked it because it feels like the sort of thing that usually gets cut for time.
That’s not true, Tomm! I have two friends who talk constantly about it and have forced me to watch most (but admittedly not all) of the first season, and I’ve seen several episodes of each season after. One of my friends even admits that I’m right and that the show is utterly ridiculous and practically nonsensical, but she loves it more than anyone I’ve ever met. Go figure.
I find that Lost actually HAS continuity of some sort when watching Season 6. They just don’t spell it out as directly as we’d like, but I think a close examination of previous seasons makes what is going on make a lot more sense.
I’m halfway through season 2 and I think the show is already “practically nonsensical” (a black ghost cloud that makes sounds like a robotic dinosaur? wtf?) . I’m really hoping it doesn’t just turn in to an exponentially increasing series of unexplainable events from here on out.
The show is indeed utterly ludicrous and practically nonsensical, and yeah, it’s been that way pretty much from the start. May I suggest The Wire and Arrested Development instead?
It’s pretty hilarious to see people who regularly play jRPGs judging LOST as “ludicrous and nonsensical” but… whatever.