TV: “Lost” Season One vs. Season Two
By stephanie - Friday, November 25th, 2005
I’ve heard quite a few die-hard “Lost” fans complain that season two is not quite as gripping as season one. Actually, I think season two is much improved.
As someone who only starting seriously watching “Lost” once the season one DVD came out, I’d like to make the following observations:
“Lost” was never consistently gripping from episode to episode even in season one. Never!
I remember tuning in when it first aired and finding it somewhat boring. It was only when I watched all the episodes back to back on DVD that I started to put the pieces together. But even then, there was a lot in season one that wasn’t that fantastic – we just remember it that way.
Here are a few things that sucked in season one:
- Was it just me but were three flashbacks on Kate alone really necessary? Season one was far too much about Kate and not enough of some more interesting characters.
- The Shannon and Boone story – completely annoying other than the salacious sex scene. I loved Boone but the show is better off without both of them.
- Drawn out flashbacks in general, with not enough happening on the island itself.
- Long stretches where the “monster” in the forest never appeared. Lack of fear among the lostaways about it. This seemed inconsistent, especially when everyone seemed to be perfectly fine running between the caves and the beach.
- Jack and his increasingly bad attitude.
The best part about season one was the build-up at the end about the hatch. This was paid off beautifully at the start of season two with the introduction of Desmond and the mysterious timer.
Since then, we’ve had quite a bit happening on the island – more than happened in all of season one, when you think about it. We’re not even halfway through and we’ve met the tailies, Shannon got shafted, the hatch has been opened, and a bunch of bare-legged freaks (the “others”) are running through the jungle doing God knows what.
Sure, now in season two we have a bit too much Ana-Lucia (though that’s a relief compared to all the attention annoying Kate got last season). We’ve also had more whining from Michael than should ever be allowed, but if we’re lucky the Walt thread will be tied up soon and we can move on to bigger and better things.
Whether “Lost” can continue to build a story once the full reveal has been made remains to be seen. But so far, season two has not disappointed me one bit.
November 26th, 2005 at 3:09 am
Kate’s flashbacks – Yes, they were necessary. She’s hot and, based on what I saw on the previews for next week’s show, she’s an integral part of the story.
Shannon and Boone – completely agree. But then so did the writers since both are dead (and out of the story) now.
Drawn out flashbacks – but little to nothing happens on the island. More island time would make the show just like Survivor and wouldn’t progress the story or character development.
The Monster (or lack thereof) – I think that we will start to see the true nature of the beast, so to speak, this season.
Jack’s bad attitude – He had a stressful time, got caught in a plane crash, became the de facto leader and he’s pretty much doing everything. Ya, I could see where that would cause someone to have a bad attitude.
But I think that with Ana-Lucia (i.e. the anti-Jack) in the mix that the bad attitude will change.
The Ana-Lucia story is important. So we needed her backstory right away – especially now that the other survivors have come into the story.
Hopefully Michael will fall into a coma soon, so we don’t have to listen to him. He’s a distraught father, but he’s overplaying it.