Before I get to all the reason’s why I believe Lost has come back swinging, making all us naysayer’s eat crow, I’d first like to congratulate the creators for pulling what has to be simultaneously their eeriest, goofiest, and most suspenseful cliffhanger yet. Kate, Locke, Sayid spying on others village and they see Jack playing football with… Mr. Friendly! At first we think he’s making an escape attempt but then he catches the football, spikes it and does a victory dance while Michael Gianachino’s signature cliffhanger music plays like a piano crashing. A perfect moment of ominous absurdity. And Mr. Friendly was there! Remember when Mr. Friendly used to be scary? Back before his name was Tom. Well neither did I until this scene reminded me. It was a victory dance that marked Lost’s comeback as much as anything else. Congratulations Lost, you’re back in full form, psyching us out, shattering our expectations and putting us back where we belong, on the edge of our seats.

I had my doubts; season 3 started out strong, dropping us in the middle of Otherville, ambushing us with Others weirdness. But six episodes in it seemed like the story hadn’t moved forward, we hadn’t learned anything, and the writers had forgotten what made Lost work in the first place.
Thanks to the producer controversial new scheduling we had three months to ruminate over the current state of Lost and the disappointing ”cliffhanger” they left us with (“run Kate, run!”, still not sure where they were going with that.).
It was actually kind of an ironic note if you think about it for just a second. Kate who can’t stop running won’t leave Jack, even as she’s caught in the act with Sawyer. But I couldn’t escape the thought that the magic was gone. The acting and even the writing were at the top of their game, but the intrigue and tantalization had worn down, stall tactics had become Lost’s MO.

Think about this in episode 3.01 (“A Tale of Two Cities”) Ben tells Kate to expect a rough next two weeks. Three months later I still had no idea what he was talking about, shoveling rocks in a sun dress? Typical Lost season 2, drop some hints about things to come and then go off in some completely other lame direction.

The season came back with an introduction to Juliet’s back story and this was something I’d been looking forward too but it wasn’t a great episode. It was still tying up odds and ends I felt should’ve been dealt with episodes ago. The reappearance of Cindy was cool in theory except they ejaculated it prematurely all over their promos.

By episode 8 (“Flashes Before Your Eyes”) though Lost scored a major coup, in what had to be the highpoint so far they reminded us that the flashbacks (they’re technically not flashbacks) used to matter. I was surprised as I was used to filing Desmond’s magic psychic powers under “F”, as in the flying fuck I could give about them. But whatever quality it was that season 1 had that made me tune in week to week (and by “tune in week to week” I mean watch my roommates DVD’s four at a time) this episode had a surplus of it. And maybe it was just my imagination but the production values seemed to have improved as well. The camera work of season two had gotten too static; the exotic locations seemed drab and ordinary.

Since then, with the exception of the Hurley episode about driving a hippie bus (to their credit though, who saw that one coming) Lost has kept the ball rolling. Thinking back to this time last season we were still wondering when we’d hear about Jack and Ana’s army ever again (heh heh, naïve suckers).

To true fans the speed and consistency that this new story arc was a jarring change of pace. Locke, Kate and Sayid (and I guess Rousseau is there too) set out for Otherville at the end of episode nine and two episodes later they’re there. I expected to be an old man before I heard from Eye Patch guy ever again. Next thing you know he’s telling us his life story. The story’s rolling along at speed that reminds me less of molasses and more of a Rex Morgan MD comic strip. I’m saying it’s still slow but it could be worse.

Anyways, that was more of a tangent than I’d intended to go on. I wanted to get to three simple points why I feel that Lost is as good as it’s ever been.

1. John Locke. Like him or loath what makes him an essential element of the show is that we’re never sure where his allegiance lies. The 815 gang was way too chummy last season. They were a regular get along gang. But Locke’s sinister behavior, coupled with his antagonistic relationship with Sayid, filling in for Jack as the impatient skeptic is a sign that the writers have remembered how to get the most mileage out of their characters.
I’ve always felt that the appeal of Locke is lost on most people. You’re not supposed to like him; you’re supposed to feel uneasy around him. That’s why he has the most interesting report with the other characters: Jack, Walt, Henry / Ben, Boone. Locke is at his best not when he’s hunting boar or having visions but when he’s making us question on which side he really stands.

2. The laser fence and I’m not just talking about Kate shimming up it. Remember Arnst, I had that exact same feeling when they were crossing the laser fence. The sense that anything goes when it comes to death. I’m not always a fan of the way the writer off their cast of regulars: Shannon and Ecko were telegraphed and therefore pointless. Ana Lucia and Boone were classic.
But on a whole other level are the stunt deaths, I’m talking about Arnst and now Mikhail Bakunin. The weird creepy character gets an appropriately weird creepy send off; leaving us with the unsettling realization that Locke just stone-cold murdered his ass.
At its heart Lost has always been an action adventure show and what missing from season 2 as much as a satisfying resolution were any scenes of real exhilaration. The major exception being the introduction of Sawyer and Michael’s faces to Ecko’s Jesus stick. Other than that it was people sitting around deliberating and having personal issues.

3. That brings us the Others. We had gotten way too comfortable with these guys ever since we saw Tom Friendly without his beard. We needed a creepy eye patch guy sneering and saying crazy things to remind us all why these guys used to be scary. Jack and Tom’s football game reminded us of that. And then the cherry on top was the reunion between Locke and Ben. Way back in November that’s where I saw the cliffhanger ending and although it came a little later than I expected it was worth the wait. Is there an Emmy for best supporting performance by a pair of crazy eyeballs? Because if there is then this year Mike Emerson is the only guy who needs to show up.

But I don’t want the Lost crew sitting back on their laurels just because of a few good episodes. There’s still a whole bunch of potential for missed opportunities. Claire’s flashbacks are usually pretty good and surprisingly relevant, this new one being no exception. But her character is adrift and the one story line a season she gets only serves as an unpleasant reminder that there is no reason for her character to exist.
Speaking of wastes of flesh, the Lost viewership is one of the more fickle and petulant fan bases in TV right now but they are absolutely right to despise Nikki and Paulo who combined together are less than one real character.
Apparently between the cast of 15 regulars, a half dozen or so Others and 20 minutes of back story an episode the writers just have too much time to fill in an episode. So to fix the problem they had to bring in two characters who have no back story, no plot lines and no interesting characteristics of any kind. I am genuinely baffled by every facet of these characters existence. Get the fuck off my TV! Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindeloff have made great noise about the fact that these are two wastes of skin they’ve got big plans for in the future. But that’s what these guys are always saying, and you’ll go broke waiting for their empty promises to clear.
Finally, we’re three seasons and thirteen episodes in, we’ve spent 13 episodes with the others and there are still season one questions gone unanswered. We’ve been hearing about lists and others and abductions and now it’s time for some answers. I want to know why their taking people, I want to know who these “good people” are they’re always talking about. I want to find out about these freaky whispers just like they promised after they didn’t address any of that by the season 2 final.
There’s another Juliette flashback coming up and if I get my wish then that’s when we’ll find out about the war between the Others and Dharma. And if that’s not the case then I’ve got to wonder why we’re having another Juliette episode at all.

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