Lost

“Everything happens for a reason in season 3”, eh? Okey-doke.

Personally I’m not seeing it yet…the “plot” is murky and seemingly aimless (the optimist in me wants to believe that the writers and producers really do have an overall plan that they’re working towards…the cynic in me believes that they do not and they are, despite any protestations to the contrary, just making this stuff up as they go along)…and I’m getting bored waiting.

As the “fall finale” rolled out on November 8, I realized that nothing was going to be resolved soon (Lost doesn’t answer nearly as many questions as it continues to manufacture) and that I’m starting to not care one way or the other.

When we left off last season, Locke, Eko, and Desmond were caught in the implosion of the hatch (Charlie had gotten out before everything went to hell) while Michael (who had already murdered two of his fellow castaways) had lured Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley in the hands of the “Others” (seemingly led by “Ben”, a prisoner who had been tortured by Sayid and who was freed by Michael) in exchange for freedom from the island for himself and his son Walt. Michael and Walt sailed off into the sunset while Hurley was sent back to tell the rest of the gang to stay away. (We won’t bother with the guys in the polar monitoring station or the woman…Desmond’s paramour…who showed up at the end of the last episode of last season since they make no return appearances in the fall episodes.)

In the new season, Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were prisoners of the Others (Jack apparently in an underwater facility, Kate and Sawyer in cages that apparently used to hold the polar bears that had been sighted on the island) while the rest of the gang (none of whom seemed to care enough about the weird lights and noises to go check out the hatch…even Charlie who KNOWS something bad happened there) chilled on the beach. Locke, Eko, and Desmond ended up in the jungle despite the fact that the hatch imploded (Desmond lost his clothes, Eko got taken by the bears, and Locke almost got bonked on the head by Eko’s prayer stick which must have been hovering in the air for a long time…I’m sure there’s a good reason they were thrown out of the IMPLODING hatch rather being crushed but, of course, we are not privy to that information as yet) Locke and Charlie rescue Eko from the bears’ den while Hurley crosses paths with Desmond.

Sayid, Sun, and Jin sailed around the island looking for the missing folks (while en route they saw a giant statue that also went unmentioned in the new season) eventually coming into conflict with the Others (who wanted their boat) with Sun shooting and killing one of the Other women. Last we saw, the Others had taken the boat leaving Jin and Sun bobbing in the ocean. Sayid shows up back in camp in time to join Locke’s expedition to find Eko (who left the camp after seeing a vision of his dead brother)…no sign of Jin or Sun (and, as is par for the course with this show, no explanation from Sayid about their whereabouts.)

Ben has a life-threatening tumor he needs Jack to operate on…Sawyer and Kate finally become romantically involved…Eko has a final confrontation with the smoke thing…yet another mysterious guy (excuse me while I yawn…), this one with a sporty eye patch, is seen on one of the monitors in the monitoring station under the place where the plane crashed…Locke has rediscovered his faith and his resolve…Desmond seems to have some kind of precognitive abilities…the Others are building something (Sawyer and Kate are conscripted to work on the mysterious project)…there’s a second island…character flashbacks continue to abound…Jack’s holding Ben hostage on the operating table until they release Kate…Sawyer’s about to be executed in retaliation for the woman Sun killed…yadda…yadda…yadda…

It’s all supposed to mean something but increasingly it seems like a lot of smoke and mirrors signifying nothing (if the show is just supposed to be a somewhat spooky soap opera that just goes on and on then they should just say so and stop pretending that there’s really an over-arching story being told.) Lost is due to return in February (after the 13-week run of the déjà vu thriller Daybreak starring Taye Diggs) for 16 more new episodes to finish the season (but probably not answer as many questions as it poses along the way.)

Some of the characters are interesting…though the high body count among some of the potentially interesting regulars (Boone, Shannon, Ana Lucia, Libby, Eko) and the long stretches of invisibility among others (where in the heck were Rose and Bernard this season?) makes it hard to stay engaged with them.

For some reason, I still want to like Lost more than I do these days…and I hope that when it comes back on February 7, 2007 it does so with a vengeance and a purpose. I hope so…but I’m not gonna hold my breath on it.