Will GoldstoneUnity Dev. Tutor. Musicist. Designer.

Okay, so I just watched the first episode of the new season of lost. This Fourth season of the ABC flagship surely must be Something of a make or break season for many viewers who, after season 3′s appalling midriff, followed by an excellent return to form in its last 3 episodes, may well be sitting on the fence.

The main issue Lost has lies in its desire to make the viewer work hard. Since the finale of season 3, the former ‘flashbacks’ experienced throughout the show’s ‘present’ narrative became ‘flash-forwards’. This trend continues in the opener of season 4 (perhaps this will continue further), but, whilst intriguing, these deviations from the narrative continue to make the audience work on two threads at once, not to mention the many hints / clues that lie within these cutaways.

But here’s where the writers have wised up. And thank christ for this – Now instead of neverending character exposition about “ooh Kate had an abusive stepdad” or “locke once was part of a weed farm”, they’re actually starting to reference the events taking place on the island.

Of course this pretty much makes sense. In the ‘future’, ie, post island, the characters would of course be seriously affected by their time there. Now the problem the writers have lies in how on earth they plan to weave the story through the ‘present’ – the ‘not who they say they are’ rescuers who have landed on the island, and the two groups of Lost-ees, through the future narrative, to a … future.. future, in which the characters return to the Island.

This spells at least a further 3 seasons of a truly demanding watch. The problem then lies in funding. All shows, especially American networks, which, with the recent death and renaissance of great shows like Family Guy and more recently Jericho, have proven to be fickle. If the writers can’t keep the audience guessing enough to follow through on the many mysteries and rollercoaster of oddness they’ve already setup, and bring us safely out the other side, i’m ponderous as to how long ABC will continue to fund a flagging show.

This talk is of course premature, but, lets think for a moment on some of the many mysteries still unanswered after 3 seasons.

- Giant foot
- Dharma, and what they were really up to
- Jacob!
- Michael and Waaaaaaaalt
- Locke’s “Father” being on the island
- Ben’s ‘others’ and the unaged guy who found Ben as a child and is now still the same freakin age
- Polar bear knockin about
- the black rock
- the smoke monster

Thats just off the top of my head. Now we have the new mysteries, spawned simply of the first episode of season 4.

- If there 6, and Hurley, Jack and Kate are part of them, who are the other oceanic 3?
- What is the secret they’re keeping from the world?
- Was the Captain from The Wire part of the government, as he clearly wasn’t speaking to Hugo representing Oceanic.
- Who is still on the Island and why do they need hurley’s help?
- Is the “He” Kate refers to in the last of season 3, Sawyer?

Okay so, now we have to contend with a future present in which we know Jack ends up in a state, we suspect Kate is living with Sawyer (“he’ll be expecting me..”) and we know they need to head back for at least half the Oceanic survivors. They certainly know how to write themselves into corners don’t they?!

So to sum up, with only 8 episodes made before the WGA strike, its worrying that the original intentions of Abrams and Lindelof to show season 4 “in one go” rather than with a break (the same kind of break that Lost them many viewers during season 3, no pun intended) have been scuppered, leaving the audience with another gulf between their periods of avid confusion after the first 8 are aired. This is a shame, and one that I really hope doesn’t ruin the flow of a show that after much wayward meandering, feels like its finding its feet again.