‘Lost” finished out its uneven third season respectably, with a finale that had only one major flaw in it.
(Don’t read further if you haven’t seen the “Lost” finale.)
But before we get to dissecting that two-hour season ender, here’s a thought: Why not make at least part of the next three seasons about Jack and Kate’s efforts to rescue those who may have been left behind on the island?
Kate’s always up for rescuing people, right? Even if that tends to go badly. Surely, Jack will be able to persuade her to join him on his effort to find the “Lost” island again.
The writers could even make the events on the island a “side salad,” as it were, and perhaps the rest of the show could take place in the “present day” of the survivors who made it off the island.
I’m interested in what people think about the whole time-jump aspect of Jack’s “flashforward,” the scenes of a bearded Jack that, it emerged, took place well after at least he and Kate were rescued from the island.
I tried to avoid spoilers about the season finale, but it was probably inevitable that I’d find out before it aired that there would be a time jump to the future. Because I knew that, Jack’s flash-forward scenes weren’t all that interesting to me. They were repetitive and not that intriguing. Also, spending time with Sad Addict Jack vs. Arrogant Savior Jack was a wash. Neither one of them really appeals to me, and that was the biggest problem with the episode.
Then again, my husband didn’t know the bearded-Jack scenes were part of a flash forward, and he also thought they weren’t very interesting.
And why haven’t we spent more time with Rose this season? “Lost” writers have 48 more episodes to go. Give Rose and Bernard a whole lot of face time, OK?
But Rose speaks for a lot of the fans, who find Jack to be frequently insufferable, when he’s not being stupid because the plot requires him to be stupid.
Still, the episode was a qualified success. The pacing was excellent, the stories on the island were full of action and contained a few bits of interesting information, and Charlie’s final minutes in the submarine station were handled well.
But back to the island. Ben had a point — why trust Naomi, the woman who had parachuted on to the island recently? Because Jack and Kate and most of the others wanted to trust her, I guess. But there was no real reason to believe her story about having a rescue ship at the ready.
I’d bet much of next season centers on Desmond relaying that the “rescue boat” is not really coming from the presumptive “good guys,” or Penny’s people (are they good guys, really? Hope so.). And then I’d guess the island residents (perhaps even Jack and Ben and their allies) will battle it out with any bad people that come from Naomi’s group to the island.
I’m sure we’re supposed to wonder how Jack and Kate got off the island — it’d almost be too easy to think that Naomi’s people took them back to America.
There’s got to be more to it than that. With “Lost,” there always is.
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moryan@tribune.com
