Lost Cares

As faithful readers know, Lost is my favorite TV show. So far, I think the new season has started off well. Some don't like how the mysteries keep piling up, but what's the rush? As long as the show is fun and exciting, let them be solved when the time is right.

Everything Lost does is minutely picked over by fans. Every development is analyzed with great care, and sometimes fans act like jilted lovers. While I think the producers know where they're going (itself a point of debate), the show seems to respond these fan discussions. There are a number of examples from last season:

They killed Ana-Lucia. Was this planned? Perhaps, or perhaps they saw how unpopular she was. More likely, they were gonna kill her, but when they saw how much fans hated her, they killed Libby too, since Ana-Lucia's death alone would have been more gratifying than shocking.

Another example is when Locke and Eko discovered the station that watches the Hatch. Fans had speculated the Hatch was a psychological experiment to get people to push a button. It's possible this new station was created to play off that--it turns out the button was very important, while the station that watched the Hatch was the psychological experiment.

Then there was the theory that the whole island experience was only happening in one person's mind. So Hurley had an episode where he thinks this, and the answer was no.

This season, they're even responding to my concerns. (Not just me, of course.) As much as I love the show, I thought the worst thing about the second season was what they did to Locke. He was a hunter, a seeker, and someone who believed--perhaps mistakenly--in the power of the island. In the second season, he hecame housebound, stuck in the Hatch, pushing the button. He also seemed less wise, more easily manipulated.

Apparently sensing fan unease, this season he's out of the Hatch (had to leave--they blew it up) and back on the Island. Looks like he'll try to rescue Jack, Kate and Sawyer. And with the exception of Sayid (whom Locke recognized in the first season as a man you want on your side) Locke is the only one capable of leading the Lostaways against the Others.

We don't know if he'll be successful, or even if he's doing the right thing. But at least he's back.