"Lost," "Veronica Mars" And Such
Posted October 19th, 2006 by RD Heldenfels
Last night the bride and I went to the Students Against Multiple Sclerosis lip-synching fund-raiser over at the University of Akron. I hope someone gets YouTube a video of Brian Dominguez's splendid performance. But, once again, it meant a night of delayed viewing. We checked out the "Dancing With the Stars" results (which had no one bounced, since the show isn't about to give up a week of ratings just because Sara Evans's divorce). The morning brought "Lost" and, from even farther back, "Veronica Mars."
"Mars" continues to delight. Nice to see Weevil back. The faster pace of the mysteries is really noticeable; it even makes me a little antsy because things are unfolding so quickly. And it had the best line I expect to hear on any show this week: "I always feel bad about those poor donkeys."
Had a long discussion at lunch with a couple of co-workers about "Lost," and their dissatisfaction with the way the overall plot is not moving along very quickly. I've expressed objections about that in the past, and have tried to take the advice of my colleague Alan Sepinwall — that the show will never resolve everything, so you might as well just enjoy the ride. And I still manage to do that somewhat; enjoyed watching Sawyer a week ago, and I knew Hurley's first word last night would be "Dude," and was entertained by the return of Boone.
I have no idea what's really going on, of course, and have been making mental lists of questions: Why was Desmond unclothed and Locke not, how exactly did they get out of the hatch, is the crater really from the implosion or a contrivance of forces at large, did we really need to bring back the polar bear … I'm not expecting answers, though.
Oh, and as someone just reminded me, how bogus was the introduction of two new characters as if they've been around the whole time?
October 19th, 2006 at 1:32 pm
Thanks for the shout out. I have to agree about the slow pace of "Lost." I was thinking last week how unfortunate they are adding another layer (with the others' homestead and their motivations) to the story without resolving or close to resolving any of the other layers (is the Island alive and what's that living smoke monster; what's the hatch about, why are these people "chosen" to be on the island.) In fact, I think in the long run, it may hurt the ratings because if I know I am not going to get any good answers to the overall mystery then I know I don't need to tune in until they tell me "all answers will be revealed." And frankly, I could have missed the first two episodes of the season and felt as if I did not miss anything.
By the way, I am still loving Veronica Mars, but can they please stop contriving ways to put some tension between Logan and Veronica. Let them be happy for at least half a season.
October 19th, 2006 at 7:42 pm
I don't think Logan and Veronica can be happy until Logan works through his grief issues about his family and his feelings about his father. Lot to dump on a young man. As for "Lost," in one of those conversations today, we were talking about the way the show introduced all those Tailies and now we're basically down to Eko. Now we get the Others; will they fade away over the course of this season so the show can hire some more new actors to try to enliven things in season four? And come on, Brian, surely you've got the video for YouTube…