LOST fans, a question

[OffWithTheirHeads]

Quite some time ago I watched an episode of Lost on commercial T.V. I thought it was really good but that you needed to follow every week to understand what was going on and I was not willing to make that kind of time commitment. About a month ago I downloaded season 1 to my watch instantly que and on Saturday I decided to give it a look see. I am TOTALLY hooked! I ended up watching 6 hours straight and finally, at 1:30 A.M.(my normal bedtime is around 10:30) had to force myself to turn it off and go to sleep.

I also realized that seeing it with no commercials (I LOVE Netflix) I had saved myself two hours of my life not watching insipid ads for dick hardener or drugs whose side affects MAY cause you to vomit blood, make you go blind or cause your skin to rot off.

My question for you is does this series continue this high caliber writing? Does it get better or do the writers start phoning it in?

[MadBadger]

1. I think the most recent season was the best season of the show

That should say something

[slay]

13. I agree - Season 5 was absolutely on fire - and Season 4 rocked too

Not a bad ep in the bunch. Season 3 had a few iffy eps in the middle, but even in those I found some good stuff. I highly recommend this show. :)

[graywarrior]

2. It gets waaaaay better.

Every now and then they throw in an episode that is sort of lame, but most of the time it totally grabs you. A few send you mind into a fucking spin and one or two will make you cry.

Welcome to the L O S T addicts group.

[MadMaddie]

3. I agree it does get better!

You are hooked now, nothing you can do about it. Welcome to the club!!

[Mojambo]

4. It gets real good, then awful, then trends better again. n/t

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. Oh man, looks like I'm in trouble

Memo to self: Don't start watching Lost on a work night.

[question everything]

6. I cannot rate the different seasons

but it is a great program with high standards all thorough.

And you may want to stop reading posts here or media reports. There are many twists and turns.

[hedgehog]

7. I recently started listening to the season soundtracks. I hadn't

realized how many beautiful, lyrical passages there are. I noticed the tense music, but never the lyrical music.

[Bucky]

8. What you miss by skipping weeks and commercials is the sense of anticipation

I watch Lost thru DVD rentals. It becomes more of a brutal, castaway kind of experience than what I gather the normal TV fans go through. It's closer to the "real time" experience that the characters go through, but you miss all the delicious suspense of waiting a week and wondering, theory after theory, about what might be behind all those black clouds and growling polar bears.

It's a more intense, less cerebral, more rollercoasterish kind of way to watch the show. Because a DVD, no commercials, no waiting viewing experience is so much more passive than the intended TV experience, the show's violence can be a bit much. Some of the stuff they do with Michael won't seem as motivated as it did to tv viewers. I've only seen thru season four, but I can tell you so far, there's been no letting up on the excitement, even when the plot goes off on these really weird jags.

[LanternWaste]

9. Season Four dips, but not by much...

Season Four dips, but not by much. That's about the only real negative I can give. And even that is certainly qualified-- it dips because the plot demands it, not because the writers got lazy.

More qualifications-- two episodes out of the season four dip are among the two best episodes of television I've ever seen. Specifically, the episode called "Constants", which I rank as the best, single episode of television ever.

Keep watching it-- and although you'll swear it can't be done, each question gets answered in due course. Enjoy!

[Bucky]

11. No, season 3 dips ever so mildly. Season 4 is chock full of nasty surprises & reveals.

[ghostsofgiants]

10. It's pretty much nonstop awesome.

[deucemagnet]

12. With no commercials, you may have missed some Hanso Foundation ads.

With Lost, sometimes commercials aren't commercials.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

17. That's O.K. at 20 min per hour of my life saved from watching

our corporate masters trying to brainwash me into consuming shit I don't need, I'll make the sacrifice.

[grace0418]

14. There is one season that disappointed me (I think it was 3). I *almost* stopped watching, but

I'm sooooo glad I stuck with it. Since then it has improved dramatically. It's also gotten even more convoluted and twisted. So I stopped trying to figure out everything that is going on and I'm just enjoying the ride for the moment. When the series wraps up (I think this upcoming season is the last), I will go back and try to piece together what I'm not getting right now.

I have to say kudos to the writers for this show. It is sooooo complicated, so packed with literary, philosophical, scientific AND historical references you could practically teach a class on that alone. But even if you can't or don't wish to follow all of that, you can just enjoy the show on a more basic level. It's a thrill ride that's for sure.

[UndertheOcean]

15. From the way you talk about Lost , it seems similar to Babylon5

in the sense that there is a big story arc that is not suitable for commercial TV with all it's Ads and reruns.

I am intrigued , maybe I should check it out.

[asdjrocky]

16. I only watch TV like that on Netflix.

For documentaries and TV it's the best. (I'm going through The Wire for the third time.) I watched lost on Netflix and it was great.

[charlie and algernon]

18. Seasons 1, 2, and 5 are easily the best

Seasons 3 and 4 were a bit off. I think the writers were trying themselves to figure everything out.

[ipfilter]

19. Nikki and Paulo

were the low spot. Otherwise the writing is brilliant. "Tricia Tanaka is Dead" was considered a throw away episode when it first aired, but it seeded the story with a lot of relevant items going forward.

[Javaman]

20. Just think of LOST as heroin. Now quit your bitchin' and watch like a good junkie! nt

[wickerwoman]

21. The last season was one of the best.

The first half of season 3 drags a lot, but then it picks up from there. On the DVD commentaries, the writers admitted that they didn't really know if the show was going to be picked up for more seasons so the fate of the show was in limbo for most of season 3 and the fact that nothing happens reflects that. But ever since then, it's been back on top form.

I think Lost is easily the best written show on TV.