Uni High Gargoyle Staff Blog

Just hours ago, my fellow staff member Alan Liang posted an entry titled “Lost,” which had nothing to do with the television program of the same name. And now, using an idea that I formulated days prior to this, I am writing about the very same program.

That is a coincidence. A mundane, only slightly unusual coincidence, but a coincidence nonetheless. ABC’s “Lost,” now in its third season, uses the coincidence as one of its key instruments in creating a complicated web of general, inexplicable mysteriousness. One of the questions that arises from the show is whether or not these bizarre incidents can truly be coincidental, or if they are the product of some supernatural force.

The show follows the lives (both past, present, and more recently, even future) of a group of plane-crash survivors on a remote tropical island. Every episode generally takes a look at the earlier life of one of the main characters. Early on, the group is attacked by a mysterious group of people who were not on the plane, but in fact were already on the island when the plane made its noisy, undignified entrance. Dubbed “the Others,” these enigmatic characters gradually become more visible to the viewer.

In the beginning, this show was fascinating, enthralling, and impossible to stop watching. Every episode both added and subtracted to the mysteries by revealing some and introducing quite a few more. As of late, however, there has been a notable decrease in, in layman’s terms, “things that happen.”

Last Wednesday, ABC introduced the show with the promise that three major mysteries of the show would be explained. I’d be crazy to miss that, right? Well, after an hour filled with things not happening, the show’s logo appeared, rather embarrassedly, to mark the end of one of the most unsatisfying installments yet.

At the time, I could not possibly imagine what three major revelations had occurred and have since resolved not to try and find out. It would be simply too sad. As far as I can gather, though, one of them was “Where did Jack get the tattoos on his shoulders?” Man, I almost went into a coma from shock when I found out that he got them … in Thailand. And they mean “He walks among us, but he is not one of us.” Deep.

The episode before this one was rather enjoyable because it returned to “Lost“‘s roots. The flashbacks were actually interesting, painting a compelling picture of one man’s tragic life, and featuring a heavy dose of delightful weirdness. By no small coincidence, the time the camera spent on the island was near an all-time low.

As much as I hate to admit, I’m going to keep watching. If there’s one aspect of “Lost” that has remained throughout, it’s the addictive quality. If I didn’t watch it tomorrow, you can bet that on Thursday morning I’d be on Wikipedia, reading a poorly-written episode summary.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch last night’s “24.” There’s a show that not only has a nonstop season but guarantees fulfillment and closure — the end of each season is the end of a season. However, there are still unexplained and/or unresolved issues that make the wait for next season even more enjoyable, given that we know they will be explained and/or resolved in episodes to come. As an added plus, “things happen” on a regular basis.

— Andrew Lovdahl