So, I’ve been watching the new season of Lost.

Ugh.

That’s my take on things. I had such high hopes for this season, that we were finally going to get some answers, that some things (like the Jack-Kate-Sawyer love triangle) were finally going to be resolved. Instead, they’ve only gotten more convoluted.

Because now, there’s some sort of giant conspiracy afoot that six of the survivors are in on together, claiming they’re the only survivors of the plane crash.

Ugh.

Holly Black had an interesting post up at Fangs, Fur, & Fey yesterday talking about things that drive her crazy as a fan of a book, TV series, movie, etc. Too many unanswered questions is one that bugs me — as does abruptly, fundamentally changing what a show is about.

I’m wondering if that’s what happened to Lost. J.J. Abrams did this to some degree in Alias. Midway through season 2, he had Sydney Bristow take down her evil employer and quit being a double agent. I remember reading somewhere Abrams simply got tired of writing Sydney as a double agent almost getting caught every week. So, he changed things. And the show suffered for it. Not as dramatically as Lost has, but Alias stumbled after that, looking for a suitable bad guy for Sydney to fight (because her boss was supposed to be the worst of the worst). Alias didn’t recapture the glory of its first season until season 5 (although parts of season 3 were pretty awesome).

I’m not saying things can’t change, that characters can’t grow and learn, but Lost has come so far from its original premise of castaways struggling to survive, I doubt it can ever recover. There are just so many dangling questions and plot threads, I don’t think they can all be answered in the 40-some episodes that are left.

What’s the monster? Where did the Others go? What ever happened to the other island where Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were held? What’s the Dharma group’s real purpose? Why do pregnant women die on the island? What’s the deal with the creepy cabin? Where did the eye-patch man go? And on, and on, and on …

I imagine the rest of this season will involve finding out what the conspiracy is about. Next year might be the consequences, and I imagine the final season will offer some sort of resolution to the whole mess. One can only hope.

Also, I really hate what they’ve done to the characters, especially Locke. He used to be the coolest, most interesting character on the island (the episode where we found out he was in a wheelchair was probably the show’s best moment). But now, he’s a caricature who’s “protecting the island” — the island, not his fellow survivors. Jack is so self-righteous I hope they kill him off. And why doesn’t somebody just shoot Ben already? The man’s a snake, and they all know it. 

I’ll still watch Lost. At this point, I’ve got too much time invested in it not to see how things turn out. But do I really care anymore? No.

What about you? Are you still digging Lost?