“Across the Sea” was AMAZING, and I hope by the end of this post you will all agree with me. As such, let’s get the problems I had with it out of the way. I can find only two things to fault this episode on. The first would be some of the acting by the children playing Jacob and his brother. However, this is forgivable in terms of the story being told. Also the fact the producers always seem to find the perfect-looking child actors helps.
The other fault is the language of the show. No, I don’t mean profanity, I mean literal language being spoken during the show. Or am I the only one confused as to why literally one second everyone is speaking Latin and the next everyone is speaking perfect English. Was this done just to help the audience understand what was going on? What are we to imply about the time period, or either mothers’ descents. It’s not like LOST to do something like this simply for the audience’s benefit. Heck, they had Sun and Jin speak solely Korean for nearly five seasons!
Despite this, I’m not sure I could ask more from an hour of television. From a purely film making perspective, the cinematography was great; lighting was very moody and atmospheric; editing was fast (in a good way) between all the different shots; acting (forgetting the aforementioned) was great; and the score by Michael Giacchino was superb. From an entertainment standpoint, I thought the story was tight, well-told, epicly vast, yet very quick; the graphics were perfectly minimalistic; and the action was compelling and emotional. From a LOST fanatic view, I watched it in awe and thought the episode answered some of the biggest and most pressing questions I’ve had about the show since the very first episode.
I’ve given up theorizing. There. I said it. I’m done reading Wikipedia late into the night, scouring the internet for clues. I’m done hanging on Darlton’s every word during the ABC Official LOST Podcast and watching the numerous theory videos on YouTube. I’m done reloading my page for new theories on DarkUFO and on my iPod Touch. I’m done waiting for Lostpedia to put up the info on the latest episode, and scrolling down to the “Trivia” section to see what facts I may have missed. Oh whoops… I just did that anyway. But you get the point. If you’re like me, you’ve been devoting your time to this show for the past six years, and you’ve realized this is the end. On Sunday, May 23, 2010 LOST ends. And I’m ready. I’m just in for the ride.
And maybe that explains my reaction to this episode. I’ve already talked to multiple people who said they either didn’t understand or else didn’t like the answers this episode gave. There was also one person who said the episode didn’t answer anything, but that’s clearly wrong, so we’re going to forget this person. The people who didn’t understand, I would urge you to watch it again, wait for our Dark Territory Podcast later this week, or else read the Lostpedia page on it. I suppose this is more of a response to those who “don’t like” the answers.
The number one reason people didn’t like the answers is because they seemed “too mystical.” I understand this from a certain perspective, but at the same time you have to think about what kind of show LOST is. So… what kind of show is it? Well LOST is a little bit of everything. It never claimed to be a realistic show or have a tangibly discernible answer. It never claimed to be a faith-driven show about morality and fate. It never claimed to be a temple-raiding, hieroglyphic-filled adventure show. In fact it never even claimed to be a sci-fi show. The only things it ever claimed to be was a drama and mystery show. And it is those two things which it has done masterfully throughout every storyline, genre, and character. It was also these two things which caused LOST to change the industry’s view of what a television show could be.
My point here is that while there are more realistic and sci-fi elements to the show, there is also a very important mythical element. As dharma_smokie so aptly put it, this story has necessary mythical elements and is in some ways even infinite. That’s just something we need to accept, and I feel like we should have a long time ago. Honestly, did you think they could explain a gigantic, animate, shape-shifting, cabin-dwelling, murderous, pillar of black smoke in terms of hard logic or rigorous science? I thought the explanation of Jacob throwing his brother down the waterfall into something his mother called “worse than death” was, while very fantastical, still more than acceptable. The entire Jacob/MIB story is epic and fantastical, and thus deserves such an explanation.
That doesn’t mean I accept this episode provided the entire answer, or that I wouldn’t welcome more explanation/specifics should the show choose to reveal them. However, it is an explanation, and one that (whether or not you “like” it) does make sense of things. Here’s a question: at what point did we start getting annoyed at what few answers LOST DOES give? How spoiled are we that we’re trying to pick-and-choose what answers are acceptable in the greatest mystery show of all time? What kind of backwards, screwed up system have we thought up? We’ve been asking for the past six years, and now we have the answer. As fans we tend to over-think things, especially if you’re the type of fan who blogs and reads about LOST all the time. We get caught up in little details that end up being little more than nothing, or create vast networks of theories to explain all of the perceived intricacies. Then we complain when the show goes in a completely different direction than we felt it would or feel it should.
Those of you who have been following our podcasts for a while may recall how mad Will and I were with the explanation for the time flashes in Season Five. We had thought up an entire explanation linking the events to electromagnetic stability, Christian Shepherd, previous Island events, and more. The real explanation ended up being “the wheel was off it’s axis.” I realize now that I was just caught up in little nuances. See? Even I, the smartest LOST fan ever (sarcasm) can get mad when the show does things I don’t expect.
And that’s why I’m done, and you all should be, too. Quit getting annoyed about what LOST does explain, and keep watching it for what it will explain. They’ve done it. I applaud Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Jack Bender, JJ Abrams, and everyone else who has brought this vision to life. You’ve changed the industry in ways we can’t yet imagine. You’ve brought fans together, and helped form relationships that have certainly affected our lives. You have done the impossible, and we all love you for it.
We have three and a half hours left of the greatest show to ever grace my television. And then it’s over. I wonder if they’ll show a big “The End” after the final episode. I’ll tell ya one thing: I can’t wait.
Happy Trails and Namaste,
Sam.
Lastly this episode is almost 30 minutes long, and that is because it was a two hour premiere. Expect them to normally be around 15 minutes. Now then, for information about WHAT this is…
