Evil, your description of the show's problems throws into the light the marked differences between how I read the show, and what I suspect many, many others, in addition to yourself, take away from it.
I mentioned upthread that mystery is part of the aesthetic of Lost, and that's really the key to why I love it so much, and why it doesn't play anything like Smallville to my tiny mind. On one level, sure, the fact that these people don't actually discuss all the weird shit going on around them is frustrating, and not a little absurd - I get you, I really do - but on another they're maintaining the dark glisten of the unknown that keeps every little thing in Lost humming with potential significance and meaning. Not revealing stuff isn't just a practical narrative device, it's the very essence of the show, what gives it its colour and vibrancy, and what makes it so bloody satisfying when the informatin starts to drip through. Smallville? Well, it would be unfair to say that it doesn't benefit from it's own secrets, but not to anything like the same degree - that's not what the Smallville experience is ultimately about. And, you know, I kinda have to insist that, some forgivable plot facilitating expediency aside, Lost (often) does characterisation much, much better than most popular telly shows. |
