"But he bore a brown scar to the end of his days."

[Begin Spoiler for Lost - the whole first season of the bitch. WARNING: Also talks about VERONICA MARS Season 1. — Highlight to view]

Whatever else you can say about this show (and I can, and probably will, say a lot) you must say this: A man was blown up with dynamite, and a wound was cauterized with gunpowder. That's fucking awesome.

So, okay. Now   everyone can talk about how disappointed or not they were by the season. I was honestly getting a little tired of hearing people complain about how nothing ever got explained. The season was not over. Now it is. Have at it. Here's me, though: At 8 miutes to go in this episode, during the last commercial break, I was having a vehement argument with my mother about the fact that there was no way anything was going to get wrapped up in the time they had left. By the time the episode was over? I was cool.

This season had definite problems. That I will say. However, a few episodes back I had decided that this show was a lot like Veronica Mars. Not in subject matter, but in terms of suspense and mystery, and all that. And at that point, I was convinced that Veronica Mars was way better at this style of storytelling than Lost was. However, at this point, I think I was mistaken. I don't think the two shows have the same type of storytelling.

Because in this episode? No, no big mysteries were laid bare. Not really. But that's okay. Because here's the alternative: They wrap everything up at breakneck speed. Everything you wanted to know, you know, there's a huge catharsis, and then ... what? First of all, that would make the planning and pacing of the show super crappy, which is actually what I was afraid was going to happen. Veronica Mars laid out most of its mystery in the very first episode. Then, it gave out revelations and a little more mystery, until finally in the end, everything was revealed. Or, almost everything. The major things. Now, when the new season starts, they will have to start afresh with a whole new mystery, even a new tone for the show.

Lost can't do that. Or, it can, but it would grow stale very quickly. We have here a weird island of mystery. This is the premise of the show. So far, we can guess that this island has at least 250 years ... of mystery. This cannot be solved in 40 days (the time period of the first season). If they solved all the mystery they found, then next year they'd have to miraculous discover new mystery, and solve that all by the season's end. Sorta like Buffy. And that gets cheesy.

I am now, honestly, restored in the faith I had with this show when the season started. I think they are telling a story, and (for the most part) I think they know what they're doing. They need to work on the fine tuning. But overall... I don't know. It works somehow. Somehow in that last five minutes, I was only slightly wiser, but I didn't feel angry or cheated. We'll find out more in the fall. And I will tune in. And ... I can handle that.

Plus, I like the fact that a quick, definitive answer was brought to nothing. Now people have something to talk about and theorize and debate about all summer. And they should, because I do believe there's something there.

Like, Walt! Use your freaky weird child powers! The people in the boat, they're the Others, right? I think we can assume this. Is the girl who threw the molotov cocktail Alex? How long have these people been waiting for a freaky weird child? How many freaky weird children have they collected? Is young Aaron still a freaky weird child like the psychic predicted, and if so, did Walt just decoy for him? Is Sawyer dead? Is everybody else on the raft dead?

Also, the monster. Do we know what it is? No. But apparently it's invisible. Okay! The hatch. Do we know what's in it? No. But apparently it's a big long staircase into the center of the earth. Okay! Is there destiny, or do we make our own? Yes. Okay!

Incidentally, as per that. Remember I had that theory that the island has been bumping off the people who weren't supposed to be on the plane? I'm now wondering, what determines whether or not they were supposed to be on the plane? The dead Joanna "wasn't even supposed to be on the plane" but she got sick, so she was. You could say from this episode that Hurley was not supposed to be on the plane. The blackout, the elevator, the car, the flight attendant, everything seemed to be conspiring to keep him off it. But he kept trying. Did he thwart fate? But then, that guy gave him the scooter. That stewardess and the pilot were nice to him and bent the rules. Those people moved out of the way. Was that fate? Should he have been on the plane, or not? And Locke. They didn't have the special slim wheelchair. (Which, incidentally, I've been in! Woo!) Does that mean he shouldn't have been on the plane? But then the flight attendant offered to carry him on. Since that wasn't Locke's doing, does that mean it's fate? Circumstances not under his control? What about Sayid? He was on the flight a day later because he chose to be. What about Claire? Someone bought the tickets for her and told her to go, and then the pens didn't work, but ultimately she's the one who decided to put herself on that plane. Boone and Shannon were supposed to be in first class. Is their getting bumped back fate, or were they supposed to die in the crash?

Furthermore, it became clear in this episode that the island may not actually like Locke as much as he thinks it does. Or does he?

Anyway, here's what was wrong with this season. As I see it.
1. I know I've harped on this, but the Claire thing. Holy fuck did this bother me. It really, really bothered me. I don't mind that Claire was kidnapped, and I don't even mind that she had "amnesia" and very annoyingly couldn't remember anything. I don't even mind that Charlie weirdly came back to life and also didn't remember anything. What I do mind is that Claire was missing for a week, and everyone carried about their stupid business. Including Charlie who was in love with her, and Jack who has a hang up about saving people. Here's what could have been different: Her abduction time should have been shorter. Nothing they can do in a week that they can't also do in four days. They should have had people show actual concern for her. Like, asking where is she? What do you think's happening to her? How are we going to get her back? There should have been some actual attempt to get her back, or a plan to get her back. The plans could have been thwarted, if we really needed to draw it out, or if we really needed this for any reason. But at the very least, Charlie should have cooked up some hair-brained scheme to rush into the jungle and rescue her, and Sayid and Jack should have restrained him and explained that it was too dangerous. They should have explained TO THE AUDIENCE why it was too dangerous to get Claire. They should have made some attempt to give some sort of explanation as to WHY NO ONE WAS LOOKING FOR CLAIRE! God! Seriously! This was such a major downfall of this season. It really ... gah. Fucking show.

Another major problem: there are too many survivors. In this episode, we have Mr. Arzt telling us that the extras have important stories too. Then he gets blown up. First of all: no they don't. I remember reading an article about Lost where one of the writers pointed out that 47 was the most randomly occurring number. In ... everything. Even though the meaning of life is 42. Whatever. Some number in the forties. Anyway though, this really indicated to me that the reason for that number was simply because it was clever. And they wanted to do something clever.

Now, of course all these people who show up in the background and don't get lines are all due to SAG and money issues. That said? It's fucking retarded. There are all these people that we don't know, never hear about, and can't care about. When the commercials made a big deal about Ethan killing one of the castaways, it turned out to be one of those faceless extras who got a line once and a hundred bucks. And because they had some stupid bit about how supposedly peopel confused him with this other guy ... we're supposed to care. But it doesn't work like that. I can't give a shit about these people that I never see who can't talk. Plus, there are too many people on the island as it is. What would be better? If they had had maybe 20-25 people, and paid them all appropriately. If we learned all their names and stories, and saw them interacting with each other. Not on the level of the regulars, they probably wouldn't get their own flashback episodes, but some recognition of who these people are. Some familiarity with their faces and lives, so that we actually care about all the people on this island, and not just a third of them. Because seriously? There was not one point in this season where they needed all those people. Not when they had to find food, not when they needed to build the raft fast. There was nothing in the story that could not have been improve by having fewer people.

Another thing: the castaways need to stop being so FUCKING STUPID. Like this evening. Charlie starts yelling at Rousseau about how there were never any others. Um. Remember when Charlie was abducted and hanged, and came back blacked out but muttering about "they"? WHAT THE FUCK, WRITERS? There are just too many instances of these people not asking questions, not being smart, not remembering shit they should remember. This is bad writing. It needs to stops. Also, the contrived shit. In this episode, we realized that Arzt was a bit of a dick, and maybe that's why no one wanted to listen to him. Not that we'd know, SINCE WE'D NEVER SEEN THE GUY BEFORE. But when he gave them that snotty line about how they should have left "yesterday"? WELL THEN WHY THE FUCK DIDN'T HE TELL THEM YESTERDAY  ! God! That is so fucking stupid! No one in real life would take half the bullshit stupidity that the people on this island give each other. They need to act more fucking realistically. They need to act smarter.

There are also other things that I'll have months to remember and rant about. No one is still reading at this point, anyway. Are you! I look forward to reading months of wild internet speculation. Good night.

Oh, PS. The hatch? Contains love.

[End Spoiler]