There are a lot of reasons for why Season Three is my favorite. For one, there are so many answers given to previously established mysteries. We learn how Locke’s legs became paralyzed, we learn about Jack’s tattoos, we learn a whole lot about what’s going on with the Others, and we certainly gain a better understanding of the Smoke Monster (hint: I don’t think it’s nanobots!).
Smoke Monter
When the Smoke Monster encountered Eko in Season Two, it flashed images of his life-story. It would appear in Season Three that Smokey has used this information in order to learn what form it should take to best get Eko’s attention. When Eko sees Yemi, the “ghost” says “You talk to me as if I was your brother,” and the executive producers confirmed in their podcast that this was an incarnation of the Smoke Monster.
So we learn that Smokey can take the form of people (and horsies!) and that it probably does so for a set purpose (to lead the characters towards an enlightenment experience?). Since Eko gets beaten to death by the Monster after refusing to apologize for the crimes that haunt him, I think it’s safe to assume that Smokey, at least in part, is on the Island to lead the castaways to redemption.
Shipper Friendly
Another awesome part about Season Three is that it is incredibly shipper friendly. Kate and Sawyer get-in-on while Jack watches, Jack and Juliet start their relationship, Claire and Charlie kiss, we learn that Ben had a mad crush on Juliet, and Jack tells Kate he loves her. It’s also really interesting to watch any of the scenes between Sawyer and Juliet, knowing what happens in Season Five. I could even be convinced that Juliet knew what would happen between her and Sawyer in future-1977 should some wacky story-telling lead us in that direction.
The Others
One of the joys about re-watching Season Three was that this time around I could really like Ben and Juliet. Well, with Ben it’s more of a love-to-hate type reaction. Learning about his history on the Island in “The Man Behind the Curtain” was crazy-fun and also exciting because I know there’s a chunk of history missing there that I hope will be revealed in Season Six. What happened to Anne? What happened between his first encounter with Richard and the Purge? I bet we’ll get some answers.
Speaking of Richard, we learn a significant amount about him in Season Three, but not nearly enough. (BTW: How does he get the Man from Tallahassee without the aid of the submarine and so freaking fast?) I think one of the ways that the writers will reveal much of the Island mythology next year is through a Richard flash-back episode and that would be AMAZING.
And we also hear a lot more about the Super-Mega Other: Jacob. Was he really the one in the cabin telling John to help him? Or was that the Man in Black? We know now that Ben couldn’t really see or hear anything in the cabin, so has Ben ever really gotten directions from Jacob? The list with the names of Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Hurley was said to be from Jacob in Season Two, but in Season Three we see Juliet and Ben discussing who to put on the list in the Pearl Station… so Ben’s actual relationship with Jacob is still a bit of mystery.
Expose:
One of the weirdest episodes in all of Lost history is "Expose." How bizarre to have a complete filler episode on a series that had for two and a half years prior been relying on a reveal-some, question-some pace. I remember being completely baffled and frustrated when watching this episode live because it was essentially a waste of a week for someone who wanted answers. This time around I enjoyed the episode because for one, I think getting buried alive is crazy compelling. For another, it really illustrated how the creators and writers listen to the fans. They heard that the fan community wanted to learn more about the whole slew of other castaways (called the "socks" by the writers), so they introduced Nikki and Paulo. Then they heard the tremendous backlash against these idiots, so they took an episode to get their story-line out of the way and kill 'em off. I love that they respect their fans and were able to react to the response in a timely manner.
Finale:
Season three is made all the better by it’s awesome finale. Whether or not you knew right away that those were flash-forwards (like co-blogger Metta did), it’s still a cool change of pace! The mysteries were a lot less frustrating when you knew that the characters would be reaching a certain destination at some point, it was just a matter of how they got to that point and where they would go from there.
Repeated Lines:
We have to indoctrinate Charlie in the “Don’t tell me what I can’t do” crew. We also have a new repeated line when Locke quotes Eko saying “don’t confuse coincidence for fate.”
Questions:
Of course there are still many questions. One of which is why can’t a nice show like Lost afford good wigs? Some of the hairdos in the flash-backs were beyond laughable.
Finale:
Season three is made all the better by it’s awesome finale. Whether or not you knew right away that those were flash-forwards (like co-blogger Metta did), it’s still a cool change of pace! The mysteries were a lot less frustrating when you knew that the characters would be reaching a certain destination at some point, it was just a matter of how they got to that point and where they would go from there.
Repeated Lines:
We have to indoctrinate Charlie in the “Don’t tell me what I can’t do” crew. We also have a new repeated line when Locke quotes Eko saying “don’t confuse coincidence for fate.”
Questions:
Of course there are still many questions. One of which is why can’t a nice show like Lost afford good wigs? Some of the hairdos in the flash-backs were beyond laughable.
Comment 1 of 2
ReplyDeleteSo, I think I have to preface all of my Lost comments with the fact that you love Lost a lot more than I do. I really like the show, but it's not in my top five, or even top ten shows, and I get the sense that it's pretty high on your list.
That being said - and I may need to revise this after watching season four, but I do not like season three. I remember that when the episodes were first aired, I kind of lost interest during seasons three and four. And as I was watching the DVDs of season three, I kept thinking, "What the hell happens at the end of this season?" I knew the flash forward episode was coming, and I was pretty sure that Charlie's underwater scene was from the end of season three, but I kept thinking, "So, they get rescued at the end of this season, right?" It didn't seem quite right, but I could not, for the life of me figure out what could fill out a full season between the flash forward episode and them actually getting off the island.
So, bottom line, here is that I think Seasons 3 & 4 just dragged to much for me. Again, I haven't rewatched 4 yet, but my feeling is that they could have packed all the necessary story points from both seasons into one season. three and Four just feel like one excruciatingly long season to me.
Things I like from season 3:
The very beginning, in the cages and Jack in the prison - though it went on too long.
Jack's ploy to get Kate and Sawyer free by maiming Ben during surgery. That's probably my favorite Jack moment from the entire show.
Charlie's list. I'm generally a huge Charlie fan. I meant to comment on your season 2 recap, but didn't get around to it due to lack of internet, but I don't find him at all unlikeable in Season 2. I love him every second. He's being messed with by the island, and people are assuming he's on heroine when he's not. He does some bad stuff, but so does everyone on the island. I'll come back to who is really unlikeable to me in season 3. The only thing I don't like in Season 3 involving Charlie is that he dies. I was really sad about that.
The very end, like the last three or four episodes. Excellent stuff.
Homage to Alias - I love the J.J. Abrams callbacks. Desmond banging on the glass window with a fire extinguisher as Charlie is drowning is a direct reference to a scene from Alias where Sydney is banging on a window as Vaughn is in a room filling with water.
Theme songs! Both Desmond and Juliet have theme songs. Juliet's is "Downtown" and Desmond's is "Make Your Own Kind Of Music." They both listen to their theme song both on and off the island. Nice little nuggets.
More connections - Nadia is the woman Charlie saves in the alley way.
Comment 2 of 2
ReplyDeleteThings I do not like about Season 3:
Nikki and Paolo - While I agree that it's good for showrunners to pay attention to the fans, they still have to do a good job executing it. Those characters were ridiculous from the instant they showed up. Every minute they were on screen was a waste of time to me. So, remove them, and we're on our way to combining Seasons 3 & 4 into one season.
Mr. Eko's death. I know the circumstances surrounding the actor leaving the show, but it just felt completely rushed. That character was fantastic and could have had a lot more to do on the show. It's a cop out for the actor and the producers to claim that the character had run its course. When it happened during first run, I declared I would not watch the show anymore. Obviously, I relented on that, but I stand by the sentiment.
Sawyer. Yikes. Talk about a character becoming unlikeable. From brutally murdering Locke's dad (who was a bastard and had it coming) to the way he deals with Kate, I just cannot stand him during this season. I mean, he's just completely a bad person. So, he obviously feels bad about killing Cooper (or whatever his real name is). Well, he SHOULD! It's the second murder he's committed. After the first one went so badly, you'd think he would have been a little more hesitant to commit a second.
The whole middle section of the season. It's too repetitive. The Others have captured some of the castaways at the beginning and then Sawyer and Kate get back and we have the nice little homecoming scene on the beach. Then they go back to get Jsck and some of them get captured again, and then they have another beach homecoming scene. It was like, "Didn't we just do this?"
Agreed about the wigs, Locke in particular. It's really sad.
On an unrelated note, I'm probably in the minority here, but I like Jack a lot better on a second watching than I did on the first; I like Sawyer less; and I like Kate about the same, which is not much.
All good points. Especially about Charlie and Mr. Eko. I didn't mean to say I found him unlikeable as much as I was sad about the gloomy plot-points he was getting because I like him MORE when he's cheery.
ReplyDeleteI think when I watched this season live on TV I was very annoyed by how long Jack, Kate, and Sawyer spent time in the cages. However, I was blasting through about 4 episodes a day here at home so it didn't last very long to me.
And Season Four definitely drags. We'll be getting to that.
But you are so wrong about Sawyer it hurts my stomach lining. He is beautiful and awesome and if he were with me I COULD CHANGE HIM, METTA!!!! OF COURSE he brutally murdered Locke's dad!! That man is the whole reason Sawyer became a bad person!!! He blames him for every bad decision he's ever made and his lifetime self-loathing!! I will pretend you'll be converted back into Sawyer being fantastic when you re-watch Season Five. If you say otherwise I will just go to my happy daydream place where Sawyer is a lumberjack.
However- isn't it interesting that the writers have tapped into some division in society where people are usually pretty firm on their Jack or Sawyer fandom. I can tell you from my re-watching experience I'm liking Jack a LOT less. I don't think you are in the minority: i think the Jack is good, Sawyer is bad camp is actually probably the majority.