[TV] Lost 1.8

**** (out of 5)

No idea what I want to see here. Turns out it’s Sawyer’s episode. And that means a very icky torture+knifing sequence.

Sawyer has an interesting backstory. I mean, it’s noir. And most of the characters exist in a noir-universe but it plays a lot of reversals and inversions with what it’s about. In fact, Sawyer confounds our expectations.

It’s also about how long will civilisation last? How do you settle disputes without the coercive force of government backing you up?

Act Breaks:
1. “So how ‘bout that kiss? … Didn’t think so.”
2. “Is that a yes?”
3. “Can you make it stop?”
4. “Don’t you feel sorry for me. Get out!”

Basically this show seems to do the following: We need a jerk on the island who’s only out for himself. Someone we’ll love to hate. Okay, we’ve got Sawyer. Now, what’s a plausible reason he’d become that person – and more, what’s in that reason that’ll make us like him.

Take a stereotype and deepen it. Repeat the process with every character.

Cos’ that’s all the characters of Lost are. Sterotypes individuated by backstories. And that’s not a bad thing – I think the series designers gleefully indulged themselves in assembling a cast of sterotypes.

Another thing I find interesting. Americans make up the majority (that have been featured so far on the island). The show is creating conflictual relationships between Americans and Iraqis (and Americans and Koreans). Maybe it’s a metaphor for the US confronting the outside world

Things I’m wondering now:
Where’s the monster?
What’s Hurley’s story?
Did Lost suffer (in the same way as The O.C.) from having an order of 26 (?) episodes instead of the planned-for 22? Does this explain the slump I sensed in the middle order eps?