The Pop Tart

I think I'm over Lost. At the start of this season they put Veronica Mars on opposite the ABC show and that meant I could only watch when VM wasn't on or in repeats. That's turned out to be just fine. I'm pretty caught up with the show (thanks to video and repeats) and I've lost interest.

In terms of television, dramas are where it's at for me. I rarely watch current comedies - in fact the only one's I've watched with any regularity this season are My Name is Earl and The Office. Give me drama and character development and long-term relationships that have ups and downs and I'm yours.

That's what I thought I'd gotten with Lost. During the first season I loved the set-up of forty people stranded on a mysterious island. How would they cope? How would it change them? And despite the fact that I'm not a fan of flashbacks, I liked the use of them here. By discovering what led them to the island we got to learn so much about them. But the flashbacks continued. And nothing changed. And I realized that very little character development was actually happening. How is that possible?

Every episode focuses on one character and we get flashbacks. Problem is, nothing comes of them. We discover something about them and next episode it's basically dropped so that the writers can flash back in someone else's life. So many story lines are dropped or used for dramatic effect. But very little progresses on the island. Even in the real time of their lives on the island. Kate and Claire and Rousseau go off to find medicine for Claire's baby. They find another hatch and a facility and Kate finds evidence that the Others are faking their mountain men look. Is there a conversation about this? Not that I've seen.

These characters don't behave like real people. Sure I get that this is tv, but give me a break. Why is there no discussion of anything? Comparing of notes?

This isn't supposed to be a rant about the plotting. But the plotting is what is getting in the way of the dramatic potential of these characters. I'm probably in the minority but I want to see how these people are dealing emotionally. They've been on this island for two months and yet, outside of each episodes little action/adventure plot, they seem just fine. They live on a nice beach and have plenty of food. No drama there.

I'll probably still tune in from time to time when VM is on hiatus, but I'm not dying to see it anymore. Okay, anything about Sawyer will probably keep me coming back too.