Linus & Locke, Together Again?

JJ Abrams, the current he-wh0-can-do-no-wrong in Hollywood, has a new TV series in the works. Not Under Covers, which is already on the way, or Alcatraz, which is just at the pitch stage. This one is called Odd Jobs, and would star Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson as retired government assassins living in quiet suburbia.

Things I like about this:

• Emerson and O’Quinn are tremendous actors, and had terrific chemistry on Lost. However, their final scene together was somewhat lacking, and I felt, watching it, that these two actors, who are clearly friends, had more work to do.
• Old, retired secret agents? That’s been done. In fact, the new movie Red is another take on the topic. And it’s easy to think this could fail, except for the people involved.
• Michael Emerson is very, very funny, and this project is said to be conceived as being on the light side. In fact, O’Quinn came up with the idea as Lost was ending. Giving these two guys a chance to be funny means it appeals to me even more; we had plenty of small tastes of it before.
• Plans call for it to be made for cable, which means one thing and one thing only: boobs. Wait, I meant mature themes and smarter content than you’d find on network TV. Yeah, that’s what I meant.

This show may never be made, but it’s cool to hear the actors involved are still talking about working together. That’s a real treat, and would expose to non-Lost fans the amazing performance power and killer chemistry between two of the show’s heaviest hitters.

Lost: New Man In Charge

This will probably be the last thing I write about Lost.

It’s called New Man In Charge. I haven’t seen this illegally leaked 12-minute epilogue, which doesn’t actually come out until the Season 6/Complete Series release later this month. That would be illegal. But if I had …

My first response would be that it’s a funny nod to the fans who wanted more answers in the finale. When the two aging hippies say “We want answers!” the audience would nod and say “Yeah, man.” But then they ask the lamest questions … 20 years in a Dharma warehouse and you want to know about the fish biscuits? Really? I guess that’s why you worked 20 years in a Dharma warehouse.

The sequence at the Santa Rosa hospital raised even more eyebrows, and I have only two (one if I forget to pluck). How are the events of this sequence even possible? I get that it’s 2010, and three years have passed in the real world since we last saw our friends in the real world. But what could have happened to have brought “Keith Johnson” to Santa Rosa?

There are some explanations, and they’re interesting. Outside Dharma never knew Island Dharma was gone. We know now what the Hurley Bird was, why the Hostiles hated the Dharma Initiative, why pregnancy was an issue, where the food came from and how Ben was able to access such amazing resources in the outside world. And also the burning question of Pierre Chang’s many names. I feel such a sense of closure …

I guess the most maddening thing, if I had seen it, would be the ridiculously bad acting. Lost was built on a foundation of solid performances, but everyone is clearly just showing up for a paycheque this time around. When Keith started to “cry,” I checked to see how much longer this thing was, or I would have, had I seen it. It plays more like an in-joke that was never meant to be seen than an actual epilogue to six years of mystery.

Its biggest fault is that it isn’t set on the island.

Here’s the deal: I liked the ending. I liked its avoidance of plot and its reliance on a spiritual story, because Lost was always, to me, a spiritual story. I enjoyed the gunfights, chases, mysteries, conspiracies, betrayals and Sawyer’s nicknames, but what made this show work for me was its emphasis on the idea of loss, and how it radiates through a community in ways people don’t notice, but feel.

I went back and watched the finale again after I didn’t watch the leaked epilogue and it worked better than ever.

Lost is not for everyone. But it was definitely for me. I’ll miss it. But now it’s over. And on we go.

Knitting On My Sofa

Season 6 of Lost began with our pal Sarah watching with us, knitting on my sofa. Season 6, and the series, ended the same way Sunday, with Sarah knitting on my sofa.

In between, she apparently joined a Japanese motorcycle gang. If you knew her, you would not be surprised.

Actually, they might be hairdressers. I want that guy’s hair, and don’t ask “which one.” You know.

Lost: It Only Ends Once

Please don’t read this if you haven’t seen the final episode of Lost, or if you ever intend to watch the show.

My island has been divided into two warring camps today, two groups of hostiles with opposing viewpoints and opposite philosophies.

On the other side of the island, by which I mean my house, is a person who thinks the finale of Lost is a colossal copout, a cheat, clear evidence that the producers and writers have been flying blind from the start. All their talk of having mapped the show out and “everything will make sense” is bullshit, she now argues. “I don’t ever want to watch or even think about that stupid show again,” she said a few minutes after Jack’s eye closed.

On this side is me: happy, content, moved and a little weepy over the gorgeous final notes of the series, those last scenes in the church, and Lost‘s vision of connectivity, love, loss and redemption.

• Honestly, this final episode was filled with characters reuniting with their long-dead loved ones. How could I not find peace in that kind of story?

Elizabeth hated it. But she is a pragmatist, and I am a dreamer, something that makes our relationship work very, very well. We’re like the black rock and the white rock on Jacob’s cave scale. We are order and chaos, yin and yang, and together we are an effective force.

If I were to say that to her, she would laugh at me.

I understand why she didn’t like the finale. She wants answers. She has wanted answers since the island started skipping through time. And she didn’t get them. Not the ones she really wanted, like “Where’s Walt?” and “Who was in the other outrigger?” and “What exactly is the damned island?”

I’m okay without the answers. I didn’t realize this until The End had ended, and I knew there would be nothing more. I let the message of Christian Shephard wash over me for a moment, and I let Jack’s realization of what had happened sink in. I thought about Hurley and Ben’s brief exchange outside the church and understood what that meant.

And I wished for a moment to be in the Lost world … not to be able to time-travel, or to live on a fantastic deserted island, but to be able to erase death and move forward, move on.

Lost was never about the action and mystery for me. Those trappings helped sell the program to me, and kept me engaged — really, how was I not going to watch a TV show about people stranded on an island where the rules of physics don’t apply and ancient conspiracies are woven into the tapestry, with time travel? It’s like it was made for me.

But from its first episodes, Lost was more than that. It was about the connections we make in life, how we lose them, and what that means. It’s about the things we’ve lost, not being lost. And it’s about being broken, and getting fixed.

Life doesn’t always provide answers. That’s something I’ve slowly come to accept. And Lost is like life in that respect. We didn’t get the answers. We got a message of hope, of love, of faith and of trust, one that was well-hidden in a powerful narrative that kept me engaged for six years.

I’m happy with the ending. In fact, with 24 hours to think about it, I will say that it exceeded my expectations and moved me on an emotional and spiritual level.

I’m content to let Lost go, now that I have that last five minutes.

Come to think of it, though, I guess I would like to know who was in that other outrigger.

Lost: The Finale

You didn’t really expect me to write anything tonight, did you? It’s the 5 1/2 hour series finale night for Lost, with extra Jimmy Kimmel afterward. Sarah’s coming over and she says she’s bringing lots of different kinds of chips.

Go read something else. I’m busy.

Lost: Jorge Garcia

We all know who the “best actors” are on Lost. We see Terry O’Quinn and Michael Emerson nominated for, and winning, Emmy awards. But I think one actor on the show has been lost in the shuffle.

Jorge Garcia has played Hurley since Day 1, and he’s done it well. Hurley, Hugo Reyes, has been the show’s face, the show’s voice, the character who asks the questions fans ask. “Are you a Terminator?” That sort of thing. Hurley is comic relief, goofy commentary on the out-of-this-world exploration of science fiction that’s Lost.

He brings us into what’s going on. He makes us laugh. He makes us feel. And sometimes, that involves other emotions than humour.

Without spoiling for you non-fans, and the Admiral, I will say that Jorge’s scene early in season 4, that moment when he had to break some bad news, was the most powerful performance of the season. And he did it again Tuesday, when his emotional response to a bad situation allowed all of us to share his grief. He made me cry. That’s amazing acting.

I worry that Jorge will become typecast because of his appearance. If that happens, that’s a shame. He is a far more talented actor than people expect, and to me, he has emerged as the finest actor on the show. He can be a goofy comic for episode after episode, but then he can whip out the talent when required.