So, Lost is nearing a close. There is still a full season and what, ten more episodes on this season? Before I miss my chance, should I try to really get into this show? That is, start to really actively join the research in each episode? It seems like a significant amount of time would be required to pick apart scenes, re-watch episodes, discuss in Lost-specific forums and use Lostpedia.
I have seen each episode only once. I am preparing to watch “Live Forever, Die Alone” For the most part, I have avoided reading any real spoilers. I have watched maybe one next-weeks-preview for this entire run. However, I often peek at spoiler boxes, but have never found myself finding anything really “spoiled”.
I decided to watch a preview for next week’s episode, but the “Lost” site on ABC.com is displaying a video called “Lost Untangled 506”, which is a sort of Robot Chicken esque, recap of the past week’s episode. I have paused it halfway through. Do I really want to know? While I might not ever know the “big picture” until the real end, do I really want to know all the little quirks and teasers? Will I appreciate and enjoy the series finale more or less if I know all these little bits, if I start to watch previews, and so on…?
*Note that I’ll still have an entire season-break before the last season starts, so I won’t be investing too much time in this…
What do you think? Where should I start, or what should I avoid?
Go ahead, rent or buy the earlier season episodes and watch in order. Some seasons way better than others. Don’t take it too seriously. I got into it late & I think it’s GradeA well-done pop culture fun.
Really, it is up to you. I’ve seen most of the episodes more than once. I enjoy the speculating and gamesmanship - to me that is part of the fun. The cool thing about this show is it can go about as deep as you want it to go. There’s some deeply buried nuggets they put in for the hardcore fans, but if you are just as happy going along for the ride, by all means.
No, you don’t need to. Some of that stuff is fun (mostly I just review stuff on Lostpedia after stuff happens in an episode and I want to remember more of the context). But there’s no need for this to be work – the show is creating mysteries, but it’s not really hiding the ball. That is, it’s not burying the answers to questions – it buries hints which you can consume or not, and then eventually it presents answers.
Lost Untangles (from the one I’ve seen) isn’t really untangling anything, it’s just a funny recap of the prior episode, maybe with some context. It’s not meant to give you secrets about the future, but make it easier to understand what’s going on now – especially for those who might not have seen every prior episode.