Didn't like the ep? Tell us why. :biggrin:






This thread is for those that did NOT like the episode. If you liked the ep please visit the "Loved it!!!" thread. If you want to debate the episode (likes and dislikes), then please take your comments to the "Rate This Episode" thread or start your own topic. Any off topic posts will be deleted and possibly warned or given infraction points.

Can't say that I hated it, but this was definitely one for Desmond fans first and foremost. First episode where the entire episode was flashback except for the first ten minutes and the last ~2-3 minutes. Thought they left the death of Eko a bit too roughly, of course Claire in peril helped draw our attention away from that fact.

So what exactly was Desmond's redeeming feature suppose to be again? The dude had absolutely nothing going for him, he was a total loser. So what attracted Penny to him? And how did a down and out loser meet an attractive daughter of a multimillionaire? They don't exactly hang in the same circles. Oh, right, suspension of disbelief.

And wow, what a multidimensional, textured character that Claire is. Not only is she completely defined as Aaron's mother. But she can also play the damsel in distress. Wow you don't see character development like that on Criminal Minds.

Glad we got back to the beach crowd too and got to see all the non JackKateSawyer characters. Locke and Sayid were around for all of about 10 seconds. And wasn't there some oriental couple on this show? And what about the black lady and her useless dentist? And I suppose Paulo was off dropping another deuce.

But it wasn't a total loss, THE HOBBIT IS GOING TO DIE! YES! YES! YES! Maybe there's hope for this show afterall.

Hmmm the only reason I'm finding myself not liking this episode is because I feel like the creators gave me the impression that time travel would not play a part in the series at all. It took a twist that I really wasn't expecting, but also really was hoping wouldn't happen. Characters going back in time, reliving parts of their life, over and over again? People in his life that know about the time loop he's in (the old lady in the diamond shop)? What's really going on?!?! Well maybe Desmond didn't really go back in time, but just relived the last few years in his mind, making slight changes. Or maybe it was a hallucination the island was making him live out while passed out after turning the failsafe key. I guess Desmond just being a precog doesn't really constitute "time travel", but I don't know... I was hoping the show's mysteries would be explained without any bends in the time continuom.

Anyone else feel like i do?

Hmmm the only reason I'm finding myself not liking this episode is because I feel like the creators gave me the impression that time travel would not play a part in the series at all. It took a twist that I really wasn't expecting, but also really was hoping wouldn't happen. Characters going back in time, reliving parts of their life, over and over again? People in his life that know about the time loop he's in (the old lady in the diamond shop)? What's really going on?!?! Well maybe Desmond didn't really go back in time, but just relived the last few years in his mind, making slight changes. Or maybe it was a hallucination the island was making him live out while passed out after turning the failsafe key. I guess Desmond just being a precog doesn't really constitute "time travel", but I don't know... I was hoping the show's mysteries would be explained without any bends in the time continuom.

Anyone else feel like i do?

I know exactly how you feel. I just posted a similar thought in a different thread. I liked the episode in one respect because the whole "space and time" issue is an incredibly lofty one, but on the other hand I don't feel like they've really laid very much ground work for it to be the "endgame." In fact I too thought I read direct quotes from the producers saying that the survivors of 815 had not traveled through time... I might be wrong, but I swore I've read or heard it before. Even if the writer's didn't rule out "time travel" specifically it seems like an awfully close cousin to the "it's all a dream" theory IMO. I can buy the idea that Dharma or the Others have been experimenting with Hawking-esque theories but I feel like having "time and space" bend is... as odd as this may sound... using too broad a brush to paint over plot holes.:undecide:

I don't feel like they've really laid very much ground work for it to be the "endgame."

you know... after reading through some other threads, i don't think desmond time travelled at all. in his past, the old lady really did exist, and she really was a shop-clerk-- but she didn't talk to him about fate or what he "needs to do". the old lady we saw was the island entity which took the shape of an old lady from desmond's past, similar to eko's brother. eko's brother started acting out of character and eko realized it wasn't him, just like this old lady really jumped out of her "nice old diamond shop lady" character to give desmond information.

The downside to this episode was too much Desmond and too little of the other Losties.

The best thing about the episode was no Jack/Kate/Sawyer!!!!!!!!!

Totally disappointed in this episode. They better make up for it next week.

Well, I'm not really sure how I felt about this episode overall. I love the character Desmond and I think his storyline has a huge impact on Lost's main theme, but I'm somewhat indifferent about this episode. As much as I wanted to love it, I actually found it quite boring and confusing in the beginning right after he turned the fail safe key. I honestly don't think this episode was the best one to follow NIP, but apparently, people on here loved the episode. I was glad to see the mythology come back from season one, but I feel "flashes before your eyes" missed the mark and could have been an extraordinary episode if it was less confusing in the beginning.

An hour of my life, I'll never get back again.......

I only hope at some future point, this epi plays into the "big picture", cause right now I just don't see how this one has helped move the plot along.

Oh well, there is always next week.

RJ

I liked the idea of Desmond's mind being thrown back into the past cause it was time travel without the cheesy time travel. It could have been him having his life flash before his eyes, or his conciousness actually being in the past, but it didn't matter because it was the past and therefore had to play out like it did. That was good for me, but then the old lady talked to him and it went downhill for me after that!

I hated it after that, because it made no sense WHY the woman was there. The theory that she was the island is from us, there is no evidence in the episode that says that at all. He asks her if she is his subconcious and she indicates "no". So now I want to know WHY she was there?? It could be that everyone that comes into contact with Desmond needed to make sure he followed the path he was supposed to. But how did she know that Desmond knew about the island already? How did she know that he was thinking of changing his mind? Why did she need to tell him anything if life was predetermined? How is it that life and death are seperate according to her? The construction worker was predestined to die and you can't change that, but if people die that weren't supposed to then you can change that??? WTF? So everyone is not supposed to die and SOMEONE determined that this was not supposed to happen and so Desmond had to do what he did to prevent it? Who is making the decision that Desmond has to push the button? If that button was SO important, how come they didn't have more failsafes to make sure someone was pushing the button? How come it HAD to be Desmond and NO ONE ELSE??? They had better explain how if that old lady was part of DHARMA and they were able to put her back in time, how they couldn't explain to someone ANYONE what was going on and how they could help. Why destroy someone's life as opposed to someone who didn't have a life and might be willing to go to an island for 3 years???

Sorry I am just so frustrated with how they make it like there is no choice, but who are THEY? If they are god, I am done with the show, if it is the island, even more so. If they are scientists, they better explain how they had to pick one guy and just one guy to do this! You can not tell me that they couldn't find another guy to sail that boat if Desmond wouldn't, you can't tell me that as scientists that they couldn't figure out a way to fix the situation if they knew Desmond might be compromised. And I still don't understand how it can be that they knew that if Desmond didn't push the button, everyone would be dead, unless somehow he didn't do it....and if they don't explain all this, I will be so terribly pissed off!!!

The other thing that pissed me off was Desmond and his whole, I can't afford to take care of you, the woman that loves me and so I must let you go!!! It makes me sick that in today's society that is still considered even remotely sympathetic!!! What if it had been a woman breaking up with a guy because he was rich and she was poor....yeah, doesn't make any sense!! A tragic love story is moving when two people can't be together due to fate, not to one character's STUPID belief that he can't stay with a beautiful woman who loves him and is not phased by his financial status because he doesn't have any money. Its called taking stock of your life and doing something with it! Not once does he talk to her about doing something meaningful with his life with her at his side. Not once did she give the impression if he had talked to her about wanting to do that that she would leave him, so his whole moral dilemma makes not one shread of sense and thus has no sympathetic value!!! Desmond deserved everything that happened to him for being that stupid!!!

I fell asleep. Don't know if it was the epi or the time change.

A tragic love story is moving when two people can't be together due to fate, not to one character's STUPID belief that he can't stay with a beautiful woman who loves him and is not phased by his financial status because he doesn't have any money. Its called taking stock of your life and doing something with it! Not once does he talk to her about doing something meaningful with his life with her at his side. Not once did she give the impression if he had talked to her about wanting to do that that she would leave him, so his whole moral dilemma makes not one shread of sense and thus has no sympathetic value!!! Desmond deserved everything that happened to him for being that stupid!!!



Yeah, I don't get this whole Desmond/Penny thing. It makes no sense and does nothing to make me sympathetic toward their relationship. I couldn't care less if they are together or not.

The scene with Desmond and Charles Widmore was heavy-handed and ridiculously comical. Why would anyone want to do anything to gain that man's respect? Frankly, I don't have any respect for someone who would care what Charles Widmore thought about them. Desmond just looks like a pathetic idiot at this point.

So Desmond was trying to save Charlie not Claire? Again, I don't really care. We haven't really seen Charlie since the season 2 finale. And at that time he abandoned those in the hatch explosion and went back to the beach to play kissy-face with Claire as though nothing happened. WHY SHOULD I CARE ABOUT HIM? Please, kill him off and take Claire too. In fact, take a half-dozen other pointless characters with them both.

I realize many fans love this episode but it didn't do much for me. This was the lowest rated new episode of Lost ever (12.77 down from 14.49 the week before). Fans are jumping ship fast. I would look for ratings to continue to plummet after this episode.

So, the amazing original awe-inspiring grand plot of Lost is the same as... Final Destination?

That was, hands down, the worst episode of Lost. If this board allowed swearing I'd be cussing up a storm right now.

Darn it. I just typed out a big chunk of a post and accidentally deleted it.

I agree with a lot of what's said above so I won't go over that again. Yet.

EDITED to move the substance of my comments to the new CRITIC LOST Constructive Criticism thread in General Lost Discussion:
http://thefuselage.com/Threaded/showthread.php?p=1381588#post1381588

He didn't leave her because of that... he left her to fulfill his fate, he just needed an excuse.

He couldn't very well walk up to her and say, "Sorry but I think I wanna end things. I gotta go to an island and push a button so everyone can live."

Pay attention next week, maybe you'll catch everything.

Why? What fate? Why did he believe the woman that he had a fate to fulfill? What did they show us that gave credence to anything she said? What changed from when he went to ask Penny to marry him and seeing the photograph? So the photograph was in the future....so? How did that prove that he had to fulfill his fate? He wasn't given any proof that everyone would die if he didn't go.

I guessed they were saying that he saw the photograph and thought that he couldn't avoid his fate, but then when he was in the bar changed his mind....buy why did he change his mind then? Why did he say before he did ANYTHING to change time that he could change things??? And then conviently he gets hit with the bat and thrown back to the island.

Which brought another annoyance for me. That scene with Jack in the stadium, it seemed like they were trying to say he remembered him cause he knew him on the island, but then he lost the flashback ability when he was thrown back to the island from bar scene.....so does that mean that he was still having flashbacks all during the time til he went to the island? Very confusing!

As for the breakup with Penny, why couldn't he say something like that? Or better yet how about just telling her to come on the boat with him? How about going to the island on his own terms? How about trying ANYTHING to hold on to the love of his life. No, he decides to give her the most LAME and cheap arse way out of the relationship! "Its not you its me!" That is how you treat someone you love more than anything??:confused: I just don't feel compassion for a guy that is not willing to fight tooth and nail for love. I can guarentee you anything that a mother told she will have to leave her child would do ANYTHING to prevent it....ANYTHING!

I just wish they had made the scene where he broke up with Penny more understandable. No one said that she would die if she came with him, no one said she couldn't come with him. And he should at least given her the courtesy of a choice. To come with him, to not, but to at least let her know that he returned her love above all else in their lives. No he tells her that she makes too much money and he can't deal with it, so he's just going to go....much better way to deal with the situation!

I get very annoyed when a story doesn't show you a character has no choice but instead has a mysterious character telling our character that he has no choice. It just seems cheap and you as the audience are not supposed to question the character's actions which can all be explained as "it doesn't matter, he has no choice". It would have been much better to show Desmond doing everything in his power to avoid going and no matter what he does, it still happened. That would have been cool. That I could have gotten behind and that would have made more sense to me. Instead we get scenes with the daddy telling him he is no good, and scenes with the mysterious woman who knows something but he doesn't ask the right questions, like "Who are you? Why should I believe you?" Blah!!!

Wow. That was boring. I watched online and after the first half of the episode decided to just listen to the dialogue in the background as I shopped for new sheets at overstock.com. It's gotten pretty bad when thread counts are more riveting than the 'big reveal' of what happened after the key was turned.

And yet, I inexplicably keep watching, so perhaps I should just shut up...

Hmm.. My initial reaction to this episode was positive. I did enjoy it. I enjoyed the mind-twisting-ness of it, but the more time that passes, the less sure I am that it had any purpose or was even all that well-executed, in terms of ultimately making any sense.

From my understanding, when Desmond turned the key, he had 'an experience'. If I had to wager a guess in terms of what 'physically' happened, I'd say he was blown out of the hatch, knocked unconscious, and then his mind engaged in this 'trip to the past'. I don't think he genuinely re-lived the past. It was all in his mind. His body was still lying in the grass on the island, but his mind was re-living the series of events that it felt led him to where he was now. He was re-participating in his past, but with the benefit of a foggy precongizance (is that a word?) of where his decisions would lead him. Sort of like having the same dream twice, only the second time around, you start realizing you've had that dream before, and you start 'remembering' things that will happen.

So, while his body is naked in the grass, he's reliving his 'greatest mistake'. Is it the island talking to him? Is it his own mind? I don't know. Ultimately, it only matters because when he does finally come to again on the island, he has retained his precognizance somehow, despite having not already experienced. What he experienced in his 'flashback' does not explain at all how he is currently able to glimpse the future.

Not only that, but how was Charlie supposed to be saving Claire if he was deep in the woods with Locke, Sayid, Desmond, and Hurley? If Desmond hadn't taken off running, by the time Charlie and co. had gotten to the beach, Claire would be long dead. Sure, he may have still tried to save a dead Claire and drowned in the process, but then wouldn't Desmond have said he was saving both of them?

I don't know. Too many things that were trying to be compelling and cool twists and revelations don't meet up, don't ultimately make sense, and I don't think the writers care. They couldn't explain Des' precog abilities, so they give him a freaky-cool flashback, and hope that no one really takes the time to think it through.

Ultimately, of course, they have their trump fallback - the island is giving him this ability somehow. They don't have to explain that any further if they can't think of anything better, based on the history of the show.

I was pleased that they devoted an entire episode to attempting to put an answer together to one baffling question ("How can Desmond see the future?") so soon after the question had been posed, but they ultimately fell short, unless I'm just too stupid to see it (possible, I suppose, but then I'd wager most people missed it, or didn't even think about it, and accepted it at face value - that turning the key gave him the ability somehow).

Locke and Sayid guest-starring in this episode was a joke. Eko's brushing off was a joke. Hurley's performance was laughable - I've seen more convincing acting in high school plays.

All that said, I still think this was the best episode of this season, because it took a BOLD step at returning to the mythology, even if it did fall short at a decent explanation. I'll take confusing, not-quite together mythology episodes over "WHO WILL KATE CHOOSE?!?!" episodes any day.

After thinking about it for a while my biggest problem with this episode is that it aired on February 14th. No,no... nothing to due with a Valentine's Day conflict. Where the hell was this episode during the "mini-season"? This episode and "Not in Portland" contained truly "What the #&*%?" moments, stuff that is the traditional caliber of Lost.

Putting this episode with "I Do" as two hour mini-finale truly leaves the viewers guessing about important questions. "Will Sawyer Die?" by itself is pretty blah, but if you throw in the Desmond/Charlie stuff in as well it feels more complete. Conversely, having "Flashes Before Your Eyes," as the reintroduction to the "beach people" was a horrible choice. By itself the episode spent a whopping 10 minutes with characters not named Desmond.

I shouldn't be surprised though, the writers hardly ever incorporate more than three characters into one episode anymore. Bad plot structure, bad scheduling, bad everything.

This ep was for some reason, really boring. and it shouldnt have been. they tried to get back the mythology a little bit which is promising, but on this occasion the whole thing was just a bit underwhelming...

Hey, sandlelford! I thought this would have been a better pre-break finale in November, too.

What I really would have liked to see were shots of Desmong flying through the air, blasted by the explosion of an imploding hatch, his clothes floating serenely down and draping through tiers of the purple lit and vibrating jungle, complete with a birds eye view of the area.

That would have been cool.

Note: the polar bear showed up in a panting in Widmore's office. AFAIK Desmond never saw a polar bear, doesn't even know about them.

He got flashbacks about the button when he heard the microwave going off. He remembered the island when he saw Charlie. He had already expressed his belief to his best friend that he had traveled back in time from the island. When the ring lady knew all about all this stuff without having any real way of knowing, i would imagine she would have appeared to Desmond as being incredibly much in the know.

Yeah, a solo race might look funny with two, but poking fun of one of my examples doesn't change the fact that they could have done that scene SO much better than they did. I would have felt much better if he had told her what was happening and let her think he was insane, so she could move on from him, over letting her think that her money made him leave her!

Not sure how any of the above PROVED that if he didn't push the button the entire planet was dead. She didn't give him any evidence other than she knew about the island to convince me that he HAD to go to the island. In fact she kinda contradicted herself. If Desmond was destined to go to the island, nothing she did or didn't do would change that. Indeed, nothing Desmond did would change that either.

She said that there was nothing she could do to change the person's fate who was killed by the scafolding. Seems to me that would include telling the person they are going to die, so what was the point of her telling Desmond? What did it matter if he took the ring? As she said about the guy dying, something would come up that would put him on the island cause it was his fate...so again, what was the point of her?

All I am saying is that they didn't really do a great job of explaining Desmond why Desmond should let fate put him back on that island.:frown:

Henry Ian Cusick was a good actor in this episode but terrible writing. Having his whole flashback take up 2/3 of the episode not a good idea.

Started off good then got boring. I kept saying to myself when are they going back to the beach.

In fact she kinda contradicted herself. If Desmond was destined to go to the island, nothing she did or didn't do would change that. Indeed, nothing Desmond did would change that either.

She said that there was nothing she could do to change the person's fate who was killed by the scafolding. Seems to me that would include telling the person they are going to die, so what was the point of her telling Desmond? What did it matter if he took the ring? As she said about the guy dying, something would come up that would put him on the island cause it was his fate...so again, what was the point of her?

That was my reaction to the woman as well. If the universe has a way of course-correcting, then what would it matter if he bought the ring? He obviously wouldn't be able to change anything. So why would the woman say "if you don't, we're all dead"? Wouldn't it be more consistant if she said "Take the ring, don't take it, it doesn't matter."?

She certainly contradicts herself by sending two messages: First, she indicates that Desmond's choices could have drastically differing effects. Second, she tells Desmond straight up that his choices would have no impact on anything.

Eh? Could have been better.

She certainly contradicts herself by sending two messages: First, she indicates that Desmond's choices could have drastically differing effects. Second, she tells Desmond straight up that his choices would have no impact on anything.



I was thinking along those lines; if it's inevitable and the course-correction is going to happen, then why not grab the ring? If Penny and Desmond are meant to be wrenched apart, then it would be better to have it involuntarily then by voluntarily chalking it up to fate because some lady said so. I liked the Desmond that tried to help the bartender despite fate over the Desmond who bought into the nonsense of "you can't change anything". And her calling the death of that guy wasn't enough of a setup in authority that notihng could be done, since all she showed was that something was going to happen and she didn't do anything!

I love Lost and love nearly all episodes, but this was the worst since Lost began for me. What did we learn?

We know how he ended up on the island. We knew he has sone weird seeing into the future thing going on. We know about Penny and Widmore. Only thing we did learn was Charlie is probably a gonner

I love Lost and love nearly all episodes, but this was the worst since Lost began for me. What did we learn?



We learned that McCutcheon whiskey is expensive. :biggrin:

I did not like it. The whole Desmond thing probably could have been done in 5-7 minutes, with a few scenes clipped together to tell the "backstory" more quickly. This show can't continue to waste entire episodes on one person and one facet of the whole story and still keep interest.

Keep the backstories to a minimum. Bring back MORE of the cast for MORE of the episodes.

I'm seriously considering bailing out on this show.

:confused:
The longest FB ever
I was asking myself if I was watching an episode of LOST.
Where are the the Losties? where is the B story?Is it too much asking to have an episode where the majority of characters play a part in it ?
I'm sorry to say that but it was disappointing and forgettable.One small consolation though : No Jack.
At this point ,I'm starting to wish Sawyer's death so I'd quit watching this show.

The problem with this show is that it is now irrelevant. The reason the "didnt love it" thread only has 20 responses is not because it was well liked, its because people dont care anymore.

Its tiresome to debate the same things week after week, so less and less people do it. There are less people watching, and most that do just do it for entertainment purposes, not intellectual.

Its a shame because it wasnt like this in season one. People watched with great promise of things to come. Now that those things have come, nobody cares. And nobody has the energy to get in spirited debates because its like arguing the difference between having to watch a bad horror movie or a bad comedy, they are both just bad.

The problem with this show is that it is now irrelevant. The reason the "didnt love it" thread only has 20 responses is not because it was well liked, its because people dont care anymore.

Its tiresome to debate the same things week after week, so less and less people do it. There are less people watching, and most that do just do it for entertainment purposes, not intellectual.

Its a shame because it wasnt like this in season one. People watched with great promise of things to come. Now that those things have come, nobody cares. And nobody has the energy to get in spirited debates because its like arguing the difference between having to watch a bad horror movie or a bad comedy, they are both just bad.

Exactly, and the headline from AP an hour ago bears this out: "New 'Lost' episode hits a ratings low." You can't double fake and triple fake on every little thing and answer a handful of questions while opening up 50 more. Yahoo, 3 answers next week, a season and half after most people cared...

I have to say that this was the first time I was ever bored watching a Lost episode. I watched it with my friend and we talked throughout a great portion of it. I too kept wondering when we were going to get back to the beach. We were promised that with the start of the second part of the season, we would be right back with the beach characters again. There are some though that I haven't seen in ages.

I have also definitely noticed a change on these boards as of season 3. During the past two seasons, there were so many posts full of intelligent, creative discussion, speculating about all sorts of different aspects of the show. Now I find that there are less and less of these types of posts.

Although I am still intrigued about the show and want to continue to watch, it is nowhere near as exciting for me as it used to be.

Hmm.. My initial reaction to this episode was positive. I did enjoy it. I enjoyed the mind-twisting-ness of it, but the more time that passes, the less sure I am that it had any purpose or was even all that well-executed, in terms of ultimately making any sense.

From my understanding, when Desmond turned the key, he had 'an experience'. If I had to wager a guess in terms of what 'physically' happened, I'd say he was blown out of the hatch, knocked unconscious, and then his mind engaged in this 'trip to the past'. I don't think he genuinely re-lived the past. It was all in his mind. His body was still lying in the grass on the island, but his mind was re-living the series of events that it felt led him to where he was now. He was re-participating in his past, but with the benefit of a foggy precongizance (is that a word?) of where his decisions would lead him. Sort of like having the same dream twice, only the second time around, you start realizing you've had that dream before, and you start 'remembering' things that will happen.

So, while his body is naked in the grass, he's reliving his 'greatest mistake'. Is it the island talking to him? Is it his own mind? I don't know. Ultimately, it only matters because when he does finally come to again on the island, he has retained his precognizance somehow, despite having not already experienced. What he experienced in his 'flashback' does not explain at all how he is currently able to glimpse the future.

Not only that, but how was Charlie supposed to be saving Claire if he was deep in the woods with Locke, Sayid, Desmond, and Hurley? If Desmond hadn't taken off running, by the time Charlie and co. had gotten to the beach, Claire would be long dead. Sure, he may have still tried to save a dead Claire and drowned in the process, but then wouldn't Desmond have said he was saving both of them?

I don't know. Too many things that were trying to be compelling and cool twists and revelations don't meet up, don't ultimately make sense, and I don't think the writers care. They couldn't explain Des' precog abilities, so they give him a freaky-cool flashback, and hope that no one really takes the time to think it through.

Ultimately, of course, they have their trump fallback - the island is giving him this ability somehow. They don't have to explain that any further if they can't think of anything better, based on the history of the show.

I was pleased that they devoted an entire episode to attempting to put an answer together to one baffling question ("How can Desmond see the future?") so soon after the question had been posed, but they ultimately fell short, unless I'm just too stupid to see it (possible, I suppose, but then I'd wager most people missed it, or didn't even think about it, and accepted it at face value - that turning the key gave him the ability somehow).

Locke and Sayid guest-starring in this episode was a joke. Eko's brushing off was a joke. Hurley's performance was laughable - I've seen more convincing acting in high school plays.

All that said, I still think this was the best episode of this season, because it took a BOLD step at returning to the mythology, even if it did fall short at a decent explanation. I'll take confusing, not-quite together mythology episodes over "WHO WILL KATE CHOOSE?!?!" episodes any day.

I feel much the same way, Vertical.

This was the most interesting episode in a long time but having spent much of Season 2 wrecking the fate storylines, the mythological aspects etc they can't turn it back on with one episode.

TPTB have an island with unexplained mysteries and it's their greatest weapon - they killed Eko off and the explanation is the island did it through Smokey - Season 3 and still nothing about what that is. Now it has given Desmond a power.

I think it's called desperation.

I don't care about Claire simply because she's been trashed, poorly written for about a year. Same goes for Charlie.

Now if Desmond had really travelled in time, Charlie would remember the incident whilst he was busking. I think Desmond being nude is a wink towards Terminator and how Arnie arrived in 1984 without any clothes. I just don't think it will lead anywhere, much like most of the strange happenings on the island - TPTB have simply dropped them or given an explanation that was nothing like what they had implied.

And regarding comments about the acting - i think many of them are p****d off with how their characters have " developed " since Season 1. The strong male leads and Claire and Kate have been reduced to soap opera clichés.

hello happy or unhappy posters.

just a reminder, this thread is for what you didnt like about this particular episode. it is not for general complaints about the series as a whole, or what you think TPTB are doing or any other off topic comments.

it is only for the discussion of what you did not like about Flashes Before Your Eyes.

all other comments will be deleted. thank you.

Hello halfrek,

So lovely to see you again.

I have started a new CRITIC LOST thread in the Lost General Discussion forum for those of us who need to include more rounded and all-encompassing observations than are permitted on this thread.

I beg you to please leave this link here so our friends who traditionally post on the "Eh (now Didn't)" thread will find their way to the new playground.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

http://thefuselage.com/Threaded/showthread.php?p=1381588#post1381588

Hello halfrek,

So lovely to see you again.

I have started a new CRITIC LOST thread in the Lost General Discussion forum for those of us who need to include more rounded and all-encompassing observations than are permitted on this thread.

I beg you to please leave this link here so our friends who traditionally post on the "Eh (now Didn't)" thread will find their way to the new playground.

Thank you in advance for your consideration.

http://thefuselage.com/Threaded/showthread.php?p=1381588#post1381588

lovely to see you again, too. as for leaving this link, i don't think that it is a problem as long as this info is posted just the once. you may want to consider putting the link in your siggy to avoid reposting it over and over again. thanks.

The problem with this show is that it is now irrelevant. The reason the "didnt love it" thread only has 20 responses is not because it was well liked, its because people dont care anymore.

Its tiresome to debate the same things week after week, so less and less people do it. There are less people watching, and most that do just do it for entertainment purposes, not intellectual.

Its a shame because it wasnt like this in season one. People watched with great promise of things to come. Now that those things have come, nobody cares. And nobody has the energy to get in spirited debates because its like arguing the difference between having to watch a bad horror movie or a bad comedy, they are both just bad.



Yes and I don't care anymore. I taped this weeks episode because my son wanted me too and frankly after seeing last nights episode and watching the fall from grace of this show, that has become boring I really don't care anything about the show itself anymore. I may get myself banned for speaking my mind, but that is really no problem for me anymore. I'd rather watch something else or go to bed. The fact that Charlie seems to be the next one to bite the bullet is sad because Lost has become a cliche'. Every year one or two of the main characters die and yet we are given more questions and not enough answers. My main complaint has been that all along.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I don't have much patience left for this show. I thought this eppy was going to take us back to the beach. All it did was take us back to lost in Desmond's flashbacks. I started watching Lost for the original Beachies. Then we got lost in the Others. Now we're lost in Desmond's flashbacks. I'm not sure what information this was show was supposed to give us, but if I want to watch time travel/black holes/life regression I'll watch SciFi Channel.

I think that my biggest problem with this episode was that it raised questions unrelated to the current issues the show is dealing with. Nothing was answered, and I left more confused than I was at the beginning.

Thank goodness Hurley had a few good lines this episode, or else I would have considered this an unredeemable disappointment.

:confused:
I was asking myself if I was watching an episode of LOST.
Where are the the Losties? where is the B story?Is it too much asking to have an episode where the majority of characters play a part in it ?


I felt exactly the same way. Where are the Losties? This episode was all about Desmond with a brief flash of Charlie and Hurley. I loved Lost because of the ensemble cast and the way they worked together. This season has been like a spin off of the original show with only a few characters in each episode. I like Desmond but once again there was just too much of one character in this episode with barely a sighting of the remaining cast.

I felt exactly the same way. Where are the Losties? This episode was all about Desmond with a brief flash of Charlie and Hurley. I loved Lost because of the ensemble cast and the way they worked together. This season has been like a spin off of the original show with only a few characters in each episode. I like Desmond but once again there was just too much of one character in this episode with barely a sighting of the remaining cast.

Cuse and Lindelhof, in the meantime, continue to tell us to be patient. It will all make sense in the end. In the Entertainment Weekly inteview, they acknowledged the risk they were taking with this episode and the altered flashback format. They said it would be the first and last time the format was used, and that viewers would either hate it or love it, that they'd either get it or they wouldn't.

It's hard for me to tell if the gamble paid off, but it looks like a lot of people are not happy. Except, maybe, the Desmond lovers.

My biggest issue with this episode is that the character of Desmond is now completely invalidated. Since we know he is never going to get back together with Penny, why watch the show? To torture ourselves? And why do we care about her character? She is looking for him and now we know she won't find him, thanks to old lady at the shop...an awful character btw...completely agree with the earlier post about how this episode is the same as Final Destination.

JJ, you can do much better than this....look at what you have accomplished so far: an incredible tablet of vibrant narrative and riveting characters, including Desmond and Penny, and you chuck it all in favor of a plot from a 3rd rate horror film?

This episode is a particular waste because I think that Penny and the actress that play her are fantastic. Now it just seems pointless to watch the heartache that is going to unfold. I don't mind tragedy if it comes in the natural course of a plotline but when it is so planned out like this....really awful.

I hated last night's ep and I really want not to. I'm honestly amazed that the feedback all over the internet is so positive. I've followed along since the first episode and last night did nothing but tick me off. Yes, it was different, it was groundbreaking for the show going in different directions. I guess you can say I hated and loved last night's ep if that's even possible, because it is afterall...Lost.

The episode just raised some giant, confusing questions when I thought it was going to clarify some big things. They've dropped hints about Des...Locke's speech, the lightening. I thought this episode would explain HOW he has precog abilities. And the answer isn't "Turning the key caused it" because that doesn't explain a thing. HOW is he doing it?!

Did he actually go back in time or was it a concussion induced vision? A dream? What? I know "His life flashed before his eyes" but that is also not an answer. Reliving a large chunk of your life isn't a "flash". Its either a "flash" or he went back in time, which is it? Lost time? Time travel? Tesseract? WHAT?!

And how do you keep having flashes that haven't happened? If your life flashes before your eyes, it flashes scenes from your life up until the moment of your death, not parts of your life that haven't happened yet.

OK, the jewelry store Matrix lady. Who on earth is she? Is she one of the Others? Is she part of Desmond's imagination? How does a "flash" of a woman from your past all of sudden become self-aware and lead you on some "There is no spoon" exercise?

I just don't get it. Yes, I have faith that our patience will be rewarded with some amazing answers. It will all tie together and be mind blowing. I just really wish we could get some solid answers that still haven't been answered from the first season before we open up a Pandora's Box of more and more questions.

I'm just tired of so many unanswered questions. Yes, we have gotten answers to big stuff, I'm very well aware of that. And I have faith that in the end it will all tie together and the pay off will be amazing, but..... We gotta have something in the mean time is all I'm saying. I kinda feel like we are getting the bait and switch. We have a long list of big questions that we are waiting patiently to get the answers to....questions still waiting from season one for crying out loud....and now they bring in this huge Desmond production hoping we will be distracted with the excitement and just forget some of the questions we have been waiting for. That's just not fair to the hardcore fans. I still want to know what The Radio Tower is, I still want to know who Brennan is and why he has the keys, I still want to know what exactly happened to Danielle's team and what "The Sickness" is.

The momentum for me is starting to overload. The plot device of solving a mystery with more elaborate questions was very exciting for the first two seasons. But I'm ready to get some resolution before we move on to something as huge as Desmond's experience, whatever that experience was. Dream? Vision? Time travel? What was it?

I posted this in another thread, but it really belongs here:

What did we really get in this episode? A Desmond flashback shown from an entirely different viewpoint in that he 'thinks' he's re-living it and is aware of what's going to happen so therefore might be able to 'change' things. Add the old lady (ghost of Desmond past, or his subconscious - whichever you prefer) telling him, nope, you did things this way and that's the way it's going to be, period. That was a nice story-telling twist on the normal FB formula. I considered it an improvement on the stale FB's we saw last season. How they're going to fit it into what we supposedly know about Desmond's back-story remains to be seen (maybe).
Second, we saw that Des now has precognition (we really, actually SAW some of it - Locke's speech, lightning rod, and drowning Claire) - that's a pretty cool twist and the writers can do a lot with it if they follow that path creatively.
Finally, we see that Desmond thinks he CAN change the future because he tells us that 2 of the events he says he foresaw, were changed, i.e. Charlie's death. The implications of that are significant as they 'imply' that he might have been through them once before, OR, he just 'saw' the event as it was going to occur and therefore took pre-emptive action to change things. Haven't we seen this someplace before...

While I agree completely with Malachy, Sandleford, et. al. on mythology/story resolution, I gave up on it with the 'implode the hatch - purple sky' arc. That was pure nonsense and I've given up on ever getting answers there. I'm now in that stage of viewership that should be called 'post non-answer depression', which means simply that I Tivo Lost now and will watch it with mild and waning interest. A spark of hope remains but we'll see if this ends up the 'cult' show as originally prognosticated, or maybe a return to some of the initial excitement can be generated. It all comes down to the writing, which once was there, but now is not... Just my opinion, of course.

Oldwiz

I'm sorry, but I didn't need almost an hour long flashback just to learn that Charlie is destined to die. When Desmond was first introduced, I found him to be an interesting character with some potential. After this episode, I could care less. As for Charlie's prophecized doom, all I can say is Meh. :bored:

I thought this episode was boarderline pointless, the main question pounding in my brain, what the hell does traveling into the past/having visions of the past, have to do with seeing the future?! Idiocy....
anyway I sure hope Charlie dies, that guys a waste of airtime, and we'd better start getting some real answers quick or I'm going to fly to LA (or wherever this show is made) ***Mod edited***

BlackSpiral, if you want to continue posting here, then go and read the FAQ (http://www.thefuselage.com/Threaded/faq.php) and site rules (http://www.thefuselage.com/Threaded/faq.php?faq=general_site_info#faq_general_site_rul es), especially the part about "Courtesy to VIPs". Comments like the one I just removed from your post will not be tolerated!

I'm sorry, but I didn't need almost an hour long flashback just to learn that Charlie is destined to die. :bored:
When I heard him say this, my first thought was "Aren't we all destined to die???" :confused: I thought that was a pretty lame prophecy.

I definitely agree with you on that one. I think what was so interesting about the show before was that although it seemed somewhat unrealistic at times, the writers made the mysteries seem like they could be real and they had answers. This on the otherhand, is almost too much to handle. They keep adding more twists, and we still don't know what is happening with the rest of the previous mysteries!!

My biggest issue with this episode is that the character of Desmond is now completely invalidated. Since we know he is never going to get back together with Penny, why watch the show?


I think they plan on reuniting Desmond with Penny in the end. I think they wanted this episode to give background on their relationship and tell us why their "great love affair" (cough, cough) ended.

The problem is I didn't know why anyone would really care about them because the reason their relationship ended was ridiculous. The scene with Desmond and Charles Widmore was horribly contrived, poorly written, and over the top. Charles came off like a ridiculously cheesey comic book villian. Why would Desmond want to prove his worth and win the respect of that idiot? I don't feel any sympathy or empathy for Desmond for ending the relationship with Penny so I could care less if he sees her again.

The whole Desmond/Penny plotline is yet another example of TPTB seeming as though they have no idea what they're doing. It's almost as though, and I know this is going to be a shock, they didn't have this planned out and are now trying to crowbar this Desmond/Penny crap into the story.

I didn't really see how anything in this episode contributed to the overall story, except for the Charlie thing,
If Desmond really went back in time, this would contradict the whole there is no time travel in LOST that TPTB have told us.
If he was just dreaming/vision , then everything we saw, may or may not really have happened in his past, so how are we take anything from his flashback/vision/dream as a factual event in his past. So really we have no new info on desmonds past that we can rely on as being truthful.

Oh well, hope it gets better next week.

I'm a big Desmond fan, and basically, I hated this episode.
It was pointless if he did go back in time, and even more pointless if he didn't. It was really boring to me. After the opening scene of him going back in time, I was like "OK, he went back in time. I get it!!" They could have accomplished so much more with this episode.They could have shown some of the neglected characters, they could have actually solved some mysteries. All they did was waste almost the entire episode drilling it into our heads that he went back in time. I almost fell asleep a few times during it because it was so slow.
I know that almost everyone except me loved this episode. For some, it was their favorite episode ever. But for me, it was one big pointless flashback.

I like Desmond. I really hoped to enjoy this episode, but all the ideas, the character development, the mystery element, were poorly executed - simple as that. There was potential here for a well-constructed episode but it wasn't well-written, and the direction was clunky, uninspiring. I also found some of the acting a little tortured too. I normally love Henry Ian Cusick, but he was over-emoting here. And I found the drinking scene with Charlie and Hurley really laboured and false. I didn't rate Dom and Jorge here either, which is a shame. Poor direction I think.

I like Desmond. I really hoped to enjoy this episode, but all the ideas, the character development, the mystery element, were poorly executed - simple as that. There was potential here for a well-constructed episode but it wasn't well-written, and the direction was clunky, uninspiring. I also found some of the acting a little tortured too. I normally love Henry Ian Cusick, but he was over-emoting here. And I found the drinking scene with Charlie and Hurley really laboured and false. I didn't rate Dom and Jorge here either, which is a shame. Poor direction I think.

I actually walked into the kitchen, then went to do some stuff, keeping the episode running in the background, and I didn't even have the impression it would have aded another dimension. Just another bunch of useless flubber TPTB throw at us without getting us further. They STILL didn't learn did they?

I hated this episode.
It was pointless if he did go back in time.

i just listened to the official podcast, and they confirm that he did, in fact, go back in time. they stated that he was given a second chance to make different decisions, but the universe course-corrected itself to have him make the same decisions. that is really annoying. i mean, so technically he opened up a second timeline, since he lived through that period of his life after falling off the ladder 2 different times. how are they going to deal with that?!?! grrrrr

Personally, I didn't like the title of the episode. Maybe it's just me, but every time I read the title, I think "Hot flashes before your eyes."

Ha-Ha.

The problem with this show is that it is now irrelevant. The reason the "didnt love it" thread only has 20 responses is not because it was well liked, its because people dont care anymore.Very true for me! Season 1 I read the board theories and posted about mythology. Season 2 found me planted in the Eh thread, arguing passionately in hopes they would put LOST back on track.

Season 3 I gave up shortly after Ep 1 and stopped posting, because it was that bad.

I enjoyed this episode more than any other I've watched this season, but not for the plot or the conundrum or even Desmond's character. I just love Henry Ian Cusick's charisma and energy; I think Desmond's dilemma as lover blocked by rich, mean, evil father is a very old tired plot that worked well for Plautus and Shakespeare.

What's next in the plot retreads? I know, Alex and Carl are heir to two rival families among the Others, but sadly, Carl killed Alex's cousin and her dad put a death sentence on him! This is not entertaining or creative plot drama, and I didn't like it when it first came up during the Season 2 Finale. I liked Desmond's character in S2 before he ran into the jungle and the Finale role OTHER THAN the Penny romance.

I stuck with the flashback while it was unfolding, interested in where it was going with alternate reality or what -- until it ended in a big confusing mess. Then I didn't care enough to try and unravel what they were getting at. I've read many great classic time travel stories, and they generally succeed by being clear, even if they end in an impossible conundrum with a chicken and egg loop --the ones that work still make it clear what the premise is. This failed.

Ultimately I enjoyed the episode in the moment because I can be enthralled by this actor into suspending criticism for an hour, but it left me with nothing except the feeling I'd been played at 3 card monty or something. All show and no substance.