I'm Lost

I'm at a complete loss for the first time since I began writing. I'm not a writer by trade, a stark reality readily betrayed by my writing itself, but I always seem to manage more words than I expect, even when I think I have nothing to say. I've spent the last three days watching Akira Kurosawa's epic Shichinin no samurai(Seven Samurai) as well as Michael Jeck's in-depth commentary. I have a lot to say abut it but I've been advised that a comparison with The Magnificent Seven would make for a better article. I'm expecting that disc by the weekend, so that post will have to wait. I suppose I could use a trick I first learned of on The Happy Husband, in which a blog writer grabs the nearest book, turns to page 23, and uses the seventh sentence as a starting point for a post. It's a good technique and one I'll probably fall back on someday, but for today I'm simply Lost.

I liked J.J. Abrams work on Alias a lot, and January seems so far away for the new season to begin. One reason for the delay is certainly the fact that the star is busy working on Elektra. But the other reason is a show about plane crash that leaves about fifty people stranded on a deserted island in the South Pacific. I wasn't too keen on the dramatic version of Gilligan's Island, especially one set against Smallville which has been great this year. Actually tonight's episode where the girls are possessed by witches seeking Kryptonian artifacts was as bad as last week’s which featured a new interpretation of classic Superman villain Mr. Mxyzptlk as MIKHAIL Mxyzptlk, a foreign exchange student who can use his voice to make people do whatever he commands. His powers were tied in to the same frequency locusts use or some convoluted nonsense, and high frequency interference robbed him of his powers by the end of the episode. Yeah. Otherwise, it's been good this season.

Lost, however, has been better. I got hooked watching encore episodes and I've now been taping Smallville and following this show avidly. The castaways are strangers to each other as well as the viewer, but each week we learn their intriguing stories through flashbacks. Tonight focused on the island rogue, a con man who's been hoarding supplies from the crash and being generally unpleasant to everyone. As with every flashback so far, he proved to be more than what he seemed, harboring a hidden painful secret. Last week, we saw how a rock star became a drug addict, and ultimately like a moth emerging from a cocoon, found his way through withdrawal. There was no mention of him being a hobbit. An episode with the mysterious Locke, played by Terry Quinn, was the one that hooked me. By the end of his flashbacks we learn he was wheelchair bound prior to the crash, but on the island he's quite ambulatory and the group's best hunter. Jack, played by Matthew Fox, is a doctor who was bringing his father's body home when they crashed. A few weeks ago he kept seeing his father on the island and followed him until he found a freshwater spring, and an empty coffin.

The show is completely character driven. Each character has such unique individual tales to tell, and the interplay between them is remarkable. There's Kate, played by the gorgeous Evangeline Lily, certainly the object of desire for at least three of the castaways, though she herself was being escorted by a martial who died in the crash, leaving her crime as yet unrevealed. Many of the actors have been in high profile projects before this show, but never stars. Harold Perrineau Jr. was in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. Ian Somerhalder was in The Rules of Attraction and had a recurring role on Smallville last season as Adam Knight, who many fans suspected was a clever pseudonym for Bruce Wayne(Add “West Dark” in the middle of his name to see why fans fell for this red herring.). And then there's Daniel Dae Kim, an awesome actor who's had a more active career than people may realize. I first noticed his work on Angel, but have since seen him in 24, Enterprise, Hulk, Spider-man 2, The Jackal, and several AT&T ads. In a way, he's the Korean Samuel L. Jackson.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to think of something to write about and not be at suchan uncharacteristic loss for words. For now, I think I'll just keep watching this commercial. Frink out.