LOST: three eps into Season 6

Not loving it so far.

I think part of that is, one of those episodes spotlighted Kate. I peeked at Wikipedia to see if any more were still ahead, and thank FSM there aren't. That's the last one about her like that I'll ever have to watch. At least they got it out of the way early--first one after the season premiere, in fact.

Another part of it is, while I think they're handling the Sawyer grief arc well, I miss Juliet and wish he hadn't lost her.

As for the stuff that would happen if they landed in L.A., until the metaphysical status of it gets a little clearer (and maybe not even then), I'm finding it hard to take seriously or care about. It combines a lot of what I didn't like about the flashforwards from Season 4 (watching characters go about normal life off the island) with the fact that it doesn't even feel like it's happening in-continuity (which at least the flashforwards clearly did). As long as the characters are still on the island in some sense, that will feel like baseline reality, and the post-L.A. stuff will feel like an issue of What If . . . ? Even if it turns out to be another branch of actual reality, I'll have a hard time regarding it as the one that the characters I've followed all along inhabit. In fact, they would not inhabit it, because none of them would have gone through the life-altering experiences that have come to define them and my emotional attachment to them.

Lastly, I'm not even digging the on-island action so much, from what I've seen. Ben Morse and Sean T. Collins once aptly characterized the season-to-season progression/expansion of the narrative this way:

Season one, the survivors are clueless but there are these mysterious Others out there who we’re pretty sure know everything we want to know.

Season two, we meet Ben, who seemingly has all the answers.

Season three (?), Richard is introduced, and he’s clearly higher up the pecking order than Ben, who we see does NOT know everything. We also get our first hints of Jacob and Widmore.

Season four, more stuff is laid down about Widmore and Eloise, as it seems they know as much if not more than Ben. Richard and Jacob’s importance is also played up.

Season five, by the end Jacob and a new force are revealed to pretty much be the end all of the food chain (for now) and every character we thought had the answers up until now (Ben, Richard, Widmore, Eloise…to say nothing of the run of the mill Others) seems as clueless as the survivors. The point is really driven home by Ben, once the seemingly omnipotent and enigmatic master manipulator with all the answers, reduced to a confused and clueless pawn.
. . .
When they first landed on the island, there was no way to predict there’d be a giant monster or a cult of Others or a hatch.

When they first found the hatch, there was no way to predict that inside the hatch there’d be a Scotsman involuntarily recruited into some kind of utopian research project.

When they first discovered the inside of the hatch and the utopian research project, there was no way to predict that the creepy Others had nothing to do with it.

When they first discovered that the creepy Others had nothing to do with it, there was no way to predict that they basically lived like suburbanites.

When they first discovered that the creepy Others basically lived like suburbanites, there was no way to predict that there was ANOTHER group of seemingly even more well-connected crazy people out there trying to kill them as part of some long-running war.

When they first discovered the even more well-connected crazy people out there trying to kill them as part of some long-running war, there was no way to predict that the temporary solution for this was to fucking time travel.

And on and on and on!

Throwing in the temple crowd this season doesn't pack the same kind of punch as these developments to me. It just feels like a bunch of new characters got shoveled onto an already overfull plate. I'm like, "Jeez, now I have to learn a whole new batch of names and faces all over again?"

Then, I'm also missing Locke. His quirky, intriguing relatability could entice us to some pretty uncomfortable places, and the show was stronger for it. That character is dead now, and while we still have Terry O'Quinn delivering excellent performances, he's playing essentially a different character--one I don't know or care about yet, and kind of doubt I ever will. Sawyer put his finger on an important difference when he observed that this new guy lacks the fear that always lurked in Locke's eyes, even at his most grandiose. But that vulnerability was the root of Locke's appeal (or maybe "appeal"), and the show itself feels a bit harder, cooler, and more sterile without it.

We'll see. I haven't written the season off yet by any means, and still hope to come to an ultimately satisfying conclusion. We'll see . . .

P.S.--a couple things I forgot to mention about Sayid. Nobody can deny that his dishwasher-fu is strong! Man, that was like a gag-beat in a slasher flick. Then, just once, before the series ends, I want to hear him tell somebody, "I want your balls, sweetheart."