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'Lost': Back and forth
OK, ladies and gents, it's feedback time. I need your help. I'm not usually one to ask for help. I mean, I'm a proud man. More often than not, I am in fact too proud to beg. Just how I am. But even I recognize a time and a place in which I must reach out to my fellow Lost fans and seek guidance.
Here's the issue at hand: we're rapidly coming to a close on Season 3 episodes for inclusion in the We Have to Go Back series. Shocking, I know. I mean, it seems like only yesterday, but it was actually back in early June. That means that this endeavor has lasted longer than most of the romantic relationships of my life. (Also, look how short that first entry in the series was. My God. Most now run the length of novellas. I'm not sure if this is progress or not.)
But with the end of Season 3 comes a crossroads. After all, I took over this blog in between Seasons 3 and 4, which meant I discussed each episode of Season 4 at great length as they aired. So here's the help I need: should the "We Have to Go Back" series end with "Through the Looking Glass"?
Here are the pros and cons as I see it for ending the series at that point.
Pros:
- The purpose of the endeavor was to provide a comprehensive guide for Lost fans. Recapping the first three seasons with the same attention to detail as my Season 4 recaps creates a complete encyclopedia of Lost information for both casual and hardcore fans.
- Since Season 4 is the most recent season, there's less room to really explore the "what we now know" aspect that's pervasive throughout the series.
- With Season 5 rapidly approaching, the site's best served in reviewing the upcoming Season 4 DVD release and start speculation on what's to come.
Cons:
- The Season 4 recaps weren't structured in the same way as Seasons 1-3. Therefore, in an effort to truly create a cohesive set of recaps, I should apply the "We Have to Go Back" format to Season 4's 13 episodes.
- There's enough interest in rewatching Season 4 for clues that another few weeks of the series would be worth it. I can simply skip Sections 4 and 8, link back to the original entry, and do "Mythology," "The Moment," and so on.
- Given that this is a non-spoiler site, there's only so much Ryan McGee-esque speculation you could take without wishing you had died in the Purge.
OK, so with that said, I'm going to leave it up to you. And while I know it's cheesy to beg for comments, I really want as many of you to chip in as possible. Post "Push the Button" if you want me to continue "We Have to Go Back" through Season 4, and "Turn the Failsafe Key" if you would like it to end with "Through the Looking Glass." The choice is entirely yours. Choose wisely.
Ryan also posts every 108 minutes over at Boob Tube Dude, then peruses Zap2It's Guide to Lost Facebook group. He also encourages you to join the all-new Zap2It's Guide to Lost Twitter feed.
Push the button.
(And although I hate to make more work for you, your insights into this show are remarkable, and I think it would do Season 4 justice.)
MK46 | Nov 27, 2008 6:40:49 PM | #"Turn the Failsafe Key"
Though I will rewatch Season 4 again anyways, I feel we should use the time to start speculating on "what is to come"
Shaggysteve | Nov 27, 2008 6:48:23 PM | #Of course it's up to you Ryan. I've been enjoying the recaps (though I confess I haven't been rewatching the eps.). You bring up the fact that this started back in June and I've got to tell you, that's a long time in the television viewing world. So my opinion is that I'd love to see S4 in the WHTGB format.
Besides, what the hell else are we going to do between now and the end of January?
push the button. i enjoy these.
griffey | Nov 27, 2008 7:28:04 PM | #push the button. when does season 4 come out again? or is it already out and i haven't been paying attention?
mri | Nov 27, 2008 7:45:36 PM | #Push The Button
How the hell can we come this far and just stop with the best lost season of all? I mean, enduring "Stranger in a Strange Land" will seem pointless if we don't finish the journey.
Jeff M | Nov 27, 2008 8:00:54 PM | #December 9th
Shaggysteve | Nov 27, 2008 8:03:32 PM | #Push the Button.
To quote the little Chinese girl in the first Rush Hour movie, "Yeah, push the goddamn button!" Sorry for the inappropriate Jackie Chan movie reference. :P
And as for "what the hell else are we going to do between now and the end of January," BotN, I was planning on having quite a lot of sex. It's cold around here. :P
Thorny | Nov 27, 2008 8:35:54 PM | #Push the button!
I think there'll be more things to notice in these later episodes after seeing the earlier ones so recently.
Great recaps, Ryan-- keep 'em coming!
Sara | Nov 27, 2008 8:41:09 PM | #Push the button or my people will kidnap your children.
I joke, but yes, let's keep this going. Those original entries, and even our comments on the episodes as they happen, were changing week by week and probably filled with often false theories and assumptions. Jacob knows I made many of those...
Also, if I recall, the original entries also weren't structured as analysis on a per-episode basis, it was just the "It Happened Last Night" entries doing recap and overall-show-analysis in the Lost blog, rather than combining the two the into episode-specific format of "We Have To Go Back".
I really like this format, and would like to apply it to Season 4. Besides, these recaps/analysis gives me motivation to rewatch episodes and Season 4 comes out on DVD around the time your Season 3 discussion comes to an end anyway.
There will still be lots of time to do in-depth discussions on themes and stuff in preparation for Season 5, IMO.
Other Sean | Nov 27, 2008 8:56:00 PM | #Push the Button
Ally | Nov 27, 2008 9:49:09 PM | #push the button!
i'm so ready for season 4 to come out on dvd. and use your commentaries to watch.
Push the button all the way!
Melissa | Nov 27, 2008 10:08:48 PM | #Push the Button.
And how about recapping 4-5 episodes of Season 4 per week instead of 3 episodes, since it's fresh in our minds? This will leave some time for speculation too.
Push the button.
I enjoy the style and it will give me another chance to watch S4 like the past 3 seasons.
Bryan | Nov 27, 2008 11:16:41 PM | #Push the button, please. But- if it's easier for you I totally don't mind the linking and skipping, I have just enjoyed the WHTGB series so much, it would be such a buzzkill to stop now..
sarahbree | Nov 28, 2008 3:00:36 AM | #Push the Button!!
You're the only one who deserves to make this decision, as it's your fingers that type up the posts. Us fans love to respond, but we don't write 3 or more blog entries every single week. If you're up for it, we'd love it. I do think that a link is just as good for the recap parts (4 & 8). Jumping to mythology and moments will take some length off the posts, and still provide the best thing, by far, of WHTGB: A comparison of events from different episodes, with a larger eye on connection and cause/effect. We don't all have the mindset necessary to put the puzzles together, and it's great to do it along with a blogger who's passionate enough about the show to notice things we never even considered. Also, I've been waiting for weeks to connect 'Flashes' to 'Catch-22' to 'Constant' along with the rest of the group.
Eric | Nov 28, 2008 4:23:59 AM | #definitely push the button.
but like others have said, there's no point in wasting time and energy to redo the recaps. simply tying in the mythology and re-viewing season 4 in light of knowing everything that now happens in it would give a new perspective, and hey, why start something this epic and awesome if you're not going to finish?
cheers42 | Nov 28, 2008 5:09:41 AM | #Push the button!
I think you're right in that you've covered season 4 in minute detail, but if you scale back and do each episode like the first few "We Have to Go Back" entries, you'll be able to get through season 4 and still have time for speculation on season 5.
Not doing season 4 would be a mistake, I think, because it goes against the spirit of covering every episode of Lost to date.
Now, the mobisodes; maybe we can skip those...
JeffC | Nov 28, 2008 6:42:29 AM | #I could live with your proposal of doing away with the recap portion and leaving just "the moment," "the mythology," "in retrospect" and "in summary."
But I'm also a completist. So given the choice, I say push the button, dude. Push that button.
| Nov 28, 2008 8:59:17 AM | #I could live with your proposal of doing away with the recap portion and leaving just "the moment," "the mythology," "in retrospect" and "in summary."
But I'm also a completist. So given the choice, I say push the button, dude. Push that button.
Sambob | Nov 28, 2008 8:59:32 AM | #Turn the failsafe key.
Ryan, aren't you going to talk about the Cuselof e-mail and video sent after the end of the ARG? I can't get sound on that thing, and I'd like to know what that's about.
sin laden | Nov 28, 2008 9:36:44 AM | #Hey, you can't double post just to increase the number of votes, that's cheating!
sin laden | Nov 28, 2008 9:38:16 AM | #The video in the email basically says, "We'll send you weekly emails with "inside" info on a weekly basis in lieu of having an ARG." Nothing too spectacular.
If anything comes up important in these weekly videos, I'll post about it, but somehow I doubt that will happen. They will rightly hold back all super awesome info so we can experience the season as fresh as possible.
Ryan | Nov 28, 2008 10:09:10 AM | #
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