"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Lost: Desmond Deja Vu

The resumed third season of Lost continued tonight, with a more-or-less standalone episode devoted to Desmond - the man who was minding the hatch's countdown computer until Locke arrived (John Locke relieved Desmond David Hume - a nice philosopher's touch); who had some inexplicable meetings with Lost denizens (such as Jack) prior to arriving on the island; and who apparently can see the future.

As a time-travel tale, tonight's episode was pretty good. Charlie becomes aware of Desmond's abilities, especially after Desmond saves Claire from drowning (and also noticing that lightning was going to strike Claire's tent, earlier this year). Since the story is told from Desmond's point of view, we learn only at the end of the show that Desmond was actually saving Charlie - first from being struck by the lightning, then from drowning in an attempt to save Claire. Charlie, of course, has no knowledge of this, because Desmond changed history by stopping the causes of Charlie's death. So our Charlie has no idea that he died, then did not die, due to Desmond's intervention

It was also grand to see Fionnula Flanagan back on television, with Desmond in London - I loved her performance in Showtime's Brotherhood this Fall.

But I'm still waiting for a little more action in moving the fundamental mysteries of Lost forward to resolution. At this point we still know barely more than we knew at the beginning of the second season, in the Fall of 2005.

But I'm patient when it comes to the possibilities of great television - as I said last week - and I'm a sucker for time travel stories, to boot. So I'll give tonight's episode a thumbs up, and hope the coming attractions come through with their promise to resolve three big mysteries next week.

Useful links:

listen to 2 and 1/2 min podcast of this review: Levinson news clips

podcast: Time Travel in Fiction and Fact

my latest novel (time travel): The Plot to Save Socrates

see also my other reviews of Lost, and my review of the movie Deja Vu, in the archives of this blog

6 comments:

Unknown said...

I couldn't help but think of The Matrix as Desmond was talking to the old lady from the jewerly store. She reminded me so much of the oracle.

Paul Levinson said...

Yes, she did. Fionnula Flannagan has a powerful presence. She commanded every scene she was in on Showtime's Brotherhood this Fall.

Good to have your comment.

Anonymous said...

i'm on a self imposed ban for LOST ...
coz its not giving me any answers ...
i'm fed up of questions and loose ends of 2 full seasons ...
i'll start watching lost ... when they r ready to gimme some answers ...
till then ... enjoy the island ...

Paul Levinson said...

I can well understand that ban, subcorpus ... I've been thinking about Lost on and off all day, and just put up a blog post about it at http://paullevinson.net - Lost: Anatomy of a Loss

Anonymous said...

you'd have thought that one of the brits in this show would have picked up a couple of big factual errors - plus some extra dodgy british accents.
a. the "great brits" football team doesn't exist. each country has its own team - england, scotland, wales, ireland.

b. there is no pier in london, so it would have been a soggy lobster lunch.

Paul Levinson said...

good points, anon - I noticed the shaky Brit accents, too - and that soggy lunch is a shame...

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