Revisiting something that you liked is always an inspiring act. Not many do it. Most people can't watch a really good movie more than once. The mundane task of investing time and effort to go through something again is an imminent waste of time. Then, there are the hopeless romantics including the one writing this prose. For us, somethings can never grow old. Every time we go back, we may lose a lot of time, but, there's always some gain. Something we missed the first time around, that makes you go - "How did I miss this!". Having quoted that, a couple of weeks ago, when I tried selling the concept of 'Lost' to my sister in law, I saw the first two episodes along with her. She did not buy it I assume (as I use the same Netflix account as them and only I have resumed watching it).
The first time I saw Lost was in 2010, when Navneeth recommended it. It was a humdinger, but I watched it in such speed that I did not understand most of it. The story takes crazy turns and after a point, it's almost impossible to keep track of what they are doing. Like the many million Lost fans I was utterly disappointed with the climax. But, I strongly believe that it was a huge success because of the way the characters were written. The script was etched with utmost sincerity to each and every character. It's indeed true that getting the characters right puts the story telling process in auto-pilot. I finished the entire series in less than a month, bragged about it for a while, got a bunch of colleagues to watch it, awed along with them and forgot entirely about it in the next series (How I Met Your Mother I think).
Almost a year later, I read this blog by Sudhish Kamath on a lazy day in office. I couldn't but rush home and reach for my hard disk to start the re-run on the very same day. This time, I started relishing it episode by episode to such depths that I literally lost myself in to it. A brutal scolding from a dear friend made me snap out of it and I forced myself to stop halfway through the 3rd season. My dad was away visiting my sister and I was staying alone in a two-bedroom flat. It took some strenuous effort of fighting crazy thoughts, a lovely engaging team at work and my dad's arrival (after two months) to recover entirely from it. Over the years, my mom, dad, sister, friends and many well wishers have warned me about the way I get attached. But, that was the first time I ever realized that they were right about it. It was the first of the three lessons I was ever taught about why getting so attached is not the healthiest of choices.
It was something about that time of the year I guess. Again, another year later, I totally sold the concept to Aneesh, who was also my roommate at that time. We weren't very busy at work and we went on a Lost spree as we rushed through the first 4 seasons in almost no time. The look of amusement and amazement on his face every other time the writers beat the odds made it more interesting. By the end of the fourth season, I had to travel to US for a two month visit and I had to resume the last two seasons in my hotel room alone. This time, the effect was eclipsed by the awe I felt for the climax. The nuances of story telling was a huge win (a triumph of story telling in Kamath's words). True to the title and theme, each character was lost in it's own way. The island is just a metaphorical prop used to convey that they were all indeed lost in their life with oozing class of screen writing.
A year and half later, thanks to my sister in law, I am revisiting Lost for a fourth time. In this busy schedule, the only other thing I have been able to do is to see Lost. A long weekend and another normal weekend was lazily spent in rushing through the first four seasons. When I talk about Lost, I always mention how our outlook of each character changes as the series runs it course. The least favorite character would become the most favorite. How many people liked Jack through the first three seasons as much as they hated Sawyer? And how they swapped places in the last three seasons. However, this transformation of animosity was achieved without disturbing the consistency of the characters. A classic example of how the thing you love about someone is almost always also the thing you hate about that person. It's one of the best exhibition of situation characterization that I have seen.
Through one pair of eyes, I can really see how this can be looked upon as a waste of time, but, the least it did was (along with the inspiration from a new blogger on the road) kindle the little bit writing I pray is left in me. I started out with something in mind and I got lost and ended up writing a whole blog on what I thought as the introduction. But, I'm leaving the title as it is, as at least at this point, I'm able to see a series of posts (a couple or so more) spawning out of this one. That's the least justice I could do to pen down my thoughts about the Cast of Lost.
The first time I saw Lost was in 2010, when Navneeth recommended it. It was a humdinger, but I watched it in such speed that I did not understand most of it. The story takes crazy turns and after a point, it's almost impossible to keep track of what they are doing. Like the many million Lost fans I was utterly disappointed with the climax. But, I strongly believe that it was a huge success because of the way the characters were written. The script was etched with utmost sincerity to each and every character. It's indeed true that getting the characters right puts the story telling process in auto-pilot. I finished the entire series in less than a month, bragged about it for a while, got a bunch of colleagues to watch it, awed along with them and forgot entirely about it in the next series (How I Met Your Mother I think).
Almost a year later, I read this blog by Sudhish Kamath on a lazy day in office. I couldn't but rush home and reach for my hard disk to start the re-run on the very same day. This time, I started relishing it episode by episode to such depths that I literally lost myself in to it. A brutal scolding from a dear friend made me snap out of it and I forced myself to stop halfway through the 3rd season. My dad was away visiting my sister and I was staying alone in a two-bedroom flat. It took some strenuous effort of fighting crazy thoughts, a lovely engaging team at work and my dad's arrival (after two months) to recover entirely from it. Over the years, my mom, dad, sister, friends and many well wishers have warned me about the way I get attached. But, that was the first time I ever realized that they were right about it. It was the first of the three lessons I was ever taught about why getting so attached is not the healthiest of choices.
It was something about that time of the year I guess. Again, another year later, I totally sold the concept to Aneesh, who was also my roommate at that time. We weren't very busy at work and we went on a Lost spree as we rushed through the first 4 seasons in almost no time. The look of amusement and amazement on his face every other time the writers beat the odds made it more interesting. By the end of the fourth season, I had to travel to US for a two month visit and I had to resume the last two seasons in my hotel room alone. This time, the effect was eclipsed by the awe I felt for the climax. The nuances of story telling was a huge win (a triumph of story telling in Kamath's words). True to the title and theme, each character was lost in it's own way. The island is just a metaphorical prop used to convey that they were all indeed lost in their life with oozing class of screen writing.
A year and half later, thanks to my sister in law, I am revisiting Lost for a fourth time. In this busy schedule, the only other thing I have been able to do is to see Lost. A long weekend and another normal weekend was lazily spent in rushing through the first four seasons. When I talk about Lost, I always mention how our outlook of each character changes as the series runs it course. The least favorite character would become the most favorite. How many people liked Jack through the first three seasons as much as they hated Sawyer? And how they swapped places in the last three seasons. However, this transformation of animosity was achieved without disturbing the consistency of the characters. A classic example of how the thing you love about someone is almost always also the thing you hate about that person. It's one of the best exhibition of situation characterization that I have seen.
Through one pair of eyes, I can really see how this can be looked upon as a waste of time, but, the least it did was (along with the inspiration from a new blogger on the road) kindle the little bit writing I pray is left in me. I started out with something in mind and I got lost and ended up writing a whole blog on what I thought as the introduction. But, I'm leaving the title as it is, as at least at this point, I'm able to see a series of posts (a couple or so more) spawning out of this one. That's the least justice I could do to pen down my thoughts about the Cast of Lost.
2 Expressions:
Nice! Lost was a very good show. Man of science vs man of faith. :)
p.s. keep writing.
Thanks Vivek. Will try.
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