I Don't Want To Be Rescued

As the fourth season of Lost (Sky One, Sundays )begins, our favourite gang of misfit toys stand divided - there are those who want to be rescued and those who don't. The former, lead by the slightly-less-dull-than-usual Jack, long for the conventional comforts of their "real" lives and all the standards they had been accustomed to; the latter, lead by ultra-cool John Locke, wish to stay amidst the mysterious confines of the islands and embrace all of the wild and wacky wonderfulness life there offers. It's a simple dilemma, right? Well, interestingly I think it's one that encapsulates the dilemma that the show's audiences and creators are facing too. The question is: do we want to be rescued?

Within the diegesis the disruptive element has been the arrival of a boat promising the rescue of the Oceanic survivors; outside of it, however, we have been confronted by a very different and altogether much scarier new inhabitant: the flash-forwards.

Between seasons there were noises from the show’s creators that the introduction of the flash-forwards was an indication that an ending was in sight; that the writers so often accused of winging it were now working with a plan and that the show had finally gained a new focus. They were to be the salvation of the confused and impatient, and Lost would once again be a show that could be relied upon to deliver what the audience wants (whatever that is). Pre-empting all this, however, were "serious" talks with network executives concerned about declining ratings. So if we assume that this new focus was, in fact, borne of those talks, and that a new need for clarity and drive in the narrative have come from a higher order, should we not be as suspicious of the flash-forwards and what they bring to the show as John Locke is of the rescuers? Are our rescuers what they say they are, or are they simply a well-disguised compromise, a placation to restless and unimaginative?

On the bright side, the potential of the flash-forwards is clear. Hints about the Oceanic Six and the apparent code of silence observed by the survivors were exciting, and I am sure there is a lot more to come. But they have their dangers too, and when Hurley told Jack that he was wrong to go with Locke, I immediately felt a change. The immediate echo of consequence from action we’d only just seen felt wrong, far too obvious; like a baited hook, a line dropped to placate those who have criticised (or stopped watching) the show for lacking drive or direction. "This divide will lead to disaster! Keep watching to find out how!” it seemed to shout. Is this something we’ll have to get used to? One can only hope not.

And there’s no way to know right now, but it will therefore be very interesting to see how the flash-forwards are used in future. They represent a narrative device that has the power to completely change Lost, and it’s an instrument that will require very delicate handling. Bad flashbacks could be boring, certainly, but a bad flash-forward could be damaging to the show’s whole identity. Lost is a show that has thrived on and is defined by its ambiguity, and the flash-forwards offer the opportunity and perhaps even the inclination to dismantle that model. I can only see that being a terrible mistake.

So yes, for now I am taking John Locke’s side and remaining wary of the show’s newest inhabitants. I am in love with the magic and the mystery of the Island, and the flash-forwards represent a very real threat to all of that (the season premiere’s title was, after all, ‘The Beginning of the End’). And anyway, has wandering around the island aimlessly really been so terrible? Do we really need rescue from that? I think not. So while I’ll continue to watch with all the enthusiasm of a kid at Christmas, I can’t help but be jarred by what I see as a premature and unnecessary jolt to the entire make-up of a show that has thus far been one of TV’s greatest achievements, as if James Joyce were being forced to write the latter half of Finnegan’s Wake in a more conventional and commercial manner. We can only hope that the show’s creative staff stays true to the show’s original ideals for as long as possible and that they don’t allow the temptation of writing back-to-front to overwhelm them. After all, if the show is set down a certain path heading towards a certain destination, is it still really Lost?