Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Me and TV last night

I don’t know how many of you watch my favorite television series, “Lost”, but I feel compelled to talk about it anyway. Not because I want to enlighten you or convince you to follow the show, but more or less because I had a strong emotional reaction to last night’s episode. Yes, a television show made me have an emotional reaction. I hope that isn’t a problem for you.

I am going to try my best to describe this without throwing out any spoilers. Can that be done? We are about to find out. As anyone with a television knows, it is the final season of “Lost”. More specifically, we are embarking on the final few episodes. It is been a six year journey about a plane that crashed on a mysterious island with ominous inhabitants and mystical events. There were just over a dozen main characters in the pilot episode. Some of them have been killed off and then replaced with newly introduced characters that may or may not have been killed off as well. The thing “Lost” did with these characters was develop them from day one. In fact, character development was the strength of “Lost” for its first few seasons. Getting attached to those characters allowed for viewers to hope they all got happy endings.

As of last night, a few of those characters were officially denied their happy ending. In case you weren’t picking up on the subtlety, I was referring to some people dying. Death wasn’t anything that wasn’t done to characters on “Lost” before. Someone basically died every season at some point. The difference was the emotional impact of those other deaths. Most of the show’s previous kill jobs were done to advance and set up the overall story arc. They were on characters we didn’t yet learn to love. Last night, however, pulled the rug out from under “Lost’s” fans.

I’m not going to lie. I nearly shed a tear last night. This final season of “Lost” created a lot of questions that I wanted answers. There were motivations I needed explained and battle lines that needed to be made clear. The discovery of the show’s true bad guy came with an emotional kick to the balls. It took the death of a few characters to hammer the point home that we now have an official big bad to root against. It all was made clear in the closing moments. That was right when I got a rush through my body as I felt pissed off right along with the castaways of Oceanic Flight 815. I spent years being more concerned about creating theories about the island’s mysteries rather than having someone to truly hate. Not the case anymore. I can now spend the next few weeks hoping someone gets their ass kicked. And to me, that’s pretty fucking awesome.

Last night’s television viewing also included the latest episode of “Glee”. That show really is phenomenal. It is unlike any other comedy on television right now. I would like to say it is the best comedy right now, but that isn’t an easy thing to say. There is some tough competition in the form of “Parks and Recreation” and “Modern Family”. All three of those shows are putting out quality every week. One thing I do know for certain is that “Glee” will win at least one Emmy. The category of this award is simple: Best Actress in a Comedy Series.

Jane Lynch’s performance as the diabolical cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester is the best thing about “Glee”. Some credit should go to the writing of the character’s sharp lines and dastardly behavior. All the other credit goes to Lynch. She slam dunks her performance each and every week. Her character basically is her. It couldn’t be played by anyone else. That is how much she has owned her performance all season long. The great thing about it is that she has gotten a few moments to show the softer side of Sue Sylvester. The nuances she portrays allow for Sue Sylvester to be more than a caricature. Oh, and it should be noted that she’s pretty fucking funny as well.

The annoying thing about watching the shows last night was that they kept being interrupted by storm warnings and tornado trackers. I understand the need for safety, but it really surprises me that, in this day and age, we don’t have a better way to relay the information. I missed several minutes of “Lost” because of storms that were nowhere near my home. Then, “Glee” was delayed by almost 2 hours because Fox 11 decided to start it late. I think they should just refer people to the internet or scroll info across the bottom of the page. People who can’t read can be on their own. It would be a twisted form of Darwin at work…

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