They began the evening by dimming the lights and showing the episode "Everybody Hates Hurley" to the packed house. With the lights back up, Horowitz & Kitsis fielded questions from the audience. The first question of the night concerned how they got their break in Hollywood. The Badger alumni began by writing a script for feature film which was a low-key romantic comedy. They joked that they shopped it around with the stipulation that they direct it! Although the script found no takers, it did get passed around and their writing talent was noticed. The break came when they were drafted to write for the remake of Fantasy Island. It didn't last long so they moved on to Felicity and Popular. And then last year, they were brought onboard to Lost in the middle of the show's first season.
For a virtual transcript of the proceedings go to Nikitangel. Horowitz & Kitsis demonstrated their senses of humor as they dodged questions which demanded answers which would have given away some of the top secret plot details. They also gave a good overview of the production process of the show - tight schedules, meetings with other writers, and the insight that the end point of the show has been plotted out.
I've been meaning to write about Lost but just have never gotten around to it for one reason or another. I thought that last week's episode, "Maternity Leave", was quite good and I wish more episodes were like it. As the fellas mentioned on Monday, the show is, at its heart, about the characters with the island and its mysteries providing a context for the audience to learn about them. I personally am more interested in the enigma that is the island than I am in the characters but there has to be character development. The show features flashbacks to the various characters' lives prior to the plane crash. These glimpses give motivation for the characters' actions on the island and also serve to rack up the coincidences and show how all of their lives are seemingly intertwined. Personally, I find the dialogue and interactions of the characters amongst themselves on the island to be much more interesting and satisfying than anything the characters do or say in the flashbacks. "Maternity Leave" was, methinks, the first show to feature flashbacks that were from time spent on the island instead of prior to the plane crash. It having been island-centric, I really liked it quite a bit.
The problem, for me, is that coincidence having been piled Pelion upon Ossa so now they don't stand out, they don't seem particularly meaningful anymore. So-and-so met so-and-so crossed paths before; character A met character B a year before the plane crash. Blah blah blah. So the characters' lives are all intertwined. We get that. My other main criticism is how the writers also pile mystery upon mystery. "Maternity Leave" answered some questions and generated others. That's fine with me except viewers are deep in the hole here. There are so many mysteries that any episode that provides revelation is inevitably 1 step forward and 2 steps back.
Take the scene last season where the black cloud entwined itself around Locke's legs and dragged him towards a hole in the ground. Throwing a stick of dynamite down the hole released the cloud's grip and Locke was brought back from the brink. After last week's episode, at least five characters have seen the cloud and, of those, two have had up close encounters with it. That is, they stared into it and it stared back. Has anyone bothered to go back to the hole to check it out? Have the characters who've seen the cloud gotten together and discussed it? No. Why do these people never share information? Mr. Eko and Locke could have a good discussion as they've both been in staring matches with the cloud. Come on people - share notes! The characters don't have to have constant heart-to-hearts but it's getting stupid. It gets frustrating for me as a viewer to have a mystery introduced and then be completely ignored. Interesting bits are so ephemeral. Ana Lucia has all but disappeared, for instance. And why was Sayid missing last week? He tortures Henry Gale, is convinced that he's one of The Others yet he too disappeared. Why is he not arguing his case with Jack? Considering how intertwined these characters' lives are portrayed in the flashbacks, meaningful interaction on the island is rather fleeting except when mobilized against a threat or when building a raft. When Sayid encountered Rousseau for the first time, he was following a cable that emanated in the ocean and ran along the beach into the jungle. And no one has asked her where the fucking cable came from or where it leads to?!
Despite all this, I have to admit that it's fun to theorize about the mysteries of the island. And my Ultimate Theory is slowly coming together...
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