Lost in Faith. Faith in Lost

It’s been a while since I haven’t written anything here. Same thing on Facebook, I haven’t been posting news on the kind of stuff you like. The reason is, well, Lost.



I got Netflix so I started watching what everyone was talking about. It was good, I have to admit it. It took me away from delusional christians, abusive priests, raging muslims, idiotic creationists and awesome science. Just a couple of days ago the finale was aired and I still have to watch the last season. Yet, as addicting as Lost there are some things that just don’t get to me and I just dislike.

Oh, yes, it has to be with what this blog is about.




"This is supposed to be written"
Well, first of all, the whole idea that people are “meant to be” or that “it is our destiny”, which repeats itself over and over, especially from John Locke. Since the beginning I didn’t like Locke. His attitude of “let’s do this, I don’t know why, but let’s do this” is just sickening to me. I think it’s in the second season, when he tells Jack that they won’t get along because “You are a man of science, while I’m a man of faith” or something like that. I also hate it when John does stuff without explaining them, and people just follows. Just the main characters will argue with him or follow their own path.

But you know what I dislike the most about that? That John is usually right. I mean, he doesn’t know why he does what he does, he “just knows” and everything is fine.


Jack, on the other hand is, more than a man of science, a practical person. Jack does what he does because there is a reason for that, usually forsaking his own desires and feelings. And when he acts on them, it is under tremendous pressure. Jack is a nice character that I liked from the beginning, which is not surprising, since he is the main character, more or less, at least during the first seasons. Then Locke gets more importance, being key to the development of the story.



Smoke monsters
I just finished watching the fifth season and yet there is no explanation for the existence of the monster. Nor for the dreams that Locke and Eko shared. Nor for the numbers. The time travel thing seems implausible, but at least Faraday tries to explain it somehow. However, all the other stuff doesn’t have an explanation, at least yet. Maybe it will be explained during the 6th season. But how do you get to explain a damn smoke monster? Those are the things that make Lost kind of difficult to wholly enjoy, the feeling that “are you fucking kidding me?” that I get when something like that happens. Still I have hope that everything will be explained during the last season.


Those would be my main complaints with Lost. While Jack has been my favorite character during most of it, when Faraday appeared, that changed. Faraday does not have Jack’s badassery, he even is kind of a momma’s boy, but with all his flaws and fears, he is one of the most logical ones, that tries to do whatever is necessary to make things good. He hesitates a lot, but his doubts are more like “science based” instead of the “I need someone to tell me what to do” from Locke. Locke has “faith” that what he is doing is right.

Now, as much as a non-believer as a I am, I wouldn’t dismiss faith just because. At some moment most of the people who crashed on the island had faith that Jack would save them. Is that a problem? No, because they had seen what Jack was capable of doing, not just being a doctor, but a leader. That is the kind of faith I can have and appreciate, the faith that we have in someone who is trustworthy. Not the kind that just “knows” that this is right.

Coming back to Locke, he was not the only one with the “Destiny” thing. Eko was there too, but he was written off in a kind of disappointing way. Yet his ways also left me with a sensation of "come on! explain that! Don't just give me that "it's destiny" bullshit because, as Sawyer said, “I don’t speak destiny.”

Sawyer is one of the characters that grew the most, from being the “bad guy” to the guy one can admire for being practical and at the same time level headed. After Hurley conned him, Sawyer took responsibility of the camp, especially on Claire, and after on the whole Dharma initiative people. Yet, he seems dull compared to Jack.

I also disliked Kate, but not as much as Locke. Kate usually acted on feelings, screwing everything up. So far, her mayor screw-up, was taking the young Ben Linus to the “others”, which set the chain of events for her, Sawyer and the rest to be banished from the Island. Sun is better to me, even though at first she just submits to he husband, but later she takes control of her own situation and even of her father’s company. She goes from being the submissive wife to a powerful woman who even decides to do some major killing against the one she blames for her husband's death. That is power and determination. Oh, and she is beautiful; blessed be beautiful Asian women.

I know it's not from Lost, but, if it had been, I would have understood why Jin was freaking out.


Sayid was another nice character. First of all, he is a muslim, or at least I’m pretty sure he is. I think I saw him praying to Allah, bowing down, when on the raft with Jin, Michael and Sawyer. Also, he claims the body of one of his friends saying that "a muslim man must be buried." Yet, he is one of the most practical and leading characters on the show. Actually it’s nice to see some good Muslim around. He is the kind of muslim who wouldn't go batshit crazy for a cartoon. he actually is some kind of quest for redemption for all he did in his life, islam or not islam. I think Sayid would be a good role model for middle-ground muslims, instead of the characterization we usually see in movies. Hopefully that will reflect on news soon.

And finally, Claire. Claire is cute, Claire is nice, Claire is 8-months pregnant on a dessert island and doesn't freak out. Claire forgives Charlie after he screws it up so many times. Claire takes care of her kid until her father takes her away, but not against her will. Because Claire knows something. She knows something and she might be key to what is to come. Never underestimate the cute blond girl.

I just didn't know what picture to chose. I thought about this one, but it would have been too distracting.

So, this is my appreciation of Lost. Truly mind-bending, but with some things that just don’t make it for me. I still have to watch the last season so maybe something changes. Until then, this blog won’t have much updates.