Photo courtesy of ABC
The fourth season of Lost has been dumbed down.

Lost is, by its very nature, a show for hardcore fans. It is not easy to drop in and out as a causal observer and still be able to follow the many intricate threads of the plot. The problem with a franchise such as this is that, historically, your fanbase can only shrink as time goes on; fans who were there from the start can stop watching, but it is much harder for new fans to join in along the way. Of course, this is not true today, as anyone can pick up earlier seasons of Lost on DVD or even watch every episode for free at abc.com. But whether you’ve been tuning in every week since September 22, 2004 or you’ve caught up via DVDs or online episodes, in order to fully appreciate this show, you have to have seen every episode that preceded it.

Or so it would seem. In a bid by either ABC, the show’s producers, or both to increase viewership, this brilliant show has been watered down to a point where watching the first three years of the show in any of its available forms is not necessary. This new push seems to say, “Start with Season Four! It’s not too late to jump on the bandwagon! This show isn’t as complicated as people make it out to be!”

To me, this is a slap in the face for the hardcore fans. We don’t want a show that is easy to understand and process without much thought. We want to be rewarded for remembering things from old episodes that all of a sudden make sense. We want to stand around the water-cooler with other like-minded fans and discuss theories, not have to explain what happened in Season One to a new fan of the show who is trying to understand the recent events of the show.

And so, without further ado, here are the four ways that Lost has been dumbed down in Season Four. Why four? It’s the first of The Numbers, of course, and I’m not going to stretch out my list to a Top Ten just because that’s how Letterman rolls…)

1. The Enhanced Episodes
   I loved Pop Up Video as much as the next guy, but this is ridiculous. The repeats of episodes with handy little pointers about who these characters are, what’s happened to them, and what’s happening to them as you read the little tidbits that are going by are the biggest example on how the show has pandered to Lost virgins. These “Cliff Notes” versions of shows episodes gloss over many details, but, just as Cliff Notes are used by lazy high schoolers, will be accepted as just as good as really studying the real thing.
2. “Tell My Sister I Love Her.” (Confirmed Dead)
   Naomi’s last words to Minkowski on the freighter were “Just tell my sister that I love her.” It seemed like a reasonable last sentence at the time, but Miles revealed it to be a code signaling danger. How was it revealed to be a code? Miles said, and this is a direct quote (seriously, check I out at abc.com if you don’t believe me): “You remember when she said, ‘Tell my sister I love her?’ Well she doesn’t have a sister. That’s what we’re supposed to say if we get captured and have a gun to our heads!” [Miles has gun aimed at Jack.] “Like right now, Jack here would say, ‘Tell my sister I love her!’ You get it?”Why yes, Miles, we get it. I’m pretty sure you’re average first-grader would get it. Thank you for spelling out exactly what a coded signal is, how it works, and illustrating with a helpful example. This is more than just sloppy writing; this is spelling out a plot point in large neon letters. Fans of this show have put so many small puzzle pieces together, why now are we being talked to like children?
3. “Looks like you guys have a friend on this boat.” (The Constant)
   Those are the words Minkowski says to Sayid and Desmond when they notice the door to the room they are being held in has been opened for them. Again, a plot point is being spelled out for the viewer. Is it necessary? It has already been established that the trio were locked into their room. Then they see that the door has been opened anonymously. And it’s a “friend” that opened the door, Minkowski? You sure it wasn’t a gust of wind, or that perhaps the locksmith hired to install the freighter’s locks was a drunk? Is it just me, or does anyone else think that had this episode taken place in any prior season, Sayid and Desmond would have seen the open door, raised an eyebrow, and been on their way? The inference of a friend on the freighter would have been left for the viewer to pick up on. But here in Season Four, such small details have to be pointed out explicitly.
4. Its Charles Widmore’s Freighter! (The Constant, The Other Woman)
   Just to be clear, what bothers me is not that it’s Charles Widmore who sent the freighter, but rather how the show revealed it that irks me. Going into Season Four, we simply knew that the boat was not sent by Penny. Surely, the identity of the Man Behind The Freighter would be a long-running mystery, solvable only by following small clues through out many episodes, right? Nope. In The Constant, viewers are treated to a lengthy (72 seconds by my count) scene in which Charles Widmore buys a journal from The Black Rock, a slave ship now marooned on The Island. There is nothing subtle about this scene – Widmore is clearly interested in finding out about the Black Rock, and therefore finding The Island, and he is instantly the likeliest suspect for Man Behind The Freighter.This is then confirmed in the very next episode.

   What a mystery! In the first four episodes we are given no hints about the identity of the Man Behind The Freighter, than we are given one impossible to miss clue in episode five, and confirmation in episode six. I realize many fans of the show (including hardcore fans) don’t like when questions go unanswered for unbearable stretches, but this is the polar opposite, and I personally would prefer not having answers spoon fed to us in this way.

Well, that’s it for now, but stay tuned to alannoah.com for more Lost rants until the show returns from hiatus, and for episode reviews once it does!