what is next...

I really thought last night's episode "collision" was weak. Ana Lucia once again proved that she is turning Lost into an action movie...which is all she has ever done with anything else. She is a bad actor, plain and simple.

Her backstory was so weak...it was a total action movie/24 style...very different from the in depth episodes that we saw in season 1 that would bring about thousands of theories and discussions the day after.

The way i see it is Lost has to do something very big to try and fix this downward spiral they are heading in. If they keep heading in this direction i would not be surprised to see Vin Diesel in one of the next episodes...

[HAL 9000]

Oh God no.... say it isn't so. Vin Diesel.

I agree with you up to a point about last night's show. Although I've not been a big Ana fan, I did wind up feeling more sympathetic to her at the end of the show.

And to Sayid too (sorry Zealot). At least we know that both characters have some humanity left in them.

I'm hoping we are building a foundation for a more interesting series in the second half of the year. At least I hope so. We have soooo many unresolved issues from last year, and we've really done nothing about them this year except get into the Hatch and push that stupid button every 108 minutes.

I did think (on a purely intellectual level) that last night's show was very well done; how it blended light hearted humor with a really intense plot line. We got some definite clues about the future too. Kate & Sawyer, Locke & Eko, Jack & Anna, Jin & Sun. I told my wife that I wish the show had two hour episodes, because one hour just doesn't satisfy me. I like the pace of the show (although I can understand why many don't), I just wish there was more of it.

Oh well. Hopefully that big payoff show is coming next week. We finally find out about Kate, and since it's the last show before two months of reruns, it ought to pack a punch.

At least I hope so.

Ana Lucia's acting was pretty awful in this episode, but fortunately it did not effect how great this episode was. Her backstory wasn't weak at all, no more weak than Jin and Sun's backstory, or really any of them. To be honest, I have felt that all of their backstories have been a tad hoakey, but I think that they are all going to start to tie in together towards the end of this season (I hope) so we can finally understand why they are all there, and if there is a purpose.

The score and the last scene with the reunion between Bernard and Rose (JUNGLE FEVER!) Jin and Sun, Michael and Vincent... well that part disturbed me a little bit, but the last shot with Jack and Ana was amazing.

The directors say that Ana-Lucia is going to start breaking out of her character and becoming more humane. This series will make and break Michelle Rodriguez, but it's up to her to convince us that she can play more than one role.

the reason i say her backstory sucked is because it was a)cliche b)very action filmish. I think Jin and Sun had a great backstory, with the whole blood on his hands and Sun wanting to leave...that was a great backstory.

As for the other character's backstories:
Sawyer's backstory...great

Jack...great

Claire...great

Hurley...great

Sayid...amazing

charlie...amazing

Michael and walt...great

Locke...great

the list goes on...
Ana's was s**tty...and they tried to pack it all into one episode...we are left wondering nothing...

with every other character there is still an unsolved peice of the puzzle

[pb_docarzt]

I was really holding out hope. I was extremely skeptical that "Abandoned" would redeem Shannon through the flashbacks, but they did. Redeeming the character of Ana though, I think, is a much harder task to tackle. The sad thing is, they didn't really even try to do that with this episode; which I gathered was the intent. I think saying Ana lost a baby in a botched robbery is a gimicky way to try to get sympathy for her character.

Look at the bright side though, they have outed her dark secret in her very first flash-back; I read this as: She is not long for this world.

Originally Posted by DocArzt

I was really holding out hope. I was extremely skeptical that "Abandoned" would redeem Shannon through the flashbacks, but they did. Redeeming the character of Ana though, I think, is a much harder task to tackle. The sad thing is, they didn't really even try to do that with this episode; which I gathered was the intent. I think saying Ana lost a baby in a botched robbery is a gimicky way to try to get sympathy for her character.

Look at the bright side though, they have outed her dark secret in her very first flash-back; I read this as: She is not long for this world.

I'm not sure redeeming Ana's character was the intent last night. I think they left that for future episodes. And it looked like they may have set it up for Jack to redeem her in the end. That last shot of Jack & Ana together spoke volumes. He certainly recognized her and looked like he felt sympathy for her. But with the jungle in between them they still appeared miles apart, both literally & figuratively. Jack is now Ana's only friend among the survivors, and may turn out to be her salvation as well. I know I'm in the minority here, but I'm liking Ana's character more and more, warts and all. Sure she's hopelessly flawed, but aren't they all in one way or another? My hope is that Jack finally talks some sense into her, calms her down, and they begin to compare notes about The Others and their experiences on the island. Wouldn't it be cool to see them all get together and finally formulate a real plan for survival. Maybe they'll all get together and go after The Others in an attempt to rescue the kids. They've got plenty of weapons, and people who know how to use them. Who knows, Ana's marksmanship may prove to be a pretty valuable asset for them.

[pb_docarzt]

Originally Posted by Buck Dharma

I'm not sure redeeming Ana's character was the intent last night. I think they left that for future episodes. And it looked like they may have set it up for Jack to redeem her in the end. That last shot of Jack & Ana together spoke volumes. He certainly recognized her and looked like he felt sympathy for her. But with the jungle in between them they still appeared miles apart, both literally & figuratively. Jack is now Ana's only friend among the survivors, and may turn out to be her salvation as well. I know I'm in the minority here, but I'm liking Ana's character more and more, warts and all. Sure she's hopelessly flawed, but aren't they all in one way or another? My hope is that Jack finally talks some sense into her, calms her down, and they begin to compare notes about The Others and their experiences on the island. Wouldn't it be cool to see them all get together and finally formulate a real plan for survival. Maybe they'll all get together and go after The Others in an attempt to rescue the kids. They've got plenty of weapons, and people who know how to use them. Who knows, Ana's marksmanship may prove to be a pretty valuable asset for them.

Was that sympathy, or regret? Good points all around though. I do recall Lindelof saying this episode would explain why Ana is so driven to protect; personally, I expected something in her past that would relate her island-survivor persona to some form of penance, and that is certainly there. It would have been nice if they had given a little more thought to that storyline instead of crafting, what I saw, a straight cop-gets-revenge action flick. Not that I'm taking the events lightely at all, but we did not connect with her joy at being pregnant, or her hope for a life with Donny (or whatever his name was), so finding out she lost the baby, for me, was a little bit like a quick excuse to explain her executing a punk in a parking lot. There is no resonance to the why. But of course, your mileage may vary.

After all that the little ***** did, I actually feel sorry for her. Losing a even unborn child is terrible. I would shot the guy 7 times. Though sayid shoulda smacked her something bad. (at least.)

i think its funny that all of you feel bad for her. the fact that she lost a baby does not make up for the bad acting. i don't feel bad for her in the slightest...maybe if they had portrayed it differently i would. I really thought she was alright in "the other 48 days"...this episode took anything good that she had going for her, away.

I think the writing team is trying very hard to get the lost fans to like ana lucia. They tried to make us pity her but instead i found it just made me hate her more. I thought it was really cheap and cheesy how they just threw in this pregnancy at the end and tried to make us feel bad for her. I can't stand her tough-guy image and i can't stand her bad acting anymore.

i thought the whole backstory was garbage.

absolute bush league.

[pb_docarzt]

Originally Posted by bujja

i think its funny that all of you feel bad for her. the fact that she lost a baby does not make up for the bad acting. i don't feel bad for her in the slightest...maybe if they had portrayed it differently i would. I really thought she was alright in "the other 48 days"...this episode took anything good that she had going for her, away.

I think the writing team is trying very hard to get the lost fans to like ana lucia. They tried to make us pity her but instead i found it just made me hate her more. I can't stand her tough-guy image and i can't stand her bad acting anymore.

i thought the whole backstory was garbage.

absolute bush league.

My impression was that they were trying to build sympathy for her, but really I think they were building up to the reasoning behind her letting Sayid go, and asking him to take her life. So she knows she is a b***h. On watching again I don't think the backstory was to try to redeem the character as much as show us just how deeply Ana's flaw runs, and her painful awareness of it.

All through the flashback we see people trying to restrain Ana from actions which are mindlessly destructive, both to others and herself. And their failure leads her to the cold-blooded murder, which she sees as a mistake worth dying over. When she said she deserved to die, it was not just over the accidental shooting of Shannon; it was also over the calculated murder of the punk who shot her and killed her child. Some might say the punk committed a terrible crime as well, and for sure he did. But he did not lay in wait planning on killing an unborn child. What Ana did was terribly, terribly wrong, and anybody who thinks otherwise has a skewed perception of justice.

I highly doubt we were supposed to feel sympathy for her, probably more like a mix.

But, tuning back in to what I totally agree with Bujja on, this flashback failed to strike any kind of sustaining emotional chord with me. It was a total waste of space. Similar to many of the flashbacks this season. I know a lot of writers struggeling to make ends meet that could have written this backstory under the table. Banal, amateurish, predictable, and sadly ineffective.