‘LOST’ Hitting Wrong Note with ‘Savior-of-the-Week’ Story lines

Okay, so let’s face it: Seasons One and Two were about the best television on television. Nothing could beat the rising suspense, the lingering sense of foreboding, and the appearance of new, multiple unknowns flooding across the beach every episode. But like aging Olympians, we knew someday LOST would lose it’s luster - indeed, its amazing the quality of the show has remained high for such a long time, even considering irregular hiatus periods and occasional uneven storytelling. So watching this week’s episode (’Everybody Loves Hugo’), I found myself wincing through scenes where the dialog (and it’s meaning) has gone stale.

Nobody likes a know-it-all, but this season LOST seems to have spawned a dozen of them. The writers have gone full throttle on hyperbolic dialog, creating a “savior-of-the-week” syndrome for each main character while thinning the credibility sauce each had independently stirred. This week, Hugo is “the chosen one” called upon by the Almighty (Jacob) to “save” everyones life. Although each character has been portrayed with some level of idiosyncrasy, Hugo takes the cake (and buckets of chicken) for mental instability layered over a generous helping of pious joviality. In past seasons, he has been drawn as a lunatic, a psychic who speaks to the dead, and the unluckiest of hapless souls. So this week, we’re called upon to see Hugo as our savior, and all manner of ridiculous dialog ensues.

Take the scene where Hugo has to convince Sun, Jack and most notably, Richard, that he inexplicable knows what to do, what course of action to take, simply because Michael showed up (in spirit) and informed him that ‘people listen to you now’.   Wow - if I could do that, I’d convince ABC to cancel ‘V’ and put my quality space alien drama in it’s place (I’m still waiting on Michael’s go ahead).

As I see it, the problem here isn’t that Hugo can speak to the dead, or that he has an affinity for the show’s numerology - it’s bigger than that.  Seems each week this season we’re being treated to what amounts to being shortchanged at the supermarket.  Someone … ANYONE, it seems, is “destined” to be the ONE PERSON who is SINGULARLY RESPONSIBLE for “saving” the island, or the islands inhabitants, or just the current set of most recent castaways.  This is an unfortunate cheat, because the dialog required to support this framework means actors delivering “all or nothing” phrases which would ordinarily lend power to a performance, a character, or a scene instead fall desperately flat.

The most egregious example?  Hugo facing down Jack, a man whose credibility as a character has been supported from the beginning (medical background, stable personality, quick to act in an emergency, all wrapped around a handsome face with a knowing glint).  When Jack asks why the group should follow him, Hugo responds with the simplistic “Trust me, Jack - just trust me.”  A short nod of the head, a slight shake of his jaw, and Jack simply says “Ok” as if years of training to think critically just leaked from his brain to the beach.

This uncomfortable and increasingly unbelievable literary technique is starting to mar what should be LOST’s finest hour.  In the first few seasons, SOTW was considered brilliant because it helped to focus the audience’s attention on the unique back story each character was developing, but now it’s overuse is turning drama into camp.  Mind you, it’s not just Hugo - the whole thing started with John Locke and his overwrought talk of a “personal destiny” which, at least in his original incarnation, Locke will never enjoy.  Each character has had episodes which tie their lives together, touching in some cases (Desmond and Penny) and shocking in others (Jack and his father).  But the concept of stringing the audience along with a weekly game of savior roulette seems more an ode to actors and contracts than it does the story.

Bottom line:  If we are presented with too many choices to identify the character whose presence in the finale could not be dispensed with, it’s likely the story will blow up like bad dynamite in Ilana’s bag.    It’s time to retire the phrases “Trust me” and “I know what to do” and “Jacob sent me …” from LOST.  Cognitively, there isn’t a reasonable path whereby any specific character simultaneously saves the island and it’s inhabitants (including the undead), stops the Man in Black, hires the new Jacob, and syncs all the timelines.

If the finale doesn’t achieve a supernatural level of achievement from each wannabe savior, we’re all going to feel cheated by the Season Six ending - certainly not the beatific conclusion that LOST deserves.

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