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Wednesday Night Lights: A Great Night Lost in TV Land
2007-03-21 23:18
by Jon Weisman

Great episode of Friday Night Lights, followed by the best Lost of the season, one that firmly relaunches the series into exciting territory.

There was intrigue and suspense and revelation from the first minute to the last, and the way they've broken down the barrier between the Others and the non-Others, first through Jack and then through Locke, gives them all kinds of places to go. I've never given up on Lost, but this is the most excited I've been about the show all season.

The look in Locke's eyes as he was about to be dropped into the wheelchair for the first time was one of the top moments of any show this year.

And yet, the best drama on network TV remains FNL.

Comments
2007-03-21 23:35:49
1.   Bob Timmermann
When "Lost" does violence, it always does it fast.

Ana Lucia and Libby met their demise pretty quickly. Juliet's ex-husband disappeared quickly. Locke's father didn't waste much time trying to kill him.

2007-03-22 11:28:35
2.   Mark T.R. Donohue
It was a pretty good episode, but I have to say, I thought the long-teased reveal of the source of Locke's infirmity was kind of anticlimax. Not quite so much as finding out that what ultimately killed Captain Kirk was falling off of a bridge, but in that league.
2007-03-22 12:18:27
3.   Linkmeister
Mark, anytime I get to use the word "defenestration" without apology is a good time.
2007-03-22 12:46:20
4.   Mark T.R. Donohue
3 Well, what really bugged me about it, since you press, is that if Locke's father was really that ruthless, why didn't he kill John at one of the many previous opportunities he's had? Locke definitely knew enough to put him away and their paths kept crossing; only Locke's general wishy-washiness kept him from turning his father in before. Any expert con man (even Sawyer) could tell you that you can't count on that.
2007-03-22 14:31:25
5.   Greg Brock
I don't know how being thrown eight stories out a window could be considered anticlimactic, but I guess everybody was expecting something different.

I expected it to be a cheap car accident at the hands of another Lostie, or something coincidental like that. I thought the payoff was great...Especially with how the episode ended.

It was in my top two or three for the season. I thought Desmond's episode was really good, as was Hurley's van adventure.

2007-03-22 15:48:30
6.   Jon Weisman
Surviving the fall might not have been believable, although nitpicking belivability on this show seems besides the point. I think it was anything but anticlimactic, though.

I liked the Hurley van episode too, but most people I talked to thought it was weak.

2007-03-22 16:19:46
7.   Linkmeister
The building Locke was pushed from was the Waikiki Landmark Hotel, in case anyone cares.

I actually called it. The moment the scene opened and I saw how high up the room was, I said "He's gonna go out the window."

2007-03-22 16:54:13
8.   Mark T.R. Donohue
OK, but how many episodes of "Lost" have there been where the theme for the flashback is, "Character X's father is a horrible person?" About six for Jack, at least five for Locke, Sun's dad is a murderous gangster, Claire's dad is Jack's dad, Hurley's dad is freeloading Cheech Marin, and so on. They've just hammered this into the ground. So how much of a surprise could it come as really when it turned out Mr. Andopolis was in fact directly responsible for Locke getting crippled as opposed to indirectly responsible as we all already suspected? I would have liked to see them take it somewhere else. Especially given that last week's revelation has probably guaranteed us at least two more flashbacks regarding Jack's Drinky McAbusivefather.
2007-03-22 16:57:28
9.   Jon Weisman
8 - I think we're at that agree-to-disagree place :)
2007-03-22 20:26:08
10.   Clive Clements
8 First he sells Nick's drums (just when he would've gotten it up to an even 30!), then he pushes Locke out the window. What a jerk!
2007-03-22 22:08:54
11.   Jon Weisman
10 - Big LOL
2007-03-22 22:29:40
12.   Steve
TV Network Pinheads,

Please leave Andy Barker alone.

Thank you.

2007-03-23 06:53:05
13.   Mike J
How much do you want to bet that Locke's dad is the guy that conned Sawyer's mom, forcing the murder-suicide (if I'm recalling the season one bit correctly)?

It seems too obvious to me, like the fact that Claire and Jack shared a daddy.

2007-03-23 10:21:42
14.   Penarol1916
13. It is too obvious, which is why that will almost definately be the case that Locke's dad is the guy who conned Sawyer's parents and is the guy who Sawyer got his name from. Just like it was obvious that Claire and Jack were brothers, this show tends to telegraph these things pretty blatantly, I don't know if it is on purpose or they just think their viewers are that stupid.
2007-03-23 15:09:00
15.   Mark T.R. Donohue
13 It's not a probability, it's a certainty. The "Lost" writers are the strictest observers of The Law of Economy of Characters on TV.
2007-03-23 15:20:31
16.   overkill94
Last night's Scrubs was surprisingly strong, easily the best of the season so far. Plenty of laughs, tons of heart, and a smoking hot chick.
2007-03-24 00:11:19
17.   Greg Brock
6 In the middle of this ominous and mysterious show, the Hurley Van episode was so positive. The Sawyer scenes with the beer, Jin helping out, those three cracking jokes and having fun.

When they jump in and tool around the little patch of land, blasting Three Dog Night. Man, I grinned the entire last half hour. I thought it was a really special episode, especially for Hurley fans.

It may have been a tad on the corny side for some people, but I would hardly call it weak.

2007-03-24 18:23:07
18.   Curtis Lowe
Wasnt the guy that conned sawyers mom already killed by Sawyer? Wasnt the guy in the Roach coach cart the reason Sawyer went to austrailia?
2007-03-24 20:01:30
19.   jtrichey
That was the reason he went to Australia, but Sawyer was set up. Sawyer killed that guy based on mis information. Somebody Sawyer palled around with was owed money by the shrimp guy, so he faked some info and told Sawyer it was the guy he was looking for. Sawyer became a hit man unbeknownst to him.
2007-03-28 11:39:58
20.   El Lay Dave
"Hurley Van" - sounds like an insult from the Governor of California.

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