Hey, I remember that show!

Screengrab from lost-media.comLast night ABC aired a new episode of their series “Lost.” Apparently it’s about a bunch of people marooned on an island or something. Watching it, I was reminded of a series that ran two years ago, also coincidentally called “Lost.”

In last night’s episode, though, everyone was acting strangely out of character. Not five minutes in, and Locke is actually chastising someone else for not exchanging information. Later, Kate asks Rousseau a question about something that happened very recently, and, amazingly, she got a complete answer. People made a plan to do something, told each other about the plan, and then actually accomplished it. Not once, but twice!

Charlie and Desmond were, of course, completely annoyingly evasive throughout most of the episode, but that’s to be expected, since Desmond’s still relatively new and Charlie’s still relatively a total dick. But by the end, Claire reveals, “Desmond told me everything.”

The flashback wasn’t just repetition of stuff we already knew (everyone suspected Claire’s parentage, but it wasn’t confirmed), but real character-building stuff that resonated with the theme of the episode; it didn’t just repeat the theme of the episode outright. Nice to see an episode say, “Claire is consumed with guilt and self-doubt, and because of frequent abandonment, has trouble trusting people,” without having Claire say, “I’m consumed with guilt and self-doubt. And also, because of frequent abandonment, I have trouble trusting people!”

All that, some duplicitous behavior on the part of Locke, a pretty creepy death scene (with an explanation!), and a little clever twist of intrigue at the end!

And did you notice how I’m not still bitching and moaning about their quickly killing off a mysterious character that showed so much promise from a Boba Fett-style fleeting glimpse on a security monitor several episodes ago? See, “Lost” guys, it’s easy! Just keep making solid episodes where stuff actually happens — they don’t all have to be show-stoppers — and a lot of your whiny fanbase will stop complaining about all the loose ends and details, and just get back into the action. We’re easily placated by competence.