JAMES, JACK, AND JOHN ON A ROUTINE EXPEDITION MET THE GREATEST EARTHQUAKE EVER KNOWN: The comments regarding last night's episode of Lost raise a more macro level question about the show. In the unexpected world where Lost proved to be both a critical and a popular phenomenon, thus eliminating any concern about ratings or cancellation anytime in the foreseeable future, what do you do if you're JJ and the Island Band, busy planning the show's arcs for the season? They pretty much have to slow things down and dole the big events out sparingly, lest they be left with nothing to write about after this season or next.
My own view is that the show's manymanymany fans could easily accept the on-island plot moving at a slow pace if the flashbacks were diverse and interesting. And similarly, not every flashback needs to be "OH MY GOD, LOCKE'S IN A WHEELCHAIR" if the on-island plot for that episode is compelling on a standalone basis. (For example, the Michael flashback earlier this season was entirely useless, but the main plot -- the first Waltless raft episode -- was suitably interesting.) The flawed episodes (and there aren't many) come when you've got a relatively uneventful on-island story combined with an unenlightening flashback.
I do think we're all a little bit spoiled by the quality of this show. If someone had told me three months ago that we'd see Zeke again and get some real hints as to his origins and the number of people accompanying him but that this would be viewed as a loser of an episode, I wouldn't have believed it.
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