I'm in get-stuff-done mode this weekend — I finally assembled my new desk chair, and started organizing out all my bagged-and-boxed desk crap into the new desk (and the trash), and I've been cleaning and sorting and straightening and whatnot. But part of "getting stuff done," i.e. off my to-do list, involved sitting down with Chris and Cass Saturday afternoon and finally finishing season 3 of Lost on DVD.

I came out of it really, really annoyed, and I'm still trying to sort out why. [No spoilers, just general talk.]

I think above all, I have a knee-jerk hatred of being manipulated, and Lost is the most manipulative show ever. And much of the time, I accept it. I hate the characters I'm supposed to hate and feel sorry for the ones I'm supposed to feel sorry for and ogle the ones I'm supposed to ogle and I say "Oh my god, I didn't see that coming" on cue a lot. Sometimes I get impatient, especially with the flashback structure, especially when we seem to be covering turf we've already covered before, especially when it's yet another Jack flashback. Yes, he's a self-righteous, obnoxious ass. We've already learned that. Why do we need eight more Jack-centric episodes to further emphasize this? But mostly, I go along with the show.

Granted, I could never watch it at network-broadcast rates of delivery. Lost, like The 4400, Battlestar Galactica, and Heroes, should all be watched exclusively on DVD, much like anything else episodic with long plot arcs that will drive you batshit looney over how slow the progress is if you have to wait somewhere between a week and nine months to get the next little tidbit doled out. As far as I'm concerned, the only thing that makes Lost's constant teases tolerable is watching the show in batches of five or six episodes at a time.

But anyway. For me, the problem is, when the show dangles some bit of bait over my head and it isn't bait I'm actually interested in, I become hyper-conscious of the attempt at manipulation, and I get REALLY ANNOYED. Case in point [extremely vague spoiler?]: The unattended funeral in the penultimate season 3 episode. After a whole lot more annoying Jack flashback, I was pretty testy, which led to this exchange:

Cass: Okay, so whose funeral IS this, anyway?

Me: THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE ASKING RIGHT NOW, EXCEPT I'M NOT BECAUSE I DON'T GIVE A SHIT, JUST GET ON WITH IT ALREADY.

Chris: [Laughing.] Bitter much?

And of course we don't find out whose funeral it is, or what Jack's newspaper clipping says, or blah de blah de blah, and we're really supposed to be salivating over all these little details, and knowing that we're supposed to be salivating makes me alternately apathetic and hostile.

Mostly, though, I just loathe Jack. Which we're supposed to, yeah, because he's an arrogant bossy ass. But then why do we spend so much time with him, watching him be obnoxious and drunk and whiny and weepy and awful? The writers have effectively convinced me that he's a terrible human being… so why would I want to spend so damn much time with him?

Frankly, I felt the same way at the end of season 2 — I just didn't care. I knew I'd pick up season 3 and watch it because I really do enjoy the show overall, and I think the story is innovative and interesting and full of actual surprises. And I want to know about the characters I care about, and I want to know what's going on with the island, and all the big core stuff. But I really didn't care about season 2's Big! Cliffhanger! And I don't really care about this season's Big! Cliffhanger! either. Sorry, thefirethorn. I may catch the season premiere, but then I'm going back into waiting-for-DVD-boxed-set mode. And waiting for season 2 of Heroes to be completed, aired, and collected. Yeah, that's going to take a long time. I can wait. I've got a whole lot of books right here. Not to mention more cleaning to do.

I'm-a feelin': annoyed