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The Counteragent wins! The Counteragent beat Nialle 10 to 5.
"Stranger in a Strange Land" was the worst Lost episode to date.
The Counteragent said
I cannot tattoo you!
Nialle said
OK, I may be setting myself up to lose here because I do know that "Stranger in a Strange Land" was pretty bad. However, I need to make my case for another episode-- "Fire + Water" from Season 2.
Charlie has visions about Aaron dying and steals the baby from Claire, which causes Claire to hate him and Locke to beat him up. I never really understood why Charlie HAD to baptise the baby or why all of a sudden he's having visions. Locke accuses him of doing drugs again, but he's not, but that would have explained the strange behavior.
Also, the flashback with Charlie and his brother Liam wasn't that great. I never really liked Charlie's flasbacks and this one had him in diapers (?)
All in all, the episode was boring and didn't answer any island related questions at all.
In my next argument, I'll try and find some redeeming qualities about "Stranger in a Strange Land". If there are any.
The Counteragent said
There are none. None at all. I swear.
Seriously, this episode is so god-awful from beginning to end, I still see Elizabeth Sarnoff's name in Lost credits every episode and have angry twitches because I know she's responsible for having written that crap.
Anyone else take issue with Juliet getting a **** stamp? Please, someone tell me why there had to be a tattoo-themed episode of Lost. This is not Miami Ink!
Also, I would rank "Fire + Water" as slightly less awful than "What Kate Did" (seriously, why the horse? Why any of it, apart from explosions being fun?).
Nialle said
At least in "What Kate Did". you find out what Kate did!
Anyway, to say that a certain episode is the worst ever is a bold statement to make. I do think there are some redeeming qualities about "Stranger in a Strange Land". First of all, the episode does give some insight to what goes on in the Others camp-- weird ceremonies and tribal branding. Also-- surprise! There's Cindy the flight attendant! Some people might think these are random things, but I consider them mysteries and questions that have yet to be solved or answered. Maybe in Season 5.
And is nobodu curious how they're going to work in Matthew Fox's tattoos into the storyline? So maybe "Stranger in a Strange Land" left a weird taste in your mouth when it was over, but I don't think we've really seen the whole part of that story.
"Fire + Water" on the other hand has zero mystery. Charlie talks a lot of nonsense, Claire yells a lot, and Locke asserts his power over everyone else. That episode left me with absolutely nothing.
The Counteragent said
My apologies for taking so long to respond, been busy with school/watching Battlestar Galactica (mostly the latter).
"Stranger in a Strange Land" was dumbed down Lost, an unnecessary waste of time, and didn't advance the plot beyond Juliet getting off easy, which could have been placed in another episode or not done at all.
The use of Cindy and the kids has proven completely pointless so far because it has yet to be acknowledged again (and I doubt it will). Sidenote: anyone else notice that Cindy's in a KFC commercial? WTF?
I'm not curious about how Matthew Fox's tattoos work into the storyline, because they don't need to! They're his idiotic Party of Five tattoos, and I was fully ok with writing them off as the good doctor just having a bit of a wild side/a very drunken night in college.
"Fire + Water" was weird and trippy and more than somewhat lame, but it gave the necessary grounds for Charlie to hate Locke and therefore join up with Sawyer in the future. Otherwise, who'd have dragged Sun into the jungle? Yeah, this is getting a little contrived, but whatever. Nothing is as contrived as saying tattoos from Party of Five have something to do with Bai Ling.
Nialle said
All right, I'm obviously not convincing very many people that "Stranger.." was not that bad. So I'm going with a new strategy.
I don't think you can determine the "worst" episode of Lost until the whole entire story is over. Everything that airs now might seem totally lame, random, and unrelated to the story, but you never know until the whole story has been told. Who knows? Maybe the tattoos, the imaginary horse, or the weird Charlie visions all have some sort of place in the Lost mythology that we have never heard of yet.
So, yeah, if you haven't completely abandoned this throwdown yet, comment on how excited you are to have Lost back tomorrow night!
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Comments
jkcampbell 04/07/08
Ugh, probably the two worst episodes.
loglady 04/07/08
two words:
bai.
ling.
t3hdow 04/07/08
I really can't think of too many episodes that bummed me out like 'Stranger' (though I tolerated it more than the average Lost fan), since it added almost nothing to the Lost mythology or Jack's character. Even Nicki and Paulo's episode was at least more enjoyable.
Now that you bring up Fire and Water, I'm torn. You make a lot of good points. The baptism/visions thing never carried that much weight in the Lost mythology either, and it contributed to John Locke's deterioration as a valued central character after he punched Charlie (I HATE season 2 Locke). They're both poor episodes for different reasons.
I think I'll choose Fire and Water, since it left a really bad taste in my mouth and unlike Stranger, influenced the overarching plot more. You can at least skip Stranger and lose nothing, but Fire and Water didn't help redeem the inconsistent season 2.
double_agent 04/07/08
Fire + Water, if nothing else, gave us some further insight into Charlie's life off of the island and moved the plot along a bit. Stranger was pretty boring; a lot more so than Fire/Water.
fernie 04/08/08
Stranger... is the only Lost episode I've ever not liked. Not only was the flashback unnesscessary, but unusually for Lost, the writing & acting were pretty bad, especially in the "Tattoo me or else!" scene.
What annoyed me the most though, was that the on-island story brought up several things that could have been really interesting, but were never heard from again. The sheriff? Cindy & the kids? Juliet being branded/excommunicated? All SO MUCH more interesting than Jack's tattoos.
Fire + Water, I never really minded. Charlie's behaviour in that made much more sense to me than him suddenly kidnapping Sun in the Long Con. Even though his plan to kidnap Aaron & baptise him was pretty idiotic, at least he believed he was going to help the baby. Terrorising an innocent women as part of a plan that would somehow embarass Locke? That seems pretty out-of-character for him.
ConfidenceMan 04/08/08
Stranger in a Strange Land makes me NerdRage so hard. Seriously. "The tattoos that are tied to Jack's past!" His Party Of Five tattoos will never be part of the Lost mythology, guys. Cut it out.
They killed off Isabel so quickly after that episode, at least.
"I CANNOT TATTOO YOU. IS AGAINST MY PEOPLE." Ugh, so awful. Bai Ling is also a beast.
The Counteragent 04/09/08
Wow, TVFan won't let me say that word that begins with "tr" and ends with "amp". Guys, I swear, I'm over the age of 6.
Oceanic 6 04/14/08
I watch and obsess and investigate LOST every week! I guess you could say that I participate in LOST rather than just watching it. All I have to say about "Stranger In A Strange Land" is this: After the massive downloads that were "Not In Portland" (which is an ep that has one of the greatest number of hidden easter eggs ever!) and "Flashes Before Your Eyes" two weeks in a row, it was nice to have a LOST episode where every single frame of the episode did NOT have relevance or importance in relation to something in the mythology. No hidden clues, no screen shot pausing madness, no books to read that have a connection to the story, etc. It was nice to just sit and enjoy LOST for a change actually, and not have to work my **** off while watching it! Plus, unlike a lot of other LOSTIES out there, I actually like Jack and I am always interested to learn more about his character. Granted this is no "Through The Looking Glass" in terms of quality Jack-centric outings, but any episode that features a scene with Jack having physical contact with Juliet is an episode of LOST that is worth watching. For me anyway.
Dannyj999 04/14/08
I disliked both episodes, but SIASL commited the ultimate offense: it was boring.
F&W made me cringe, but at least I was watching.
Dannyj999 04/14/08
Though I disklike both episodes, SIASL commited the ultimate offense: It was boring.
F&W made me cringe, but at least I was watching.
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