My problem with Whedon-material isn’t really that I’m too willing to give good grades, it’s just that as long as it is set in a world he’s already made, I’m so immersed in the continuity of it that every good thing he’s done there before inevitably affects my experience of something new there. Unless it somehow contradicts things that went before, that means that everything to me looks like it has more depth and intricacy than it has when viewed alone. Thus a story that, if the characters had but different names and faces, would be more or less the same, could easily be graded lower by me a lot of the time, because the fact that it IS these characters blends past experiences with them into the material and makes it more interesting and textured.

This very thing, by the way, is why I read Raymond Feist’s stuff. Individually, many of not even most of his stories are rather run-of-the-mill. But I’m so immersed in his world by now, that everything that happens there enrichens everything else, and thus makes it more enjoyable.

Ah, well in that case, I’ll reveal that my favourite characters right now are two for you unknowns, Sayid, Sawyer and Locke. In the order, unknown, Sayid, Sawyer, unknown, Locke. With another unknown and Kate hovering somewhere below as the contenders to the five-spot. Contra the first season where Locke was CLEARLY the favourite by an enormous long-shot, and the four other spots, I think, was Sayid, Kate, Sawyer and possibly Boone. So the list has changed somewhat, but not that much. Sayid is still The Man.

I do follow a strict line with my ratings, that is true, and I find it surprising that you’re more in line with my book-ratings, seeing as I probably judge those the harshest. I also try to differentiate more between the good, the mediocre and the bad and always be truthful to myself what is what and grade it by those standards. The mitigating factors is what make sit hard to pin down exactly where the object lands on The Scale, though in retrospect I’ve been tempted to change a grade of mine more than a single ’step’, which makes them pretty accurate if you know my tastes. If you don’t, well, then ratings aren’t worth shit, are they, because you have to have some sort of frame of reference if you’re going to take something away from them. This is why I seldom watch anything that Terje rates a 7.0, because I know I won’t enjoy it and end up giving it at least a couple of grades lower than him.

You and I have pretty similar tastes in grades. I’ve only found that you overrate Whedon material a pinch or two, but hey, I overrate Lynch and Erikson a GREAT deal, so there we are…

Oh, and those weren’t spoilers. I’ve watched random Lost episodes on TV, so I know a bit about who’s gone and who’s still alive. I just don’t know how it happened.

In my book, though, the character does have one mitigating aspect, and that’s his father. I love his father, and his flashbacks are pretty good whenever his father is involved with them. (It’s not the guy playing Jack I dislike, it is just the incredibly boring stereotyped character he’s stuck with)

As to your rankings, you tend to be a little stricter than I am, especially with on-screen-stuff (I think we might be more on par when it comes to books). I’m nowhere in Terje-league, but I think I’m probably somewhat more lenient than you are with my high numbers. So you might end up with a 6,5 and a 7 where I’m guessing 7 and 7,5, but I think it’s likely you won’t diverge too far off from my guesses. See, there’s a lot of slow, boring and even unecessary stuff in those two seasons - BUT the stuff that IS good is often pretty darn good, and I think your grades will be reflecting that as well as the bad.

And if it helps at all, of my current favourite five characters, only three are even on the show where you are right now. So there are some pleasant additions there as well. The one exception there might be (don’t read the rest of this comment if you don’t want the names of two major characters who live past at least most of season 2 spoiled for you)

Locke, who was AWESOME in seasons 1 and 2, and then somehow just lost it for a big part of season 3. The only other character who might get a little less interesting instead of more so eventually is Kate, who while a rather interesting character, is a little overused by way of being Everybody And His Horse’s love-interest.

Season 4 is maybe the biggest reason why I started watching ‘Lost’. I just *want* to see how Brian K. Vaughan and Drew Goddard perform as two of the lead writers on such a renowned show.

Ah, killing Jack would’ve been SUCH a smart move! It would’ve made for an entirely different - and more interesting in terms of the human drama - show. Too bad they didn’t follow through with that.

So, you’re saying that Jack is actually a Cylon? Man, if he’s the one they’re “revealing” on BSG, I’m going to be pissed off

You seem to have about the same opinion of the season that I did. As for the person-of-the-week-setup, I can tell you that with the exception of (if I remember correctly) one episode each in seasons 2 and 3, they follow that setup all the way through to season 4, where they suddenly have been spicing it up a lot. They’re still following the basic formula, but they’re doing it in new ways than before, which I’m liking.

As for the quality, the curve you described is also very describing for seasons 2 and 3. They’re both - I think - a good bit weaker than season 1, though the third is probably somewhat stronger than the second. The fourth, however, has so far been quite excellent, and is giving me hopes for the series I haven’t had since, well, “Walkabout”. There haven’t been any ingenious episodes like that in it yet, but the _average_ quality is far, far better than its been at any point earlier in the show, if you ask me.

In other words, without having watched them more than once, I suspect you’d rank season 2 as a weak 7 and season 3 as a 7,5, but I think you might award 4 with 8,5 if you’d ever get to it. (Keep in mind, though, that the fourth season isn’t done yet, and could still take a turn for the worse). With season 4 the “drag it out”-feelings season 2 and 3 were so encumbered with are gone, and every episode seem to focus the storyline more clearly.

(The one big recurring annoying problem of the show, though, is still there - the creators apparently changed their minds about the Jack Shepard-character and didn’t kill him off in the pilot like they originally meant to do, and now they’re stuck with hero-dude running around saving the day all the time. He’s a tiny bit more interesting in season 4 than before, maybe, but blah…

Me and Obdormio joke that one day, they’ll make a Lost 2050-spinoff, and Jack’ll still be around, but this time he’s cloned, so there’s fifty of him, to ensure he gets enough screen-time.)