Josh, it's interesting you should say that. There were far more than one or two episodes in Season 3 where the main, main characters were trapped in their circumstances and did nothing of consequence. The story didn't move forward, the characters didn't grow, only the love triangle progressed (and that's one thing we didn't need more of in LOST).

Oh don't get me wrong, season 3 had more filler (cough*Nikki & Paulo* cough), but overall I still found it more engaging. I liked the Man vs. Man aspect of the season and thought it had the best balance of character development and plot development. The season 3 finale, "Through the Looking Glass" is my favorite episode of the series.

Seasons 5 and 6 are cool in the sense that they are very mythology-heavy, but they become too plot-driven rather than character driven. In addition I feel season 5 was way too convoluted (I understood what was going on but it became exhausting keeping track of multiple characters in multiple locations in different timelines/dimensions/etc.)

Season 5 also squandered some great opportunities to address certain questions regarding the history of the island.

Finished watching "Twin Peaks" - back during it's original run, it was my weekly dose of weird. I forgot how much comedy was in it - oh, more weirdness by far, but a lot of comedy!

I'm in the middle of the second season. While I enjoy the show it is really....bizarre. The characters are all very eccentric, the mysteries are getting very outlandish, the mystical aspects are both creepy and comedic, and the cinematography is very surreal. I just saw the episode where

LOST

think I may have previously said this, but LOST Season 3 is a curious combination of the worst filler and best character development and story. It has some of the very best and the very worst of the series. I really do love it but there are some parts that just annoy the stuffing out of me. You're right about the S3 finale, it's brilliant!

I'm far less fond of Season 6, much of it's messy from a writing stand-point (eg. characters need to be at this location to learn this and set the chessboard for the finale showdown, rather than travel there because they choose to - show they're proactive). Season 6 still manages to have some brilliant episodes. I love Season 5. It's extremely plot heavy and no, it doesn't explore the history of the Island much because the focus is always our band of castaways and their impact on the Island. That said, S5 is confusing and convoluted at times, but I found the story and characters so interesting and so much fun, that I didn't mind all of the crazy twists and turns. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Season 4 was truncated because of the Writers Strike. What are your thoughts on the balance of that season? I thought it was a well-balanced combination of character development and Island mythology.

My favourite LOST seasons in order: S4, S5, S2, S3, S1, S6.

LOST - I agree with many of your comments, Warrior. Season 3 had some excellent stuff but focused too much on the love triangle. Season 5's convoluted time-travel was something I really liked - even the 'sorting out what's going on' stuff.

Under the Dome recently finished its first season. I can't help thinking that a good description for it is "this is what LOST would look like if Stephen King had written it."

Yes, the love triangle was also my least favourite aspect of Season 3.

As for Under the Dome, I've read the first half of the novel but put it down after finding it too similar to The Stand (a brilliant novel) and Cell (a decent novel). Under the Dome is like both of those but instead of there being a long physical journey (ala The Lord of the Rings/LOST) the quest is more sociological. The TV series hasn't been great so far but I've been enjoying it. Nothing seems to come close to LOST, Fringe, Battlestar Galactica and Firefly for speculative TV series though.

I loved LOST though I thought the ending was a tad bit subpar. Seasons 2-4 remain my favorites in large part because they deal so much with the mysterious Dharma Initiative facilities the group continuously runs across during their conflicts with the Others. I'll go so far as to say that I still consider the DI to be the good guys of the Hostiles/DI conflict, and I find the whole organization to be really interesting. The Others...well, they're just native thugs who know Latin.

The Others were far more mysterious in the earlier seasons of LOST. In the latter seasons they were just angry hippies. I really enjoyed the series finale from a character-perspective but felt disappointed in some other ways. I don't believe LOST needed to provide a conclusive answer to every, or even most, questions that were raised but it should've still had a more cohesive conclusion. As for the Dharma Initiative, I also found them incredibly interesting. Sort of like N.I.C.E. from C.S. Lewis' novel That Hideous Strength, but again, with a more hippie flavour (and also written in a more positive light).

I have never been interested in lost but it has been a long time since I have attempted to watch it.

Anyway has anyone been watching the last leg? I love how josh is always pulling up old footage of Adam hills, anyway i thought this kfc advertisement was hilarious.

No, I should watch The Last Leg, but I haven't. That KFC ad was great! Adam Hills hasn't changed a bit!

So what did everybody think of 'Agents of SHIELD?'

So what did everybody think of 'Agents of SHIELD?'

Why, that's exactly what I came here to talk about.

I loved, loved, loved the show last night. The plot was interesting, the script was well-written, the dialogue funny; and though I don't feel I've gotten to know some of the characters well enough yet (May, Ward, Fitz, and Simmons, I'm looking at you), other characters (Coulson and Skye) have already stolen my heart after just seeing the pilot.

I think I like Agent Coulson even more in this than in the Marvel movies. As I was watching the first episode, I realized he reminded me a terribly lot of the Doctor from Doctor Who.

I'm very curious as to what they'll do in future episodes. But most of all, I'm curious as to how they "resurrected" Coulson.

All in all, fantastic episode, and I can't wait to see more.

~Riella

I agree with most of what Ithilwen said. I thoroughly enjoyed this first episode. I'm now hooked on three shows that are currently airing (two of which are new this season): Agents of SHIELD, Sleepy Hollow, and Once Upon a Time (we zoomed through season 2 on Netflix in order to watch season 3 as it comes out). Oh, make that 4 shows. I almost forgot Legend of Korra.

Anyway, I was pleased with the introductions of the characters. I imagine that the next few episodes will give us more details on the ones we were only slightly introduced to in this episode (like May, Fitz, and Simmons [who had my favorite quote of the episode: "I'm not Hermione!"]). I'm most curious as to why

I think the Centipede thing is going to end up becoming linked with HYDRA, but that's about all I care to guess at this point.

I didn't mean to, but I did watch Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I enjoyed it a lot. The team, with the exception of Coulson, felt kind of standard but I think they'll grow on me pretty quickly---they were starting to by the end of the episode, even Skye, and Fitz and Simmons were just fun. I know there are lots of theories on Coulson, but for now I'm just content to let it unravel or not as it goes.

It was fun trying to catch all the references. That said, I heard mentions of Fury, Loki, and all the Avengers except Barton. Did I miss his mention, or did they really leave him out?

Also,

Well, I have to say that I think Legend of Korra is finally finding its stride for this season. Those first four episodes just didn't do much in the way of character development for me. Too plot-heavy. Anyway, this week's episode was all about the characters, and I think it's the best this season so far just for that.

Agents of SHIELD seems to be keeping up the momentum it started with. It's done quite well with these first two episodes, and this second one gave us a bit more team and character building overall. I have to say that Fitz and Simmons are probably my favorite characters, but I'm partial to the quirky geeks.

I've also been watching Sleepy Hollow, which is so-so. The pilot was very well done and the premise is intriguing.

The only other show I watch regularly at the moment is Once Upon a Time which just started back this past Sunday. I thought the premier was fun, but action-packed and very light in the way of character and deep thought. I imagine that will quickly be put aside for the usual character exploration and moral quandaries that the show has made its name with now that we're getting into episodes with backstory as well. I'm also looking forward to the spin-off Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, which starts this coming Thursday. They've brought in some great actors and characters, and it'll be fun to explore more of this universe the writers have created.

No, I should watch The Last Leg, but I haven't. That KFC ad was great! Adam Hills hasn't changed a bit!

You should, too bad it is in its last week this week. We are 3 weeks behind in Australia which is rather annoying when they discuss what happened in the news that week in which they film the episode.

"The Pretender: Rebirth" is now available!
Here are links to the first book in the series.

Paperback:
http://www.amazon.com/Pretender-Rebirth ... er+rebirth

Kindle:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Pretender-Reb ... er+rebirth