In Defense of Damon Lindelof

I loved LOST and I liked the way it ended! There now that’s off my chest I can continue with this write up. Bludgeon me all you want, but it was a fantastic show and I was a die hard fan till the bitter end. Some people found it to be a great show with a horrible ending. Some found it to be a great first season and the rest of the show was crap. While others like myself, found it to be one of the most original and compelling things that had hit television in a long while that kept you guessing till the very last episode. Which only prompted me to keep watching week after week just to make sure I knew what was happening right when the show aired and I could discuss it with my friends the next day. It was probably the start of my TV obsession and I have Damon Lindelof to thank for that.

Standing up for Damon Lindelof, especially on this site might very well get me thrown to the internet wolves but I felt he needed someone in his corner for a change. So many people feel compelled to write nasty things about him, LOST, Prometheus, Star Trek 2, and now his newest venture – the Leftovers, that I’ve had enough and I think that I’ll be “that guy” to come to his aid.

Give him a break for crying out loud, he still uses a #2 pencil!

A writer is an artist with words and that’s probably where my sympathy stems from for Damon. I would never consider myself to be a writer of any great talent to that of Lindelof but I am a designer and I do love to use my creativity and imagination all the time. Being an artist means that you pour your entire soul into what you do and into what you create. Whether it’s a painting, a sculpture, a dish at a restaurant or a hollywood movie, a lot of who you are is added in to that effort. People and critics alike are more than happy (especially with the over abundance of “review” sites out there) to give their two cents on an artists portrayal and what their work means to them – regardless if it’s what the artist intended or not. This is where I’ve found Damon, an artist battling at the forefront of the war trying to earn the affection back from the audience that fell in love with his work on that fateful pilot day of LOST.

I’m guessing this is how the audience felt at the end of LOST…

The reason I say he’s trying to earn back the affection, is because he is. It seemed for awhile that the hatred had subsided somewhat, but as soon as the series finale of Breaking Bad had aired, the internet was ablaze with the torment all over again. Due to this, Damon actually deleted his twitter account on October the 14th.* He stated in a New York Times interview:

I do not like the feeling that I experience when people talk about how much ‘Lost’ sucked. I can no longer acknowledge it. I spent three years acknowledging it. I hear you. I understand. I get it. I’m not in denial about it.

Now I’m not going to sit here and point fingers at the people of the internet – they have every right to do what they want and say what they want. I for one have had my fair share of moments where I wanted to find Damon & Carlton and slap them upside the head due to my frustration. I also don’t want to have this be a pity party write up for Damon either. I would dare say that he garnered some of the hatred purely out of his ego and the way he would toy with the fans of LOST through his podcast and twitter ramblings.

Enter the Leftovers

Now knowing all the hate and backlash that Lindelof had received, you would think that he’d stray away from doing another television show based on mystery and loop holes a plenty. Nope. He was pitched the job, read the book, and signed on immediately. Either he is a glutton for punishment or he thinks that he can atone for his sins. Either way, I was thrilled to hear that he was coming back because I needed another LOST in my life.

I was not disappointed at all. The Leftovers has a great many similarities to LOST but is an entirely different show all it’s own. It has your hero that doesn’t really want the luxury of being a hero. It has the Dharma Intiative er … the Remnant who are the people we’re dying to know more about. It has the event that happened out of nowhere – “the rapture” – that we know nothing about other than 2% of the world’s population just up and vanished. I could go on and on about all the excellent plot tropes that are used to help push the story of each character and depth at which it’s all told but I’ll save you from my lecture.

turn that frown upside down!

So again, I’m in defense of Damon Lindelof. I think that he’s an artist, trying to tweak and refine his craft just like the rest of us. Granted he puts himself out there and should be willing to roll with the punches. But with so much bandwagon hatred it was time that someone be Damon’s hero and come to his rescue.

For those of you who might still doubt him, read the NY Times piece found here and also check out the “Why We Write” piece found here. Both are great reads and might open up your mind a little to what goes in to being a writer such as Damon and why you might think twice before jumping to judgement about the shows or movies that he is a part of.

 

* October 14th happens to be quite the significant date in the Leftovers…just sayin’

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Hey guys & gals, my name is Lucas Tetrault and if you like this post or any of the others I’ve done – please feel free to venture over to my Blog and take a gander at some other stuff I write about. I promise I don’t intend to waste your time.

I work as a Creative Director and spend time away from my job with my wife and son, writing for Unreality, and trying to be creative with my own personal projects.