Lost: Press Needs Re-Packaging

I'm reading the latest TV Guide, the interview with Evangeline Lilly where she declares she was unhappy with her handling her first two years and she's weird and loud and, oh yeah, she's, liek, omg, that Sawyer's alive! As a rational human being, I rationalized that, of course she's going to look like she's seen a ghost when she sees someone she thought was dead is not actually dead. As a rational human being, I also rationalized that she's going to have this reaction to, oh, I don't know, everyone ELSE on the island she thought was dead too.

And that's when I became an irate (not irrational, that takes the real world to accomplish) human being, quite concerned with the state of journalism. Apparently to the average journalist, with Lost, the "must read" important stuff is about Sawyer. Sawyer? Really? There was nothing else to ask about? Nothing at all? Something, maybe, relating Kate to the plot of the show…

Let's review for a moment, to clarify the ridiculousness of the situation. Kate managed to get off the island that disappeared into the water leaving her to understand that her friends are dead. Off the island she raised a child that wasn't her own, she did it mostly on her own (let's ignore for a moment that Jack was there a good portion of that time), she went on trial for the murder of her father and got away with it, and then there's that little tiny insignificant side story in which she, you know, GOT ENGAGED TO JACK.

But let's ask, "Hey, Evi, what's it like when Kate finally sees Sawyer again!"

And let's ask it as though it were important. Because this is an important interview. It's an interview leading up to the premier, which means it's what you want to use to get people's attention towards Lost. You want people to see this leading lady so you write an interview in which she's kind of shunning her fans, eschewing Hollywood, and giving a quote about Sawyer, implying that the most important thing coming up this season is how she'll feel when she sees this shirtless hick bounce out of the jungle.

I'm so glad TV Guide watches Lost, that they pay attention to the details. Whether Sawyer's left nipple is higher than his right, and how the droop of his shoulders matches the droop of his pants. The important stuff. In his honor I'm going to recap some of his astounding accomplishments thus far.

1. Encouraged Jack to happily steal from people; they're "in the wild" afterall.

2. Opened a convenience store of necessities, and enabled a bartering system of stolen goods!

3. To boost morale, he gave everyone fun nicknames they'll cherish for life.

4. Started a bar, one-upping actual psychological help with a prescription for alcoholism.

5. Engaged in combat with the enemy to put his 'death wish' into action. (Because he ain't no Hero.)

6. Facilitated "Girls Gone Wild: Others Edition" in the name of consoling a victim of mental breakdown.

7. Offered himself as a gigolo to emotionally distraught women.

8. Entertained a criminal with prose before executing him, totally ethically, with a rusty chain.

9. Hopping out of a helicopter to make sure Jack doesn't (which would have been followed by Kate).

10. Soothing a woman with booze and his shirtless self.

If he's lucky he gets an actual storyline this season; if he's really lucky, he doesn't get saddled with the triangle again, and if we're lucky, he'll get locked in a basement for two years so we can get some REAL press on Lost. Press that can ask Evangeline Lilly some decent questions. I'll provide some as examples.

1. What were Kate's feelings regarding leaving the island and leaving everyone else behind?

2. Was she resentful towards Jack for any period of time for this?

3. How did it affect her relationships with the rest of the Oceanic Six?

4. How did you see Kate's life in that time between Hurley's party and Kate's trial, specifically the time during which she and Jack were separated and she had to cope with being a single mother?

5. What motivation would be necessary for Kate to consider returning to the island, taking Aaron with her (or possibly leaving him behind)?

6. Returning to the island requires a reuniting of the Oceanic Six, who seem to have drifted apart in the time after getting to the mainland, how will this reuniting as people who have now spent five years back on the mainland apart affect their relationships with one another.

7. How will it affect their relationship with the people they're going to be returning to on the island?

Heaven forbid they ask her questions with any kind of substance. Something that might give us some insight into the coming season, seeing as this was supposed to be a lead-in article to the show's return. With the door open to a broad spectrum of questions and topics (including her upcoming movies) brought up during the interview, it's saddening that the only thing they could ask about Lost was how Kate reacts to seeing Sawyer again.

Sadder still is thinking she was asked better questions, but the answer they chose to include was the one about a character who has, up until now, been mostly set decoration. Maybe Evi should consider these things the next time she chooses to proclaim she dislikes how she's being "packaged" by her 'handlers' because the media's packaging of her has been far worse.