My mother was right. The show is too violent.

A while ago I asked her to watch an episode on Wednesday night. It happened to be the one where Sayid beat on their Other hostage Henry. I explained to her that she needed to understand the backstory as to why the people behaved this way. Well last night the producers pushed me closer to that line where I will no longer watch the show.

This morning during my morning routine I realized that I still reeled after last night’s events. At some level I must have internalized the show. In the last 30 seconds of the show, one of our most sympathetic characters murders a sitting, defenseless woman in cold blood right after he says “I’m sorry.” First of all, if people could actually be brainwashed into killing their own with such specificity of purpose, I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t apologize beforehand. (Nevermind the rest of last night’s particularly awful dialogue.) Yes, yes, it’s supposed to be a dramatic element. It’s not real, it’s fiction. Well Star Trek was even more removed from real life and people believed in it. But Lost is no Star Trek. Ethically.

Was the shock value of killing off a character so she could leave the show worth the price? I think this show should be renamed “Unstable People with Guns.” At least then it would reflect what the theme of the show has become. Or “Revenge.” If I want to see death and violence I can turn on the TV news; we get enough of that at home. Whatever happened to the mystery and relative peace of the 1st season? Or am I remembering optimistically?

If these producers want to keep me as a viewer, here’s what they can do in season three: get rid of all the damn guns. Have Jack go on a crusade and they can throw the guns into a volcano or something. Or the bullets. But maybe they don’t want to keep me. I’m obviouslly not their key demographic.