Kevin Smith Raves About 'Lost'

evangeline pic
Kevin Smith Raves About 'Lost'
''Clerks'' filmmaker and ''Reaper'' executive producer tells the Doc why ''Lost'' rules. Plus: NBC tips its hat to the ABC hit, another Locke mystery, and a new Doc J theory to chew on

LOST'S SEASON FINALE Kate and Jack's off-Island moment threw fans a massive curveball
All AboutLost By Jeff Jensen Jeff Jensen
Jeff Jensen, an EW senior writer, has been despondent since the cancellation of ''Twin Peaks''It's October, and we're still around four months away from Lost's season premiere. By that time — Spoiler Alert! — the Boston Red Sox will have beaten the Colorado Rockies to win the World Series, the University of California will have edged out the LSU Tigers for the college football national championship, and my hometown Seattle Seahawks will have capped a Cinderella season by beating the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Yes, my awesome Desmond-esque precognitive powers extend to the world of sports, too. Feel free to bet massive amounts of money on my flashes of the future — they're (black) rock solid, I swear!

And yet, while Lost seems ages away, the show has not been forgotten in the culture. In fact, the ABC series seems to have a lot of fans over at...NBC. Did you see the season premiere of 30 Rock? Apparently, Jerry Seinfeld is a Lost fan. And did you catch the Lost shout out in Chuck? Seems the crash of Oceanic 815 is one of the secrets tucked away in the super-nerd's head. (I know readers John Allman and Amy Moravetz spotted the homage — thanks for the email, dudes!) My friend Doc Artz over at thetailsection.com spotted Kevin Tighe — the actor who played Locke's devilish dad Anthony Cooper — on Law & Order, playing a character named...Cooper. And if we really want to force the homage issue, might the boozy black beard sported by Heroes' high-flyer Nathan Petrelli be a nod to the mangy flash forward bush worn by death-wishing frequent-flyer Jack?

Someone else with Lost on the brain: filmmaker Kevin Smith. Several weeks ago, I had the chance to interview the Clerks director about his creative role in the delightful new comedy-drama Reaper on The CW. But we began our chat by talking Lost — yep, Silent Bob's a fan. Listen:

KEVIN SMITH: Let's give props to Lost. How brilliant was this season finale? I mean, it's cruel because they're not coming back until like January, but hats off for taking a foolproof formula and spinning it to make it even better. You're like, ''Oh my God, so now they're all flash-forwards?! How genius is that?'' ... We [had] all settled into ''Okay, this is what they do, they flashback and we learn a lot about the characters.'' But that whole episode, you're sitting there going, like, ''Wait a second — is that Jack's father's body [in the coffin]? But wasn't the body on the plane? Who was this person in the casket that he's going to see?'' And then the moment where Kate f---ing walks up from the car and you're like, ''Wait — they knew each other before?'' And then all of a sudden, it becomes f---ing clear, you're like, ''Oh my God, that s---'s insanely brilliant!'' You can only do that in TV, though. You can't do that in a feature. You know what I'm saying? Like, you get a moment like that in a feature like The Sixth Sense, where you're like, ''Holy s---, he's been dead the whole time!?'' But to do two seasons and then suddenly throw a massive curveball is just so dramatically satisfying, you just take your hats off to the writers in a big, bad way.

DOC J: The thing I really loved about the twist and that reveal is that I felt like it really reinvested your interest in the people, as opposed to mythological mystery questions like ''What the hell's the smoke monster?''

SMITH: Absolutely. Suddenly it's like, ''Who gives a f--- about the polar bear, who gives a f--- about the smoke monster, any of that — all the f---ing sci-fi weirdness just took a backseat to, like, ''Holy s---! Why did Jack and Kate stop being friends?''

DOC J: Right.

KS: I can't wait. I'm so f---ing geared up for February. I just can't f---ing wait.

NEXT: There's no off-season for Lost bloggers; plus, Doc J.'s Burning Question of the Month