Well that was a kick in the teeth. After the hopeful notes of Episodes One and Two of Season Two, I thought Lindelof and Company had decided to rethink the depressing trajectory of Season One. The folksy new theme song and Kevin and Nora's let's-move-on confessions of Episode Two seemed to say the producers recognized the tone of Season One was just too depressing to attract viewers. As I understand, fewer than a million people tuned in for the first two episodes this year. I can't believe more than two thirds of that number will return for Episode Four, after the sad, depressing, pointless therapy session that was Episode Three. Maybe the depiction of a recovering member of the Guilty Remnant deciding to kill herself and her family represented a dramatically necessary setback. I don't think Damon Lindelof is a nihilist. But I don't understand, either, that more than a very small percentage of any normal population is going to deem this material entertaining or worth watching. I enjoy the show, but barely, and I have to say I enjoy it far more when it is not proclaiming that the best way to address the 'void' left by false cults is to dream up an artificial new religion, as in the newly-created Cult of Holy Tom that we witnessed in the closing seconds of Episode Three. Listen close, Lindelof and Company: Cynicism is not a cure for depression, and it is not a useful stand-in for real drama. I hope Episode Three was an anomaly, a bad episode none of the writers could figure out how to fix, and that Episode Four will get the series back on track. Guys, you don't lack in vision or in profound ideas, it's just that you're expressing those ideas in such an unappealing manner that you're driving us away. If a tree falls in the forest...it doesn't matter, does it? Art is a conversation, not a statement written in secret and tucked away in a drawer, never to be read by anyone. You're telling us to go away, so you can write your art in secret. Well, if a tree falls in the forest, or if an artist writes in secret, the tree never fell, and the art was never created. I hope, like the white-clad GR people Laurie mowed down tonight, you will wake up. How long do you believe HBO will allow dragons and iron thrones to pay for your therapy sessions? My guess is that if you don't begin writing stories worth our time, *your* time will be up at the end of this season. I pray I am wrong.