Lost - Season 6 Review

US Airdate: February 2nd – May 23rd 2010

It’s The End: But the moment has been prepared for? Okay, wrong show but the truth of the matter is that the moment in some ways had been prepared for. We always knew that the show would end with a sixth year and after the previous two seasons; this one certainly proved that it was time for the show to part ways with TV land.

I don’t mean that in a negative but the series transition from flashbacks to flash forwards and in this year alone, flash sideways, it has proved that the writers were running out of steam with storylines for the characters off the island as well as on the wretched thing as well. Don’t get me wrong, there are amusing alternatives given to us here – Jack and Juliet have a son together, Ben’s a teacher, Kate’s still on the run, Sawyer and Miles are both cops, Sayid murders Keamy and rescues Jin and Hurley after a series of mishaps reunites with Libby but at the same time, they’re padding in a way too.

Throughout the 18 episodes on offer here, you have these sideways being a distraction and for the most part, an amusing one because much as I hate to grumble, the stuff on the island isn’t as great as it used to be I’m afraid.

Locke’s death in particular feels like a nasty rub and it made sense for the Smoke Monster to permanently take his guise from “LAX” onwards but as a result, the monster in some ways loses his effect than when he was just smoke. With a human body, he’s able to be nasty and manipulate the likes of Sayid and Claire when he isn’t destroying Dogen’s camp by “Sundown” but he also becomes rather annoying in the process.

Similarly, the stuff involving Dogen’s camp for the first few episodes isn’t all that great either and then the arrival of Widmore’s people in the latter half of the season is just more fodder to be killed off by the Smoke Monster. There’s a rather odd ball scene where the criminally underdeveloped Illana is blown to smithereens in “Everybody Hates Hugo” as well but the deaths of Jin, Sun and Sayid in “The Candidate” certainly packed an emotional wallop.

As for the characters themselves, Jacob might have manipulated everyone on the island but he’s given a short shrift during the season (probably because Mark Pellegrino was on another extremely popular show at the time) and it’s also a year that sees everyone nearly cropping up all at once.

Claire’s finally back and spent most of the time on the island being crazy, Juliet’s death is prolonged throughout the first two episodes, we finally learn Richard’s back story and it’s predictable, Michael’s unable to move on in the afterlife while Boone, Shannon, Ana-Lucia, Charlie, Daniel and Charlotte are cropping up in flash sideways and Desmond is having the misfortune of being an experiment for Widmore. Bitching aside though, he’s also instrumental in getting everyone together at “The End”.

That finale was always going to be a tough one to pull off. Some viewers would be satisfied, others would freaking hate it but as for me, it was a divisive. Emotionally, it was incredibly satisfying and I got a kick out of seeing nearly every main character from the show’s beginning reunited but logically, it was kind of all over the place and the less that’s said to do with the resolution of the island nearly going kaboom, the better to be honest, even if it was disappointing.

Still though, “The End” did make up for a series of meandering episodes and a few pointless ones too (“Across The Sea” being the biggest offender) and it was hard not to sit through it without a tear in my eye. So what if they’re all dead? Most of us had guessed that would be the outcome since the first season and while the show has had it’s ups and down as a series, it was still a sad day when it ended, especially that it’s only in a small handful of truly definitive sci-fi/fantasy programming from the 21st century.

DVD EXTRAS: The one thing I’ve always loved about this show was the extras and for a final season, there’s a good selection. The commentaries are fine, the location features are interesting and the bloopers amusing but it’s the other stuff that really hits the spot. “The New Man In Charge” does it’s best to tie up some loose ends with the island stuff while “The End: Creating A Final Season” more or less lives up to it’s title as the producers and cast discuss what went into crafting the last year. The other features “A Hero’s Journey” and “See You In Another Life, Brotha” covers the mysteries of which characters are genuinely heroic and the antics of the sideways stuff this year.

EPISODE RATINGS FROM 1 TO 10

6x01: LAX Part 1 = 8/10, 6x02: LAX Part 2 = 8/10,
6x03: What Kate Does = 7/10, 6x04: The Substitute = 6/10,
6x05: Lighthouse = 8/10, 6x06: Sundown = 9/10,
6x07: Dr Linus = 7/10, 6x08: Recon = 8/10,
6x09: Ab Aeterno = 7/10, 6x10: The Package = 7/10,
6x11: Happily Ever After = 8/10, 6x12: Everybody Loves Hugo = 9/10,
6x13: The Last Recruit = 7/10, 6x14: The Candidate = 9/10,
6x15: Across The Sea = 5/10, 6x16: What They Died For = 7/10,
6x17: The End Part 1 = 9/10, 6x18: The End Part 2 = 9/10.

Season Six is currently available on DVD.

The End Is Not Near, It's Bloody Well Here - Lost Series Finale

I might not have dared to stay up at 5am on Monday morning to watch the series finale of Lost but I certainly watched it last night.

Warning: Spoilers and a review that might not be too critical.

Let's get the elephant out of the room here. What Lost did with this finale was a) totally predictable given the religious overtones of the series and b) covered virtually the same ground that Ashes To Ashes did a few days prior. Ending the show with everyone dead should come across as either completely lazy and bleak and while it is to a degree, it made sense for the show. Jack died on the island and was literally the last person to be rounded up into the church to meet everyone else before passing over and letting go. After six seasons, it was about damn time he did.

In terms of emotional beats, this finale hit far too many, which I think cemented my love for the series. I've always liked Shannon and Sayid's brief relationship and having them reunite was a strong move. The whole two and a half hours of The End having everyone hook up and remember their island lives hit the right moments - Jin/Sun, Claire/Charlie/Kate, Sawyer/Juliet, Locke/Jack, etc and it was certainly better than the island stuff itself. And I bet no-one was surprised when Juliet was revealed as David's mother as well. I was more surprised with how cordial her and Jack were as the seperated parents.

Now the island stuff was something of a sour point for me with this finale. Something as big as protecting light was not something that should've been introduced this late into the series game. Having Jack and Smoke Monster Locke fighting over it for the guts of 90 minutes was a source of tedium. I was enjoying the sideways so much that I really couldn't stick with the island stuff. The island nearly went kaboom but didn't, though Jack and Smokey were effectively dead and Hurley and Ben became protectors of the island. The other big surprise of this finale was how I actually cared about Ben. I don't remember when I stopped actively disliking him.

As for everyone in the church - Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Shannon, Boone, Claire, Hurley, Libby, Locke, Desmond, Rose, Bernard, Penny and Christian. I wonder why we didn't get Michael, Ana-Lucia and Walt. Come to think of it, we didn't see Daniel, Charlotte, Frank, Miles or Richard in the church either and they both on the island and the sideways segments. Plus the actress playing Illana was credited but I don't remember seeing her at all in this one. Still, we got the majority of our main players from the series and while the ending was far from perfect (a lot of stuff wasn't really answered in regards to the science bits), after six years and 121 episodes, Lost certainly ended a lot better than even I thought it would do.

I Wasn't That Worried To Be Honest

The finale has aired in America and in Ireland, we're nearing to it further than the UK. The last two episodes of Desperate Housewives that I've watched have been fine enough. We learnt that Porter's friend, Eddie is the Wisteria Lane strangler and he upped the body count by doing away with the obnoxious Irina and his own mother. Speaking of his mother, Mary Alice interacted with her in flashbacks as the housewives were all shown (rather contrived) their past altercations with Eddie. Other than that, you had Susan and Gabby playing games with Mike and Carlos and Bob and Lee breaking up. The Patrick mystery thankfully is further developed in the last three episodes.

Spoilers for tonight's episode of Glee- we finally know who Rachel's mother is and believe me, you won't be shocked by it in the slightest. It also explains some of Jesse's motivations as well and there's a rather inspired set of musical numbers such as I Dreamed A Dream with Rachel and her bio mum in the most unusual way possible, Artie's How We Dance (and there's some brilliant stuff with him in this episode) as well as the duet between Will and Bryan (Neil Patrick Harris's character) with Dream On. Joss Whedon did a good job with this episode but it wasn't my favourite. The Rachel-lite previous episode was actually much better, especially for Kurt's choices of songs (mostly his take on Rose's Turn) and Mercedes and Santana going head to head with The Boy Is Mine. With three episodes left, I can't wait to see how the first season will wrap up and there's that Lady Gaga episode to contend with as well.

Anyone catch the series finale of Lost last night (or today) at 5am? Nope, me neither. It looks like I'll be watching it Thursday/Friday depending on motivation. The last two episodes didn't exactly blow me away to be honest. Across The Sea felt like a story that should've been done earlier in the season and What They Died For just bumped off Richard in a rather anticlimatic style as well as Charles and Zoe but I won't miss them. And Jack's taken over Jacob's role? Here's hoping The End is better stuff. EDIT: I've seen it and a blog will commence tomorrow.

Biopics are ten a penny nowadays and if I wasn't getting enough of an 80's love in with Ashes To Ashes, the BBC decided to do an 80's season with the Boy George story, Worried About The Boy being one of it's centrepieces. I liked Douglas Booth as Boy George and there were some good supporting roles for Matthew Horne, Marc Warren and Mark Gatiss but maybe I was expecting more because this didn't really float my boat. The writing was good, the acting fine and some of the stuff about Boy George I didn't actually know but it just didn't grip me to be honest. Still it was better than anything the rival channels wer doing at the same time on that night.

- True Blood is getting closer to airing and it seems that 90210 actor Michael Stieger has been cast as a prostitute that Russell seeks out. Also Lara Pulver has been cast as Sookie's fairy godmother, Claudine.

- Lost finale can be seen Tuesday 9pm on Sky1 and has already aired on RTE2 for Irish viewers.

- Melrose Place has been another show to get the boot. Good riddance.

- Vanessa Williams has been cast as a series regular for the seventh season of Desperate Housewives, though it's uncertain if her character is a part of the season mystery.

- Spartacus premieres tomorrow on Bravo at 10pm. The drama stars John Hannah and Lucy Lawless and it's even raunchier than Rome.

- Tom Welling has been reported for saying that he wants Michael Rosenbaum as Lex Luthor for the tenth and final season of Smallville. The villain for the last season will be Darkseid.

- One of the main characters will suffer a miscarriage in the sixth season finale of Grey's Anatomy.

Time Warps

I don't know about everyone else but I've been divided about Rachel Berry on Glee for some time now. Sure, Lea Michele can sing excellently but there are times when I wish that more characters were given bigger numbers than just Rachel. This week, in a homage to all things bad, Rachel/Finn/Puck/Jesse got to do both Run Joey Run (never heard of it) and Total Eclipse Of The Heart. And while Rachel probably should've informed all three that she was using them in the video for the former, I do think they overreacted a tad. Why was Puck so narked? He doesn't even fancy her all that much and as for the Glist, it did make sense that it was Quinn. Nice to see that Quinn still can be a bitch. Wouldn't want her getting all soft on us. Other highlights from this one included Emma calling Will out on his crap, any moment between Sue and her sister and Kurt/Mercedes/Brittany/Artie/Tina's failings to be bad-ass. The Olivia Newton-John appearance and Physical remake with Sue however didn't work that well and please stop Will rapping, it's painful.

You can tell that we're towards the end of Lost forever because more characters are dropping like flies. This season we've had Juliet's death linger on for two episodes, confirmation that Locke is totally gone, Illana blown to smithereen and now this episode delivered four big death and for this show, that is an achievement. Will anyone be alive by the time we get to The End? Jin, Sun and Frank all died inside a bloody submarine and when Sayid came back from the brink, he had to go and sacrifice himself, didn't he? And this week's episode, featuring The West Wing actress Alison Janney features none of the main cast.

I've been missing Grey's Anatomy for a bit but after reading about The Time Warp, I made the effort to go and watch it for myself and you know what? I actually enjoyed it. Sarah Paulson and J August Richards did a good job as the younger versions of Ellis and Richard and this is coming from someone who's never been that interested in anything involving those characters at all but am I really supposed to believe that Ellis drove him to drink? The whole series of lectures in this episode was brilliantly done out. I liked seeing a reserved Miranda who learned to stand up for herself by having such a bitch for a resident and even the reveal of Alex/Callie sleeping with each other during Season 2 didn't bother me, though it seemed to nark Arizona for some reason.

Desperate Housewives is another show beginning to reach it's conclusion. Introducing John Barrowman's Patrick Logan was much needed at this point. I've been bored shitless of seeing the actor in rubbish Saturday night game shows so it's nice to see him a role as removed from Jack Harkness as humanly possible. That being said as good as the Patrick debut was, there are some still rubbish plotting - Susan and Gabby competing with their kids again, Lynette's hatred in Porter's fiance Irina, Bree favouring Rex's kid Sam over her own. No wonder new couple Katherine and Robin decided to leave Wisteria Lane.

Every time BBC3 say there's a new series of Family Guy, I should cop on to the fact that they're usually a season behind. Season Eight started in double bill form last night on the digital channel and it was a fine enough opening episodes. Stewie and Brian's jumping back and forth into different realities certainly hit a funny bone or two, though Peter's brief dalliance with a fecking cardboard cutout of a supermodel was less funny.

- Katee Sackhoff turned down the role of Debbie Pelt in True Blood. Okay it's not the best role but I thought any actor would want to be on that show nowadays. And Lafayette's fella in the third season will be supernatural.

- Paul Young is the main mystery for the seventh season of Desperate Housewives. Mark Moses will reprise the role in this year's finale and become a regular for next season.

- Brothers And Sisters will be time jumping, so expect Robert out of the picture (along with Ryan), Kevin and Scotty to be parents and Justin and Rebecca to be geographically seperated as well.

- The producers of Glee want Victoria Beckham on the show. Why?

- Irish viewers can catch the final season of The Tudors tonight at 10pm on TV3. BBC2 will air it later in the year.

- The future of One Tree Hill is left uncertain. Why not cancel it? Hasn't it ran long enough?

- Damages has been cancelled by FX. Damn.

- NBC have picked up three new shows - Love Bites, Outsourced and The Event.

Will Schuester, I Hate You

Yes, I know I desperately need to catch up on some stuff but I will get there. After all, here are some recent bits I've seen watching. As River Song would say: spoilers ...

I enjoyed the first series of Charlie Brooker's You Have Been Watching, so I was delighted to see that Channel 4 had wisely decided to renew it for a second run. The guests on the first episode included the likes of Liza Tarubuck and David Baddiel as they delved into the week's television. The highlight was probably their dissection of porny looking new series, Spartacus: Blood And Sand and the unusual critique section of Brooker's weird culinary dishes. Okay, so a Mars bars rearranged but it looked rather odd, didn't it?

Irish viewers still have the advantage of being ahead of their UK rivals with the sixth season of Desperate Housewives but the stories have been mostly okay to unremarkable in recent weeks anyways. The Bolen mystery still has yet to be really advanced and episodes where Susan and Gabby witter on about their kids academic progress is hardly riveting stuff. Still, the current plot between Katherine and ex-stripper Robin is a lot better than you'd expect to be as well. Maybe I'm biased because it's Julie Benz but it's certainly the strongest plot right about now.

I keep going on and off with Grey's Anatomy but it's always been that sort of show for me anyways. Watching Teddy and Christina compete for Owen isn't riveting, I've never cared enough about Richard to care about his alcoholism and do I have to talk about Meredith/Derek or even Mark/Lexi either? Even Callie/Arizona seem to be going through a rough patch on this show and Izzie basically returned to get the all clear and dumped by Alex. That I won't criticise because Alex was in the right and we know Izzie is leaving anyways but other than that, the stories need to step up a gear already and fast.

Lost is hurtling towards it's conclusion and the episodes are certainly getting a little stronger. Okay, apart from maybe Hurley and Libby getting their first proper date in the latter's flash-sideways, I still don't the point of them. Neither do I see how SmokeyLocke shoving Desmond down a well is going to deter Widmore for longer. And the deaths continue with the recent of episodes blowing Illana to bits. There's only six episodes left and while this season has been good, I don't know how satisfied I'm going to be with the last episode of this.

I wish I could say that I've been watching Heroes religiously this season but I seriously have not. In fact the last episode I did watch was the one where Nathan was finally dead and buried and Claire tried to expose Samuel for the dodgy little cretin he is with no success. BBC2 are nearing towards the end of the season in the next few weeks and with a renewal yet to be confirmed from NBC, this could be the series last season. If so, it really is going to go out on a whimper.

And I've caught up with all of Glee. No, I did not buy the first season on DVD but I have watched the episodes that I've missed and UK viewers, tonight you get the first episode of the second half of the season, so spoilers beware. Right, I wasn't all that bothered with neither Will/Emma or Rachel/Finn breaking up, I loved Sue's version of Vogue and her callous way of getting reinstated as well as encouraging Rachel to pursue rival club fellow, Jesse. And yes, I totally saw from a mile that this new coupling was doomed to be ill fated. The episode airs tonight at 9pm on E4. Sue Doing Vogue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CWtiKjat6c

Two Different Women

My expectations for Cougar Town were exceedingly low so when RTE2 decided to air it two weeks before Living TV, I wasn't going to watch but for some reason, I gave in. Am I glad I did? Not really to be frank. It's not that it's a terrible show (forty something woman getting her groove back by sleeping with younger blokes), but it's a bit ... naff. Some of the dialogue is too cheesy for it's own good, Courteney Cox's character Jules isn't exactly a breath of fresh and it's obvious that the male characters exist to be dolts, so I don't think this is something I will stick with to be truthful.

Somewhat better is The Good Wife. UK viewers are ahead of me but I did catch the pilot episode this week and while it doesn't reinvent the wheel for a lawyer series, is it a lot of fun to watch. Alicia's a likeable enough character as she tries to get back into being a lawyer while dealing with her husband's sex scandals (Mr Big, how could you?). Even the typically annoying mother in law isn't that annoying. This show has a lot of promise.

I haven't caught the finale of Skins yet, so I can't comment on that one but recent episodes have been .... depressing. Emily and Naomi are barely able to tolerate each other, Katie/Pandora/Thomas have naff all to do, Cook seems to be bunking with everyone, Effy's got serious mental health issues and her nutty therapist decided to bash Freddie's head in because he's got a fixation on Effy. I appreciate dark stuff as much as the next person but a bit of lightness certainly would've done this season world of good.

And the advantages of Irish television are being ahead of UK viewers with Desperate Housewives. This year's big disaster was a bloody plane crash and a certain someone had to go and meet their maker. The recent what if episode however was a hoot and a half, even if some of the stuff you could see coming a mile off, like Gabby's relationship with her daughters and Susan still being unbelievably immature for her age.

I'm not really sure what to make of these side-parallels that we're getting with the main characters this season. All the flashbacks and the flashforwards of the previous seasons served their purposes but do this side parallels really do that with Lost? I mean, it's interesting seeing Sayid and Nadia still drawn to each other or Ben being a teacher or Sawyer a cop but it feels like a distraction from the actual stuff on the island. I mean, why is Smokey being so evasive? Will Claire ever be normal again (or Sayid for that matter)? Still, I can't wait for the next episode, which gives us insight into Richard.

- Smallville has been renewed for a 10th season while Supernatural has gotten a sixth one. I can understand the latter but the former really should've ended years ago.

- There's hints of an erotic connection between Sam and Bill in the third season of True Blood, which airs on HBO from June 13th.

- Gilles Marini is becoming a regular for the fifth season of Brothers And Sisters.

- Skins has been renewed for a fifth and sixth season.

- The Sarah Jane Adventures has been renewed for a fourth and fifth season. Torchwood is still unknown.

- Doctor Who will get a Christmas 2010 special and a sixth season. The recent trailer has revealed the Cybermen are returning for Series 5.

- Both John Hensley and Dylan Walsh recently expressed their disappointment with the series finale of Nip/Tuck. UK viewers can see it on FXUK from May.

- Kurt will get a love interest in upcoming episodes of Glee. Neil Patrick Harris will also be appearing on the series.

Live At 25

I'm so badly behind on some shows right now, apart from the ones I'm reviewing of course but are some stuff I did watch recently.

EastEnders has turned twenty five years old, four months before I actually have. Okay, live episodes are an extremely dodgy process but oddly enough, they did alright on Friday night when it was finally revealed that Stacy bumped off Archie. As a reveal went, it was satisfying and I'm sure I wasn't the only person sad to see Bradley killed off - I liked him. Plus if it had been someone like Ryan, would anyone have cared? Corrie are going to have to pull their finger out for the upcoming 50th anniversary because right now, it's dire to watch.

Susan and Katherine - how far can a rivalry go? Well, if you're Susan, you're going to do something stupid like accidentally shoot Katherine and then believe that she was the one strangling Julie. To top it all off, you'll then piss off some former cop that you teased in school and get thrown in the slammer. On a more interesting note, the Bolen plot is definitely one of the best thought out one going, it's nice to see Lynette and Tom provide a support system for Julie but the subplot with Gabby homeschooling Juanita and Bree still stuck with Orson don't match up by comparison. But at least Desperate Housewives has it's mojo back.

Lost on Friday nights don't seem right to me but at least the final season is getting off to an interesting start. So we have Others who are helping - sort of, a parallel version of the gang's lives if they had landed back in America on Flight 815, Sawyer grieving over Juliet's death and a rather feral looking Claire, who's more interesting now than she ever was. The shock of Smokey/Locke being the same was fine too. Oh and this week's episode is a Jack one. I'll keep an open mind.

I need to keep up with Skins. The fourth season so far has been good, I'll admit that. Emily's episode delved more into the death of Sophia and while the writers could've evaded going down that predictable route of making Sophia/Naomi cheat on Emily, some of the acting was absolutely brilliant. Cook's episode wasn't as good but it was a damn sight better than the unbearable one we got in the third season for him. Maybe he will change after all. Stranger things have happened.

Lost - Season 5 Review

US Airdate: February 10th – May 13th 2009

The Ultimate Do-Over: At this point in Lost’s run, you are at a point of thinking that the writers cannot pull any more surprises on you. We’ve had enough stations, back and forth alliances, moments of mysticism, flashbacks and flash forwards, so what else can they possibly pull off in the fifth season?

How about time travel? Lost is science-fiction and we’ve had enough craziness in the previous four years, so it’s not like it would be the most bizarre thing to ever do. Plus it would go on to create new problems and offer some explanations on certain characters as well as meeting younger versions of established character.

The two-part opener, “Because You Left” and “The Lie” introduce the concept well enough as Sawyer, Juliet and others fending for their lives back on the erratic island. In the present you’ve got Ben kick starting his campaign to get the Oceanic 6 back on the island because it’s destiny. Translation: Ben is an idiot, with Locke quickly gathering apace.

“Jughead” is the episode that introduced a vital part of the mystery leading to the finale but it’s also a rather nice for Daniel and Charlotte as well. Neither of whom get out of this season alive with Charlotte becoming affected by the time jumps in “This Place Is Death” and Daniel getting shot by a younger version of his mother in the 100th episode, “The Variable”. At least one of them went out on a big one.

In between those episodes, we’ve got a lot of interesting stuff bubbling under. The Oceanic 6 are definitely different people. Sayid went from being an assassin for Ben to doing good in his own way after Nadia’s death, while Kate attempted to keep Aaron’s parentage a secret and Sun went to her own lengths to try and kill Ben. Sadly, she did not succeed but there’s a certain glee when she whacks him across the head in “Dead Is Dead”.

Jack’s stories are less interesting and apart from an Ana-Lucia appearance via hallucination, I really didn’t care for Hurley’s either. Also after playing such a vital role in the previous two years, Desmond is fairly surplus to requirements in the second half of the season. He didn’t even pop in the finale.

As for the gang on the island, stranding them in 1974 with the Dharma Initiative was a bloody genius idea. Also genius was hooking Sawyer and Juliet up as a pair. I didn’t think I would enjoy it as much as I did but they both convinced me and I sort of hated when Jack and Kate reappeared at the halfway point of the season because I knew it was going to be the beginning of the end.

The weird thing is that in the last two seasons, Kate’s been far less irritating but Jack is still largely hit and miss at times and you could trust him to get behind the idea of giving everyone a brand new start without considering the consequences of his actions. However, “The Incident Parts 1 And 2” still maintained the series penchant for ending on a bizarre but intriguing note as well as the sad ending for Juliet.

Similarly strange was the introduction of Jacob. Here was a character who’s been discussed for ages and when we finally meet him, the man posing as Locke tricks Ben into killing him. Better thought out were the introduction of Illana and her crew as well as the genius nudging of Ellie Hawking. Surely she’ll be reappearing in the show’s sixth and final year.

DVD EXTRAS: I say this every time I review this show on DVD but it’s always bears repeating, this show rocks with extras. Okay, the commentaries for “Because You Left” and “He’s Our You” are a bit boring but you get some nice video diaries with Michael Emerson and Nestor Carbonella, the usual behind the scenes look at certain episodes, a nice look at the issue of time travel on the series as well as more on the Dharma Initiative and a splattering of bloopers and deleted scenes.

EPISODE RATING 1 TO 10

5x01: Because You Left = 8/10, 5x02: The Lie = 8/10,
5x03: Jughead = 7/10, 5x04: The Little Prince = 8/10,
5x05: This Place Is Death = 8/10, 5x06: 316 = 9/10,
5x07: The Life And Death Of Jeremy Bentham = 9/10,
5x08: LaFleur = 9/10, 5x09: Namaste = 8/10,
5x10: He’s Our You = 8/10, 5x11: Whatever Happened, Happened = 8/10,
5x12: Dead Is Dead = 7/10, 5x13: Some Like It Hoth = 6/10,
5x14: The Variable = 9/10, 5x15: Follow The Leader = 8/10,
5x16: The Incident Part 1 = 10/10, 5x17: The Incident Part 2 = 10/10.

Lost - Season 6 Cast Shots 1

Thanks to BillieDoux for pointing these out. I was going to wait until I'd done the Season 5 DVD but I'm sure there'll be more for me look at.

Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox). He created some trouble last season. Is he going to regret what he done? Or technically what Juliet (RIP) did?

Sayid Jarah (Naveen Andrews), one of the best characters on the show. I hope he's get more to do in the series last year.

Kate Austin (Evangeline Lilly). We're into Season 6 so just pick either Jack or Sawyer and get it over already.
Sun Kwon (Yunjin Kim) - let her and Jin have a happy ending, pretty please?

Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonelli). You confuse, you astound. Can we have some clarity on you now?

Lost's sixth and final season debuts on ABC from February 9th and will also premiere on SkyOne around the same time.

More photos can be seen here ... http://thetvaddict.com/2009/12/10/this-just-in-your-first-look-at-losts-season-6-promotional-photos/

Lost – Season 4 Review

US Airdate: January 31^st-May 21^st 2008

In the fourth season of the hit series, the islanders are getting closer to home but with new enemies and more divides, things aren’t as straightforward as they were hoping for them to be.

Remix – You’ve really got to hand it to this show. After eighteen months of listening to viewers endlessly complain (I’m not excluding myself from that generalisation) about the lack of answers and the dangers of things becoming too formulaic, the fourth season actually decides to remedy these problems more head.

To be fair the third season was doing a pretty good job in giving us some answers about the series but this season went a little further by proving that some of our heroes aren’t going to be rotting on the island for the rest of their lives.

The introduction of flash forwards meant a revamp for the series and Hurley is the second person to experience them in the opening episode, “The Beginning Of The End”. Given his previous mental problems, perhaps it’s not too much of a shock to the system that back in the real he would be one of the Oceanic Six to really crack under pressure.

The Hurley we meet in the future is one desperately trying to get himself sectioned and even having moments when he’s talking to Charlie when he’s not having a hostile confrontation with Jack or talking to the mysterious Abbadon bloke.

On the actual island itself, we’re still dealing with the consequences of Charlie’s death, Locke murdering Naomi in cold blood and the arrival of the freighter crew. While many people wouldn’t want to believe a word that comes out of Ben’s mouth, his warnings about the freighter people isn’t without justification. Upon meeting Daniel, you just know that something isn’t right with these people.

Daniel doesn’t exactly come alone as “Confirmed Dead” introduces his team-mates, Charlotte, ghost whisperer Miles and Frank, all of whom in flashbacks are selected by Abbadon and Naomi and once they meet up with our divided gang, there’s more hostility. Charlotte finds herself nearly killed by Ben on Team Locke, while with Team Jack, Juliet is nearly placed in danger when Frank realises that she’s one of the Others.

For a while in the season there does seem to be that divide with the newcomers and “The Economist” might see Charlotte being traded for Miles but it also shows us a bleaker version of Sayid as his future self becomes under the employ of Ben of all people. Trust Ben to find an opportunity with a broken man. “Eggtown” is a little better, mainly because we finally see Kate exonerated for all of her crimes and also because it eliminates the pregnancy by revealing that her future kid is in fact, Aaron (which obviously can’t mean anything good for Claire, right?).

The best episode of this season however belongs to Desmond with the mind bending, “The Constant”. It’s in this episode that sees both Sayid and Desmond investigate the goings on of the freighter but it’s also the genius use of flashbacks and flash forwards as well as the further strands in Desmond and Penny’s love story that keeps this episode at such a riveting level. The same can’t be said about “The Other Woman”, a flashback episode focusing on Juliet but it’s nice that we got some confirmations here. Ben’s unhealthy obsession with her was keenly addressed as are her feelings towards Jack – the two of them even get to share a kiss while Charlotte and Daniel even stop the island from destructing at one point.

Along with Sayid, Jack, Kate, Aaron and Hurley, Sun is then revealed as the last of the Oceanic Six in “Ji Yeon”. As a fan of the character, the episode certainly doesn’t disappoint, what with her and Jin having it out over her former affair and of course, in the real world, Sun giving birth to a daughter and her and Hurley possibly attending Jin’s funeral. In other words, both Jin and Claire don’t seem to have rosy futures ahead of them.

Speaking of unpleasant, the return of Michael in “Meet Kevin Johnson” really should have more of an impact but it feels like the character is wasted. Basically he’s on the freighter to sabotage things for Ben and via flashback, he seems to have suffered for killing Ana-Lucia and Libby (the latter appearing briefly in the episode) but overall it’s the arrival of the murderous Keamy on the island that has the most problems. In the space of two minutes both Karl and Danielle are killed and by the time “The Shape Of Things To Come” airs, Alex also kicks the bucket at Keamy’s hands. If ever there was a time in which some sympathy could be conveyed for Ben, I guess it’s now. Still he does vow to get Widmore back by putting a bounty on Penny and you just know that Keamy is a dead man walking anyway.

Flash forwards might have shown that Ben lives to manipulate another day but they haven’t done wonders for Jack. “Something Nice Back Home” briefly teases the idea of happiness between him, Kate and Aaron because his deep seated obsession to go back to the island tears them apart yet again, while “Cabin Fever” delves more into Locke’s specialness, gives a return from Richard and has a gloriously creepy moment with Claire and Christian.

The three part finale, “There’s No Place Like Home” is certainly the series at its best. Seeing the lies the Oceanic Six have to come up with in order to survive being back in the real world certainly doesn’t put them in an enviable position nor can the moving of the island indicate anything really good. There are some moments of satisfaction, namely in Keamy’s death and the reveal of Locke being the man in the coffin that Jack saw back in the third season finale. Overall though, this is one season that despite its reduction in episodes delivered the goods in a big way. Looking forward to see how the fifth season keeps the balance between island and real world stuff.

EXTRAS: There must be something weird in the water because we’ve actually gotten some better commentaries compared to previous releases and on important episodes too. Evangeline Lilly and Jorge Garcia are on fine form on their chat track for “The Beginning Of The End” while Mark Goldman, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse aren’t too annoying with “The Constant”. Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim and director Stephen Semel provide one for “Ji Yeon” and Lindelof and Cuse are back again for “There’s No Place Like Home Part 2,” though why commentaries for parts one and three couldn’t have done is a wonder. The fifth and sixth discs are littered with extras ranging from the usual array of deleted scenes and bloopers and behind the scenes filming on key episodes. There’s a wonderful set of other features however – “The Right To Bear Arms” delves into the show’s various use of guns while “The Freighter Folk” pretty much does what it says on the tin. “The Oceanic Six: A Conspiracy Of Lies”, “Soundtrack For Survival”, “The Island Backlot” and “Offshore Shoot” all add to the fun here.

EPISODE RATING FROM 1 TO 10:

4x01: The Beginning Of The End = 9/10, 4x02: Confirmed Dead = 8/10,
4x03: The Economist = 6/10, 4x04: Eggtown = 8/10,
4x05: The Constant = 10/10, 4x06: The Other Woman = 8/10,
4x07: Ji Yeon =9/10, 4x08: Meet Kevin Johnson = 8/10,
4x09: The Shape Of Things To Come = 9/10,
4x10: Something Nice Back Home = 8/10,
4x11: Cabin Fever = 9/10, 4x12: There’s No Place Like Home Part 1 = 9/10,
4x13: There’s No Place Like Home Part 2 = 10/10,
4x14: There’s No Place Like Home Part 3 = 10/10.

Lost – Season 3 Review

US Airdate: October 4^th 2006- May 23^rd 2007 on ABC.

It’s the third season and for the gang it finally means knowing more about The Others as they have Jack, Kate and Sawyer in their clutches. With the remaining survivors manning a rescue and more deaths along the way, things continue to get very interesting for the islanders.

Friend And /Or Foe? – Like many shows out there, Lost suffered the difficult second album syndrome with an incredibly disjointed and all over the place second season. Although Season Three would come to the show’s strongest season yet, it’s not entirely impervious to faults.

In fact opening episode, “A Tale Of Two Cities” continued the tradition of just downright boring Jack centric episodes. In flashbacks Jack’s divorcing his wife Sarah and behaving like a jerk to his irritating father. On the island he’s been sweet talked by a female Other named Juliet. You don’t have to be blind to see that immediately Juliet is attracted to Jack and is even a bit hurt when Jack makes a piss poor effort to use her to escape. Also when we’re not learning that Henry Gale is actually Benjamin Linus, Sawyer’s getting the shit kicked out of him by everyone and Kate is put to work. The first six episodes of the season are built around this. However there are some breaks in the story. For instance we get to see a more duplicitous side to Sun via flashback in the excellent “The Glass Ballerina”. Sun even manages to kill an Other in Colleen, something which Colleen’s husband makes Sawyer pay for repeatedly in “Every Man For Himself” and “I Do”. “Further Instructions” on the other hand is one of two genuinely boring episodes, even though this one is a Locke centric episode. There’s a nice return of Boone but with the introduction of two of the most pointless characters in Nikki and Paolo, it’s hard to get completely invested in the episode.

The other woeful episode of the season is “Stranger In A Strange Land”. It’s another Jack episode (which unfairly gets four episodes this season) but it’s so bland, I just wished they hadn’t bothered with it. Also because this season cannot go a few episodes without the death of a major character, it’s Mr Eko who becomes smoke monster fodder in the disappointing “The Cost Of Living”. Given how much time the writers had spent building up Mr Eko as a strong player, his death in this episode is both lazy and cartoonish to say the least. However despite some sluggish stuff at the start, there is a lot to recommend. Locke trying to involve some of the characters in rescuing Jack, Kate and Sawyer is a good move, Desmond quickly becomes one of the best characters on the series and the cat and mouse antics with Ben and Jack are actually quite compelling. The writers also manage to make Sawyer and Kate more sympathetic as characters when you take into account the treatment they have to endure. Their episodes “Every Man For Himself”, “I Do” and “Left Behind” are brilliant in giving more of both character’s inner working and I’m sure they were plenty of people happy to see Kate and Sawyer engage in some naughty cage sex.

Juliet is also another joy in the season. Elizabeth Mitchell is a great find as the character and it’s brilliant that throughout the season, you’re constantly guessing which side she’s genuinely on. When she’s not trying to emotionally engage with Jack, she makes an attempt to coerce him into killing Ben and it’s something that nearly costs her as well. In “Not In Portland” and “One Of Us”, we learned more about how and why Juliet was reeled into joining the Others and while Ben does seem to harbour feelings for her, it’s blatantly obvious that she’s repelled by him. We also learned that she’s quite the brilliant fertility doctor, what with her successful attempts of getting her sister pregnant but even Juliet’s skills can’t save the mothers on the island from dying and by the end of the season, it’s Juliet who has no problems in betraying Ben and giving Sun a warning about her pregnancy in “DOC”.

Ben is definitely the man of the hour throughout the third season. Like many classic foes, Ben doesn’t consider any of his actions to be immoral whatsoever. It doesn’t matter that he stole Danielle’s daughter Alex and raised her as his own. Nor does it matter that he tries to brainwave Alex’s boyfriend Karl or makes with psychological threats to Sawyer’s well being or during the final moments of “The Man Behind The Curtain” shoot Locke and dump him in the same pit as the corpses of the Dharma Initiative. In a lot of ways, Ben is dangerous, smart, scary but also kind of stupid given how easily in the finale that Jack and company were able to grab him in “Through The Looking Glass Parts 1 and 2”.

Getting to the most compelling character this season, it really is Desmond when all is said and done. His episodes “Flashes Before Your Eyes” and “Catch 22” might have succeeded in getting viewers to care about his relationship with Penny and the desperation he has to get back to her in the real world but his abilities to see into the future also strikes a note, particularly as the increasingly annoying Charlie is dragged into this plot.

With Nikki and Paolo making no impact and quickly dispatched in the so-so “Expose” (an episode which also attempted to give their character’s history during crucial events in the first two seasons), Charlie was the next marked character in the series. With him and Claire slowly getting back on track, it probably couldn’t have come at a worse time for Charlie but at least the writers thought his demise out. Bringing in Naomi in the last seven episodes with the hope that her people could get everyone else of the island led Charlie to making a sacrifice in the finale. As someone who grew increasingly bored of the character, I have to admit to finding his death sad. It also didn’t help that the episode before the finale, “Greatest Hits” did a far greater job in making me care for Charlie than any of his other flashbacks. In fact a lot of the characters that I care about got hit and miss flashbacks. Hurley had daddy issues in “Tricia Tanaka Is Dead”; Sayid had to deal with the wrath of a woman he tortured in “Enter 77” while Claire more or less confirmed that Jack was her half brother in “Par Avian”. Although Locke was quite detestable this season, his remaining episodes “The Man From Tallahassee” and “The Brig” were absolute stonkers, especially given that Anthony Cooper was responsible for crippling Locke and setting Sawyer on his con man path. Anthony’s death at the hands of Sawyer were traumatic but deserving. With 23 episodes in and confirmation around this point that the show was to end in 2010 after it’s sixth season, the sudden move to introduce flash forwards was inspired. In fact, the more I think about it, the more it occurs to me that this season was often too good at times. After all only two episodes out of twenty three were genuinely not worth watching. The rest were gems.

EXTRAS: Well every season the commentaries seem to lessen and here we only got commentaries on the episodes “A Tale Of Two Cities”, “Expose” and “The Man Behind The Curtain”. Thankfully while commentaries might not be this show’s strong point, the rest of the extras on offer are just superb. “The World Of The Others” gives a great look into the main villains of Season Three while “Lost Flashbacks” and “Lost On Location” are successful in filling in the blanks. “The Lost Book Club” gives us a look into the numerous literary references throughout the series and the “Crew Tribute With Evangeline Lilly” is rather cute. Elsewhere other good extras includes “Lost In A Day”, “The Next Level – Inside The Video Game” as well as the “Cast In Clay” and usual array of entertaining bloopers and slightly revealing deleted scenes. Overall an incredibly satisfying package here.

EPISODE RATING FROM 1 TO 10:

3x01: A Tale Of Two Cities = 7/10, 3x02: The Glass Ballerina =9/10,
3x03: Further Instructions = 5/10, 3x04: Every Man For Himself = 8/10,
3x05: The Cost Of Living = 6/10, 3x06: I Do = 9/10,
3x07: Not In Portland = 8/10, 3x08: Flashes Before Your Eyes = 10/10,
3x09: Stranger In A Strange Land = 4/10, 3x10: Tricia Tanaka Is Dead = 7/10,
3x11: Enter 77 = 7/10, 3x12: Par Avian = 8/10,
3x13: The Man From Tallahassee = 9/10, 3x14: Expose = 7/10,
3x15: Left Behind = 9/10, 3x16: One Of Us = 10/10,
3x17: Catch 22 = 7/10, 3x18: DOC = 9/10,
3x19: The Brig = 10/10, 3x20: The Man Behind The Curtain = 9/10,
3x21: Greatest Hits = 8/10, 3x22: Through The Looking Glass Part 1 =9/10,
3x23: Through The Looking Glass Part 2 =9/10.

Season Three is currently available on DVD.

Lost - Season 2 Review

US Airdate: September 21^st 2005- May 24^th 2006 on ABC.

The Island drama hits quite the few bumps in its second run as we’re introduced to new characters, hatches and learn just how far The Others are willing to go to get what they want.

I Swear If I See Another Hatch, I Will Scream – At some point in every good series, you are gonna come across hopefully one season that will test patience and faith in the show. This happens to every single show going but when you are a show that has become a cultural zeitgeist, the critics are even more anxious to tear you down even further. Season Two is sadly the very season in question for Lost.
The show wasn’t alone as ABC’s other zeitgeist, Desperate Housewives the same uninviting fate and since then recaptured its glory. However some viewers seem less forgiving about this show’s less than stellar second year.
The first half of the second year has two major plots – the hatch discovered by Jack, Kate, Locke and Hurley and the discovery of survivors from the tail section of Flight 815.
There were plenty of things you could hope to find in a big hatch but a Scottish bloke named Desmond with an affinity for Mama Cass and a computer telling you to programme those infamous numbers every 108 minutes to avoid destruction wasn’t one of them.
Still though it opens up premiere episode “Man Of Science, Man Of Faith” pretty well but for some odd reason why this hatch would become a temporary blessing and a hindrance to the series, the more interesting things in regards to the opening episode involved Shannon spotting a captured Walt. Spooky Walk is one of the many things this season won’t bother to explain and if you think about it too hard it will lessen your enjoyment of the season.
With Desmond’s slight arc dominating both “Adrift” and “Orientation” and not really igniting much interest, the best thing from these two episodes is the introduction of the tail section. We already met the volatile Ana-Lucia from the Season One and it’s amazing for a character who seems to be a better leader than Jack that she became an instant hate figure for audience but thankfully the charismatic Mr Eko and the introduction of Rose’s husband Bernard and fellow tailies Cindy and Libby in “Everybody Hates Hugo”, you’ve got the most compelling plot to the first half of this season. The tailies first capture Jin, Michael and Sawyer when they mistake them for member of The Others and then decide to help them go back to their camp.
If the Fuselage had suffered with Claire, Charlie and Walt’s abductions, then Ana-Lucia and company’s experiences with The Others have fared worse to the point where Mr Eko is hiding in the bushes in “And Found” and Ana Lucia is more than willing to leave a wounded Sawyer behind in “Abandoned”. The sixth episode is the first one of this season with some real action and our second kill with Ana Lucia inadvertently shooting Shannon. To nearly every viewer that solidified Ana Lucia as a hate figure but at the same time any realist would’ve noted that it was an accident but still the very harsh experiences that the tail section had to suffer at the hands of being stranded on the island and routinely attacked by The Others is brilliantly highlighted in “The Other 48 Days”. Easily the best episode of the series’ entire run, this captivating episode was essentially a retelling of the two part Pilot episode but it was much better and it really made you sympathise with Ana Lucia all the more.
With keeping Sayid from killing her, Ana Lucia’s flashback episode “Collision” offered some explanation into her abrasive nature while not attempting to justify her killing of an innocent woman.
With the tail section and the fuselage all reunited, stuff that happened in between wasn’t quite as compelling. Okay we had Locke and Jack constantly fight over control of the hatch like jackals, Hurley being badgered by Charlie who in turn was badgered about Locke in regards to his addiction and co-dependant relationship with Claire and Aaron but overall the tail section drama kept these episodes more exciting.
The flashbacks this season however hit a snag in predictability. For instance with Sawyer, it’s scamming someone, Jack who just wants to fix things and Locke who seems to be consistently duped. Kate’s only flashback episode the predictably titled “What Kate Did” revealed that her crime involved doing in her scumbag biological father and only upped the by now tiresome triangle between her, Jack and Sawyer. I don’t really understand why the writers both so much with this arc when the likes of Sun and Jin, Rose and Bernard and the developing romance between Hurley and the mysterious Libby are far more believable.
Better plotted however was “The 23^rd Psalm” which revealed that the silent but deadly Mr Eko was once a deranged drug lord and also had him scaring the crap out of the smoke monster to boot. Even yapping Charlie’s involvement couldn’t bring this plot to its knees along his contribution to Season Two is akin to Andrew’s in Buffy Season Seven – horrifically pointless.
After a good start the second half is less than impressive and our confrontation with The Others in “The Hunting Party” is dull. It doesn’t help a lot that Jack is an unsympathetic asshole throughout the entire episode with little cause. Even direr is “Fire And Water” which not only represents the series’ worst episode but is also just horribly all over the place. Both Charlie and Locke were characters I liked in the first season but by this year, I had grown tired of them.
The worst thing about the Losties is that if they aren’t sharing information, then they’ll resort to dirty tricks in order get power over each other. Sawyer did this in “The Long Con” by getting Charlie make it look like The Others attacked Sun so it’s a relief in “One Of Them” when Danielle re-emerges to bring back a mysterious man named Henry Gale who she believes is in cahoots with The Others despite his protestations other wise. The criminally underused Sayid doesn’t believe him and is quick to torture him but the wily man played to perfection by Michael Emerson, is soon just conflict among Jack, Locke and Sayid to his advantage. By the next episode “Maternity Leave” you’ll have already figured out which side Henry is on but honestly Danielle helping Kate and Claire and the discovery of her daughter Alex is a joy even more than Sun’s discovery of her pregnancy in “The Whole Truth” and the closeness that it brings to her and Jin but the season takes a progress with “Lockdown” as Locke managed to get duped again and we learn Henry Gale isn’t the real man’s name before Libby’s suspicious past is tapped upon in “Dave”. I liked the idea of a Hurley/Libby relationship but this episode did make me wonder whether or not her intentions towards Hurley were noble.
It’s a pity that both Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros’ drink driving offences became their undoing because once we get past the rather dull “S.O.S.” (which gave us some backstory on Rose and Bernard), the pivotal “Two For The Road” then saw both Ana-Lucia and Libby spectacularly shot by Michael, who was coerced by The Others in order to get Walt back. It’s a fantastic parting episode but surely Libby could’ve been spared long enough to give us more on her. Too bad for us then!
With this episode finally igniting some real excitement and danger back into the series, the final four build upon it and the discovery of another hatch in “?” is superfluous compared to The Others demanding to Michael during his flashbacks in “Three Minutes” to bring Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley to them.
Season finale “Live Together, Die Alone Parts 1 and 2” then has our Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hurley all bound and gagged at a pier where the captive foursome learn that Henry Gale is the leader of The Others while for a second year in a row, Locke decides to put people’s lives in danger by stopping Mr Eko from punching in the code. Frankly I’m sick of Locke’s volatile nature being excused or skimmed past. He caused Boone’s death in Season One and got away with it and here he nearly caused more deaths. As much of a pain in the backside Jack is, even he isn’t that. Other highlights included Desmond’s return which was far better than his introduction and his flashbacks involving girlfriend’s Penny’s attempts to get men to reach the island is intriguing.
Season Two has had a mixture of ideas, some were excellent, and a lot weren’t. There were some unmissable episodes and there was ones that I wouldn’t be in an immediate hurry to watch again. Some more answers, less of the daddy issues wouldn’t go amiss.

EXTRAS: Well there are the usual array of commentaries for the likes of “Man Of Science, Man Of Faith” with Matthew Fox and Cuse and Lindelof, “What Kate Did” with Evangeline Lily”, as well as ones for “The 23^rd Psalm”, “The Whole Truth” and “Dave”. You’d think with episodes as strong as “The Other 48 Days”, “Two For The Road” and “Live Together, Die Alone” we’d get producers talking about them too. Disc 7 has the most material though with an extensive behind the scenes on at least ten different episodes, a smattering of deleted scenes, theories by the show’s actors and fans alike, a rundown of Sawyer’s nicknames, secrets about the hatch, the Channel 4 trailer, flashbacks we didn’t see and some hilarious bloopers. Fault the season all you want but the DVD set is once again excellent.

EPISODE RATING FROM 1 TO 10:

2x01: Man Of Science, Man Of Faith = 8/10, 2x02: Adrift = 7/10,
2x03: Orientation = 7/10, 2x04: Everybody Hates Hugo = 6/10,
2x05: And Found = 7/10, 2x06: Abandoned = 9/10,
2x07: The Other 48 Days = 10/10, 2x08: Collision = 8/10,
2x09: What Kate Did = 7/10, 2x10: The 23^rd Psalm = 10/10,
2x11: The Hunting Party = 6/10, 2x12: Fire And Water = 4/10,
2x13: The Long Con = 9/10, 2x14: One Of Them = 7/10,
2x15: Maternity Leave = 8/10, 2x16: The Whole Truth = 8/10,
2x17: Lockdown = 7/10, 2x18: Dave = 8/10,
2x19: S.O.S. = 6/10, 2x20: Two For The Road = 10/10,
2x21: ? = 8/10, 2x22: Three Minutes = 7/10,
2x23: Live Together, Die Alone Part 1 = 8/10,
2x24: Live Together, Die Alone Part 2 = 8/10.

Season Two is currently available on DVD.

Lost - Season 1 Review

US Airdate on ABC: September 22^nd 2004 to May 25^th 2005.

Fourteen passengers find themselves deserted on an island when their plane, Flight 815 crashes. Far from civilisation and help, the people must not only learn how to survive on this island and with each other but soon become privy that their new home is far from what is appears to be …

Uncharted Territory And I Ain’t Talking Farscape Here … With The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel gone, Smallville and Alias relegated to the sidelines and the Stargate franchise, along with The Dead Zone and Star Trek: Enterprise feeling more than a little stagnate, genre television for US viewers was not looking good, even if unlike the UK, it was at least still going somewhere. The biggest show in 2004-2005 US television and likely to make a good effort to retain that title, Lost crash landed onto our screen and into the public subconscious like a veritable tornado and boy, it’s been amazing. The first few minutes of the “Pilot” opened up the idea of television equating the epic scale of movies but unlike anything from HBO, this was something that we were watching on ABC, a station that has now seen it’s ratings sky rocket ever since. A plane crash so severe and with no hope of help rescuing, the writers needed to work overtime in order to prevent this series from turning into a dramatised version of Survivor. Employ Alias creator J.J Abrams, the self confessed geek Damon Lindelof and add an ensemble of writers from shows likes Buffy, Angel, The X-Files and Six Feet Under to name but four and an array of eclectic but competent cast members and watch this puppy run. The idea of making the island a mysterious and dangerous land is inspired and as original as Lost strives to be, you always get a feeling that it’s at times eerily reminiscent of Twin Peaks or Lord Of The Flies, which is never a bad thing. Although there are 48 passengers and crew members, the first season only focuses on fourteen of them for the time. Matthew Fox plays the heroic Jack, while veteran cult actor Terry O’Quinn excels as the mysterious John Locke. There is also a pregnant girl named Claire (Emile De Ravin), an Iraqi named Sayid (Naveen Andrews), failed rock musician/drug addled Charlie (Dominic Monaghan), quarrelling brother/sister combo Boone and Shannon (Ian Somerhalder and Maggie Grace), a cursed billionaire named Hurley (Jorge Garcia), criminal Kate (Evangeline Lilly), con man Sawyer (Josh Holloway), distant father/son duo Michael and Walt (Harold Perrineau and Malcolm David Kelly) and Korean husband/wife Jin and Sun (Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim). The characters themselves are certainly a very varied bunch and the lives and past actions which are told through flashback per episode have the quality of being surprising or disappointing, given how invested you are to a particular person. For instance, I thought domestic violence whenever I watched Jin and Sun interact only for episodes six and seventeen (“House Of The Rising Sun” and “In Translation”) to contradict my perceptions and although I started the show actively hating Sawyer, his complicated past in “Confidence Man” and “Outlaws” does generate some sympathy for the guy, although the flashbacks for Jack, Kate and especially Charlie are a little hit and miss at times. Mostly the flashbacks are interesting enough (though less savvy critics have griped about them adding nothing to the series), sometimes even more than the group’s weekly escapades of dealing with each other, trying to learn more of the mysteries of the island, such as polar bears, an unseen monsters that can tear trees down or even a group of other inhabitants that have been on the island for over sixteen years. If there is one thing Lost loves, it’s piling on the mysteries, so much that not much in the way of answers is actually given. The latter half of the season has Boone and Locke trying to open a mysterious hatch, only for Boone to die (the show’s first real fatality) and the mystery to be left for Season Two’s opening episode and even Claire’s abduction by The Others is another unresolved matter. At first you think her baby is an Omen, then it appears to be Walt. The Others are a puzzle as while they have killed people from Flight 815, the crazy French woman (brilliantly played by Mira Furlan) doesn’t appear to be evil either, so you have to wonder if they are just misguided or not. The highlights from this unforgettable debut year is obviously going to the “Pilot” as well as the Emmy nominated Locke centre-piece “Walkabout” but there’s also the brilliant Sayid episode “Solitary”, the gut wrenching Jack showcase (island story being more addictive than flashback tale here) “All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues” and Sawyer’s turning point instalment “Outlaws”, which firmly makes me think that him and Kate are better than a Jack/Kate union. Hurley, a character who seems to be universally loved by all has a brilliant episode in “Numbers” and the tragic outcome for poor Boone in “Deux Ex Machina” and “Do No Harm” is unmissable as is the wonderful, if slightly anticlimactic three part finale “Exodus”. We should have guessed that any attempts of getting off the island were doomed from the start but this finale did give some wonderful flashbacks, an introduction to Season Two regular Ana-Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez) and the anticipation to learn what is down the mysterious hatch is massive.

DVD Features … Forget the bloody island. The real gargantuan is the array of extras on offer with this box-set. I wisely eschewed the half season box-sets originally released for Region 2 buyers and waited until January 2006 for the full season and the seven discs on display offered me loads. Disc 1 has commentaries for both parts of the “Pilot” with Abrams and Damon Lindelof and the sensational “Walkabout”, which has added anecdotes from Locke actor Terry O’Quinn while Disc 2 offers a decent commentary for the lacklustre “The Moth” with Charlie actor Dominic Monaghan, following our last yak track with actors Ian Somerhalder and Maggie Grace, plus writers Carlton Cuse and Javier Grillo-Marxuach on the so-so “Hearts And Minds”. With the exception of episode seven, the episodes that feature commentaries are ones you want to hear and learn more about but why there aren’t ones for “Numbers”, “Do No Harm” and the “Exodus” three-parter is beyond me. Disc 7 is where all the essential extras are though and these range from on set productions of the “Pilot”, “House Of The Rising Sun”, “The Moth”, “Whatever The Case May Be”, “Hearts And Minds”, “Outlaws” and “Exodus”. These are all brilliant but your patience may be tested if you try watching every single extra in one night (a mistake I won’t make again). There is a smattering of deleted scenes from over half the episodes of the first season, most of which are pretty average but ones that standout include Shannon dissing Drive Shaft, Locke trying to figure Kate out, Sayid telling Hurley and Charlie to mind their own business and a scene between Claire and the savagely eaten Pilot from the finale at the airport. Other brilliant extras including watching audition tapes from the cast and Abrams and company musing on the origins of the show in The Genesis Of Lost, though to be realistic, it covers nothing most viewers haven’t heard of before. The best feature is Matthew Fox’s photography of the making of the first episode with a warm presentation through the fifteen minute special while the Lost cast interviews at various conventions is a geek treat. The only features that don’t work as well are a rather silly spoof with an ABC host, a boring feature on Drive Shaft, who I’m still convinced are more akin to Busted or McFly rather than Oasis or Radiohead. There’s also a gag reel, which feels a little staged at times but other than that, fans and DVD lovers have a lot to revel in with this release. It’s nice that the cast feature heavily in proceedings as they certainly add a lot to the extras in question.

EPISODE RATINGS FROM 1 TO 10 …

1x01: Pilot Part 1 = 9/10,1x02: Pilot Part 2 = 8/10,
1x03: Tabula Rasa = 7/10,1x04: Walkabout = 10/10,
1x05: White Rabbit = 9/10,1x06: House Of The Rising Sun = 8/10,
1x07: The Moth = 6/10, 1x08: Confidence Man = 8/10,
1x09: Solitary = 9/10, 1x10: Raised By Another = 8/10,
1x11: All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues = 9/10,
1x12: Whatever The Case May Be = 6/10,
1x13: Hearts And Minds = 7/10, 1x14: Special = 7/10,
1x15: Homecoming = 6/10, 1x16: Outlaws = 9/10,
1x17: In Translation = 8/10, 1x18: Numbers = 9/10,
1x19: Deux Ex Machina = 9/10, 1x20: Do No Harm = 10/10,
1x21: The Greater Good = 8/10, 1x22: Born To Run = 7/10,
1x23: Exodus Part 1 = 10/10,1x24: Exodus Part 2 = 9/10, 1x25: Exodus Part 3 = 9/10

Season One is currently available on DVD.