With the exception of 24, Lost is probably my favourite television program that is currently on the air. It a complex, frustrating mess of a series, but never the less I am hooked, and have been for the past five years. The fascinating mythology, excellent characters and thrilling twists and turns more than make up for the complete bafflement I feel each and every week as the writers seemingly dig themselves further and further into a hole of plot inconsistencies from which they cannot escape. Season five – which ended this week with a bang – has been the shows most outlandish season to date. Time travel, resurrection, immortality and psychic powers have all been introduced as the show dived head first into the waters of science-fiction television. But despite the fact that Lost now bares no resemblance to that show about a group of people whose plane crashed on an island somewhere, it is still absolutely gripping.The season can basically be broken up into two halves. The first half consists of episodes 1 to 7, which focus on Ben and Jack (and later Locke) in 2007 as they attempt to convince the other members of the Oceanic Six to return to the island. Meanwhile, thanks to the actions of Ben at the end of Season 4, the remain island dweller skip through time, finally coming to a rest in 1974. The second half of the season is set in 1977; Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Miles and Daniel have been living on the Island for three years and have become part of the Dharma Initiative, but when Jack, Sayid, Kate and Hurley arrive at the island in that same time period their lives are again thrown into chaos. Simultaneously, Ben, Sun and Frank Lapidus have also returned, but for reasons unknown they remain in the present era, where they contend with the machinations of John Locke and the mysterious survivors of Ajira Airways flight 316.
Put simply, I loved the first half of this season. The off Island story was fantastic, especially the premiere episodes Because You Left and The Lie. Michael Emerson continues to amaze in his role as Benjamin Linus, a character who is shown this season to be far more vulnerable than we previous knew. Hurley, Sayid and Jack are all given plenty of great moments; the only real letdown is the boring Kate/Aaron sub-plot. The on Island story was also good; Miles and Daniel are finally getting some decent screen time, and it’s really interesting seeing Sawyer is a leadership role. The big problem here was that the death of the under-developed character Charlotte didn’t have any emotional impact. Still, these first seven episodes were amongst the best this show has ever had.The season starts to falter with the Sawyer-centric episode LaFleur, which marks the beginning of the 1977 story. The first thing that bothered me was that everyone just accepted that they travelled back in time; for several episodes Kate, Jack and Hurley just wander around the Dharma barracks not doing anything. The other problem is that we miss three years of character development for Miles, Sawyer and Juliet (from 1974 to 1977.) The first few episodes of the season’s second half weren’t all that great, but there was still enough to sustain my interest. Dead is Dead, the season’s Ben-centric episode, was magnificent – people should watch this show for Emerson’s performance alone (the episode also saw the reappearance of The Monster…sorry; still don’t know what the hell it is). Miles has stepped into the sarcastic role that was once filled by Sawyer, and has some great banter with Hurley. Ultimately, I was a little turned off by the new direction the show was taking, but after a few slow episodes the story started moving forward (around episode 14, entitled The Variable) and I was captivated once again.
Which brings me to the finale: the two part episode entitled The Incident. There were a few problems with this episode (most notably the actions of Juliet and Kate and an awful scene featuring the long absent Rose & Bernard), but I still thought it was satisfying as hell. The flashbacks gave us a look at some of the most integral moments in the characters lives, and finally introduced us to the mysterious Jacob, who has been flitting around just off screen for over two seasons. The episode ended on a cliff-hanger, but those who have seen it will know that it was a little different to what we usually get. We have no idea how the show will continue into its last season (which will begin airing in January 2010) – will the crash of Oceanic 815 be prevented, and if so what does it mean for our beloved characters?After looking back, I think that Season Five was a real redemption point for this show, for the simple reason that the writers have stopped screwing around. No more stalling, no more pointless flashbacks: there is an end date, and we are hurtling towards it at breakneck speed. There were enough mysteries explained in this season to reinvigorate my faith in an ultimate conclusion that will explain what the hell we have been watching…whether it will be satisfying remains to be seen. To all the haters out there, let me say that Lost is an immersive experience, and if you can accept the fact that it is a science-fiction show, you should definitely check it out once it hits DVD in its entirety. And to all the loyal fans…just don’t give up.
The first four seasons of Lost are available on DVD now. Season five will be available later this year.
