Season 1 - 25 episodes (2004-05)
Season 2 - 24 episodes (2005-06)
Season 3 - 23 episodes (2006-07)
Season 4 - 14 episodes (2008)
Season 5 - 17 episodes (2009)
Season 6 - 18 episodes (2010)
Rent Lost on Amazon Video
Created by: J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber, Damon Lindelof
Starring: Matthew Fox, Terry O'Quinn, Josh Holloway, Evangeline Lilly, Naveen Andrews, Jorge Garcia, Dominic Monaghan, Harold Perrineau, Yunjin Kim, Daniel Dae Kim, Yunjin Kim, Emilie de Ravin, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Watros, Maggie Grace, Henry Ian Cusick, Michael Emerson, Elizabeth Mitchell, Ian Somerhalder, Malcolm David Kelley, Ken Leung
Rated: TV-14
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Plot
The survivors of a plane crash are forced to work together in order to survive on a seemingly deserted tropical island.
Verdict
Lost is such a fun show. With a huge cast of characters, there are plenty of stories to tell. Every character has a secret, their backgrounds slowly revealed in flashbacks. There are characters you like, dislike, appreciate, and detest. The island is full of mysteries, and the potential is never greater than in the first few seasons. It's such a great ride. The show is addicting with each episode ending on a cliffhanger, making it nearly designed to binge. You have to see what happens next on the island, and you have to see which character's backstory we'll delve into next. While the first season is my favorite, the rest of the seasons aren't bad at all. The final season is disappointing as the alternate universe depicted is irrelevant. By the end of the season you realize it has no bearing on anything. The show wanted to capture the energy of season three's structure reveal, but it completely missed it. Unfortunately the final season clouds the rest of the show as it's the parting image, but this show was such an intriguing mystery on multiple levels.
Watch it.
Review
I first saw Lost on Hulu back when everything on the site was free. I quickly binged the five available seasons. I then watched the first five seasons again ahead of the season 6 release. I'm a big fan of Lost. There are few things that weave such a fun mystery and intricate character backstory. Of course the mystery got away from the writers, but Season 1 is the best of Lost. I wasn't sure how much of Season 1 I would watch, but that ended up being the entire season. From there I kept watching.
Season 1
The season is such an enigma. It's engrossing and riveting with amazing characters. I love these characters, though I've had the privilege to run through this show a couple of times. The pilot is absolutely phenomenal. A good pilot should hook you, and this does exactly that.
It's easy to criticize many of the characters, and that's another trick. The show makes them slightly unlikable, only to reveal backstory that makes you empathetic. In a flashback you feel bad for the characters, then something even worse happens.
Sayid (Naveen Andrews) is such a great character, and I appreciate the show humanizing a man from Iraq when many people saw him as a threat. The show addresses that head on. Often Sawyer (Josh Holloway) is the character that acts as a bit of an every man, voicing crude thoughts that allows the show to address the ignorance. Sawyer is the willful deviant, looking out for himself. It's hard not to find him intriguing as he revels in being a villain, but we often see him helping in dire circumstances. His surly nature is a defense.
Sun (Daniel Dae Kim) and Kim (Yunjin Kim) are Korean and the show uses subtitles. I like that the show takes risks by forcing subtitles on the show. It adds depth to the series with the couple unable to communicate with everyone else.
Jack (Matthew Fox) is the de facto leader. He wants to be the hero, but not the leader. You can't separate it like that. Being the doctor makes him in high demand.
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| Terry O'Quinn plays Locke |
The great thing about so many characters is that there is something for everyone. The show infuses a lot of tropes into the characters and then builds from that, explaining why the characters have these traits. It's a great bit of storytelling.
There are the main characters, and then the secondary characters. There really are just too many, and the show gets meta towards the end with Ernst, a character we've never seen before, telling the main characters "you aren't the only ones here." That line is as much for the characters as it is for the viewers. A few times main characters mix up Scott and Steve. Two people we never see. For a show with so many characters, I don't know why it introduces even more.
This season creates a lot of mystery, playing fast and loose with logic when it fits. I don't blame the show for that. It's what made it so fun at the start, and later so infuriating when good answers weren't to be had.
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| Dominic Monaghan, Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly play Charlie, Jack, Kate. |
That's ultimately the big criticism of the show, that the answers to the mysteries feel cheap. The defense is that the show has always been about the characters, and while that is completely true, the show didn't have to dive so deep into the mysteries or try to explain all of them. Leaving some of the questions unanswered would have helped, but these are all issues that come to a point in season six.
Just as each episode ends on a cliffhanger, so does the season. I wasn't planning to watch all of Season 1, but I did. I didn't plan to start Season 2, but I have to get the answers.What's in the hatch?
Season 2
We enter the hatch and find Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) pressing the button, entering the numbers that helped Hurley (Jorge Garcia) win the lottery. Jack and Locke argue over whether to keep pushing the button. There are also more survivors. Several people in the tail section survived, ending up on the other side of the island. We continue to see interactions characters had with each other before the island, sometimes not even realizing it.
So many shows use flashbacks or do a full flashback episode, usually to pad the runtime. What Lost did so well is tying the flashback directly to the episode's plot and giving us a basis for why characters act as they do in the present. It's a direct connection, needed insight as the plot moves forward. So many shows fail in thinking the flashback is what people respond to, using it for character history instead of development. The island drives the plot while flashbacks bolster characters.
The first episode introduces Desmond, though you wouldn't realize he's in the hatch initially. He assumes the blast to open the hatch is an assault. Jack has met Desmond before, and that helps him defuse the situation. Locke is happy to take up entering the numbers and pressing the button, but does it do anything or is it a psychological experiment? That's an ongoing debate. Locke feels like he owes the island.
Michael (Harold Perrineau), Sawyer, and Jin's escape on the raft doesn't fare well. They eventually end up back on the island. They're captured by a group that survived in the tail of the plane, though the trio initially thinks they're "the others." The tail section has a much rougher time, weathering several attacks by "the others." Episode seven shows us how they survived following the crash.
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| S2E8: Cynthia Watros, Michelle Rodriguez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Josh Holloway, Sam Anderson, Harold Perrineau, Naveen Andrews play Libby, Anna Lucia, Eko, Sawyer Bernard, Michael, Sayid |
Sayid encounters Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez) who is holding a barely surviving Sawyer captive while Jack and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) play golf in episode eight. Eventually the tail section reunites with the survivors of the fuselage. This show always manages to make the emotional moments land. It gives them space and doesn't feel the need to drown it in exposition.
In episode nine we discover why Kate is on the run. In the next episode Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) reveals a connection to the plane full of virgin Mary statues. He's a priest now, but he wasn't always. The Jack, Kate, and Sawyer love triangle really heats up while Sawyer survives and recovers.
In episode fifteen, Rousseau captures a man she claims is one of the others. Jack and Locke imprison Henry Gale (Michael Emerson) in the storage room of the bunker. Sayid questions Henry, and the question is whether Henry really crash landed. When he starts sowing discord between Locke and Jack, it's clear there's more to him. Locke is pushed to trust Henry in desperate circumstances when the button must be pressed.
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| S2E11: Terry O'Quinn, Josh Holloway, Matthew Fox play Locke, Sawyer, Jack |
One of the tail section survivors, Libby (Cynthia Watros), claims to be a psychologist. Hurley begins to develop feelings for her, but in episode eighteen we discover she has a secret.
The second half of the season seems to be the quest for guns. Sawyer has them after tricking Locke and several people want them. Ana Lucia thinks Henry must be eliminated. Michael returns, claiming to have seen the others. It starts a path of chaos that leads to Jack, Sawyer, Kate, and Hurley following Michael to the others. Meanwhile, Locke realizes the button does have a purpose. Desmond inadvertently crashed Flight 815.
Of course this season ends on a cliff hanger. It's what the show does best. There are so many great moments between characters as this season deepens the lore of the island while also introducing more people. They also get a rich backstory.
Season 3
Overall it's weaker than the second season, but it sure does have a strong finish. We learn about the others through Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), but she's all but a hostage at the hands of Ben Linus (Michael Emerson). We learn how he ended up on the island, that Locke has a special connection to the island, and that "Jacob" is a mysterious force. A boat arrives that could be their rescue, but some people don't want to leave. It all culminates in the finale featuring one of the most shocking twists television has ever seen.
What propelled the mystery of this show was the wait in between episodes, providing time to come up with crazy ideas or to see what others purported online. With streaming you lose that experience because it's easy to immediately watch the next episode. The anticipation was a driving for of the show. From the beginning, but especially in this season we realize how this show only shows us parts. We can never assume anything in this show. It builds on what we think we know and the assumption only to upturn them. While this season slows down at a few different times, the conclusion is mind blowing and that's not hyperbole. It shakes the foundations and story structure we assumed with this show.
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| S3E10: Dominic Monaghan, Daniel Dae Kim, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway play Charlie, Jin, Hurley, Sawyer |
The season starts with Juliet, slowly revealing she's one of the others. They actually have a nice setup on the island, living in a neighborhood and even participating in book club. They witness a plane crash, the one that start this series, and that's when Ben sends people to the fuselage and tail to survey survivors. In the present Jack, Kate, and Sawyer are still detained.
Ben needs a surgeon, and that's when Jack falls from the sky. Ben needs Jack, and Jack has a wild plan to help Kate and Sawyer escape by holding Ben hostage on the operating table. Jack learns that Juliet is hostage on the island too. She follows Ben's orders, hoping that will eventually get her off the island.
Episode nine is the mystery no one asked for, the origin of Jack's tattoos. It's a flashback that does help the plot or do much to develop Jack.
In episode twelve, Kate wants to rescue Jack. She, Locke, and Sayid find Jack playing football with Tom. He doesn't seem to need rescuing.
The biggest fault this season is Nikki and Paulo. They were introduced early this season and appear frequently just to remind us they still exist. Every time they are mentioned, Sawyer asks who they are. The show didn't need these characters yet retcons them in. They are pointless characters that don't help the plot at all. They're a distraction. It's the primary reason they're annoying.
Locke joins the Others as they abandon the commune in episode fifteen. Kate and Juliet are left behind, forced to work together. Hurley tricks Sawyer into being a decent person. We explore the Others through Juliet, but we already know they aren't what she signed up for.
Locke wants to see "Jacob," the man in charge of the island. Ben takes him to a cottage, but we see that while Ben claimed to be born on the island, he wasn't.
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| S3E23: Evangeline Lilly, Matthew Fox, Michael Emerson play Kate, Jack, Ben |
When a helicopter pilot lands on the island in episode nineteen, we discover that Flight 815 was found in the ocean. Everyone died. The survivors think they're saved, but with this show nothing is quite what it seems. A recurring plot point is that Desmond can see the future. That's an ability from the end of season two. He time traveled for a bit, remaining on the island. He's trying to protect Charlie.With episode twenty-one, it seems like Charlie might really perish. He's making amends and saying goodbyes.
The fatal assumption is that the survivors assumed the helicopter and related boat were sent by Desmond's girlfriend Penny. In episode twenty-three the reveal is that it isn't her boat which leads to the next question, whose boat is it? The biggest moment in the season is one of the biggest twists ever. "We have to go back!" This show has always combined with present with flashbacks. This season used that assumption to set up a huge surprise.
Season 4
The season unfurls the flash forward from season 3 while a ship near the island is the new reason for chaos. Does it want to help or hurt? Charles Widmore sent people to the island, and the question is of course about their intentions. We know six people escape the island, but even down to the final episode, it's not quite clear how they escaped or why so many people stayed behind.
This is a show that couldn't be recreated if you tried. This spawned plenty of copies, but none of them could match this show that deftly wove stories and characters together.
In the first episode we know that Jack, Kate, and Hurley made it back. Who are the other three in the Oceanic Six? Why didn't more people make it back? Meanwhile five people make it to the island from the ship. The group includes scientists and the pilot that was originally supposed to fly Flight 815.
Sayid makes the fourth member of the Six. He's working for Ben, which I didn't really care of this side plot.
On the island Jack and Locke argue over their future. Jack wants to escape while Locke asserts the ship is there to attack them. Yet in the future Jack is adamant they need to go back.
In episode five, Desmond switches between the present and past while scientist Farraday warns him to find a constant.
Locke seeks direction from the island and Jacob. He's informed he needs to move the island, though that is initially unclear. Ben is always pulling strings, and he has a spy on the ship. This show is never content to rest, and episode 12 introduced Jeremy Bentham. We don't know who that is at first, but this person is the trigger that convinces Jack to go back to the island. It's not until the final episode that we learn more about Bentham. The big cliff hanger is what happens to the island after it's "moved." Where will everyone end up next season?
Season 5
Everyone on the island is skipping around in time during this season. Some end up in the 1977, others in 2007 once the island returns to stability. When I watched this season upon release, I thought this season would depend on the next as the show unfolds what this season means and where the series goes. It was a zany turn for a show that often ventures into wild territory. I enjoyed it more on the second watch.
As usual, the first episode is full of surprises. We get to see the original Dharma occupation, and somehow Farraday is there. Episode two introduces a character, Frogurt, just to kill him off as the show can't touch a main character. It has to up the stakes somehow. The island's time skipping inserts the main characters into all kinds of events, some we've seen previously and others even farther into the past.
At this point in the show the mysteries have gotten unwieldy. Time travel only complicates that as questions continue to pile up. It's not a bad season, far from it, but it's not the peak of the show either. In episode six the Oceanic Six all end up on a plane unintentionally. Lapidus is the pilot and Ben boards the plane too. They have to go back, but for what? The island needs them isn't compelling enough. It feels like the show is stringing us along.
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| S5E9: Josh Holloway, Ken Leung play Sawyer, Miles |
In episode seven we finally see what happened to Locke after he left the island. His mission was to get them to go back. He has difficulty convincing them, but an extreme measure finally turns the tides. In episode eight we see what happened to Sawyer, Juliet, Miles, and Jin. They got stuck in 1974 and joined Dharma. Sawyer assumed the identity of Jim LaFleur and is head of security. His peaceful life with Juliet is upended when Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid appear on the island. It's no easy feat maintaining his cover while also protecting them.
In episode twelve, Locke takes Ben to the temple. Ben conveniently has an entrance in the closet of his house. The Others and Dharma didn't live near each other. It seems like island magic for Ben to have this special room. The battle for control over the island will come down to Ben and Locke. While I'm enjoying season five more than the fourth, this season also feels like it's building a house of cards.
Farraday returns to the island in episode fifteen. He proclaims everything that's happened has happened. Anything they do to alter the future only ensures it. In episode sixteen we finally see Jacob and the Man in Black. It's rather convenient for the show to insert Jacob into all of the main character's lives. If the show had seeded him in earlier seasons it would seem planned. We don't see his influence until the end of this season. Jacob is this unseen force that's pushed everyone to the island. To what end? It's revealed that Jacob and the Man in Black don't get along, with the latter looking for a loophole to kill Jacob. Several characters have stated the island has never brought anyone back to life, and in episode seventeen we get a big revelation about Locke.
Season 6
This is the final, much derided season. Other seasons have a driving force: the hatch, boat, an escape, and the wheel of time. This season is an exploration of the island's history and an alternate timeline that adds mystery but nothing else. Other seasons used flashbacks as exposition or development. This season uses it purely for intrigue with no deeper purpose.
Kate, Saywer, Jack, and Miles are back in the right year. They blew up the Swan site in 1977 just as they always have. As Farraday stated, you can't change the past, only ensurethe future. Their attempt to blow up the island only created the catalyst that brought them to the island in the first season.
Hurley can see Jacob supposedly. Locke is quite different this season, though there's a mystery there too. In the alternate timeline all of the main characters are on a plane, and they've never met. Flight 815 never crashes.
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| S6E9: Mark Pellegrino, Néstor Carbonell play Jacob, Richard |
Jacob is a big focus this season. He and the Man in Black are brothers, representing good and evil. Jacob believes people are inherently good, his brother believes the opposite. Since Jacob refuses to intervene, he solicits Richard as his emissary. Throughout this season Jacob appears in the lives of the Oceanic survivors, and that wouldn't feel tacked on if we had seen any of that earlier in the show.
Episode fourteen is brutal. The Man in Black wants off the island. To do that he must not only kill Jacob, but also any candidate that could take Jacob's place. That's why Jacob brought Oceanic survivors to the island. The alternate timeline continues to seem like a victory lap, bringing all of the previous season's characters back for one more appearance. It's a tangent and weak.
This season tries to provide answers, and it only proves that sometimes it's better not to know everything. The show should have left some elements vague. I like showing us various visitors to the island throughout time. That might have worked better than the alternate timeline. We're introduced to Jacob's mother, and I really think Richard should have been as close as we get to Jacob. This tries to explain so much, but doesn't explain the mother.
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| S6E18: |
The big reveal is that the alternate universe is just purgatory. Again it has no bearing on the show. That's the problem with this season. It doesn't create tension, and the big reveal could have been condensed to one episode. We didn't need a season long lead in. You could remove all of the alternate timeline and it doesn't alter this show at all. I like that this ends where it begins with Jack in the bamboo forest.
Season 1 and 2's flashbacks built character with season three a big twist that the flashback was actually a flash forward, catching us all off guard. Season 4 continued flash forwards as we wondered how they got back. Season 5 featured two concurrent timelines. Season 6 wanted the split structure to be some kind of send off I suppose, bringing back all the characters. It ends up feeling hollow as it's meaningless. I like the idea, but it shouldn't have stretched for the entire season.
My season ranking would be 1,2,5,4,3.... 6. The first season does such a great job of setting the plot and two builds on that. I like season five more on the rewatch. Four was hectic, a step up from three which is saved only by the huge twist at the end. The problem with season six is that the alternate world is completely irrelevant. You could delete it and it changes nothing about the show, plot, or characters.
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