Lost

6. Lost

Much better. The second season of Lost was a severe letdown. Amazingly enough though, the ship was righted between seasons and I now have genuine hope for the series. There are still some nagging annoyances with the format and the cast of thousands yet the batting average for this year was all-star caliber.

From the first episode of the year, there was an obvious up-tick in quality. It began with separating Jack, Kate, and Sawyer from the rest of the survivors for the Fall section of the season. Not only are they 3 of the strongest characters in the cast but their capture allowed Lost to concentrate on Ben and Juliet. The two of them deserve a large amount of the credit for my increased enjoyment of the show. I would be willing argue that Ben Linus is the most important addition to Lost since the show premiered. There were always shades of grey on the show but Ben is the closest thing to a villain we have seen on that island. Having an antagonist for the survivors to interact with has helped revitalize much of the cast. The way he manipulates each and every single person he comes in contact with is a pleasure to witness. The man was holding court while lying on a hospital bed minutes after major surgery. He instills fear even at 5 foot nothing, 100 and nothing, and barely a speck of athletic ability. Along with putting Ben in the forefront, Juliet came on the scene and consistently made my day. All it takes is a single scene showing Kate’s annoyance and Juliet has my undying appreciation. Her interactions with Jack reinvigorated another proud television owner of the Jack moniker, a proud family. I cannot give enough praise to the story of Jack inflicting a potential mortal wound to Ben during surgery and using it as leverage so Kate and Sawyer can escape. Fantastic scenes. Prior to their escape, Kate and Sawyer had a ton of great moments while imprisoned or introducing a bunch of Others who played major roles during the rest of the season. Plus who doesn’t enjoy Clockwork Orange knockoffs. When the episodes switched to Locke and the other survivors there was a drop in tension but they still worked. I wasn’t in favor of killing Eko and I still believe that it was a huge loss to the show. Plus Locke has constantly aggravated me over the years and it just got worse this Fall. His scenes with Eko just kicked his obsession into overdrive. Like a said earlier, it was an all-star batting average not a perfect one.

The people behind Lost have already fixed the biggest mistake of the 3rd season. Taking nearly 3 months off was shit. It destroyed the flow and quelled the tension that was building through the Fall. When Lost returned in Febraury, it was spotty for a couple of months. This is where the size of the cast became a problem once again. I have zero interest in episodes about Nikki and Paulo, Claire, Hurley, and Charlie. And much to my chagrin they all had flashbacks during this stretch. I may feel that Sun and Jin, Desomnd, and Sayid may be secondary players but I can still enjoy their starring turns. Overall I just keep waiting for the camera to show Jack, Ben, Sawyer, Kate, Juliet, or Locke again. Luckily this time around the main characters were always involved. Jack’s imprisonment was updated in nearly every episode with the highlight of course being the tossing of the pigskin. There was also Kate, Locke, and Sayid’s trek across the island to free Jack. This had many good points including the introduction of Mikhail and his first time being murdered. And better than that was the continued revelations about the twisted relationship between Ben and Juliet. Once all the pieces were put in play and the straggling characters were given their screen-time, Lost finally got down to brass tacks. This was a great final month or more of episodes. Nearly all of the important players were given their time to shine. Ben’s flashback nearly lived up to the shadiness of the character. There needed to be some truly fricked up shite to explain the man and murdering your entire village may just qualify. There was also the continuation of Juliet pissing off Kate. It was sweet to watch her call Kate on her bullshit. This also lead to Juliet joining the survivors and some great double and triple crosses. Even the Charlie imminent death story worked. Of course my hatred for Locke doesn’t allow me to enjoy that asshole ever. Selfish prick blowing up submarines, I’m glad his father threw him out a window. Then things got even better when Ben shot him. Even after all that he shows at the end to piss me off even more. As for the finale, it was the Jack Shepard show … as well it should be. We got to witness Jack kicking ass, Jack making death threats, Jack staring down Locke, half-bearded future Jack, drunk future Jack, it was a cornucopia of memorable moments. It was just a fantastic finish to the season.

I am truly shocked at the level of enjoyment I had for the 3rd season of Lost. There were times where I threw in the towel during the awful 2nd year, but I always kept the light on. And when the episodes and stories were so much better to start this new year, it was like the clock was turned back 2 years. It was great to have the feeling again. Now were this goes from here on, I don’t know if it can keep up this quality especially with the wacky flash-forwards that await us. I hope they pull it off.