Lostwatch 11: Season 6, Episodes 13-18

On the Island the machinations of the mysterious 'Man in Black' are approaching their climax, as his goals are revealed to be more than just merely escaping his prison. In the 'Sideverse' Desmond continues his attempts to gather the various castaways together and reveal to them the truth of their world.


After six seasons and 120 episodes, Lost finally reaches its conclusion, a conclusion which, it is fair to say, has been more controversial than I think anyone was expecting (even moreso than the bitterly divisive Battlestar Galactica finale of a year earlier). Before the finale, however, there's the last run of episodes to get through.

The Last Recruit and The Candidate are pretty heavily serialised, 'getting all the pieces together' episodes with lots of characters moving around and talking about the plot, both in the primary universe and the Sideverse. There's some great moments, but it's the end of The Candidate that proves both shocking and powerful, with a surprising number of major character fatalities, the Man in Black's true colours fully revealed and a real sense of despair descending on the characters and the story. There's some elements of contrivance (at least one character died for no good reason when they had an excellent reason to live), but overall it works.

Then there's Beyond the Sea, the much-touted backstory of the Jacob and the Man in Black. Technically, this should have been a triumph, a revelatory episode packed with surprising reveals about the series' deepest mysteries. Unfortunately, it doesn't really do anything of the sort. The explanations given for some of the mysteries, like the origin of the frozen donkey wheel from Seasons 4 and 5, are nothing short of ludicrous, whilst the revelation that the Island harbours a cave containing magical glowy light at its heart which has to be protected or, erm, it turns people into evil black smoke is so obtuse and meaningless it might as well have been left unrevealed. The episode is wracked by hideously bad writing (the actors look distinctly uncomfortable at various points for saying it) and ends up being badly-placed in the season. Overall, very disappointing.

What They Died For is a triumphant return to form, with shocks, impressive plot twists and a genuine sense of storylines coming together satisfyingly. The Sideverse has become increasingly interesting and important over the last few episodes and this installment makes it as compelling and interesting as the main plot on the Island for the first time this season. In short, this is all great set-up for the finale.

The End is the final episode of Lost, and at almost 2 hours is its longest. It's something of a schizophrenic, flabby episode which does its best with the hand dealt it by the writers and producers, but in the end cannot help be disappointing.

On the Island, things are more interesting. The character stories all reach fairly logical resolutions and achieve satisfying destinies. The biggest disappointment here is that glowy cave thingy at the heart of the Island is now revealed to contain the Giant Plughole of Destiny, and either destroying or saving the Island and the world depends on whether the Stone Plug of Electromagnetic Power is plugged in or not. Maximum props to the actors struggling with the giant polystyrene rock and trying to sell it as the culmination of six years of dramatic storytelling but this was clearly not a good idea from the start.

If you can ignore the Plug Ex Machina, the Island story unfolds and ends reasonably well.

Now, on the Sideverse front it is blatantly clear that the producers changed their mind over what the Sideverse was going to be at some point this season. The information and data previously given about the Sideverse doesn't track with the revelation of its true nature in this episode. As that resolution comes way out of left field and was not sufficiently foreshadowed ahead of time, the Sideverse storyline's ending is extremely underwhelming, not to mention really unconvincing. From the perspective of British viewers, the resolution also suffers from comparison to Ashes to Ashes' finale (which aired literally two days earlier than Lost's), which played around with some of the same ideas but in a far more convincing, better foreshadowed and considerably more satisfying manner. Whilst Lost has never shied away from being sentimental before, it's never really gone into full-on mawkish mode, which is what happens in the culmination of the badly-judged Sideverse story.

Luckily, the Sideverse ends up being completely irrelevant to the story on the Island. If you can ignore the Sideverse story, than Lost ends on a somewhat satisfying note, at least as far as the character arcs are concerned. Some backstory and mystery elements are left unexplained (most notably where the hell the Giant Plughole of Destiny came from), but not cripplingly so, and certainly enough is left for fans to debate for years to come.

Lost falters at its last hurdle, and it is hard after the finale not to feel that the entire Sideverse storyline dominating Season 6 was a waste of time, but at the same time it doesn't destroy the integrity of the whole show going back years (as BSG's does, to some extent). Whilst the Man in Black and Jacob were elements added to the mythology of the show way too late in the day to be either convincing or compelling, their story is nevertheless resolved reasonably well, giving Lost at least some sense of achievement in its finale, even if the show has fallen short of its full potential.


613: The Last Recruit (****)
614: The Candidate (****½)
615: Across the Sea (**)
616: What They Died For (****½)
617-618: The End (***)

Lostwatch 10: Season 6, Episodes 7-12

Warning: spoilers up to Episode 12 of Season 6 of Lost

On the Island, the battle lines are being drawn between two factions. On one hand is the mysterious 'Man in Black', now posing as John Locke, and on the other, established heroes such as Jack and Hurley, following the designs of the mysterious (and now-deceased) Jacob. As the history of the Island is revealed and the factions prepare for the inevitable conflict, our protagonists are unaware that an alternate history is playing out in another reality, where Oceanic Flight 815 landed safely in Los Angeles. But are these two realities as separate as they appear?


As Lost's final season rumbles on, the stakes of the show are becoming clearer. Way back in the first season, an ideological conflict was established between the man of faith, John Locke, and the man of science, Jack Shephard, a conflict that has now been crystallised as a war to the death between Jacob (who appears to favour Jack as a potential successor) and his enemy (now taking the form, and in moments of high strain, the personality of the deceased John Locke). Both men seem to have been on the Island for a long time, centuries at least, with the mysterious 'man in black' a prisoner of some kind and Jacob perhaps some kind of eternal warden. It's a great set-up, ripe for many different kinds of story to spin off from it, but at the same time it's somewhat odd that it's emerging so late in the day (given how often the Losties traipsed over the Island in earlier seasons, them not stumbling over Jacob or the MIB until now is somewhat unconvincing).

Regardless of this, the show moves on and gives us some great episodes in this part of the show. Seeing Ben Linus as a decent human being in the Sideverse (where he is a history teacher) with occasional flashes of his Island-like ambition is fascinating, and Michael Emerson does great work in this episode. The next episode is less successful, but gets a bonus half-star for the brilliant idea of having Sawyer and Miles as buddy cops working in LA, which could be a viable spin-off TV series by itself.

Ab Aeterno has been touted for being disappointing for not giving us more answers and not living up to its billing as a big revelatory episode, but if you take that away the episode is very effective on its own merits and a great showcase for Nestor Carbonell, who plays Richard as a damaged, grief-stricken man given the chance for a new life on the Island brilliantly. His interactions with both Jacob and his enemy are fascinating and the revelation of the Island's true nature satisfying (if heavily foreshadowed by previous events, such as Season 2's main storyline).

The Package is a solid Sun and Jin episode, although it loses points for the silly contrivance of Sun taking a knock on the head and losing the ability to speak, which is a moronic plot device. Happily Ever After is a bigger success, as Desmond returns to the Island in a storyline that ties the main timeline with the Sideverse, with several Sideverse characters learning that their timeline shouldn't really exist. Henry Ian Cusick gives a typically strong, vulnerable performance as Desmond in this episode with a whole raft of unexpected cameos from other well-known Lost faces and which begins answering some of the bigger questions of the season. Finally, Everybody Loves Hugo starts off as another nice, funny, sweet Hurley episode before going a bit nuts towards the end, with regular characters being blown up, run over and sent plummeting into abysses. When even the requisite Hurley episode has to feature some major story arc-related movements, you know that time is running out for the show.

This batch of episode has been strong, with the structure of the end of the show now becoming clear. Some fans have expressed disappointment that the revelations haven't been bigger, but I think this is a result of there being six years of clue-seeding and pipe-laying leading up to this point. If big surprise answers were coming out of left-field every five minutes, I think people would be less happy. That we figured out Richard's backstory or the identity of the Whispers in the jungle years ago is merely a tribute to the fact that the writers had a plan and seeded clues to these elements in an intelligent manner that fans could pick up on. A mystery that the audience cannot solve is not much fun, and the fact that the audience has indeed solved a lot of Lost's mysteries themselves and is now merely getting validation and confirmation of these points is an inevitable consequence of this being a mystery show with such a huge fanbase.

Even in its closing hours, Lost remains interesting and entertaining television, although there are now only five episodes and six hours left before the show is gone for good.

607: Dr. Linus (****½)
608: Recon (****)
609: Ab Aeterno (*****)
610: The Package (***½)
611: Happily Ever After (****½)
612: Everybody Loves Hugo (****½)

Lostwatch 9: Season 6, Episodes 1-6

Having been displaced in time to the late 1970s, several of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 and assorted allies have managed to return to the present by detonating a nuclear device on the mysterious Island. Jack Shepherd's original hope was to change history and prevent Flight 815 from ever crashing on the Island in the first place, but this does not seem to have worked. Shepherd and his friends are soon re-apprehended by the Others and taken to their new home, the Temple, whilst on the other side of the Island the person who has taken the identity of John Locke is making his own plans...


Meanwhile, on 22 September 2004, Oceanic Flight 815 makes its scheduled landing at Los Angeles International Airport, despite some minor in-flight turbulence experienced whilst crossing the Pacific. All 324 passengers disembark safely.

Lost's final season opens in a brain-scrambling note. The attempt to use a nuclear device to change history at the end of the fifth season appears to have failed, although it has (somehow; this plot point is papered over a bit) also returned our heroes to the present, where the Others are preparing for a showdown with the so-called 'Man in Black' who has taken the form of the late John Locke. Simultaneously, we get 'flash-sideways' to another reality where the plan apparently worked and Flight 815 did make it to LAX. In lieu of the flashbacks of the first three seasons, the flash-forwards of the fourth and the time shifts of the fifth, we now get scenes from this second timeline interspersed with the existing one.

To some degree, your enjoyment of Lost's final season will depend on how you view the sideways storylines. On the one hand, it is vaguely amusing to see what would have happened if our heroes had never crashed on the Island, but since the point of divergence in the timeline seems to have been in 1977 there are a lot of changes to this timeline as well. Jack has a son, Kate killed a different person, Hurley never had really bad luck, Boone was unable to get Shannon to leave Australia and so on. These changes make it hard to get emotionally involved in the sideways, since they seem to have no direct impact on the 'primary' storyline of what is happening back on the Island.

This is problematic as the 'primary' storyline now seems to be moving into the endgame. The two factions (a now-ghostly Jacob and his so-far nameless enemy) are gathering their forces, some long-standing mystery elements are being explained (we now know what the Monster is, even if we are unsure how it entirely came to be) and some old story elements from prior seasons have been revisited (such as the 'Adam and Eve' skeletons in the caves, as well as the Numbers). To cut away from such elements to find out that in the parallel universe Kate is still a screw-up is frustrating, to say the least, although this does vary by character. Sayid's descent into darkness in the primary storyline whilst we see him in a (somewhat) better light in the flash-sideways is well-played, for example, whilst Jack's sideways episode (surprisingly, for a Jack-centric episode) does not suck. The producers promise that the relevance of the sideways flashes will become clear soon enough, at which point they may bear revisiting.

Elsewhere, the acting remains strong and there is a welcome addition to the cast in the form of Japanese actor Hiroyuki Sanada (notable for almost decapitating Tom Cruise during the filming of The Last Samurai), who plays the enigmatic leader of the Temple guardians, Dogen, although in fine Lost fashion we find out little about him before his apparent exit from the show (this being Lost, I doubt we've seen the last of him). Terry O'Quinn also works gangbusters as he simultaneously portrays Locke (in the sideways flashes) and the unknown adversary who has taken on his form, whilst Jorge Garcia as Hurley continues to provide effective level-headed leadership when required (taking over from Jack as an effective leader figure in one episode, surprisingly) and excellent fourth-wall-breaking observations elsewhere (at on point directly voicing a fan-favourite theory for the origins of the skeletons in the caves). Naveen Andrews also continues to deliver reliable performances, even if his descent to the dark side is a little obvious.

With the exception of the requisite weak Kate-centric episode, the sixth season of Lost has so far effectively mixed effective mystery resolutions with an interesting ongoing storyline on the Island, although the relevance of the flash-sideways storylines remain somewhat obtuse (they may improve once we know their full role). With ten episodes left, it will be interesting to see how well Lost is able to deliver those long-promised answers, but so far things seem promising.

601-602: LA X (****)
603: What Kate Does (**)
604: The Substitute (****)
605: The Lighthouse (****)
606: Sundown (****½)

Lostwatch 8: Season 5, Episodes 13-17

1977. The DHARMA Initiative is building its scientific stations on the mysterious Island and has an uneasy truce with the native 'Hostiles'. For three years security chief Jim LaFleur has kept the peace, but when some old friends arrive, his life is thrown into turmoil.

2007. Ajira Airways Flight 316 has made an emergency landing on the Island, returning Sun, Ben and a mysteriously-resurrected Locke to their sometimes home. As they set out on their own mission, it transpires that their fellow passengers are not all that they seem, and are looking for someone who can answer a very specific question...


The final act of Lost's fifth and penultimate season sees the narrative split between two times, with characters in the past striving to change history so the fateful crash of Oceanic 815 never happens and in the present, searching for answers to some of the Island's bigger mysteries. This splintered form of storytelling means that characters are kept separate from one another for many episodes in a row, but it is also necessary to move the story forward and into the show's final season.

Some Like It Hoth sees Lost easing off the gas pedal and relaxing a little to give us a lighter story about Hurley, Miles and Dr. Chang. We learn a lot more about Miles, always the most laidback and quietest of the 'freighties' introduced in Season 4, and actor Ken Leung gets a chance to shine after a lot of time spent as a supporting character. For all of its foreshadowing as a comedy episode - and Hurley gets the most harebrained but brilliant idea relating to the time travel shenanigans so far - there's actually an impressive amount of plot movement and building of the mythology of the series here, although not as much as in some recent episodes. It's a fun episode, although the show's obsession with 'daddy issues' is getting wearying.

The Variable is a sequel to Season 4's Hugo-nominated episode The Constant, which means it has a lot to live up to. We pick up on Faraday's story after his encounter with Desmond in the past in that episode (we also get flashbacks to earlier moments as well) and learn more about his relationship with his mother and how he got on the freighter at the start of Season 4. In the 1977 storyline, Faraday has learned something important and rushes to make contact with the Hostiles, dragging a reluctant Kate and a suddenly-enthused Jack along to help out. This episode tries to do a lot but overreaches, and its allegedly shocking conclusion is only made possible by having Faraday act very out-of-character. Some nice moments and a couple of big questions are answered, but this is a slightly disappointing episode.

Follow the Leader sees a switch of emphasis back to the Island in 2007 as Locke recruits the Others into his plans to confront Jacob and apparently find out what is really going on. Richard Alpert is featured heavily, as he is present in both timelines, and we get a few more hints to Richard's nature and origins. As usual, it's Michael Emerson who delivers the best performance, with the collapse of Ben's self-belief in the face of Locke's newly-enthused and ultra-confident leadership of the Others. Back in 1977 we get a brilliant comedy exchange between Hurley and Chang, but the 'torture' scenes feel a bit old hat and I am unconvinced by Jack's slightly psychopathic new plan to save the day by nuking the Island. Riiight...

The two-part finale, The Incident, certainly opens in an unexpected way with the biggest flashback to date, taking us back some 150 years to the day the Black Rock arrived on the Island. At this time the Island is home to only two men, one of whom is called Jacob. As the episode unfolds, we see through flashbacks that Jacob has had a hand in some of the formative events of many our familiar characters' lives, but simultaneously an uneasy question is raised: if Jacob could leave or at least project an image of himself off the Island, why was he living in that shack in the woods, begging Locke for help, back in Season 3?

The finale unfolds with the traditional Lost gunfights and explosions in the past storyline, whilst in the present Locke gives Ben a shocking mission. Events build through the two episodes, but it has to be said that the finale does not feel as jam-packed with events as the previous four. Instead there's an atmosphere of doom and 'wrongness' in the present-day storyline culminating in a truly jaw-dropping moment (again, Emerson is key in this scene) when everything you ever thought you knew about the show had to be re-assessed on the fly, and the show's central 'battle' that has been hinted at since Season 1 is seemingly, finally defined. Unfortunately, the 1977 story runs out of steam a good quarter-hour before the final moments of the episode, and some truly contrived and hackneyed plot devices are used to get characters to where the writers want them (the use of a length of chain is particularly grating). The final moments are effective, and leave Lost on its most demented cliffhanger ending to date. Since Season 6 is the final season of the show, this is the last big season cliffhanger and they wanted to go out on a note as bonkers as possible (and at the same time give an effective shout-out to the Season 1 finale), but it felt a little ineffective compared to previous cliffhangers.

Season 5 of Lost ended strongly, although towards the end of the season there was the feeling that the show was starting to stagger slightly under the weight of its mythology. The complexity of the plot has reached saturation point and the introduction of yet more characters and a possible new faction in the closing episodes felt unwarranted, but the finale did a good job of re-focusing the viewer on the question of what is really going on with this Island, what its purpose is and why various groups have been drawn to it over the centuries. This re-statement of the show's purpose will hopefully be followed through in the final season. It's actually rather bemusing to think there are only 17 hours of the show left, in which time a lot of questions need to be answered. The excellent pacing of Season 5 has left me confident that they can deliver these answers. I'm guessing we'll find out in less than a year.

513: Some Like It Hoth (****)
514: The Variable (***)
515: Follow the Leader (****)
516: The Incident, Part 1 (*****)
517: The Incident, Part 2 (****½)

Forthcoming: Season 6 (January-May 2010)

Lostwatch 7: Season 5, Episodes 7-12

The first six episodes of Season 5 of the recently-Peabody-Award-winning Lost saw the former survivors of Oceanic 815 divided and pursuing separate goals. The Island had been displaced from its proper place in time and space through the actions of the Others' leader, Ben Linus. With the Island's time-skipping threatening to kill everyone left on it, John Locke returned to the Orchid Station and spun the mysterious wheel again. He was thrown off the Island and the time-skipping ended. Unfortunately, when it ended, those left behind were stuck in whatever time period the Island had been in at the time...


The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham picks up on Locke's story after he was thrown off the Island. Like Ben before him he is deposited in Tunisia and is soon tracking down the members of the Oceanic Six with the help of the redoubtable Mr. Abbadon (The Wire's Lance Reddick making a return appearance). This is the episode that fills in the gaps and reveals how Locke ended up in the coffin at the end of Season 3. However, it is slightly unsatisfying. Whilst Jack and Hurley's reactions to Locke's request they return to the Island are in-character, Kate callously refusing to go back and help Sawyer and Sayid's indifference to the fate of the innocents on the Island are both unconvincing and seem to be plot devices to put Locke on the road to despair and the episode's shock ending (which is more successful in its unexpected brutality).

LaFleur, on the other hand, is utterly brilliant. We start off seeing Sawyer, Juliet, Jin, Miles and Faraday on the Island after Locke disappeared down the well. The final time flash leaves them in permanently stuck in 1974, when the DHARMA Initiative is up and running at the height of its influence. With the group about to be thrown off the Island, it falls to some quick-talking by Sawyer (and his knowledge of the 'Hostiles') to convince the DHARMA folk to accept them in. Josh Holloway totally owns this episode and we see Sawyer get to deploy his formidable wits and intelligence in a way we haven't since some of his earlier conman flashbacks. The shift in the dynamic of the show at this point is entertaining to watch, as we get to know some of the members of the DHARMA Initiative and the knowledge that all of them - or at least those of them who are still on the Island in 1992 - are going to die adds an air of poignancy to proceedings.

Namaste sees Sawyer, Juliet and company's relatively idyllic peace shattered by the arrival of some of the Oceanic Six. Sawyer is again forced to think on his feet as he gets them accepted by his DHARMA companions, but complications ensue when Sayid is captured outside the Barracks and mistaken for an Other, leading to some interesting dynamics. This is another strong episode as we see Juliet and Sawyer taking charge and making decisions for the good of the survivors, leaving 'traditional' group leaders Jack and Kate to follow events as they unfold, something Jack seems to be reasonably happy with. A late-episode conversation between Jack and Sawyer is terrific as Jack's flaws and mistakes as a leader are laid bare. Present day events are also followed up on, as Lapidus and Sun journey to the Barracks in 2007 and find out that finding their companions is going to be difficult...

He's Our You follows up on the previous episode with the DHARMA guys torturing Sayid to find out what the Others are up to. There's some real tension here as it appears that Sayid might be about to blow Sawyer's gig. As with most Sayid-centric episodes, this is a winner centred on Naveen Andreas' reliably haunted performance and Sayid's actions in this episode, of a man at the end of his tether who never wanted to come back to the Island and whose life has no real meaning on or off it, are convincing, especially the jaw-dropping conclusion which is exceptionally cold, even for Sayid and even for this show. SF fans will no doubt enjoy a cameo by Blade Runner's William Sanderson as DHARMA's torturer-in-residence Oldham.

Whatever Happened Happened addresses the apparently time-shattering events of the previous episode and is centred on a conversation about the show's time travel paradoxes by Hurley and Miles which seems to end in confusion until the episode's ending expands on events and seems to confirm Faraday's earlier assertion that "Whatever happened, happened". This episode is mostly centred on Kate, which is enough to strike terror into the hearts of even the most seasoned Lost fan, but it's one of the best ones in a long time, expanding on the backstory impressively. Kate's friendship with Cassidy and the reason she gives to Claire's mother for returning to the Island almost make her character likable again, which is something I thought was impossible by this point. Another winner.

Spoiler warning: the following episode has not aired in all territories yet.

Dead is Dead focuses on some more of Ben's backstory. We learn how he kidnapped Alex as a young child (helped by the 11-year-old Ethan), how his rivalry with Charles Widmore grew over time (leading to the latter's banishment) and what happened when he went to unleash his vengeance for Alex's death on Penny. Ben is forced to conclude that he needs to atone for his sins and journeys to the Island's mysterious Temple to ask the Monster for judgement. Fans of the show's mysteries will no doubt be fascinated by our glimpses of the Temple, of the Monster's lair and of Ben's summoning system, although all of these raise numerous fresh questions. The story of the 'new' crash survivors from Flight 316 is also furthered and we get proof that these people are not what they seem either. A great episode really strengthened by Terry O'Quinn and Michael Emerson on top form as the new, super-confident Locke and Ben.

I was worried if the time travel shenanigans at the start of the season were going to undo a lot of the headway Lost has made in late Season 3 and all of Season 4, but these fears proved unfounded. The show is still going from strength to strength.

507: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham (***½)
508: LaFleur (*****)
509: Namaste (****)
510: He's Our You (****)
511: Whatever Happened Happened (****)
512: Dead is Dead (****½)

Forthcoming: Some Like It Hoth (15/04/09), The Variable (29/04/09), Follow the Leader (06/05/09), The Incident (13/05/09)

Lostwatch 6: Season 5, Episodes 1-6

Lost's fourth season may have been curtailed by three episodes, but it still packed an enormous amount of plot movement and revelations into its run. It was revealed that the Island is a prize being fought over between Ben Linus, the leader of the Others, and a corporate businessman named Charles Widmore. Widmore dispatched a team of mercenaries on a freighter with orders to take Ben prisoner and kill all potential witnesses. Instead, the mercenaries were defeated and the survivors of Oceanic 815 planned to use the freighter to escape from the Island. The freighter was instead destroyed. In an attempt to protect the Island from further incursions, Ben turned a wheel attached to an ancient mechanism deep below the surface. The Island promptly vanished, leaving six survivors of Oceanic 815 stuck on a helicopter just outside the area of effect.


As seen in Season 4, Jack, Kate, Sun, Hurley, Sayid and Claire's son Aaron all escaped from the Island, along with Desmond (who'd been stranded there for three years) and helicopter pilot Frank Lapidus. Ben also escaped to the outside world, using the mechanism on the Island. Once back in civilisation, the Oceanic Six concocted a cover story to explain how they survived, and claimed that Aaron was actually Kate's son. However, their fears that everyone who remained on the Island had died were relieved when Locke appeared and told them that something 'terrible' had happened and they must return to the Island. At the end of the season it was revealed that Locke was now dead and Jack had accepted the need to return, with Ben offering to aid him in convincing the others.

Season 5 opens with the story proceeding on two parallel paths. Off the Island Jack attempts to convince the other members of the Oceanic Six to return to the Island with him, with varying degrees of success. Meanwhile, back on the Island the survivors, now led by Sawyer, discover that Ben's turning of the mechanism beneath the Orchid station has caused the Island to become 'unstuck' in time and they are now bouncing between different periods of the Island's history. The human body is not designed for such stresses and it becomes clear that the survivors are doomed unless they can find a way to stop the Island's movements.

There are several immediately noticeable things about this season of Lost. First off, the gloves have come off. Lost is now dealing with hardcore SF concepts and in a surprisingly intelligent and considered manner. Secondly, the flashback/flashforward paradigm has been dispensed with (at least temporarily), since every episode is now, effectively, both, with the stories having to cover sets of characters who have been separated by three years in time. Thirdly, we are starting to get some serious answers and explanations for some of Lost's deeper-seated mysteries, some of them going back right to the start of Season 1. The time travel story allows the survivors to visit different parts of the Island's history and see events unfolding that had previously only been alluded to, or events that had not been recounted but which explain some other elements of the mythology. The result is Lost's most demanding season to date - a full series re-watch, or at least a re-watch of Season 4, may be advisable before starting this season - but also possibly its most satisfying (speaking six episodes in, with eleven more to go).

Because You Left sets up the format for the first half-dozen episodes, with events on and off the Island being explored simultaneously. An enormous number of characters are visited and with the concept of the time-skipping also being introduced, the result is an episode that could have been incredibly confusing. Whilst it borders on going over-the-top, it is eventually pulled back down to Earth by simply emphasising the reactions to the situation by Sawyer, who is as lost and confused as the viewer as to what is going on, and Faraday's attempts to explain the situation.

The Lie is a bit calmer than the first episode, again by filtering the confusing mass of storylines by concentrating more on one character, in this case Hurley, off the Island. Hurley's storyline is great and the scene where he tries to explain to his mother the entire storyline of the series to date in about two minutes (and noting that Season 2 with the button and the hatch didn't make as much sense as it should have done) may be the comic highlight of the series to date.

Jughead abandons the Oceanic Six storyline in favour of catching up with what Desmond and Penny have been up to for the last three years. However, Desmond's slightly odd cross-temporal relationship with Faraday (established in Season 4's The Constant) has him receiving hints that the people back on the Island are in distress, and he sets out to help from the outside world. Back on the Island the survivors find they are now in 1954, with the Others attempting to dispose of a nuclear bomb the US Army was planning to test on the Island. This is a great episode with some fantastic humour and also explains some of the more mystical elements of the show's backstory in a very convincing manner.


The Little Prince is more mundane, a busy episode with characters moving from A to B without a centred storyline of its own, but remains entertaining. Sawyer again gets the best lines, but there is a feeling of ennui creeping in as the following of several complicated storylines across multiple timelines begins to get a little wearying. However, things are livened up by the unexpected ending (well, it was expected, just not quite yet), which gives Lost one of its best cliffhangers in some time.

This Place is Death is another very strong episode, with Daniel Dae Kim making a good impression on his return as Jin (last seen on the freighter when it exploded). Jin is thrown in the deep end, as he is totally unaware that he and the other survivors of 815 are moving randomly through time, although he gets an inkling something is wrong when he is rescued by a bunch of French people who say the year is 1988. The episode delivers some nice pathos (meeting Danielle as a nice, happy young pregnant woman is surprisingly affecting, as we know how she will eventually die after a long and painful struggle on the Island) and gives us some more hints about the nature of the Monster (which makes a return appearance after a lengthy absence). The rest of the episode is also good, with the audience learning how Locke gets off the Island and how the Island is saved from the time-jumps. The death of Charlotte, however, comes out of nowhere. Her character had not been significantly developed over the course of her time on the show and her death seems to render much of her arc pointless (shades of Libby from Season 2 here). Still, the death scene was well-played by Rebecca Mader and Jeremy Davies as Faraday.

Spoiler warning: the following episode has not aired in all territories yet.

316 brings us up to date with the first in a trilogy of episodes focusing on one part of the story, which when combined gives us a clearer picture of how the season develops from here onwards. Next week's episode focuses on what happened to Locke after he left the Island, whilst the following week fills in the fate of the survivors on the Island after that event. This episode, however, brings us back to the Oceanic Six and explains how they came to return to the Island. Some major backstory is filled in (how the Island's location was discovered by the DHARMA Initiative), some long-held suspicions (about 'windows' in space/time) are confirmed and it's good to see the story moving forward decisively. If the whole season had been about the Oceanic Six trying to get back to the Island, it would have been deathly dull, and their early return is a bit of a surprise. There are a few loose ends left behind, though, with the fate of several characters left hanging in the balance, several gaps in the narrative hinting at flashbacks to come and another great cliffhanger ending.

Season 5 of Lost has gotten off to a great start with a strong run of episodes which move with a real sense of purpose and some long-running stories and mysteries fitting together like a satisfying jigsaw puzzle. Hopefully the rest of the season can maintain the quality of this opening batch.

501: Because You Left (****)
502: The Lie (****)
503: Jughead (*****)
504: The Little Prince (***)
505: This Place is Death (****½)
506: 316 (***½)

Forthcoming: The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham (25/02/09), LaFleur (04/03/09), Namaste (11/03/09), He's Our You (18/03/09), Whatever Happened Happened (25/03/09), Dead is Dead (01/04/09), Some Like It Hoth (08/04/09), The Variable (15/04/09).

Lostwatch 5: Season 4, Episodes 9-13

Lost's fourth season was cut short by the US writer's strike, but luckily the early end to the strike allowed the season to return having lost just a grand total of two episodes, leaving the bulk of the planned storyline intact.

The Shape of Things to Come picks up where we left off. Danielle and Karl are dead and Alex is a prisoner of the mercenary team led by Keamy. The team launches an assault on the Barracks, the former home of the Others, and Ben, Locke, Sawyer, Claire and Hurley are besieged in one of the houses. Meanwhile, on the beach Jack gets closer to the truth about the freighter crew's true intentions. In the flashforwards, we learn more about Ben's intentions and actions after he left the Island, culminating in a showdown with his arch-enemy, Charles Widmore. This is one of Lost's most action-packed episodes to date, featuring massive explosions, gun battles and one of the most violent appearances of the Monster to date. Between the fireworks are more intense character moments, as Ben underestimates his enemy for the first time and his showdown with Widmore is one of the most dramatically intense moments in the entire series, sold by stellar perofrmances from Emerson and Dale.

Something Nice Back Home is a slightly quieter episode, with Jack suffering from appendicitis and Juliet having to operate to save his life. This is juxtaposed with flashforwards showing Jack and Kate as a happy couple off the Island, but a conversation with Hurley and repeated glimpses of his dead father, as well as his discovery that Kate has been keeping a secret from him, serve to set him on the course to self-destruction (cleverly prefiguring the total collapse of Jack's life we saw in the Season 3 finale). Unfortunately, the cleverness of the flash-forwards scenes cannot compensate with a lacklustre 'present' storyline, which is confounded by total left-field plot twists (such as the unconvincing revelation that Charlotte can speak Korean and Claire's disappearance after seeing her dead father).

Cabin Fever ups the supernatural quotient as Locke is guided by visions of a dead DHARMA scientist to a meeting with Jacob, only to find that Jacob isn't present and Christian Shepherd - and Claire - are. Once again Michael Emerson turns in a great performance as Ben as he faces the reality that he has been displaced in Jacob and the Island's affections by Locke. Flashbacks reveal that the Island may have been having an impact on Locke's life long before he set foot on Oceanic 815. This revelation, although on the one hand playing down the 'coincidence' aspect of the show and perhaps giving a reason why 815 was pulled towards the Island in the first place (since the plane went off-course long before Desmond's negligence in the Season 2 finale caused it to crash), does feel like an artificial retcon rather than a pre-planned development. It will be interesting to see if they can build on this revelation in future episodes and seasons.

There's No Place Like Home is the two-part season finale (although Part 2 is a double-length episode, so technically it's a three-parter). The future members of the Oceanic Six are scattered all over the place. The 815 survivors are beginning to be evacuated to the freighter, but a huge bomb has been found on board, with Michael, Jin and Desmond having to find a way of defusing it. Locke and Ben's path leads them to the DHARMA Initiative station known as the Orchid, and a confrontation with one of the Island's most ancient secrets. But in the future the members of the Oceanic Six are plagued by increasing guilt over the actions that led to their freedom and news of the death of a colleague puts them over the edge, particularly Jack, culminating in the realisation that they must return to the Island. However, given what Locke and Ben did on the day of their departure, that may be easier said than done...

As far as season finales go, it's hard beating this one. Action, self-sacrifice, heroism, deaths, more explosions, guest cameos (a great but brief turn from Michelle 'Admiral Cain' Forbes) and moments of real emotional power (Henry Ian Cusack proves himself once again to be the show's most underrated actor in his climatic scenes as Desmond finally finds what he has been looking for) combine to form one of Lost's most satisfying episodes. The end of the episode is a note of real finality. Lost as it has existed for four seasons is dead and gone, and it's unclear how the series will continue from this point on, especially in light of the climatic revelation. With the fourth season and the finale in particular the Lost writers have completely regained the form and storytelling ability it looked like they had lost at the start of Season 3. It will be fascinating to see how the story proceeds from this point onwards.

409: The Shape of Things to Come *****
410: Something Nice Back Home ***
411: Cabin Fever ****
412: There's No Place Like Home, Part 1 ****
413: There's No Place Like Home, Part 2 *****

Lost Season 5 will begin filming in August to debut on ABC in late January 2009 and will consist of 17 episodes. The producers are keeping schtum about exactly what the new format of the show will be, but will be putting an appearance in at Comicon in July which will provide some hints. Season 4 will be released on DVD on 9 December 2008 in both the UK and USA.

Lostwatch 4: Season 4, Episodes 1-8

Lost's third season ended with the series at the very top of its game. The 'war' between the Others and the survivors of Oceanic 815 had ended with the decimated Others forced to flee their base of operations and their leader Ben a prisoner. Jack had successfully made contact with a freighter out at sea and it looked like rescue was finally imminent...except that, moments before his death, Charlie had discovered that the rescuers had been lying about their true purposes, a claim backed up by both Ben and Locke. In a format-breaking 'flashforwards' set three years in the future we also learned that at least Jack and Kate do make it off the Island, but Jack at least thinks it was a mistake and desperately wants to return.


The Beginning of the End picks up right where we left off. Jack and Locke are at loggerheads over Locke's murder of Naomi. The revelation of Charlie's last words divides the camp in half, with a number (including Hurley, Claire and Sawyer) joining Locke but the majority remaining with Jack and Kate on the beach. A second flashforwards reveals that only six members of Oceanic 815 make it back to civilisation, including Hurley, who is forced back into the mental institution after having visions of Charlie. There he is visited by the sinister Mr. Abbadon and a calmer, more relaxed Jack (clearly this takes place before his prior flashforwards). This episode gets the season off to a storming start, although it commits the typical Lost sin of resolving little but introducing numerous new mysteries. This time around, though, the new mysteries are highly compelling.

Confirmed Dead shifts things around somewhat. Four new characters arrive on the Island from the freighter: Miles Straume, an apparent psychic; Daniel Faraday, a physicist; Charlotte Lewis, an archaeologist; and Frank Lepidus, a pilot. Deft use of flashbacks reveals that these four were recruited by the shadowy Mr. Abbadon and his trusted lieutenant, Naomi, specifically for the mission to the Island. They seem to have their own agendas: Miles can apparently talk to the dead, Frank was a friend of Oceanic 815's pilot and wants to know what happened to him, Daniel is fascinated by the electromagnetic properties of the Island and Charlotte found what appears to be the remnants of a DHARMA Initiative experiment in Tunisia. All four new characters are terrifically well-drawn and we get to know them and see their interactions with both sets of characters in a fascinating manner.

The Economist features the best use of a flashforwards yet, as we learn that Sayid is one of the Oceanic Six. He is also an assassin, working for a shadowy figure, and targetting certain individuals. An attempt to get close to one of these individuals in Berlin leads him into a doomed romance. Lost makes great use of its award-winning acting resource, Naveen Andrews, in a taut 45-minute thriller with elements of noir thrown in for good measure. Spectacular stuff.

Eggtown is a highly unexpected episode. Kate's eventual trial for her pre-Island crimes is something I expect most fans thought they'd never see, or it would be glossed over as part of the finale. Not so. It is shown here in full detail and much more info about the Oceanic Six is revealed. Whilst the resolution is a bit hard to swallow (not unusual for dramatised courtroom proceedings) the final scene raises an absolute ton of questions about the Six and what the people on the outside world know about them. The on-Island storyline is also effective, particularly Locke's effective use of a grenade to coerce the truth from Miles.

The Constant may be one of Lost's high points to date. Frank is taking Sayid and Desmond back to the freighter via helicopter, but a freak storm that takes place as they cross the 'boundary' between the Island and the outside world has a devastating effect on Desmond and he starts bouncing back and forth between the present and eight years in the past. This leads to a much more effective reitation of the ideas explored in Flashes Before Your Eyes in a most effective manner, building to one of the most emotionally satisfying moments in the series' history. Another winner.

The Other Woman sees a minor slowing of the pace. Juliet's flashbacks reveals the true depth of Ben's twisted character and any doubts we had about him being 'bad' are finally dispelled...just as he finally wins Locke's trust and is let loose. The waters are further muddled as Ben reveals the freighter crew's seemingly malevolent mission and their mysterious backer just as Faraday and Charlotte reveal Ben's own plans to purge the Island of his enemies. Who is telling the truth and who is lying? A difficult question to answer and the episode refuses to give easy resolutions to the problem.

Ji Yeon is the trickiest episode of the season so far, messing around with the flashforward and flashback devices to build to a highly ambiguous finale. It's a difficult episode to review without spoiling it. Suffice to say that it's another good Sun and Jin episode, who for all their apparent disconnection from the main storyline nevertheless have a highly consistent quality of centric episodes.

We round things off with Meet Kevin Johnson. Sayid and Desmond are shocked to be reunited with Michael, last seen sailing off into the sunset with Walt in the Season 2 finale but now an engineer on the freighter. We now learn that Michael was recruited by the Others into infiltrating the boat and carrying out Ben's orders. Sayid is unimpressed with Michael's story and takes shocking action. At the same moment, all hell breaks loose on the Island and events build to a major cliffhanger ending with one recurring character dead, another seriously wounded and another's fate left hanging in the balance.

We're a long way from the dull and plodding start to Season 3 here. Lost is firing on all cylinders and the relatively modest (five-week) wait for the remaining five episodes of the season seems a hell of a lot longer than it actually is.

401: The Beginning of the End ****
402: Confirmed Dead *****
403: The Economist *****
404: Eggtown ***½
405: The Constant *****
406: The Other Woman ***½
407: Ji Yeon ****
408: Meet Kevin Johnson ****

Forthcoming: Episode 409, The Shape of Things to Come, airs on 24 April on ABC and a few days later on Sky One. There will be 13 episodes in total in Season 4, shortened by three episodes due to the US Writer's Strike.

Lostwatch 3: Season 3, Episodes 16-23

Lost's unexpected but most welcome return to form continues through the latter part of the third season, which addresses some of the series long-standing questions and hints at a potentially titanic shift in perspective and format to come in the fourth season.


Last time we covered up to the episode Left Behind, which had Jack finally setting out to rejoin the beach camp after fourteen episodes as a prisoner of the Others. In One of Us the long-expected reunion takes place. However, between the back-slapping there is an element of tension over the presence of Juliet, which leads to a well-acted confrontation between her, Sayid and Sawyer in which Juliet emerges on top through her expert use of their backstories against them. Her own flashback reveals her true purpose in being on the Island - investigating why every woman who has conceived on the Island dies before their third trimester - and is quite compelling, as well as revealing previously unknown information (Juliet and Goodwin, the Other killed by Ana-Lucia in The Other 48 Days, were loves; there was a massive battery of TV screens picking up satellite news from around the world in the Flame station before Locke blew it up). A solid episode with a strong final scene that sets up the end of the season nicely.

Catch-22 focuses on Desmond, and gives us a very enjoyable Island 'jaunt' where Desmond, Charlie, Hurley and Jin set off on a trip into the jungle (albeit with Desmond's foreknowledge of an important event about to take place). This quickly turns into something more serious, as once again Charlie is in danger of being killed, and a newcomer arrives on the Island, bringing the possibility of rescue with her. Flashbacks deepen an understanding of Desmond's character, revealing his time spent in a monastery (hence his constant use of 'brother' as a mode of address) and chronicling his first meeting with Penny, although it also features another hint that outside forces are manipulating Desmond for unknown reasons (the mysterious old woman from Flashs Before Your Eyes is revealed to know the head of the monastery). Another solid episode with some good laughs, although the Charlie-dying-wait-no-he's-not storyline is in danger of becoming repetitive.

D.O.C. follows up on One of Us by having Juliet learn of Sun's pregnency. She takes Sun to the medical station to find out if she conceived on the Island. The flashbacks cover Sun being blackmailed by Jin's estranged mother and reveal how exactly Jin ended up working for Mr. Paik as his enforcer. This is a very startling and telling scene which completely shifts all of Sun's past actions into a new light (as well as featuring a nice Lost Experience crossover, hidden away in Mr. Paik's Korean dialogue). The result is a strong episode focusing on the emotional turmoil of the characters, something the show did very well in the first season but has been on shakier ground with since. Fortunately, Yunjin Kim turns in a great performance and makes for a solid episode.

The Brig, on the other hand, is a great episode. Locke recruits Sawyer to kill his father, resulting in a dramatically powerful series of confrontations between Sawyer and Cooper and, in flashback, between Ben and Locke. All of the actors are on top form here, and Josh Holloway gives a career-best performance in the closing scenes of the show, whilst once again there is the feeling of events accelerating out of control as we run towards the season finale. The result is the strongest episode of the series for over a season and a half.

The Man Behind the Curtain is mildly disappointing. It's Ben's first flashback episode and features a lot of backstory revelations, such as much more info on the DHARMA Initiative's presence on the Island and their relationship with the Others. However, the flashback is light on real meat, not telling us anything major that had not already been concluded by avid viewers. The absence of the Monster (at least in its smokey form) in the flashbacks is also mildly irritating, as this was a prime moment for the producers to shed more light on it. That said, any lingering sympathy the audience had for Ben is extinguished by the end of the flashback, which sheds a slightly more serious light on the comical events in Tricia Tanaka is Dead. The on-Island storyline is much more interesting, as Locke and Ben go to see the mysterious Jacob. What follows is hands-down the single most bizarre scene in the history of the entire series, rivalling Twin Peaks at its most surreal. At the same time there is finally a hint that an answer actually exists that accounts for a large chunk of the show's lingering mysteries. And the ending is powerful and startling, Lost at its best.

Greatest Hits is more lightweight, but also more emotionally interesting. Charlie has been given a bad ride as one of the weakest characters on the show, and certainly since he kicked the heroin habit in early Season 2, his storyline seems to have been going nowhere. However, in this episode he has a fair amount to do, which Dominic Monaghan pulls off with aplomb, and his flashbacks are actually quite appropriate for the episode. Combined with a surprising ends, this makes for a good episode.

The season finale, Through the Looking Glass, is the show's best finale to date. Once again Lost employs its large ensemble cast and the two-hour length of the finale to have a busy episode with lots going on and all of the characters having their moment in the sun. Timelining everything so it all happened at the right time must have been tricky for the writers, but they did it quite well. Lots of action - this is easily the most action-packed episode of Lost ever - and startling revelations give way to a surprisingly upbeat final on-Island scene. The knowledge that Jack would be the focus of the flashbacks was puzzling, as his backstory doesn't seem to allow for much in the way of series-changing major events, but the writers pull off a brave move for the show which should see it transformed next year. It's not an original idea - Heroes did something similar fairly recently and Babylon 5 did the same thing several times over its run - but the introduction of flash-forwards to the show's arsenal of storytelling tricks is very welcome, and the glimpse of what happens to our heroes a couple of years after they get off the Island is intriguing.

Overall, Lost's third season began very poorly, but soon picked up a gear as the producers and writers finally delivered on their promise to tell us more about what's going on. The finale was a particularly impressive piece of work, and the change in the flashback structure of the show was long overdue. Against all odds, Lost has returned to the quality it enjoyed in its first season and the start of its second. Whether it can maintain that into the final three seasons is another question, but the fact that the show now has a definite end date (May 2010) and a finite number of episodes left (48) to tell its story should focus the writers on making the journey ahead as interesting as possible.

316: One of Us ****
317: Catch-22 ****
318: D.O.C. ****
319: The Brig *****
320: The Man Behind the Curtain ****
321: Greatest Hits ****
322/323: Through the Looking Glass *****

Forthcoming: Lost Season 4 will debut on ABC and Sky One in February 2008 for a 16-episode run.

Lostwatch 2: Season 3, Episodes 7-15

After its weak opening six-episode arc, Lost returned from its extended break to run interrupted all the way through the end of the season. We're now halfway through this second run and it seems like a good time to assess the show once more.

Lost has, against all the odds and predictions, made something of a return to form in these latest episodes. The producers have seemingly decided to concentrate once more on showing as much of the cast as possible each week, with seperate plots and subplots giving more of the cast time in the limelight. This has had some ramifications (the supposedly long-running Paulo and Nikki subplot was curtailed and ended rather abruptly in the episode Expose) but overall has worked quite well. The characters feel more connected and the somewhat lightweight subplots back on the beach have contrasted nicely with the claustraphobia of the Others' storyline.

First out of the box was Not in Portland, the conclusion to the story arc that had Kate, Sawyer and Jack as prisoners of the Others for the first part of the season. The producers made a major mistake in not transmitting this with the first batch of episodes, as it would have provided satisfying closure to the mini-arc that opened the season rather than left us hanging on the rather insipid cliffhanger provided by I Do. Nevertheless, Not in Portland was a good episode which provided some decent backstory for Juliet and got Sawyer and Kate out of that damned prison.

Flashes Before Your Eyes is an odd episode, seemingly breaking one of Lost's fundamental rules by having one of our characters travel in time. The opening and conclusion of the episode are fine, although the dramatic final revelation lacks bite (on a show that is as profligate with its heroes' lives as Lost is, hinting that Charlie - not the most essential character on the show anyway - may soon die is not that interesting). The heroic effort to recreate London in Hawaii deserves some respect, but the basic errors that creep in are still irritating (few English pubs in London have a massive Union Jack over the bar and the mis-spelling of posters and signs with American words is just plain sloppy). The story itself is interesting and Desmond remains one of the most compelling characters on the show, but overall the episode felt somewhat lacklustre and didn't really feel like an episode of Lost at all.

Stranger in a Strange Land is yet another Jack flashback. A very weird and somewhat surrealistic tone to the episode actually works quite well, but the problem is that the mystery the show reveals - what is the significance of Jack's tattoos? - is a mystery that is far more interesting to the writers than the fans.

Tricia Tanaka is Dead is far more impressive. It's quite a funny episode (highlight: the meteor destroying Hurley's restaurant) with a somewhat whimsical plotline, whilst remembering to keep the main plotline chugging along in the background (Kate recruiting a band of asskickers to go rescue Jack). Plus the fate of the dog, Vincent, is revealed, which was of some significance for a large chunk of the audience.

Enter 77 is a bit of a fan-pleasing episode, as we see the Flame Station and some important backstory to the Others and the DHARMA Initiative is revealed. Sayid's backstory is a bit irrelevant, but Naveen Andrews turns in an excellent performance as usual. However, they really need to keep Locke away from computer terminals.

Par Avion showcases a much-guessed but previously unconfirmed connection between two of the major characters and also features the goriest death in the series to date, even if the Sonic Fence feels like something from the Command and Conquer games. Locke's increasingly bizarrre behaviour is also made more apparent, and the cliffhanger is quite mystifying. Unusually for Lost, we get some answers relatively quickly. The Man From Tallahassee answers probably one of the single most mused-over questions in the show - how did Locke end up in the wheelchair? - and features a very nice, large explosion. Inbetween there are some great acting and writing moments and the final shot of the episode is pretty bizarre, although apparently it won't be expanded upon until episode 19 (due to actor availability, I guess).

Expose is a mixed episode, focusing on the backstory to the somewhat tedious Nikki and Paulo, although apparently this is their last appearance on the show. Recreating the plane crash was quite impressive and seeing some characters again who've met their ends on the show is enjoyable, but some plot points seem unlikely (Paulo and Nikki knew about the drugs plane, the Pearl Station, Ben and Juliet weeks before anyone else did?) and the ending is just disturbing. The episode is saved by lots of loose ends being tied up and by some pretty funny dialogue, not to mention a brief appearance by Billy Dee 'Lando Calrissian' Williams as himself.

Left Behind is very much a transitional episode, clearing up the loose threads of the Others' storyline and putting our heroes back together again. Some impressive visuals (especially finding out what that slightly preposterous Sonic Fence is really for) and at least one major question being addressed (what is the connection between the Others and the Monster?), if not answered, leads to an enjoyable episode, especially when combined with Sawyer's subplot back on the beach. The flashback was somewhat pointless, but happily did not outstay its welcome.

307: Not in Portland ****
308: Flashes Before Your Eyes ***
309: Stranger in a Strange Land ***
310: Tricia Tanka is Dead ****
311: Enter 77 ****
312: Par Avion ****
313: The Man From Tallahassee ****
314: Expose ***
315: Left Behind ****

Forthcoming: One of Them (11/04/07), Catch-22 (18/04/07), D.O.C. (25/04/07), The Brig (02/05/07), The Man Behind the Curtain (09/05/07), Greatest Hits (16/05/07), untitled 2-hour Season 3 finale (23/05/07)

Lostwatch: Season 3

I have come to the conclusion that Lost is the televisual equivalent of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. Initially enjoyable, with interesting characters and a storyline that intriguingly unfolds backwards as much as forwards (the ongoing storyline exposes more of the mysterious backstory), Lost has started to show signs that it has peaked and may be entering a somewhat mediocre stage as the writers try to come up with new ways on how to delay the revelation of important story elements in the misguided belief that if they actually told us what the hell was going on people would start switching off in droves. This ridiculous belief is what drained The X-Files of everything that made it interesting and turned it into an ongoing joke, and Lost may be showing the first signs of that here.

The season got off to a rousing start. Seeing the crash again from a different angle is a clever storytelling device, if not original (previously used in Season 2's The Other 48 Days). We then got into an intense prison story, as Sawyer, Kate and Jack are held and interrogated by the mysterious Others. We learn that their leader (the Artist Formerly Known as Henry Gale) is actually called 'Ben' and the Others' society is lot more comfortable then we'd been led to belief. Frustratingly, Jack still doesn't bother asking questions any normal person would and the Others' intransigence is becoming ridiculous (would it kill them to say simply yes, they are former DHARMA/Hanso scientists, or no, they're not?). Yet it's a reasonable episode. We then move into seeing Sayid, Jin and Sun mounting a rescue attempt on our heores, only for it to fall apart. Some very bad editing makes Sayid - probably the most competent and dangerous of the survivors in this kind of situation - look like a moron, setting a trap and then watching it so intently the Others sneak right past him (the next episode reveals the Others actually used a submarine to get to the boat). The flashback is very interesting, however, and Sun and Jin remain seem to continue to have interesting backgrounds for storyline possibilities (unlike Jack, whose backstory has been mined dry by repeated, pointless flashbacks).

Episode three continues to pick up things from last season, with the fates of Desmond, Eko and Locke revealed. Some good stuff with Locke getting his hunter mojo back is derailed by an appaling CGI polar bear and the fact that the entire episode's plot is derailed by what happens two weeks later. Things get shaky in episode four: Sawyer continues to be a great flashback character but by simply going along with the wardens' plan he looks like a bit more of a chump than we are used to. The ending is interesting though: there is more than one island (this is what passes for true excitement in Lost).

Episode five is probably the best of the new bunch, although it's been criticised for killing off yet another tail-section character. Apparently the decision had been taken when Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbajge decided to leave several episodes early. Despite this, his character has a reasonably decent ending, giving us a much closer look at the enigmatic smoke monster (real name: Cerberus, apparently) and, more importantly, undertanding that it has mimic abilities and also doesn't like to be crossed. This dramatically satisfying episode does make the events of episode three look pointless though. Why bother having Locke save him from the polar bear? Nevertheless, a good one and, thanks to the revelations about the smoke monster, one that answers quite a few mysteries from the first three seasons in one fell swoop.

Episode six, on the other hand, is weak. Kate's flashback is so pointless it defies belief and Nathan Fillion is badly wasted in his role. The only good news is apparently he'll be back later in the season. Back on the island things are more satisfying: Kate finally chooses her man and the scene where Sawyer is about to have his head blown off is genuinely tense. They've just killed off one regular character, who's to say they're not going to kill another? But the cliffhanger is pointless. We were promised a season-ending style cliffhanger and get lots of shouting instead. Bah. And now it's off the air for two months, leaving the audience not so much as on the edge of their seats as rolling their eyes. Still, at least we have a few more weeks of BSG and Heroes to keep us entertained in the meantime.

301: A Tale of Two Cities ***
302: The Glass Ballerina ***
303: Further Instructions ***
304: Every Man For Himself **
305: The Cost of Living ****
306: I Do **

Forthcoming: Not in Portland (07/02/07)