Piper's Perspective DVD Review: Lost - The Complete Fifth Season

Posted by Ben Piper on 12.08.2009

Have gun, will time travel...

Dr. Jack Shephard: Matthew Fox
Kate Austin: Evangeline Lilly
John Locke: Terry O’Quinn
James “Sawyer” Ford: Josh Holloway
Sayid Jarrah: Naveen Andrews
Hugo “Hurley” Reyes: Jorge Garcia
Jin Kwon: Daniel Dae Kim
Sun Kwon: Yunjin Kim
Benjamin Linus: Michael Emerson
Desmond Hume: Henry Ian Cusick
Dr. Juliet Burke: Elizabeth Mitchell
Daniel Faraday: Jeremy Davies
Miles Straum: Ken Leung
Charlotte Lewis: Rebecca Mader




Lost is ABC television’s worldwide smash hit that has fans lighting up the internet with theories, arguments, and more theories. One part character-driven drama, one part sci-fi, one part mystery, and one part action-thriller, this is a show that is unlike anything that came before it. At this point as we approach the final season, this is a show that may become iconic in stature in that there was nothing else like it before, and those that follow will have a hard time measuring up to the bar it presents in the years to come with regards to truly original television series.

With all the hyperbole out of the way, how does season five measure up to those that came before?

The Show

Those that continue to (or once had at one time) follow LOST know that it isn’t an easy show to keep track of. The mythology that has been built over the previous four seasons is staggeringly complex, to say the least bit. The announcement that the show would end at a certain point has helped the quality of the series greatly down the backstretch, as the storylines have tightened up superbly as things headed into season five.

And season five by all accounts is a reckoning of a sort. To me it almost seems like a challenge has been thrown down by those in charge of the show to the viewers. It’s as if they dared the audience to keep up with them, in that nothing is spoon-fed or easy to keep track of (Even more so than before). On one hand, you can take this as the powers that be greatly respecting the viewership’s intelligence and willingness to go along for the ride. On the other? It can also be taken as a great big middle finger to those either unwilling or incapable of giving themselves over completely.

I say that for while there have always been subtle (and at times, overt) sci-fi elements present in the show since it’s inception, in season five LOST let it’s sci-fi freak flag fly.

Yup, Spoilers follow. You’ve been warned.

Season five takes up where the previous one left off; With the Oceanic Six (Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, and Aaron) being rescued off of the island. But before that happens, they all bear witness as the island, and all the friends and loved ones they left behind seemingly disappeared from existence, leaving the question as to where it, and they all went.

Turns out the question wasn’t so much where, but when.

While it had been only slightly hinted at previously, time travel is a big element of this particular season. As it begins, it’s explained that when the island was “moved” it jumped through time to a different era entirely. Only problem is that the mechanism that enabled this to happen is now somehow off of its axis, causing it to throw off random spasms of energy causing either the island, or a certain percentage of it’s inhabitants thereon to time shift continuously and with little warning.

As a result, Sawyer, Juliet, Locke, et al find themselves being thrust into the island’s mysterious past, giving us viewers insight that we had never been privy to before. After spending an early episode or two stuck in the 1950’s which help set up events that transpire later on, they find themselves transported again, only to realize that these continuous time leaps are having a negative effect that may in fact threaten their lives.



It’s John Locke that takes it upon himself to solve the conundrum, wisely figuring out that where the problem began, must be where it can be solved. And he does just that, fixing the situation and saving his friends, but much like Benjamin Linus had before, when he rights the mechanism (technically called the frozen donkey wheel… Seriously) he too is teleported off of the island and back into the civilized world. As a result, those still on the island find themselves literally stuck in the mid-70’s.

Speaking of Ben Linus, at the start of the season he’s working closely with old on-island nemesis Jack in an effort to get the Oceanic Six back together and somehow return to the island. This proves to be problematic on a number of levels, seeing as pretty much everyone else wants nothing to do with this plan of action. And then there is the whole figuring out the hows and whys of making it so, even without their help. (But we all knew it would happen eventually, sooner or later)

The upside of all this time travel rigamaroll is that it helps expand our understanding of things that either have been previously alluded to, or are given entirely new information altogether as to the history of this mysterious setting. Characters that we’ve heard mentioned in passing or had been only seen in archival footage is now brought into the mix alongside those we know and love.

But then, not all the characters wind up going back to 1977, (Don't ask, for I have no suitable explanation) where most of the season transpires. Sun, Ben and Frank Lapidus, the burnout pilot first introduced in season four (and suddenly thrust back into the mix by coincidence) find themselves back on the island in the modern day, stranded on the seemingly now deserted island with several new characters that may or may not be well intentioned. (plus one familiar character that unexpectedly pops up, and may not exactly be whom he proclaims to be) While this story thread is on the back burner throughout the season in deference to the mid-70’s storyline, it proves of great importance in that it may be the most important piece for setting up the endgame that season six promises to be.

Probably my favorite episode of this season is the Locke-centric “The Life And Death of Jeremy Bentham”, in which the island mystic finds himself back in the real world trying unsuccessfully to convince The Six that they have to come back to the island otherwise everyone else left behind will surely die. The final act of this is not only emotional, but shocking to the core with regards to how it plays out.

And while all the previous season finales of LOST have always delivered the goods, this one in particular is once again game-changing, in that we’re left with utterly no clue where the show will turn next, and what direction it shall take.



The acting ensemble continues to be fantastic. As always Terry O’ Quinn as Locke and Michael Emerson (whom won an Emmy this past year for his great work) as the duplicitous Ben Linus continue to bring the goods. But the acting MVP for this season is undoubtedly Josh Holloway as Sawyer. Not only does the character step up as the alpha male in the absence of Jack on-island in the early stages, Holloway manages to not only elevate his game greatly, playing the character as we have known and loved him previously, but he manages to take him to a higher level emotionally. That he manages to does this wordlessly, with just his facial expressions is vastly impressive. The fact that he wasn’t nominated alongside Emerson is a gross oversight, considering that he greatly anchored this season and in many ways became the central character for the duration.

Ultimately, those that abandoned the show with the argument that “they never answer anything” or “they’re just making this up as they’re going along” now have to bite their tongue in certain respects. With a final endgame in sight, LOST in season five plows forward with the gas pedal pressed all the way down, providing some answers, a few new questions, and a breathless batch of action, emotion, as well as the usual twists and turns. The result is a fun and always entertaining ride.

Video

Presented in Widescreen (1.78;1) ratio. Like all ABC series releases, the picture is crisp and clear. A pristine transfer that really pops on a large screen TV.

Audio

Dolby digital 5.1 Surround sound in both English and French. Dolby digital 2.0 in both English and Spanish. Subtitles in English, French, and Spanish. Like the video, the audio tracks are well transferred and come across wonderfully clear, in both quiet and chaotic moments.

Bonus Features

Making Up For Lost Time: (13:47) This segment has producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse talking about the major LOST characters traveling back in time to the island’s past and possibly influencing previous events, whether or not they can change the future, or indeed hit a figureative “reset” button. Several cast member chime in on what they think of the time travel element, while Lindelof says that time travel was not something they did for the sake of doing so, but rather it was a way to answer several questions in regards to the island’s backstory that had been hinted at in previous seasons. Various members of the crew admit to finding the whole thing confusing. Associate producer Jean Higgins speaks as to the difficulty of pulling the time travel element off with regards to continuity and authentic looks of the different eras especially in light of logistics and such. Really good and entertaining segment.

Mysteries Of The Universe: (26:13)This segment begins with a disclaimer that “The following is an episode of a short-lived television series from the 1980’s. The topics explored may be of particular interest to fans of ‘LOST’”. This is great, as it plays just as the disclaimer claims, even beginning with a retro ABC ad touting the network before going into an In Search Of style opening credits. (Aliens, Monsters, Conspiracy, Cults, etc.) It claims to be an investigative piece concerning secret societies, focusing in primarily on The Dharma Initiative. (Another disclaimer: “this program contains information based in part on theory and conjecture. The producer’s purpose is to suggest some possible explanation, but not the only explanation to the mystery we examine.”) It’s a purposely cheesy segment looking into the background of the DA, with a lot of the facts taken directly from the show and given a new light. Thumbs up.

Lost on Location:(37:24) This is a behind the scenes making of segment, focusing in on the episodes The Lie, The Little Prince, The Life and Death Of Jeremy Bentham, Namaste, He’s Our You, What Happened, Happened, & The Incident. The segment basically plays out highlighting a key segment from all the individual episodes I previously listed, and all the work that went into making them happen. It’s really neat to see how the behind the scenes people are able to concoct a storm of flaming arrows raining down upon the cast without anyone being hurt or how they managed to make a Olympic- sized swimming pool double for an stormy Pacific Ocean. There’s car crashes, flaming Volkswagon vans, fire hoses with no pressure behind them, gunshot wounds, ancient temples, co-stars really liking one another and working together, and a certain fist fight between alpha males that’s been a long time coming. Not to mention all the over the top stuff that went into the finale. Truly awesome behind the scenes segment.

An Epic Day With Richard Alpert: (12:14) This segment follows actor Nestor Carbonell as he puts in a fifteen plus hour day filming the final shooting of LOST’s season five finale. This feature basically follows the actor as he spends his day working first on one set before transferring to another. Decent but not enthralling.



Building 23 And Beyond: (12:00) Actor Michael Emerson visits the LOST showrunner’s offices in L.A. Emerson goes around introducing the various writers and producers. After canoodling with executive producer’s Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse for a while, Cuse takes Emerson to the editing bay, where he meets all those that work there. Not very informative and kind of dry.

Deleted Scenes: (13:04) As the title indicates, this is a series of eight deleted scenes. Most of them are very brief and extraneous, but three of them are longer and very interesting. Had it not been for time constraints, they would have been great additions to their individual episodes.

Lost Bloopers: (3:48) Pretty self-explanatory, and pretty enjoyable for what they are.

Audio Commentaries: There’s only two; The season premiere “Because You Left”, with commentary by executive producers and show runners (and co-writers of the episode) Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, and “He’s Our You” with commentary by executive producers/writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. While both commentary tracks prove to be entertaining and insightful, the fact that there are only two this time out is a disappointment, not to mention for the first time none of the actors are involved.

Final Score

The Show: 8.5
Video: 9.0
Audio: 9.0
Bonus Features: 7.5

The 411: LOST in it's fifth season continues to be a maddingly fun and addictive television series. As it pushes towards the final season at a quickened pace, it still manages to bring all the goods to the table with regards to the acting ensemble and overall storytelling. If you're not on board now, you likely never will be. And that is your loss.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]