Lost – Season 4

By the time the fourth season of Lost has arrived, you’re either in or out for good. For some, the show’s enormous mythology and seemingly limitless plotlines are too much to handle, requiring an online wiki-site of its own for crying out loud. Yet for others, the show is a welcomed site – an oasis in the middle of an otherwise mostly mindless television schedule. Luckily for viewers, Season Four – now out on DVD – begins to answer more questions than it asks.

For those behind, the pivotal third season ended with the biggest cliffhanger yet – a flash forward revealing Jack’s disheveled life once off the mysterious island. Thus, Season Four has a lot of ’splainin’ to do and it does just that – revealing the others who’ve made it off the island and what they are doing. Hurley finds himself institutionalized, Sayid is a hitman, Kate has Aaron in her care, Sun has her baby and Jack is messed up. It’s intriguing to say the least, but it is a bit much as the show continues it’s typical flashbacks with characters like Locke and Juliet.

Juliet’s memories, in particular, are helpful in describing her relationship with Ben and his identity on the island. Flashbacks also help piece together Michael’s storyline and what happened to bring him back to the eerie freighter in the middle of the ocean. Of course, with the boat comes a load of new characters, some of whom die but many who seem to be firmly entrenching themselves for a long run as a cast member. And, in what is the final episode of an abbreviated season (thanks writer’s strike!), well… it just might be the most ridiculous reach for Lost yet.

But isn’t that why we keep coming back? If it was really just because of the romantic triangles (which remain ongoing), then there are plenty of others ways to invest our time. But Lost continues to go to places we can’t foresee, seek angles we would have never dreamed and somehow pulls it all off time and again. And while Season Five seems like it will have to reach to some ludicrous levels, we have faith that these castaways – and the smart writers behind them – will bring it together.

Tagged as: Damon Lindelof, JJ Abrams, Lost

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