Never got around to watching Lost when it was on television. I heard it was the kind of show you couldn't just pick up on, and I never got into it. Enter Netflix Instant Watch.
In about 2 weeks I'm through Season 3. I've rated the seasons at about 4 stars out of 5. Here is a quick (well, hoping it will be quick) review of each season.
Season 1
A good start to the series. Jack is established as the charismatic and enjoyable to watch protagonist. The best part of Season 1 is that a lot of questions are raised and not answered, left for later seasons, later episodes. The worst part about Season 1, which is symptomatic of all Lost seasons (I've watched thus far) is that there are too many characters - entire episodes are devoted to characters who aren't important to the overall plot, or who are a large part of an episode just to be there. I'm looking at you Arzt! The others, Rousseau, the black rock, the dark territory. It's all very engaging, as are the main characters - Sayid, Kate, Jack, Locke, Sawyer, Michael and even Hurley, Charlie and Claire in Season 1.
Season 2
Typically for a television series, the 2nd season is the make or break. I'm looking at you Heroes! If a success, it is also typically one of the best seasons - thinking of The Wire, The Sopranos. Season 2 for Lost is a definite success. The introduction of Henry Gale, the stations, Desmond, the Dharma Initiative. Again, more questions are raised than answered, which works for the overall story. Just as you are getting used to certain ancillary characters (Shannon) they're killed off or removed from the story altogether (Walt). [So far, it's never discussed why Walt appeared to Shannon soaking wet in the middle of the night, or the significance of his "teleportation powers" that the Others reference.] Introduced as more than just whispers in the trees are the Others, but the whispering in the trees is [so far] not addressed. Engaging season.
Season 3
Although it's a very engaging season, it's also very perplexing. One of the common threads was Kate's connection to Sawyer, and her true feelings for Jack, Jack's feelings for Kate, and Sawyers feelings for Kate. Early on Kate states she loves Sawyer, then said she was lying, then sleeps with him in a bear cage, then ignores him, then starts a seemingly more permanent relationship with him. This coincides with the introduction of the Other character Juliet, a seemingly obvious plant to get Jack to agree go along with the Others plans. Season 3 is a bit all over the place, dedicating an entire episode to Nikki and Paolo, just introduced in Season 3 as survivors of Oceanic flight 815. Great. I don't care. Beyond this, Jack as the main character is still established, but the view from his perspective is minimized. There are less episodes with Jack, and he is on a collision course with his first mode of thinking, and there is never any deviation from a plan you as the viewer don't understand because there hasn't been enough of Jack's experience to come close to understanding. Overall, it's a good season, but it's the weakest thus far.
Further Comments [SPOILER ALERT - most likely]
I've watched one episode of Season 4, so I'm super intrigued where this is going. The two-part season finale of Season 3 started the present day / flash forward template. A major change from the present day / flash back style, and it's incredibly engaging. As far as I see it, this is the story of the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 who landed on the beach, - not a story of the Others, not a story of the Dharma Initiative, or the Whidmore's, or anything else. The two main characters are Jack and Locke, who are the two leaders with different motivation. Jack is the logic-based hero, calculated, thinks things through. Locke is the faith-based antithesis of Jack, unwavering in his belief-based actions, however can change like the wind if the right coconut hits him on the head.
I think the introduction of Juliet in Season 3 brought about a change in the series, distanced Kate from Jack which was a major piece of the puzzle in previous seasons. She was introduced to obviously bring a little more tail to the show, before her it was primarily a sausage fest other than Kate. Claire doesn't count because she was pregnant for most of Season 1, Sun didn't speak English for most of Season 1, and they introduced and killed Nikki in a matter of episodes. We'll see where it goes, but a few things are left unclear from a few of the Others arrivals.
Henry Gale, aka Benjamin was captured by Rousseau and was held captive by the Oceanic group at the Swan station in an attempt to get Jack to fix his back by choice. This isn't completely consistent - why would Benjamin do this himself, as this is one of the only times he actually does anything himself, he's constantly manipulating other people. Beyond that, the tail section had people taken the first night on the island and then again two weeks later. The tail section group was "decimated " by the Others, and no one on the beach was taken. If Locke was so special, why didn't they take him sooner, and if Benjamin is worried about losing his power from the introduction of Locke into his group, why not take him out during the Lockdown episode?
Juliet is told to take Kate to the jungle and handcuff themselves together, and act as a spy. She does everything she's told until the last minute and tells Jack everything. That's believable. Ben even told Jack she was selected specifically because of her resemblance to his ex-wife. We'll see where this goes.
Finally, if the Other's really are the good guys, how has no one asked during the entire Season 3 "who are the bad guys?" That seems like an obvious question. For being held captive for a week or whatever, Sawyer, Kate and Jack did a lot of useless fighting and didn't find out a single thing really. Jack cut a deal to get off the island, to go back to what? What was the point of that - so Locke could blow up the submarine. Great.
Just about to find out who Ben calls "the bad guys" are, and I'm incredibly confused about Jacob. Who is he, why does he have super human abilities and why is he invisible? Based on Ep.1, Season 4, he's legit [possibly]. Then there's Richard - in the one flash back episode of Benjamin's childhood it appears that Richard recruited him to the Others group, except he hasn't aged since Ben was a teenager. That's not normal.
Beyond this, there is all the stuff about the connection with the outside world. They had information about people that wouldn't be on public record - like Sawyer killing that dude in Sydney. Television feed of the 2004 World Series (odd that ABC would pay for that snippet of Joe Buck on FOX broadcasting), and the Flame Station, the beacon, etc. If you have a Flame station as the beacon to the outside world, why would you have a "Looking Glass" Station that would block all transmissions? Also, why would you power it by running it along the jungle floor and across a beach? You'd think you'd bury it or something. Lastly, who are the Hostiles, which we're now apparently calling the Others based on the viewpoint of the Oceanic 815 group. At the flame station, the Dharma Initiative orientation guy said to blow up the station if the hostiles overrun the station - well, they overran it and had been operating it for some time.
Season 1 through 3 had 25, 24 and 23 episodes respectively. Seasons 4 through 6 have 14, 17 and 17. Season 4 must be the season that got interrupted by the Writer's Guild strike, so maybe this little mini season is going to get taken to a weird place - fortunately it's only for 14 episodes.
Final comment of something I have no clue about - "The Oceanic 6". How the fuck did only 6 out of the 40 left make it back? That's my question. And who are the complete 6? Hurley, Jack, Kate, and three others so far unreferenced. Let's Do This!
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