...this may be the finest single season release of a television show on any home video format.
The fourth season of "Lost" has arrived. With great anticipation of the return of John Locke, Benjamin Linus and other fan favorites, season three is now behind us. I had previously reviewed the complete third season of "Lost" on DVD in what turned out to be a controversial review. In my fanatacism with the show, I unwittingly took the egotistical belief that everybody watched and loved the show with the fervor that I do. With that mindset, I managed to create a heated debate due to the spoilers I had included in that particular review. "Lost" is a show about mystery. It is about surprise and it is not about not having much clue as to what is going to occur in the next episodes. "Lost" is all about keeping its viewers, well, lost.
I had intended to post this review of the Blu-ray release a day or two before the season premiere of the fourth season, but sometimes the real world has a way of wrecking our plans. Instead of simply reposting that review, I have decided to rewrite a ´spoiler´ free review. So, here it is. It borrows paragraphs and text from the previous review, but there is all new content placed throughout the review. You could call this my ´George Lucas´ version of the "Lost: The Complete Third Season" review, but I promise no guest quotes from Jar Jar Binks. Instead of having intricate and juicy details about what happened in the third season, I will try to give a little more (or less) insight into the third season. However, there may still be one or two spoilers purposely left in the review. I need to comment on my hopes for the fourth season towards the end of this new review and that will require talking about the concept of ´flash forwards.´
Please enjoy this "Lost: The Complete Third Season – Digitally Altered Version" review of the enhanced Blu-ray release of the series.
"Lost" is the best damn show on television. Period. In fact, I believe it may be the best damn show in television history. "M*A*S*H," "Cheers," and "Married with Children" are three other television shows I have loved in my time on Earth, but nothing has kept my interest nearly as much as J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof´s complicated and intricate story of airplane survivors stranded on an island with more mysteries than the Kennedy family. With the greatest character in television history (John Locke as portrayed by Terry O´Quinn) and a solid supporting cast that includes Henry Ian Cusick, Naveen Andrews, Daniel Dae Kim, Jorge Garcia and the incredible Michael Emerson, not many shows can compete with the ensemble cast gathered for "Lost." Among those names, I did not even mention many of the other stars on the show, Evangaline Lilly, Matthew Fox, Josh Holloway, Dominick Monaghan, Emilie de Ravin or Yunjin Kim. There is another dozen or so supporting and recurring characters not named in that impressive list.
For many viewers, "Lost" is a complicated and frustrating mess. There are a tremendous number of sub-plots and even more unanswered questions that have gathered and festered over three long seasons. Important events that took place in the earliest episodes of season one is still unanswered and for each question answered; there are typically three new questions raised. Every moment of every show needs scrutinized and analyzed to pick up every clue and hint presented by the show´s creators. It truly can be called a jumbled mess, but this is the true beauty of "Lost." We, the fans are indeed lost. This allows for long water cooler conversations and deep thought sessions about what is actually happening on the show. No other show can boast black smoke monsters, imploding magnetic stations and crippled men who suddenly become the ´Great White Hunter.´ And that is just the tip of the iceberg of unusual happenings and scientific anomalies that captivate and entertain each and every week.
The third season of "Lost" began with a six episode mini-season that aired to provide a shorter summer break between the second and third season and allow for the remaining episodes to ear without the repeat episodes and lengthy breaks that plagued the show´s first two seasons. While audiences were frustrated when "Lost" disappeared for weeks at a time; they were far more frustrated by the seemingly unfocused mini-season that began the third year of the Losties adventures on the mysterious island. Part of the frustration was that "Lost" didn´t contain many moments with the show´s regulars John Locke (O´Quinn), Desmond Hume (Cusick), Charlie Pace (Monaghan), Claire Littleton (de Ravin), Hurley Reyes (Garcia), Jin Kwon (Kim), Sun Kwon (Yunjin Kim) or Mr. Eko (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje). Jack Shephard (Fox), James "Sawyer" Ford (Holloway) and Kate Austen (Lilly) were the primary returning characters on display for this first batch of episodes and joined Benjamin Linus (Emerson), Mr. Friendly (M.C. Gainey), Alex (Mira Furlan) and Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell).
There was some disatisfaction among the "Lost" faithful when the first six episodes failed to spend much time at all with the Losties that made their home on the gorgeous beach. Most of the first six episodes were centered on the now-infamous Jack-Kate-Sawyer love triange and their fates after the season ending cliffhanger for season two. I personally enjoyed the show´s creator´s decision to spend a little time on another part of the island. I felt it added to the complexity and mystery of the island. A lot of time was spent with the character of Ben and the curtain was finally raised on the mysterous group we have come to know as "The Others." Elizabeth Mitchell´s character becomes one of the show´s primary new characters and the first six episodes spent a great deal of time cementing her presence on the island. A few minor supporting characters were also included and some didn´t make it past the first six episodes.
Two new characters were introduced to the beach inhabiting Losties and initially intended to be regulars. The new characters, Nikki and Paolo were forced upon viewers and never fully accepted. Sawyer and others poked fun at them and constantly questioned who they were and where they came from. They always seemed to appear at unusual times and their actual purpose was never fully explained until the episode "Expose" when male viewers were rewarded with an incredibly sexy for prime time pole dancing sequence with Nikki and a great cameo by Billy Dee Williams. Nikki and Paolo never caught on with audiences and they too met demise on the island in rather unique fashion. They were only minor supporting characters, but their exit only proved further that the show´s creators were not afraid to take anybody out at anytime and under any circumstance.
A few of the show´s regulars and some supporting characters also met their demise. The creators of "Lost" have proven over the first three seasons that they are not afraid to drop the axe on any given character. I´m not even so sure that the Saywer-Kate-Jack triangle is safe or other popular figures like Hurley or Locke. Given my dropping these five names, you can rest assured that they survive to season four, but a couple well-liked characters can only ever return in flashbacks. One of the deaths was quick and unexpected and caused quite an uproar in the "Lost" fan community. The other became a tease over several episodes and was expected when it happened, but I must give the show´s creators great praise for how they handled this character´s loss. Some of the supporting characters lasted a few brief episodes, but others have been around for a while.
Ben Linus has become one of my favorite characters and this has allowed talented actor Michael Emerson to move from a supporting role to a major role on the show. He is truly one of the better villains on television today and perhaps all-time. Part of the allure of this character is his chemistry and interaction with Terry O´Quinn´s Johne Locke. They have an interesting relationship that straddles the line between friendship and being adversaries. Each tries to get the upper hand on the other, but there seems to be a deep seeded underlying understanding that their presence on the island is important and they will need each other´s services to survive and find the peace and harmony they seek with the island. If season three excelled at any one thing in particular, it would be the relationship between Ben and Locke. Perhaps after "Lost" they can create a spin-off with the two characters in an "Odd Couple" sort of storyline.
With all of the new faces, some of the old faces that were supporting characters last season nearly disappeared from the island. A few plot points were lost in the details as well. In particular, the husband and wife team of Rose and Bernard did not factor into the story until the season finale. Rose is a character who has witnessed the healing powers of the island and has made a connection with John Locke. Bernard has shown a number of traits that placed him among the trusted leaders of the Losties, but neither had any parts to play in the third season. The running gag of Steve and Scott was absent as well and the third season tighly focused on a small number of characters that lived on the beach. The cave where water is transported from was completely forgotten in the third season. "Lost" is an expansive story, but I always felt cheated that the affable Rose and Bernard were almost completely forgotten.
The third season started off slow, but it needed to work hard at establishing the parallel storyline of The Others in short fashion and this did manage to answer a number of questions generated during the first two seasons of "Lost." Of course, in typical fashion, more new questions were raised. I was very happy that John Locke left behind the tight quarters of the hatch and regained his form as the island´s ultimate hunter. A whole new level of complexity has been added to the show and I do feel that this may turn away some viewers, but it has only served to make "Lost" my all-time favorite television show with its intricate and well thought out storylines. After the slow start, the action heated up quickly as the Losties and the Others found themselves co-existing on the island. Having promised a (mostly) spoiler free review, I won´t get into details, but Locke blows some stuff up. It´s fun.
I won´t go as far as saying that the third season surpassed the first season in story, excitement and other aspects, but it was an improvement over the hatch-centric second season. The second season was too confined and lacked the grand adventure feeling of the rookie season. It suffered from a sophmore slump. However, the third season brought back a lot of the mystery and danger that was absent from season two. Just when the show started to have viewers feel a little more comfortable on the island, new elements were added that just made things more unknown and twisted. The Losties know they are not alone and whereas the Black Smoke Monster and the Others were the villains of the first two seasons, it now appears there is far more dangerous entites surrounding the island than before. This definitely builds up excitement for the fourth season.
In short summary, I enjoyed the third season of "Lost" and felt it really started to take off after the original six episodes concluded. Many questions were answered and familiar characters returned to form. I loved seeing Locke return to the jungle and once again becoming a powerful enigma that bordered the line between good and bad. I felt Sawyer became a little too ´mushy, ´ but he too redeemed himself before the season ended. The characters of Ben and Desmond become strong starring characters, but it was sad to see some reguars leave. One character I had always hoped would be smoke monster fodder, but the writers did an incredible job of making audiences sympathetic to the character before them him off. The Sawyer/Kate/Jack triangle continues to frustrate, but Juliet would be my pick between her and Kate. Jacob is a new mystery. Smokey is still a mystery. Who are the Others was explained, but not entirely and I still feel another tribe exists on the island. Hurley is still funny as hell and I loved watching him drive around the island in his VW van. This season wasn´t as good as the first season, but it was an improvement over the second season.
Video:
"Lost" arrives on the high definition Blu-ray format in a very high quality 1.85:1 transfer that is encoded at 1080p with the AVC MPEG-4 codec. I had religiously watched "Lost" during its normal timeslot at the 720p broadcast signal provided by ABC and fully expected the television season to arrive as an upconverted version of the 720p broadcasted episodes. The first I had watched the third season on home video was with the DVD releases and I had been disappointed with watching the show in low definition after watching the entire third season in glorious high definition. I was more than surprised that the Blu-ray release of "Lost" is an extremely high quality version of the show in native 1080p that is a tremendous upgrade over both the DVD release and the broadcasted episodes.
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