A Review and Appeal for Lost, ABC’s Epic Cult Hit

By: Xavier Andrews
Posted In: Entertainment

When Lost premiered in September 2004, it garnered positive reviews from critics and a warm reception from audiences who became anxious to solve the mystery of “the island.” Four years later, the series is as relevant as ever, and the cast and crew are currently shooting the fifth season, scheduled for premiere in February. If you feel like you don’t have a great,intelligent TV show to watch, then you have not found Lost.

The diverse ensemble drama follows the survivors of fictional flight Oceanic 815 which crashed on an island in the South Pacific after departing from Sydney on its way to Los Angeles. The show originally featured 14 of the survivors as the main cast. Each episode cuts between the present-day events on the island and the past experiences, or flashbacks, of one single cast member. This original story-telling device helps to nuance the characters and build similarities between them.

Each season the show adds and/or subtracts major characters. Of the 26 characters that have been part of the regular cast through the first four seasons, nine are deceased and an additional two are missing in action.

The conflict in the series is that the island is a dangerous place. Forty-eight passengers somehow survived the crash, and later the survivors realize that they are not the only inhabitants on this desolate, mystical paradise. The survivors soon find themselves in a war with The Others, a small society that has lived on the island for decades. The leader of the Others, Ben Linus (Michael Emerson), killed all the members of the last group of people to come to the island, a research group known as the Dharma Initiative. Until recently, Ben has been the survivors’ arch-nemesis, but his intentions are increasingly ambiguous.

If this all sounds confusing, that’s because it is. One of Lost’s only flaws is that it must be watched from the pilot episode onwards. Viewers hoping to pick up the series from the fifth season will be doing themselves a disservice. Lost plays out like a movie. Every single scene figures into the larger mythology of the show, and it is no fun knowing the answers to the island’s mysteries before you have the questions.

Hoping to fully conclude the story, executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof struck an unprecedented deal with ABC Networks last year when the two parties settled on an end date for the series, May 2010. This decision was announced weeks before the third-season finale, and ABC promised fans three additional seasons of 16 episodes each, in 2008, 2009 and finally 2010. The statement came at a time when Lost received flack from critics and viewers for the first time ever. Many speculated that Lindelof and Cuse had no idea how the show was going to end, and were simply making things up as they went along.

That all changed with the third-season finale. Viewers believed that the interpolations of the present story on the island were from lead character Jack Shepherd’s (Matthew Fox) past. But when Shepherd’s on-island love interest Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) popped up at the end of his flashback, it became clear that the two characters had somehow made it off the island in the not-too-distant future. Critics and viewers lauded the twist ending, and the finale in general, as it proved that the show aimed towards an ultimate end.

Season four of Lost was the series at its finest. The premiere promised that four other survivors besides Shepherd and Austen had made it off the island, and the show slyly gave away their identities with flash-forward episodes for those characters. The show’s actors also turned in their best performances to date. Lilly, in particular, whose line deliveries and inflection were often wooden, was a knockout in her flash-forward episode. In a classic Lost twist, the future sees Austen as a mother. Viewers naturally presumed Shepherd as the father. However, at the end of the episode it is revealed that the baby is actually Aaron, who was born on the island to Claire Littleton, a main character pregnant during the flight. Infant Aaron was the surprise final member of the Oceanic Six (the name of the six survivors-turned-celebrities who make it off the island).

Yunjin Kim, who portrays Sun Kwon, was heartbreaking in her flash-forward episode. Kwon became pregnant on the island with her husband Jin, but women who conceive on the island mysteriously die during their second trimester. It was imperative that Sun make it off the island, and it is revealed that she does, but without Jin. Kim’s performance in the scene where she visits Jin’s grave with her newborn daughter garnered Emmy buzz, but Kim was shut out.

The only actor to ever win an Emmy for Lost is Terry O’Quinn, who won in 2007 for his portrayal of crash survivor turned villainous island-protector, John Locke. Emerson has been robbed twice, this and last year, for his brilliant performance as the bug-eyed, cerebral Ben, perhaps the series’ most complex and engaging character. Emerson can be disturbing and vulnerable at the same time. If nothing else about Lost is holding your interest (which is rarely the case), Emerson most certainly will.

It is invigorating for fans of this cult hit that after its brief rough patch, Lost is at its peak There is no telling what the penultimate season will bring this February, but even diehard viewers are unlikely to see the plot twists coming. Anyone who has yet to watch the show would be wise to rent the first four seasons on DVD. Seasons one through three are currently available, and the fourth season will be on sale Dec. 9.

If the sci-fi, supernatural aspects of Lost turn you off, take a second look. The series is first and foremost a complex drama about the characters. Insecurity, romance, betrayal, and the need to coexist after a life-changing experience are all major themes. Lost’s cast is diverse, talented and most importantly, developed. Cuse and Lindelof know where these characters are headed. You would be a fool not to find out as well.