TV Series Review, Review

"Lost" Review: A Terrific First Half, a Flawed Finish

Three seasons of some of the best character-driven television ever made, then a hard turn towards mythology once the network set an end date. Lost answers far more than its reputation suggests, but the final season's big idea cost me most of the characters I loved. Still worth the trip.

The cast of "Lost" (2005). Image: ABC

I've made my peace with how Lost ended. The final season's opener was the moment I stopped watching week to week, and in hindsight it took some of the shine off what I'd enjoyed in seasons 4 and 5 as well.

That's the complaint. Here's the rest.

The First Half Is Terrific

It's easy to forget how big a swing this was. ABC spent somewhere between $10 and $14 million on the two-part pilot at a time when an hour-long pilot typically cost around $4 million, shot it on Oahu, and put a crashed airliner on a beach. It won the Emmy for Outstanding Drama Series for its first season.

What made it work wasn't the smoke monster or the hatch. It was the flashbacks. Every episode took one survivor and showed you who they'd been before the crash, so the island became a place where people were forced to face whatever they'd been running from. The mysteries were the hook; the people were the reason to stay. Michael Giacchino's score, built out of little more than strings and percussion, did a lot of that emotional work too.

When the Show Changed Its Mind

From season 4 onwards, the focus shifted from character to plot, and the show never felt the same again.

There's a concrete reason for it. On 7 May 2007, ABC announced Lost would end in the 2009 to 2010 season, giving Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse a fixed finish line. The showrunners welcomed it, because it meant they could plan properly without waiting on renewals. It also meant a mythology that had been allowed to sprawl now had to be driven towards an ending, and something had to give. Mostly, it was the quieter character episodes.

The writers' strike squeezed things further, cutting season 4 from 16 episodes to 14. And the season swapped flashbacks for flash-forwards, a clever device but a revealing one: the show was now more interested in where people were going than who they were.

The Final Season's Big Idea

Season 6 introduced the flash-sideways, an alternate timeline where Oceanic 815 never crashed, running alongside the island story all year.

I won't spoil what it turns out to be. I'll just say the conceit behind it ended up taking apart most of my favourite characters, and that's the part I still haven't forgiven.

Answers, and Too Many of Them

In fairness, the writers told a complete story. For all the jokes about Lost never explaining anything, very few mysteries hung unresolved.

If anything, the problem ran the other way. Some things were better as questions, and a few of the answers made the island smaller. Less would have been more.

The Ending I'd Have Written

Given the choice, I'd cut the final season altogether and let the credits of season 5 tell us they all lived happily ever after. It would have been more satisfying, less manipulative, and less of a cop-out.

Season 6 had a lot of missed opportunities. Even so, it's held up better than I expected since that opener aired, and it could have been much worse.

How to Get to the End

My advice for a first-timer is simple: from season 4 onwards, lower your expectations a little with each new season. Do that, and you'll almost certainly make it to the finish, and you'll be glad you did.