The Oceanic six make their escape from the island.
If there was any doubt that Lost was the best show on television, and I don’t think there was, Season 4 completely put those suspicions to rest. Even though it clocked in at a meager fourteen episodes, the fourth installment of Lost managed to pack in more thrills, twists, and edge-of-your-seat shockers than any of the previous three. The fact that such a statement can be made is a testament to the creative genius of the show’s writing staff. Usually by the time Season 4 rolls around even the biggest of hit shows tend to find themselves a slump. At this point in the game pretty much every storyline, romance, and surprise that the creators brainstormed at the start has been played. In essence, the writers have shown their entire hand and unless they can manage to reshuffle the deck and keep their viewers egaged, most shows are destined to either follow the path of The OC to extinction or wallow around in mediocrity like the more recent seasons of 24 and Grey’s Anatomy.
Lost, however, managed to buck the trend by re-inventing itself in Season 4 by changing flashbacks into flashforwards and turning the original goal of escaping from the island into a quest to return. I’ll admit, I wasn’t entirely sold on the flashforward concept from the start. Part of the intrigue of Lost was that you never knew what was going to happen next. By relying heavily on flashforwards the writers were essentially removing that vital element from the show. Yet in all of my skepticism I completely overlooked the fact that learning the “how” could be even more satisfying that discovering the “what”.
Think about it. How secretly disappointed were you when you found out “what” was inside the hatch? I mean, Desmond and the station were kind of cool, but we had waited months and months for the answer. It felt like there should have been more. However, if we’re really honest with ourselves, there was no way that anything could have lived up to that amount of hype. By the same token, I’m sure that when we find out “what” the island really is, that answer will also fail to live up to the six years of speculation. On the other hand, discovering “how” Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, Sun, and Aaron managed to make it off the island was a season long thrill ride, and I’m sure the journey to discover “how” Locke ended up on the coffin will be just as good. I personally can’t wait to start getting those answers in a few days, but before we do, here’s a little character by character recap of Lost Season 4.
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Matthew Fox
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Evangeline Lily
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I felt that Season 4 was a complete let down for Sawyer. Once again the writers really played up his “kinder and gentler” side. Well, as much as kinder and gentler may be characteristics that I appreciate in a roll of toilet paper, I personally like the version of the con man that’s rough as sandpaper and tough as nails. Unfortunately, we saw next to none of that in Season 4 as the writers did everything but cannonize him as a patron saint. Sawyer spent the majority of the season trapsing through the jungle with Locke and Hurley cracking jokes and acting like one of the good ‘ol boys. It’s almost to the point where he’s becoming a charicature of himself, sort of like The Rock did when became “too” popular. You see, before The Rock became a WWF megastar, he was an angry, brooding, loudmouth, who would occasionally break out with a hilarious line. He was an amazing bad guy and somebody that you simultaneously loved and hated. As his popularity grew, the powers that be decided that it would be a good idea to turn The Rock into a good guy and subsequently over-exposed him and had him doing ridiculous stand-up routines with Mick Foley and forming the “Rock and Sock Connection”. The majority of the mindless WWF fans out there at this stuff up, just like I’m sure there are millions of housewives out there swooning over the new “sensitive” Sawyer. But as for me, I miss the old Rock and the old Sawyer. Hopefully when James finds out that he jumped out of that helicopter only to have Kate shack up with Jack, the con man will go “old school” on us once again.
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Terry O’Quinn In Season 1, Locke was, without question, my favorite character on the show. The fact that he saw the island for what it truly was and stood his ground against Jack’s “science” made for some great moments during that initial run. After a mild slump in Season 2, Locke came back incredibly strong in Season 3 and started wreaking havoc on the island with his seemingly irrational beliefs. This fourth time around, Locke hit another lull and wasn’t necessarily a major player. To be fair, though, the majority of this season focused on those who were trying to get off the island, and John’s solitary goal was to stay on it. Still Locke managed to make his presence felt in a big way by hooking up with Jacob and setting the plan in motion to move the island. I can only imagine what the “man of faith” has in store for us in Season 5 as he becomes the official leader of the island and somehow winds up in a coffin.
We’re only half-way through the recap of Lost Season 4. There’s loads of more characters to break down and discuss. Click the link below to hit up Part 2! |
Josh Holloway
