Lost (Season 4)

Season 3 was the point where the crew behind Lost decided that they wanted to stop meandering and start working to a conclusion. And they definitely lived up to their promise, Season 4 is easily the tightest season so far, crammed to the brim with plot points. However, not all of those plot points end up working all the best.

There is a lot to Season 4 of Lost, and it's hard to really sum it up like I would a normal season. Season 4 starts with the arrival of a freighter called the Kihana, introducing a pretty solid mystery about the people on said freighter and whether or not they want to rescue the islanders, kill them, or have other goals entirely. The Kihana crew kinda just feels like a better version of the Tailies from Season 2, who I already really liked. There are a lot of new characters introduced this season because of the freighter, but they all get a lot of screentime and development, with some even surviving to appear in future seasons. The other big mystery in Season 4 takes place in the flashforwards, as we're now encouraged to watch them to try and figure out who ends up leaving the island. It's a welcome breath of fresh air after the rote flashbacks, even if the show ends up repeating information we already know as the two timelines get closer and closer together. Season 4 just feels propulsive in a way previous seasons of Lost didn't. It has its mysteries that it resolves by the end of the season, but it also really pushes the story forward and even shows certain members of the cast escaping the island. Add in some great subplots about hinting at time travel, the islanders being fractured, and all the drama Ben has to deal with and you have a season with a lot of amazing stuff going for it.

However, Season 4 also has a lot of plot points I'm really not the biggest fan of, and it ends up leading to a season that, while a definite improvement over the last two, still ends up feeling pretty uneven. For example, Michael returns having somehow made it onto the freighter, and he's still not great. He isn't as annoying as in Season 2, thankfully, but we still get an entire flashback episode about how he got onto the freighter and I just couldn't give a shit. And as mentioned above, I do think the flashforwards did end up getting a bit redundant, especially near the end. Most of the third part of the finale showed the Oceanic Six (the escaped islanders) arriving home and trying to adjust to their return but pretty much all of this stuff was either shown or are easily inferred using hints from the previous flashforwards. While Season 4 is generally a better-written season than the last two, I still think it has Lost's biggest flaw, which is over-explaining stuff that didn't need to be explained (remember Jack's tattoo). My last criticism with the season isn't really the writers' faults, but the season got shortened from 18 episodes to 14 due to the Writer's Strike and you can really tell. Lost is a super dense show with a lot of storylines and plot points at a time, and while 18 episodes may have been a great way to remove any fluff, removing even more episodes just made the season feel a bit overstuffed and messy.

Highlights:

The Beginning Of The End: It's really impressive that Lost managed to follow up the powerhouse finale that was Through The Looking Glass with such an equally fast-paced and exciting premiere. With the appearance of the freighter, the islanders spend much of the episode arguing over what to do only to end up essentially splitting up in half. It's a great sequence that feels more impactful knowing how the cast mostly stays fractured for the rest of the show.

The Constant: The Constant is generally considered to be one of the greatest episodes in TV history, so there isn't too much I can really say about it that hasn't already been said. There's the fact that it simultaneously works as a standalone episode as well as an important episode in terms of mythology with its time travel elements, there's the way it elevates the already great Desmond into being the best character of the show, and of course, there's that beautiful phone call scene. The Constant works perfectly as a time travel romance story, and is immensely satisfying and well-crafted.

The Shape Of Things To Come: Michael Emerson is an amazing actor. Like I obviously know that now, with Person Of Interest being one of my favorite shows ever, but Ben Linus was the first role I saw him in. The whole sequence where Keamy storms the Barracks is shocking and tense, but Alex's death in particular was so ridiculously intense thanks to just how well Emerson conveyed Ben's desperation. It's point where Ben really became one of my favorite characters in the show. 

There's No Place Like Home: Despite my gripes with the third part, I still like Season 4's ending. Even the weakest finale for a Lost season is still pretty damn great and cinematic. Between the Oceanic Six finally escaping the island, the freighter exploding, the island disappearing, the reveal of time travel, Sawyer staying behind, and that whole dead Locke cliffhanger, this finale is an absolute cavalcade of memorable moments, shocking twists, and crazy cliffhangers.

Overall, I think Season 4 is a vast improvement on the last two seasons in a lot of ways. I focuses around two compelling mysteries, introduces a bunch of great new characters, and tightens up the pacing a lot. However, it also feels a bit overstuffed and continues Lost's big flaw of over-explaining everything.

4/5 Stars