LOST 4th Season review

Its thursday again and I am not yet overcome by the eventful episodes of Lost screened on last thursday. I get a void sense of feeling in my daily thursday routine from now onwards, yes I am going to miss Lost for several weeks to come. Having followed this series across 3 countries in 3 different languages over the past 4 years, Lost has become a part of my life. Many of my friends and work colleagues are big time LOSTies. The usual friday routine was to discuss the episode of the earlier evening. Well looks like these activities are going to take a back seat atleast for a while now. Coming to talk about the recently concluded 4th season, I must admit this was by far the most action packed season of the series so far. The 3rd season was kind of a let down and many people including myself were beginning to get bored with the series. The story of Others was not exciting enough to satisfy our LOST-apetite. The only interesting character addition was of Juliet, but her presence in the plot seemed to fade away gradually. There was hope of a romantic angle between her and Jack when the last season ended, but good for all of us Jate fans, Jack came back to Kate during this season. With the entry of several interesting characters like Miles (the ghost-talker) and Faraday (the phycisist) one had hoped to see some interesting sub-plots in the narrative. But owing to the writer's strike, the series had to be cut short and we only hope to see more of the freighter folks in the next season. I personally liked the geeky-physicist Faraday and am looking forward to see more of his time-travel fundas unravel in the next season. Miles would have been one of the greatest characters this season, given his ability to talk to ghosts and spirits and given the fact that many ghosts from the past were appearing frequently on the island this season. The interesting plot was the gradual death of Claire, after that bomb blew up her cabin, one could have guessed from her abnormal behaviour that she was a ghost walking among the living. Her interactions with her Dad, Christian Shephard were touching and appeared to give more logical reasoning for her transition from the living to the dead world. Another interesting concept this season was using Christian Shephard to speak on behalf of Jacob. Whenever Jacob wanted to parley with any of the Island folks he was passing his messages through the senior Shephard. That raises a question here, why Christian Shephard? and why could only a few of them could see or listen to him, why not others. And does the fact that some of those who could talk to Christian Shephard (John Locke, Hurley, Claire, Micheal) make them any special than the others? Does this mean these people are already dead and somehow their mind is empowering their bodies to carry out a specific task the Island or Jacob wants them to carry out? The shocking revelation in the end about John Locke gives more credence to this theory, but if that is the case then why did a living Hurley escape the Island? There are several questions raised by the script writers here and we only hope that they do justice to them in the next season.

The season finale had all the elements for a blockbuster. The grande stand-off between Jack and Locke again brilliantly portrayed the struggle between the man of science and the man of faith. I just love the confrontations between these two characters. It was great to see Locke following his instincts about submission to a higher authority - a power which is as elusive to him as it is to us - and being crowned as the chosen one to lead the Others. Towards the end of the episode Jack started appearing a bit fazed out and uncertain in his vision - a characteristic in complete contrast to the Jack we all know. Was leaving the island the right thing to do? From the future flashes, we see that he deeply regrets leaving the island and is trying eagerly to come back. I guess the next seasons will deal with this plot of the castaways trying to lead a normal life away from the island and not coming to terms with the realities they try to get back to the Island. I loved the manner in which Locke was explaining the magical status of the Island to Jack, but unfortunately he couldnt make his point across to the skeptic medic. Sawyers sacrficial jump from the chopper and the kiss with Kate was very touching. Later when he walks out of the sea towards a rum-drinking Juliet reminded me of the scene from Casino Royale when Mr. Bond comes out of the sea. There was a small hint dropped towards a possible romantic union between Sawyer and Juliet for the next season. But its sad to see Juliet getting such a second had treatment in terms of romance. Little is known about Faraday and his group on the boat, I only hope that they were in the Islands zone and had traveled in time along with others. Ben's appearance in the deserts of Tunisia makes sense after the season climax. There appeared a sense of vengeance in him as soon as he appeared in that desert. How far is he going to succeed in his revenge against Charles Wildmore will be an interesting watch. The resurgence in Sun's character was remarkable. The manner in which her character develops into a revenge-seeking-sharp-business-sense woman was good. I am hoping that Jin had dived away from the freighter, before it blew up and had swam towards the island. This would have made him within the island's zone and hence would also travel along with the other people left behind on the island. As per my predictions, next season onwards we will get to see Sun's quest to get back to the island and save Jin.

Talking about re-unions, it was an overwhelming moment when Desmond meets his long lost love Penny. Infact the best episode of this season in my opinion was "The Constant". The manner in which the past and present moments of Desmonds life are shown, and the fast-paced narrative switching between Penny in past and in London and Desmond in present and on the freighter (both in different time-space frames) kept me glued till the episode climax. When Desmond speaks to Penny on phone, those feelings were emoted in such an intense manner, it certainly deserves an award nomination for the actors. To continue talking about the romantic angle of the characters, the episode showing the blissful relationship between Kate and Jack was very sweet too. Another twisting revelation was the identity of Aaron as one of the survivors. Honestly it was something totally out of the blue. Great job writers!

So whats next then? Will Ben continue to play a strong role on the islands politics or will Locke take over as the undisputed leader? The shocking revelation of Locke being the man in the coffin from last years season finale was another jolt in the blue. Though he is a bit eccentric in his mannerisms, but Locke was surely one of my favourite characters, especially for his philosophies and his never-ending faith in the island's powers. The character of John Locke allows the writers to introduce many such supernatural concepts into the story plot. I hope that the factors leading to his death are as dramatic as his life on the island and are properly justified given the strength of his character. By the way did any of you notice the poster of 4th season. In this image the reflection of the island shows many high rise buildings. Does that give a hint of time travel? Does that mean the island is going to move several years ahead in future in the next season? There are plenty of questions raised all over the LOST story line to capture the fascination of its fans. We are all waiting eagerly for the next season to get our answers. Untill then, our minds will be happy building our own theories about the island's future.

A theory behind LOST

This one is for those of you who are passionate LOSTies. There have been numerous forums, discussion pools and conspiracy theorists trying to explain the logic and philosophy behind the concept of this show. Today I stumpled upon this good article explaining one possible theory behind the events of that fabulous island. We cant be sure, if its the exact thing running in the minds of the creators of the show, but in the absence of any refutations, we might as well agree with this line of thought. So, all those LOSTies amongst you, check out this good attempt to put together the events of the island from a different perspective.

LOST ..... and Found ?

In a 2 hour finale, the third season of Lost ends with an interesting twist in the tale (as has always been the case in the earlier seasons). For the first time in the series we see flashforwards in parallel to the story happening on the island. We are shown events from Jack's life, which at the end of the episode give a hint that Jack and Kate have been rescued from the island, while the fate of the other survivors is not clear.

In the climax its revealed that Naomi is not a part of any rescue team. If she is not sent by Penny, then how does she have the snap of Desmond and Penny. The series did not reveal much of how she had got that photograph. There could be one theory that maybe her group had been sent by Penny's father when they realise that Desmond is alive and Penny who is searching for him, can actually locate him. Maybe this team was sent to find Desmond and execute him before he is found by Penny. Well if thats the case then Naomi had plenty of time on the island to carry out this task before getting back to her boat. This plot could only be revealed in the coming season.

We are not sure if Charlie actually drowns or whether Desmond saves him yet again from the flooded station. And what had transpired between the survivors and Ben, when the Naomi's people come to the island. Is everyone rescued or are some people left behind. From the communication between Jack and Kate, it shows that Jack had done something which he regrets doing. There are several open questions left unanswered. There was no hint about the identity of the dead person in the funeral. Obviously it was someone both Jack and Kate knew and someone whom Kate detested. There are hints that Jack's father is still alive, then how does one explain the coffin he was carrying from Sydney in the pilot episode of the 1st season. On the island, the coffin is shown empty with no justification of the missing body. Kate is supposedly living/involved with someone whom she has to return at the end of the episode. We are not informed his identity either. Obviously the love between Jack and Kate seems to have been missing when they meet at the end of the episode. The details of the rescue would clear all these doubts and for that we need to wait till the next season.

There was an announcement that Lost could run uptill 6 seasons, which means the scriptwriters look in no mood to end the mystery surrounding the island. Lets wait and see till the next season, to find out what happened to the survivors.

4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 ..... the Lost-mania begins again !

"the Others ", the hatch, pressing the button, 4, 8,15, 16, 23, 42 ..... if these strike something in your brain then you know what I am talking about.

Yes, I am one of those Losties or Lost-aways, the terms coined to describe the fans of this overwhelming drama series being aired in US on ABC. I was introduced to it by my flatmate in Munich in the summer of 2005 (the time period when the Ashes series was the other most talked about thing). The pilot episode itself had caught me by amazement. After that day, I admit to being stung by the Lost-bee. If you dont make sense of what I am talking about, then check out

Though I am dont belong the distinguished class of Losties, I do follow the series quite closely. I have this colleague in my Uni lab who is another one crazy Lostie, and after each episode we watch we go through this endless discussions over the story and what would happen next. At the end of season 1, me and my München-mate had run our imaginations wild and speculated our own end to the story. But the 2nd season has brought a good twist to the plot. The whole thing about the Hatch just created more buzz to this series. and now when the 3rd season starting to be aired in US on 4th October, we are all waiting with unabated enthusiasm to know what happen to Jack, Kate, and Sawyer after the last encounter with the Others. also what happened after the explosion on the island. the fate of Locke and Mr. Ecko is still hanging. The show writers have introduced some new characters this season and state that the story would revolve around the Others and their lives.

A simple Google for Lost will give tonnes of pointers. Wikipedia has a great stub for it. Though you could find the episode spoilers for all episodes aired, I suggest you to check those story spoilers only after having watched the episode. Some of them have great trivia stuff, which help in giving the complete picture of the story. There is this great forum on Lost where you can discuss/argue the plot. Infact such is the popularity of the show that these holidaymakers were too delighted when they came across the sets of Lost on this island in Hawaii. The show also made way into the comic strip here PhD comics

Talking about the plot, there have been many theories and innumerable discussion threads across several forums. The creators of the show have been on campus in some US universities and involved in some good discussions with the students who are similarly crazy about the whole stuff. I once came across a blog maintained by a student who is tracking the occurance of the numbers in each of the episode and his theories on their relevance to the plot. Personally my take on the plot (as shared by many others as well) is as such - the survivors of the crash as in the state of purgatory death. Though the show creators reject these claims, there are several instances in the plot which support this theory. The manner in which events happen with each of the survivors and they way they are related with their past lives, and how they repent their previous mistakes and the correlation in their emotions with their past to their present life on the island all seem to point to this theory that these survivors are in the state of transigience - admitting their sins and realising their mistakes. for example

• In the episode where Shannon is shot, she sees Walt which nobody else can see. Only when Sayid assures her that he loves her and believes her, that he starts seeing Walt.

• When Kate sees the black horse on the island and confesses her crime to an unconscious Sawyer, Sawyer also starts seeing the horse and finds it perfectly appropriate on the island.
  

• In the episode where Goodwin is unmasked, he tells to Anna Lucia that the Others had taken only few of the survivors because they were the good ones and were now having a good time, implying that the ones left behind and going through the traumatic experiances are not good - sinners in other words.
  

All these give a hint that these events are happening in the minds of these survivors and their events on the island intercross only to the extent that their previous experiences are relevant.

other interesting sites are ...

TV Gasm
Buddy TV