Lost Comic-Con 2009 Videos

If one wants to remain completely untainted by spoilers of Season 6, official or otherwise, then don’t read ahead.

SPOILER ALERT

The Comic-Con 09 panel was posted on Saturday.  Here are the other official videos that were shown at Comic-Con.

410 – Something Nice Back Home

Review:

This episode seems to be to speed things along.  Most of the action happens off the island.  It seems like they wanted to get most of the Jack Kate relationship stuff out of the way before the finale.

On the island Jack has an appendectomy.  Juliet comes to terms with the obvious fact that Jack doesn’t love her.  And Jin finds out that Charlotte can speak Korean and tells her that she has to save Sun.

On the other side of the island Sawyer is leading Miles, Claire and Aaron back to the beach.  On the way Miles treats Claire strangely, they meet Lapidus, Keamy and his men, and Claire sees Christian and follows him off into the jungle.  Sawyer is left with Aaron.

Off the island we see Jack settle down with Kate for about a week, and then he self-destructs.  He starts seeing Christian and he has a disturbing visit with Hurley.  Kate on the other hand appears completely different, she is content and is more than happy to settle down with Jack.  Unfortunately she is sneaking around behind Jack’s back and he doesn’t like that.  Kate confesses that she’s doing something for Sawyer and Jack leaves her in a drugged-up stupor (is that even a word?).

The episode was jam packed with developments.  The flashforward was very interesting and Claire disappearance is still on most of our minds.  The episode doesn’t really stand out as one of the best of the season but it still was very good and there was nothing about it that I disliked.  7.5/10.0

408 – Meet Kevin Johnson

Review:

I like the format of this episode, very little B-story, all Michael.  They did add a beginning and an end, but I believe that they were afterthoughts following the writers strike.

This episode was primarily about Michael and what happened to him after he left the island.  Surprisingly it wasn’t all rainbows and happiness.  He suffered just as much off the island as he did on it.  And for the second time he submitted to Ben.  All in all it was a good flashback.  It really reminded me of Three Minutes, the season 2 episode.  It seems like the writers like to tell Michael stories all at once rather than slowly revealing them.

But that wasn’t really what I cared about in this episode.  The craziest thing to happen in this episode had nothing to do with Michael, it was Rousseau and Karl getting shot.  That shocked me to my core.  I really didn’t see it coming and I am still surprised that it actually happened.  These deaths along with Alex’s death are what made season 3 shocking.

8.5/10.0

In Preparation for Season 5: Lovers

Here is the fifth episode from sl-Lost‘s In preparation for Season 5 videos.  This time it’s about the couples that have formed during the course of the show.

– izi

Season 3 in Review

That went very quick.  Somehow season 3 seems so much shorter than the other seasons, perhaps it’s because I enjoyed it more.

In case you’re forgetful or nostalgic here are the links to my other season reviews:

Season 1 in Review

Season 2 in Review

Let’s get right down to it

Ratings

301 – A Tale of Two Cities – 6.0

302 – The Glass ballerina – 1.0

303 – Further Instructions – 8.0

304 – Every Man For Himself – 4.0

305 – The Cost of Living – 8.5

306 – I Do – 3.5

307 – Not in Portland – 10.0

308 – Flashes Before Your Eyes – 10.0

309 – Stranger in a Strange Land – 1.5

310 – Tricia Tanaka is Dead – 8.0

311 – Enter 77 – 7.5

312 – Par Avion – 7.0

313 – The Man From Talahasee – 10.0

314 – Expose – 9.0

315 – Left Behind – 8.0

316 – One of Us – 8.0

317 – Catch 22 – 8.0

318 – D.O.C. – 7.5

319 – The Brig – 9.5

320 – The Man Behind the Curtain – 10.0

321 – Greatest Hits – 8.0

322 – Through the Looking Glass – 9.5

So that makes an average of about 7.4.  The average for season 2 was 7.0 and for season 1 it was 6.5.  It doesn’t surprise me at all that the average is going up.

But I’d like to show you some fun we can have with the numbers.  I’m not alone in despising the first 6 episodes of season 3.  Let’s call them season 3 part 1.  That would mean that S3 part 1 got an average of 5.2.  S3 part 2 gets an average of 8.2.  I believe those episodes deserve there respective scores.  I, genuinely, enjoyed all of those later episodes, with the exception of Stranger in a Strange Land.

As for other episodes I hated, “The Glass Ballerina” comes to mind.  That episode bored me to death (not literally).  “Par Avion” was pretty weak but was saved by the fact that it was Claire’s last flashback (fingers crossed) and her big reveal was some moderate fun.  “I Do” and “Every Man for Himself “are bad in their own ways but it’s mostly just the pace.  Those first six episodes had a terrible pace.

As for episodes that stood out to me, there were many great episodes.  I loved all of the episodes I gave 10.0s to, obviously.  I recommend that you rewatch those episodes, they were awesome and a half. 

I feel that Lost really stepped up in this season compared the previous seasons.  It moved solidly away from Drama and into Sci-fi with episodes like “Flashes Before Your Eyes” and “The Man Behind the Curtain”.  The main difference between this season and the others was the addition of Brian K. Vaughn to the writing staff.  I believe he saved the show.  He’s a modern genius of storytelling and I’m sure we will hear a lot about him in the coming years.  (If you haven’t already I recommend that you check out his comic series Y: The Last Man.  It is a glorious story.  It’s currently being made into a movie, but I would love to see it made into a TV show…on cable.)

Arcs

The Others

In my opinion Season 3 is about The Others.  That’s not to say we completely understand the now, or have cleared up all (or any) of the mystery surrounding them.  But now we can at least put faces to the mysteries.  Season 3 started out in The Others camp, and ended with most of The Others retreating and many of them being killed by our survivors.  They had their day in the sun now it’s the survivors turn.

We also got a glimpse into their backgrounds.  We got to see a lot of Juliet’s past life and her recruitment process.  We even got to see what it was like to be an Other.  We saw Ben’s childhood and even the Purge.  And all through the season we met a large amount of Others: Patchy, Ms Klugh, Mr. Friendly, Pickett, Richard and many more.  It’s almost as if we know them now, almost.

Jack

If season 2 is about Locke’s journey, then season 3 is about Jack’s.  Jack desperately tries to get off the island, first by way of Ben and The Others, and eventually he formulates a plan around Naomi and The Freighter Folk. 

One would suspect that if this season is primarily about Jack, then he would get the most face-time.  Not completely true, he goes missing for quite a while during his time with The Others and his plans and intentions are kept hidden from the viewer until the season finale.  So while it seems as though he moves the story along, he still manages to stay out of the limelight (what a strange expression).

The Freighter Folk

This season also introduced one of the main themes of Season 4, the Freighter Folk.  Naomi landed on the island spinning a wonderful tale of rescue and hope, and then she was stabbed in the back.

Anywho, stay tuned for season 4 reviews.

 – izi

322 – Through the Looking Glass

Review:

(You may notice that I am reviewing this entire episode instead of splitting it up like I’ve done for the other finales.  I did this because season 5 is starting a week earlier than I anticipated, so I have to accelerate my revlysis schedule slightly.)

There was so much about this episode that was so good.  A lot of the time was full of action and fun, but there was still a lot of great stuff there.  And you really can’t beat the mood of this episode.  Everything is tinged with that sense of danger.  And now that season 4 is over all that potential danger is laid out for us.

Besides the obvious twist, this flashforward was very boring.  But that was kinda the point, it lulls us into a false sense of familiarity and then BANG it throws the show for a loop.  I was considering lowering the score, because compared to the other flashforwards it was pretty weak, but I can’t ignore that the episode was still very amazing and mind-bending, then and now.

Charlies death scene and what happened before it with Penny’s transmission was just too awesome.  I love it when they pull the rug out from under us like that, taking away our hope that Penny was going to swoop in and save the day.  And the inclusion and near reunion between her and Desmond was irresistibly good.

Also the final scene with Jack and Kate is amazing and mind-blowing.  You really can’t beat that, and I don’t think they will try any time soon.

Aaand the part when Jack talks to Minkowski, it just gets better and better.  That conversation is so short and it gives us no info, but the potential is just incredible.

9.5/10.0 Do the finales seem to get better and better the more times you watch them?

321 – Greatest Hits

Review:

Whenever I think back, I always think that Charlie dies in this episode.  He doesn’t, but this episode is a great build up to his death.  I was fine with Charlie dying and I think he has a good death, so this episode works for me.

I like the flashbacks in this episode because they are easy to ignore.  And in an episode as crazy as this that’s a good thing.  This episode is dense with story set-ups for the finale.  It’s all preparation and planning and there was no room for complicated flashback, so I’m glad they through in these filler flashbacks.

The non-Charlie elements were not terribly exciting, a few wrenches were thrown into Jacks plan and a bunch of characters argued about their roles in the plans but that was about it.  This episode did a great job of setting up the season3 finale.  It was also a satisfying conclusion to Charlies stories.

8.0/10.0

309 – Stranger in a Strange Land

Review:

I expected to give this episode a 0.0 but I was surprised when I rewatched it.  It is a bad episode but I had only remembered the awful parts.  the flashback was most definitely irrelevant and annoying.  The Sheriff, Isabelle was a waste of space and has no bearing on the story.  Juliet’s court case was vague to the point of being useless.  And the tease with Cindy and the kids was maddening.

Before I rewatched it I was willing to write this episode off as being non-canon in my mind.

But I was surprised.  What I did like was the parts about Karl and Alex, and I especially like what Tom says to Jack about his perspective on The Others (see the Mr. Friendly section below for more info).  The episode is probably still the worst episode ever, but at least it’s not a zero.  1.5/10.0

307 – Not in Portland

Review:

(Sorry that I’m late with this revlysis, scheduling conflicts.  In other words, my boss thinks that I came to work to work, I roll my eyes at him.)

I love this episode, it should have been the season 3 premiere.  The pace and everything that happens in this episode is so much more exciting than A Tale of Two Cities.

There is just too much to talk about.   Richard is introduced in this episode, in a very subtle and intriguing way.  Room 23 is shown, that was unprecedented and still confusing and interesting (go to bottom to see the full Room 23 video).   We got to see the backstory of an Other, Juliet.  In season 4 of the show this may seem inconsequential, but that’s just because the mystery surrounding the Others is all but gone now.  Back in the day this episode was extremely momentous.

Starting with this episode, I believe that Lost found it’s groove.  After this episode it seems as though the writers knew exactly what they wanted to do.  I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it seems like it.  10.0/10.0

(Note: I’ve grown tired of keeping all the characters names in all my reviews so I’m deleting them if they aren’t important to the episode.  I don’t know why I didn’t do this before.)

301 – A Tale of Two Cities

Review:

Awesome opening scene, less than awesome episode.

I feel exactly the same about this episode as I did about the season two premiere, it starts out great, but then drops off into slow and boring character development.  The pace on this episode is glacial, it’s all just setup scenes with no real payoff.

The flashback in this episode was useless.  It has no purpose and doesn’t solve any mysteries.  I personally think that at some point in the future it will mean something but right now, it sucks.

And I have no proof of this, but I believe that this episode was originally meant to be a Juliet flashback.  I’ll bet that would have been too confusing so they switched it to a Jack flashback.  Again, I am assuming all of this, but that is how it seems to me.

I’d give this episode the 6.0/10.0