LOST - 20 Years of Dharma & their BS - Full Review
"The survivors of a plane crash are forced to work together in order to survive on a seemingly deserted tropical island."
- IMDB
Season 1
I was very young when Lost was making its way as cultural phenomenon. The only thing I really remember from it was the airplane crash premise & the pop culture icon, Jorge Garcia. I have since watched Once Upon a Time & Bates Motel - two shows that I very much obsessed over within the last couple years. I know very well that those same writers, producers, & the creators were top people in making Lost & I recognized their names every time when Lost rolled their opening credits. Given their reputation, I had to move Lost up my watch list. I would've watched it eventually, but I had to jump in sooner given how much I enjoyed their other shows.
I knew this was a show about a bunch of people stranded on an Island, but no one said anything about this supernatural creature hiding in the jungle whispering words in people's heads. This was honestly a genius idea. If you read any of my reviews, I can get frustrated when a show tries to stretch itself to 20+ episodes to fit the demands of network television. But Lost balanced itself perfectly. There are about a dozen central characters around with long histories to explore through flashbacks. Also, the island itself holds so many mysteries; by the end of the first season, we barely learn anything & every discovery comes with a series of questions. Basically, there is just so much going on that by the 25th episode, I was ready for more.
The final few episodes have a bunch of flashbacks to the morning of the disastrous flight. Those scenes made me realize just how much the characters changed from the pilot. Jack says in the early season that "we all died when that plane crashed," as they all became crash survivors rather than who they were before. Most characters had deep character development like Locke, Charlie, & the Kwons'.
I actually really liked Yun & Jin given that there was so much more to them than we initially see. It initially seems like a toxic marriage but then we see how complex Jin was and I ended up rooting for them in the end. Sawyer was definitely written as the hawt bad boy of the bunch, but of course there was more dimension to him as the season went on. Dominic Monaghan as Charlie was joy to watch. I didn't know he was in this show so seeing him filled my hobbit heart. Also Locke was so weird; I think he's totally bonkers. But his story helped us uncover some more mysteries of the island which was interesting.
I also wanna point out a detail that I found interesting. This show was made not too long after the 9/11 attacks that caused people to have a general fear of Arab people taking over commercial Airlines. But it seemed that Lost had a couple counter suggestions. As in "oh, afraid to fly incase the flight gets hijacked by terrorists? Let us show a real reason to get scared of flying in a plane." And "oh, you think all Arabs are terrorists? Well what would you do if you're stranded on the Island and an Arab happens to be one of the smartest people that could effectively contribute to your survival?" These are just interesting story elements for the time.
Season 2
Honestly, Season 2 was not as strong as Season 1. I feel like the show spent more time focusing on drama between characters and the actual interesting plot wasn't given the time it deserved. Like the shadow monster thing was barely in this. I hated the flashbacks. In season 1, the flashbacks helped us get insight on the personal journeys that led everybody here. Season 2 flashbacks gave more exposition than I cared for & I was bored.
I loved the whole discovery of the Hatch, Dharma, and everything in between. The plot about the Others or the Hostiles was also intriguing as every time they were important, they got more mysterious and that trend continued through the season finale. I officially ship Sawyer and Kate. Jack was on the brink of a psychotic breakdown the whole season, like he's already tired of everyone's crap. Jin is now my favorite character. He went from being this abusive husband to this cute Asian dude that loved his wife and gave friendly smiles and hugs to his friends. He's awesome.
While Season 2 was a step down, I'm still so excited going forward to the next season as there’s still so much left in question at this point - like who are these hostiles, what are their intentions, what did they want with Claire's baby, what did they do with Walt, what the hell was Dharma and what was their intentions, what exactly was that electromagnetic anomaly, and how the heck are all these questions gonna get answered?
Season 3
Getting into 3 after disliking 2 was an absolute joy ride. The first 8 episodes alone were better than the entirety of season 2. It did not end there. The whole idea of the Hostiles has been slowly building up through the 2 seasons and completely slams in our faces in season 3 the best way possible. But even as we finally learn more and more about them, more mysteries of the Island are presented and not all these mysteries are fully explored by the end of the season, still making me desire more. When Jack is like "we have to back" I was like yes sir!
How exactly did Locke's dad die and wake up on the island? Does this happen often? Why did Eye Patch guy come back to life twice after being killed? Were the bodies of all the survivors we've come to love actually recovered like parachute lady said? How hasn't Nestor Carbonell's character aged since Ben was a child? And what even is Jacob? Are all the answers to these exact questions connected??? And even going back to questions I had after season 2, not all of them were answered completely. There's still so much I want to learn!
I have some favorite moments of the season. Like that one time Hurley was on this religious expedition to start that one car and go for a joy ride. Him, Sawyer, Jin, and Charlie had such a great time, it was dope. In fact, just any scene with those guys brings joy and solace to my heart with everything else going on. Like when Hurley tricked Sawyer into to being a swell chap by convincing him he will be banished if he does other wise. Or that time he completely annihilated Sawyer at ping pong. I love that one quest when Desmond dragged Charlie, Hurley and Jin into one of his future crap expeditions. Just the fact that Jin had no idea what he was signing up for but was super hyped to go camping with his best buds - quality entertainment. They roasted marshmallows, Charlie fiddled with his guitar, Jin told a spooky story, this was Lost at its peak.
As season 3 ended, there some very satisfactory moments that I felt were built up since season 1. Firstly, Charlie's entire arc was great. He went from a drug addict and completely changed his ways as he cared for Claire & her son so deeply. He sacrificed himself as a hero and I only felt okay with that because he was so accepting of it. Although I totally expect him to come back. Surely Eye Patch man can't get all the resurrections around here. Russo was technically introduced within the first couple of episodes. Not only has her entire story been told, but she has properly reunited with her daughter. While there was this whole love triangle thing going on, it's always been clear to me that Kate and Sawyer were a perfect fit. Season 3 was their season. Trauma from being Hostile captives brought them together; those emotional scenes were some of their best.
Speaking of Sawyer, I loved how he shot that one guy who kidnapped Walt and shot him off the boat in the season 1 finale and also had direct involvement in his imprisonment. It all came full circle as Sawyer got his revenge. As far back as the pilot we had Rose firmly state her belief that her husband was alive. Seeing her reunite with him in season 2 was the most satisfactory moment ever. I just thought I'd drop that in since they both made it through to the third finale. Though Jin's character arc is way more satisfying. I mentioned it before, but comparing season 3 Jin to season 1 Jin - it's basically 2 different people. He's still my favorite character.
Also, Vincent the dog is still alive. Considering he was missing and feared to be dead in the series piolet, this is great news indeed.
Season 4
I almost forgot how confusing this show gets... and I love it. So, Season premiere. The present becomes the past and the future becomes the present. I’m glad for this change of pace to the nonlinear storytelling. After season 1, for the most part, I felt like I knew what I needed to know about the characters and was getting bored with the parallel back stories. Now it feels more productive as flashbacks are filling in the gaps as we enter a new chapter.
But the Oceanic Six???? Lance Reddick??? Of course, we get more questions than answers and I’m just going with the flow. After episode 2, I was definitely positive that these so called “rescuers” were Dharma. Good ol’ ghostbuster Miles straight up said “we’re looking for the Ben.” Who essentially destroyed Dharma here on the island. But Dharma may have lost the island, but they could still win the war. No way Dharma disbanded after that incident. And no way you bring Lance Reddick in for 2 whole scenes of sus dialogue just say he’s not the President of Dharma or something.
So Jack went back to being a doctor. Hugo went back to the loony bin. Kate became Aaron’s mom. And SAYID IS A PERSONAL HITMAN FOR BEN TAKING OUT DHARMA AGENTS !?!?!?!?!? But Sun is probably the worst off because she gave birth to Jin’s daughter alone & then visited his grave... A cruel episode as they tried to make us believe he was there when he wasn’t. But as soon she visited his grave, I immediately demanded scientific proof that he was dead. Just like with that stunt they tried to pull in the season 3 finale. If I don’t see a corpse, he’s fine. I need to see HIS corpse, not the bodies staged at the bottom of the ocean. There are 14 episodes in season 4, and half-way through, trust me, you still aren’t any closer to figuring out what’s going, why only 6 came home, what happened to everyone else. This season gave me a stroke.
Now of all the characters I want to leave the island, 100% I will make ritualistic sacrifices to bring Desmond back to Penny and Juliette back to her sister. Speaking of sacrifices the island demanded, John is extra crazy this season. Daniel needs a big hug. Sawyer is in Slytherin mode looking out for his Hufflepuff buddies, Hugo and Claire. And Charlie is dead.... I’m not okay with that.
Episode 8, Russou died which angered me. All these years surviving on the island, she just got her daughter back, her death was dumb. Like what did this do for the story other than set up Alex to be a captive and used as a bargaining chip. AND ALEX ENDED UP GETTING SHOT IN THE HEAD ANYWAY IT NEVER MATTERED my god, not it fam. But you don’t have time to be angry about it because 5 minutes later Ben summons the shadow monster..... there are several things I would like to say. AND THEN he threatens to get even by threatening to take Penny’s life, eye for an eye, and I was like hell naw I need Desmond and her to live a long life and have lots of babies and all that.
There was this really crazy episode of John’s past, showing Richard saw him as a baby, interreacted with him when he was a child, and then met Lance Reddick at the hospital.... There are several things I would like to say... this is followed by the No place like home episode – episode 12 flashbacks were what I expected for the start of season 4 tbh. But now it’s gotta be the time for Jack to be like “we gotta go back” right? All the flash-forwards we’ve seen are the Oceanic 6 and their life off the island and only one or two episodes gave a peek to both Jack and Hugo going crazy and being drawn back to the island. I have to know exactly what happens to the ones left behind. Desmond, Juliette, Sawyer, Claire, Jin, John, none of them are dead until I see bodies.
So the 3 part finale goes from here. First of all. F Jack. You literally could’ve waited 2 seconds for Jin and instead we got that heart breaking scream that I didn’t wanna hear from Sun. And yes, I did talk about this before talking about THE ORCHID STATION WHERE THE CONCEPT OF TIME TRAVELING BUNNIES WAS EXPOSED!!!! What does moving the island even mean???? Watching Ben move the island was a crazy thing to watch. But I refuse. Absolutely refuse to believe Jin is dead. I refuse. Maybe the freighter was close enough to be zapped to Atlantis too. Who knows?
But all this really really quickly becomes irrelevant....... lemme just remind you – season 3 finale, Charlie writes "not Penny’s boat" on his hand before he dies, a disappointment for all of us, but season 4 finale??????? We have come a long way. Now THAT was Penny’s boat. I honestly had no idea it would come to this so you need to know, actually you can’t even comprehend the amount of screaming and crying I did. That dude said "Ms. Widmore!" and I was like THATS PENNY”S BOAT I lost it. Bring. Him. Home. If Juliette couldn’t reunite with her sister, at least Desmond can reunite with Penny. And Ben.... I swear to god. Leave her alone. Actually, I never wanna see either of them ever again. Out of sight out of mind from everybody. The less we hear about them the better. Let them retire. Thank you.
Now I was super hyped. Super into it. Emotionally invested.... then... we see that it was John’s body in the coffin this entire time.......... And I’ll tell you, my initial reaction was to roll my eyes like omg and I’m exhausted. I’m so tired of this show. I have been so confused every episode since season 2. I’m just – I have no idea what’s going on ever. I’m, quite literally, lost.... And I want more.
Season 5
So... Time traveling bunnies, huh???? Yeah.... everyone on the island was thrown into a time heist.............. I’m so tired.....
So those that remained are in the middle of a time heist from what I understood in the season premiere. But the natives, the hostiles, Nestor Carbonell, they didn’t time heist.... the way Locke did... Richard just make no sense, honestly. These next several episodes are super fun. Sawyer sure wishes he was back at the town playing board games with Locke and Hugo.
Desmond got his happy ending. Living a secret life on a boat with Penny and... their son Charlie 😭. Please.... please... don’t kill him... But Penny’s dad used to be on the island??? So I guess he wasn’t Dharma after all. And well well well, look who’s not dead. Jin. That’s right. I told him to jump off and he did. Sun, calm yourself before you do something stupid. Thanks. I’m really glad Jin found the rest of the squad. Jin reuniting with Sawyer was a pleasant experience.
Meanwhile, Ben gets the band back together by convincing the Oceanic 6 to go back. Apparently, Faraday’s mother is the answer??? You know, I know I required a corpse to confirm death? Well well well, look who’s alive! Jeremey Bentham. It was interesting how they finally got back, though. I feel like it took a whole season and a half to get us to this moment and it actually has. But we’ve mostly been seeing it through Jack’s chronology. They all seem kinda surprised to see Jack & Ben walk in the plane though... But at least Desmond ditched them in time!
So I’m to believe that John leaving the island stopped the time heist but now our peeps are stuck in the 70s during the height of Darma????? While being a part of Dharma??????????? Now here’s the thing. Cool, Jin can speak English. But Sawyer & Juliette????? Hmm....... I don’t know fam. I’m not as angry as I was with the Kate and Jack thing, but like, they didn’t have to make them romantic. Seeing them traverse the time heist, I definitely noticed their fast friendship.... but I... would’ve liked them to be friends. Like ultimate bffs. Ya know, cuz not every man and woman pairing have to be a couple. And Jack and Swayer can have different interest in women. But whatever. Now Kate is here so......
It’s so hard to think about where these people were in season 1. Like how do I summarize any of their character arcs in three sentences or less? Like... They freaking time traveled. Remember when the weirdest thing about this show was the shadow monster? There are several things I would like to say. I don’t know where to start. But this 70s Dharma adventure is such a doozy. And Sun is stuck in the future with Ben. That blows... So how do they get back to the future????
“12 year old Ben just gave me a sandwich, how do you think I’m doing?” Sayid shot Ben omg lol. What's up with Sayid anyways? Ben really tried to kill Penny. Lol all the foreshadowing, I did not once believe Desmond would’ve allowed him to get away with anything and I was right. Now seriously, I never wanna see Desmond again. Mr. Faraday is back. But he came back to die. But before he died, he was rambling on about changing the future.... like... is he trying to create a new timeline or.... TVA, come get this man!
Meanwhile John is on a quest to kill Jacob. This is what we got at this ultimate face reveal that we’ve been waiting for 4 years. But we get A LOT more than a face reveal. Jacob is from the pilgrim times and is on the island when the Egyptian temples and statues were still a thing, which we got a glimpse at during the time heist. But Jacob has also LEFT THE ISLAND and had an interactions with Kate, Sawyer, Sayid, Sun, & Jin?????
But enough about that. John made Ben kill Jacob and right after it was revealed that John’s dead body was in that metal box?????? Then we get hit with the ultimate cliffhanger. The bomb went off. Now what? The final season that’s what.
Season 6
Lost season 6................. there are several things I would like to say.
So I’ve heard around that Lost gets bad towards the end, or at least has a dissatisfying ending. Gonna jump way ahead – Honestly... I expected it to be bad. And it wasn’t as bad as I prepared for it to be. First of all, it started and ended with Jack. And I say this because the beginning of the pilot and the ending of the series finale were pretty much his perspective. Everyone else who survived, I guess it’s not hard to guess. Hugo is the new Jacob, Ben I guess gets his job back. Desmond goes back to his family. The Ajira Six go back to real life. I guess I’m assuming the life Kate had with Aaron begins anew with Claire & Sawyer. This is like Destiel guys. Who’s to say Destiel doesn’t go gay in heaven for eternity? … Mmm hmm. So who’s to tell me Kate & Sawyer don’t settle down together. Between that and Desmond surviving, I’m happy. Still sour about Juliette though... but whatever..... And the Kwons.... that was unfair.
Another thing that I think could put people off is that the flashes to an islandless world I think is easily interpreted as an alternate dimension, as I’ll reference it as such. But it’s the afterlife. An Earth without the Island is quite literally heaven. Desmond’s quest didn’t have any real world substance. Sayid & the Kwons, what did they die for? For an afterlife? In the end, that is really poetic. It was emotional. But then I realized, I was still unsure what the point was. And it boils down to the smoke monster.
That thing was introduced in the pilot..... it was the final boss in the series finale, we got the origin story and..... we still know little about it.... So every sacrifice the island demanded. Every horrible thing that has ever happened. It was all so Desmond could put out the light to take away the monster’s immortality, give a chance for someone to kill it, and put the light back on to potentially keep the world together or something? I know there are other pockets of energy so I’m assuming all the lights go out and the world implodes.
But I never really understood what exactly the monster was capable of. Why was it so imperative that he had to stay on the island or be killed. And because I don’t understand this, I don’t understand why my favorite characters had to die. Why did JOHN LOCKE have to die... I’m a little upset. There is still so much about the island we don’t understand either. There’s an essence, like the island is itself a character. Locke has talked about it in such a way in the past. And what is with the Egyptian hieroglyphs and structures. What is the story? It’s more than just the brothers. The island’s mysteries will haunt me for my entire life.
Alright, let’s start from the beginning. Jack. Crazy son of a – he did it. Kind of. That premiere confused the hell outta of me. But what else is new. The explosion put our people back in their correct timeline.... but we’re still getting an alternate timeline where Jack’s plan worked.... but there are still signs that it’s not just an alternate timeline, but that they jumped INTO this timeline, hence the blood and déjà vu? Other Jack seems to have some sort of nagging thought way deep down. And Desmond..... Yeah, it all comes full circle, but you have to wait until literally the last 10 minutes of the series.
Also - the Kwons.... It took them wayyyyy to long to reunite. I almost thought it would never happen so when I tell you I didn’t expect the moment when it came and I was sobbing.... I mean it....
Oh also also - John has been the smoke monster the entire time. My first thought was wondering if we’re finally going to learn something about it after 5 seasons. On the Monster’s quest to complete his quest, he went on a little adventure to some cave on a cliff and we see the names of some of our people with numbers next to their names............ Those are THE numbers guys. The numbers that gave Hugo a stroke. 4 8 14 15 23 42. Omg.
Sayid came back to life and the temple people believed he was “claimed by the darkness” like Claire???? Like, they’re sick???? And I feel like we’re finally getting more answers to what Russo meant way back in season one when she first talked about her people and what happened to them. Sayid is now evil? I think that’s another thing that was never really clear and we’ll never know how Claire faired afterwards.
The Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit – I mean Jacob, Richard, & Smoke Monster. The 3 icons of the island. I have wanted their history, basically the entire series and we finally got our first extensive peak when we we FINALLY saw Richard’s origin story. Though, going from Bates Motel to this, I did not need to see Nestor Carbonell cry over his dead wife again. I did not have tolerance for that PTSD trigger. Unnecessary... However..... Remember when Desmond would flash between moments in time. Well.... Now he can flash between alternate dimensions the same way. I don’t know if it was Widmore’s new machine, or other Charlie giving him de ja vu. But Desmond knows. And so does Eloise. And Faraday. And Charlie. So it’s not just Jack that is feeling that heavenly pull.
Speaking of - They.... they brought Desmond back.... They couldn’t let Juliette reunite with her sister and now they gotta drag Desmond back to this blasted island for what? For What?!?!?!?!? I know it works out in the end, but I was anxious watching his scenes for the entirety of the season. I mean, remember the submarine incident? Rip Sayid. Sun. Jin..... I swear to god if Desmond died!!!!! Shout out to Lapidus. My homie just along for the ride surviving like a pro.
Tale of Two Brothers – I’m not sure if it was confirmed before or just simply hinted at for the longest time, but Jacob’s brother has been the smoke monster this entire time. We finally got an origin story to the Monster.... but so much is still confusing. After seeing this thing since the dang pilot, not even an origin story was enough to satisfy our curiosity. As soon as I realized the 2 bodies in the cave were smoke monster and kidnapper mom, they began playing the scene from season 1 when their skeletons were discovered. Everything came full circle. And there’s still so much we don’t know after this.
Series Finale – There’s a lot of fan service here, and despite the confusing lead up, I’m here for it. Another shout out to Lapidus. He’s thriving. Miles - “I don’t believe in a lot but I do believe in duct tape.” Juliette’s place in heaven is the utmost unusual thing about this season. She’s Jack’s heaven baby mama. What is the significance? Why does David exist? Everyone else was from the island, who the hell was David?
John remembering made me think 2 things: There’s 45 minutes left of the series and I still don’t understand what’s going on; John died in that stupid hotel room, he died off the island, the land he sacrificed everything for, and that left a feeling of betrayal, his story was tragic, and the island couldn’t even give him the chance to be happy. Speaking of tragedy – Sun & Jin. There was no greater heartbreak. Seeing their montage broke me. And I didn’t have time to recover because the Claire and Charlie and Aaron reunion....... 😭😭😭
Look... I get the reputation for the finale being bad. But when it comes to the end of various character arcs, the only disappointing ones were of those who died. Sayid specifically. Overall, it’s not the finale that’s disappointing, more so the missing lore I’ve been mentioning and the purpose of this alternate dimension Heaven and the events taking place here. The finale is great, it’s just the season itself as a whole that deserves the criticism. They got pretty much the entire cast, every character from every season, they all had their moments and it was such a celebration of these characters & stories by forcing us into this fragile emotional state as we see their lives flash before our eyes, being reminded of all that they went though, feeling happy and sad for them all at the same time.... That was good writing. Phenomenal and probably authentic acting. But I understand if it doesn’t comfortably sit well with you.
Whether it does or not. Vincent made it to the end. They didn't kill the dog. 10/10.
Overall Thoughts
Seasons 3, 4, and 5 are practically perfect, with season 1 being a great beginning. Seasons 2 & 6, maybe not the best, but season 6 did have a great finale with acceptable and emotional fan service. Best season premiere, hands down, season 1. Best finale goes to season 4. My favorite arc definitely goes to the time heist in season 5, though anything to do with Dharma was 10/10. My favorite characters are Sawyer, Hugo, Locke, Jin, Sayid, Charlie, and Desmond. My favorite moments usually revolved around Desmond, Penny, & Jin. I ship Sawyer & Kate, and they totally get together if you ask me. Saddest death...... Charlie..... The lead up was too much, man...
There are about 100+ episodes and I felt confused watching every single one of them. That's the vibe Lost gives. You are always literally and figuratively lost, and it's all part of the experience. I recommend everyone watch or re watch this amazing show. It definitely lives up to the hype.
My Rating: ★★★★★★★★☆☆
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