The Great Lost Re-Watch: Season 4

Full disclosure: I finished season 4 back in September, and wrote some of this then, but never got around to finishing it. I’ve taken a 3 month + break from viewing Lost (and a 4 month + break from writing blogs!) but am getting back at it now.   It helps that now the seasons are shorter, since the last 3 seasons of the series were only from January/February-May.  Season 4 was especially short, since it was the year of the writer’s strike, so it was a lean 14 episodes. Some would argue that it was better that way, and they may be right-this season was fast paced, with every episode seeming to be essential and engaging. But lets dispense with the pleasantries, shall we?

Best episode: “The Constant

This a popular choice for best episode of the whole series, with its twists and turns through time.  Not sure I can pick just one episode as my favorite of them all, but this definitely got my attention the first time around, and seeing it again reminded me how brilliantly confusing and perfect it is.  Maybe they didn’t get around to answering all the questions this episode asks, but the possibilities it opened up were part of the fun.

Moment I forgot about: Harper’s weird

Not much to say about this, other than to say that Harper, the woman scorned by Juliet’s affair with her husband Goodwin, has an unnerving, icy stare, and a story line that seemed like it was maybe superfluous.

Most disturbing moment:  There are a few.  The first one that comes to mind is when Jack tries to kill Locke.  The fact that he was willing to pull the trigger says a lot about where Jack is mentally.  Matthew Abbadon visiting Hurley in “The Beginning of the End” is also quite creepy, when you realize that he isn’t who is pretending to be.  When he asks “Are they still alive?”, it is a chill inducing moment. Finally, when Ben says to Juliet “You’re mine” shows just how deranged and obsessive he is. Of course, it is usually not a good idea to take the woman you have a crush on to the place where her husbands decomposing body is, for show and tell.

Things I missed the first time around: The backwards message on the phone call to Kate in “There’s no place like home”. This time, when the scene happened, I knew it was a backwards message. I guess during the first viewing I did not notice it.  Thanks to online research, I was able to find out the caller says “The island needs you. You have to go back before it’s too late”.  Just another cool little easter egg from the producers to us fanatics.

Most surprising moment: Kate’s son is Aaron: I suppose during the first time around I should have seen it coming.  But I was genuinely surprised that Kate had taken Aaron as her own. Also, I was shocked that Keamy called Ben’s bluff and killed Alex. Even on the second viewing, you can sense just how much Ben didn’t think that was going to happen. And of course, there is the “frozen donkey wheel”, which is the name the producers affectionately gave to each season ending shot. This season was of course the reveal that it is in fact John Locke in the casket. Why was he referred to as Jeremy Bentham? We have to wait til season 5 to find out.

Best Flashback: Obviously “The Constant” has to be included in this. But  “Ji Yeon”, with its blending of a flashback and flashforward was brilliant. “Meet Kevin Johnson” finally got around to answering the question of what happened to Michael when he and Walt left the island. “The Shape of Things to Come” had the amazing back story of Ben skipping continents/time, and confronting Charles Widmore at the end. “Cabin Fever” had a flashback to John Locke as a child, being visited by an ageless Richard Alpert. Finally, we find out just how the Oceanic 6 survived in the season finale  “There’s No Place Like Home”, and we also see what happened after Jack yelled “We have to go back!” to Kate in the Season 3 finale, which sheds a whole new light on that mindbender.

Most Emotional Moment: When Sun and Hurley visit Jin’s grave in “Ji Yeon”, it’s hard not feel the emotional impact.  Jack meeting Claire’s mom at his dad’s funeral is a suckerpunch for him, and on the positive side, Penny and Desmond reuniting was definitely worth the wait.

Most Frightening Moment: Ben being in charge of Sayid in “The Economist”.  Yet another twist that I did not see coming at the time. The knowledge that Sayid would kill many people, all because of some emotional blackmail on Sayid was quite alarming.

Best Progression of the Show’s Mythology: Charlotte’s excavation of the polar bear in “Confirmed Dead” was quite interesting. the payload that Daniel has the freighter send to the island in “The Economist” is not running on the same time, and raises up many questions about the island’s place in time. The mention of the list of people in “The Other Woman” is a nice nod to season 1.  Christian Shepherd appearing in Jacob’s cabin was a head scratcher (but a good one), as was the  Orchid video. And Ben moving the island again begged the question “just how does that happen/what does that mean?”.

Foresight 20/20: As mentioned earlier, perhaps I should have seen it coming that Jeremy Bentham was John Locke. But the writers knew by making Jack so distraught over the death of Bentham, that it would throw people off the Locke trail. It certainly worked for me, and made me chomping at the bit to see why Jack had such a change of heart, and why it sent him on the spiral we saw in the Season 3 finale.