Lost (Spoiler Free)

Lost - Spoiler Free

This review is for those who have never seen Lost, the people who are on the fence and can't decide whether they want to commit. Since the review is mostly for newcomers, it will be vague and spoiler free. For everyone else, I will have a more detailed and spoiler-laden post coming soon.

I came to Lost really late. By the time I became interested in the show, it had already been on for so long that I figured I might as well wait until it was all finished and watch the whole thing on DVD. But it was a commitment. That is six seasons worth of TV. It takes some time. Some folks who have never seen the show might be like, "ugh, I don't know if I have time. It is really that good? I have all this new stuff to watch, do I really have to go back and watch this?"

And the answer is an unequivocal YES. Because Lost at its best represents TV at its finest. For the most part, it is one of the most compelling and addictive shows I have ever seen.

The most basic, spoiler-free write up I can give is: a plane crashes on a remote island and the survivors try to stay alive. But this island is strange and mysterious, in good and bad ways, and our survivors are not alone. The cast of characters was huge, and included everything from con men to doctors to rock stars. If I had to list all the characters, this post would go on forever. But one of Lost's greatest strengths is that for six seasons, it adeptly balanced all the characters, adding nuance and depth to each one so that by the finale, we felt we knew them as people - this is quite a feat because most shows struggle to achieve this with one character, and Lost literally pulls it off with over a dozen. Now there are a few exceptions.  A handful of characters never worked for me, but for the most part, they gave us a superb group of memorable and three dimensional heroes and villains. And since the Lost producers were adamant about the show being about the characters first and foremost, I feel I should talk more about that.

The technique that the producers used to help us get to know the characters was by focusing on a single person each episode and intercutting the current plotline on the island with a flashback from their lives before the crash. This was a creative and invaluable tool for helping the audience get to know these characters as human beings, and the technique has been copied many times since - most notably in Battlestar Galactica. While I liked Battlestar a lot, the flashbacks never worked for me because they were poorly used, reinforcing points we already knew and forcing the actors into bad wigs or silly situations that made no sense. In Lost, they actually bring something new to the table and for the most part, connect us to the characters (though they also do have their share of bad wigs). Admittedly, as the seasons went on, the producers started to run out of ideas for flashbacks and you can see them spinning their wheels looking for stories ("hey, let's do an episode about how Jack gets a tattoo!" I'm not joking). But for the most part, this was an inventive way to get to know the characters.

It doesn't hurt that the cast is spot on, delivering stellar performances - everyone is putting in some amazing, career-best work. Even for the characters I didn't like, it was the writers who dropped the ball and not the actors, who gave it their all every single episode. And on one related one side note, Terry O'Quinn plays the mysterious Locke, arguably the most popular character on the show. O'Quinn has always been one of my favorite character actors. I've dug him since he played Howard Hughes way back in The Rocketeer. Whenever his familiar face popped up in a movie, I gave a little thumbs up. So to be able to see him finally take the spotlight in a major role and knock it out of the park...it was awesome to see. Okay, side note over.

Aside from the cast, Lost is truly impressive from a technical standpoint. The look of the show was very cinematic, with lush and pristine camera work better than what you see in most television shows. The directing and writing were all for the most part quite good.

But now the bad. And there is some bad. There are always some weak episodes in every show, and Lost is no exception. Especially in the third season, you can see the producers desperately trying to come up with some delaying tactics. The problem was that they had an idea of where they wanted to go, but since they had no idea how long the show would be on for, they were scrambling to spread things out. Once ABC announced Lost would end after Season 6, the show shifts, digs in, and starts barreling towards its climax in a fairly focused way through its last few seasons.

While I liked most characters, most of them had at least one subplot or episode that was kind of lame. I don't want to go into details and ruin anything. But we can talk about it once you've seen it!

The other thing that I think that is important to note is that as the show progresses, it definitely gets more convoluted and bizarre. The show embraces its more mysterious elements. I don't think that was a bad thing. I liked it. But I can see how some people would be turned off, and even I have to admit that the first season by far was the best of the show.

The last thing to address was a major concern during the show's run. I heard a lot of complaints from regular viewers about mysteries not being solved fast enough, questions not being answered, and new characters popping up and distracting from who we really want to focus on. Those viewers are right, but they had an entirely different experience than I did. They had to deal with reruns, season breaks and a Writers Strike that shut down all production in Hollywood. They would literally have to wait for months for a new episode, hoping to find out the fate of a beloved character, only to get an episode about some new character they didn't care about. So the loyal audience was right to complain, but IGNORE THEM! When you watch the show on DVD, you don't need to wait, you don't get affected by the Writers' Strike, and if you watch an episode with a character you don't care about, it's no big deal because you can just watch the next episode right away. And most importantly, on DVD you realize that the showrunners do answer most of the questions and solve most of the mysteries, and they do it at a reasonable pace. No, they don't answer every single question, but they do answer the ones that matter. On DVD, Lost is a different and probably a heckuva lot less frustrating experience.

So there you go. I can't say much more without ruining things. The overall message is that despite some weaknesses, Lost was superb television. And when the show is cooking, it was easily the best show on television. If you haven't taken the plunge, I say do it!

To see my Spoiler-Full review of the show's finale, click HERE. For my top ten lists of the show's best and worst moments, click HERE.

MVP: This is a tough one because each season had its own MVP for me. And I will go into my individual season MVP honors in my next post since that will include spoilers. But for the series as a whole, I think I am going to give it to composer Michael Giacchino (Star Trek, Up). Most shows have a musical formula, which sounds the same every week - a comfortable soundscape that the composers are rarely allowed to deviate from in terms of form or function. It is a rare thing when a composer is given the liberty to branch out and go crazy. But that is what Giacchino does here, and the result is brilliant.  He doesn't only have a main theme, but an individual theme for every single character. And what is remarkable is how these themes evolve over the years, how they grow and expand and how they merge with other themes when appropriate to create new themes. It is an absurdly complicated score, with hints of motifs in Season 1 expanding into full blown glory by the final season. It's a staggering musical accomplishment. At least, to me it is. Is the music the best thing about Lost? No, absolutely not. But Giacchino's work might just be most impressive musical achievement in the history of series television. It's a bold statement, I know, but I firmly believe it. And for that reason, I have to give him a MVP here.

TRIVIA: The castaway's leader, Jack Shepherd, was not supposed to make it very far. He was supposed to be played by Michael Keaton and then as a crazy twist, he was going to get killed off halfway through the first episode. For whatever reason, the studio actually convinced the producers not to kill a major character so quickly. Keaton then backed out. And then Matthew Fox (Party of Five) was cast. Also, it is interesting that with Jack dead, the castaway's leader was going to be Kate, a frumpy, middle-aged businesswoman. But when things shifted, Kate became the young, beautiful badass played by Evangeline Lilly.