Airs: Thursdays at 10:00pm ET
Network: ABC
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Review - "Lost"
Reviewer: Kim Langcake
Rating:
There is a telling moment late in Season 4 of Lost, as the Oceanic Six — the apparent final survivors of Flight 815 — are being grilled at a press conference upon their return to civilization. A skeptical reporter questioning the credibility of their tale implies that some of the Six are looking surprisingly healthy despite their desperate attempts to survive in the wild. There is an awkward silence until man-mountain Hurley (Jorge Garcia), his considerable bulk undiminished after months of subsisting on coconuts and Dharma Corporation muesli bars, leans into the microphone and says, "Dude, are you talking about me?"
Who could blame Lost writer JJ Abrams for having a sly dig at critics who complain that the show asks viewers to make increasingly large leaps of faith. No one gets thinner, hair doesn't get longer, blondes seem not to need their color retouched, and, Sawyer's (Josh Holloway) designer stubble aside, facial hair is kept firmly under control. Lost has never been aimed at those who prefer their castaways with mad beards, emaciated bodies, and unhealthy relationships with basketballs. "There are monsters and polar bears here, people," Abrams seems to be saying. "Why on Earth would Hurley conform to Robinson Caruso formula and shed some pounds?"
With an end in sight — Abrams has confirmed that his ground-breaking series will finish after Season 7 — those who have put in the hard yards with Lost should feel very satisfied with Season 4. Loose ends were gathered up, a relief after the hit-and-miss quality of Season 3, and the bigger picture has finally become apparent. The slow-build characterization of arch-enemies Ben Linus (Michael Emerson) and Charles Widmore (Alan Dale) has crept up with the promise of a deadly and cataclysmic showdown, although in time-honoured style, Abrams is keeping his cards close to his chest as to who we want to win.
A significant shift this season was the way in which new characters seamlessly slotted into the fit, and former outsiders such as Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell), who with typical collected grit in one episode performs a life-saving appendectomy on the luckless Jack (Matthew Fox), are now comfortably entrenched in the cast. The introduction of the "rescue" parachutists: ghost whisperer Miles (Ken Leung), geologist Charlotte (Rebecca Mader) and physicist Daniel (Jeremy Davies) gave real depth to the plotline, and Daniel's key time-shifting episode "The Constant" (Episode 5) was arguably the best of the season. The "rescue" boat also introduced some highly memorable characters, not least being the enigmatic, but ultimately evil, Martin Keamy (Kevin Durand). Without spoiling the show for those who are waiting to see the finale, I can only say that Keamy and karma have a rather satisfying meeting.
Season 4 also saw a shift from the father/son relationship focus of previous seasons. Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Jack (Matthew Fox), Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) and Sawyer, all key male characters struggling with complicated relationships with fathers and father figures, gave way to Kate (Evangeline Lilly) closing the circle with her mother, Sun (Yunjin Kim) financially controlling her father then giving birth to a daughter herself, and Claire's (Emilie de Ravin) eerie and unexplained reunion with her estranged father. The tragic end for Ben's daughter Alex (Tania Raymonde), and the revenge threat to Widmore regarding his own daughter Penny reinforced this new focus.
We were even given a glimpse of the long-absent island monster, something even the show's die-hard supporters were beginning to suspect that Abrams had forgotten about. Just when it seemed unimaginable that Ben could retaliate against his daughter's murderers, his dreadful rage was given form by his release of the beast. Still only a hazy terror, it remains unexplained, but is firmly back on the agenda.
For all of the monsters, body count, and mystery, however, it's the subtle moments in Lost which are often the most memorable. There is a scene quietly played out after Jack's operation as Juliet tells Kate of an intimate moment she and Jack had shared, and why she believes that Jack is deluding himself of his true feelings. A flicker of knowing and gratitude passes over Kate's face as she leaves, and Juliet gently leans over Jack's apparently comatose, anaesthetised body and whispers, "I know that you're listening." You bet. Roll on Season 5, and Hurley: don't go changing.
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