DVD Review
by Kevin Carr
| MOVIE: ***** (out of 5 stars)
DVD EXPERIENCE: **** (out of 5 stars) STARRING Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as MR. EKO Naveen Andrews as SAYID Emilie de Raven as CLAIRE Matthew Fox as JACK Jorge Garcia as HURLEY Maggie Grace as SHANNON Josh Holloway as SAWYER Daniel Dae Kim as JIN Yunjin Kim as SUN Evangeline Lilly as KATE Dominic Monaghan as CHARLIE Terry O’Quinn as LOCKE Harold Perrineau as MICHAEL Michelle Rodreguez as ANA LUCIA Cynthia Watros as LIBBY Rated TV-14 Studio: ABC Created by: Jeffrey Lieber and J.J. Abrams & Damon Lindelof Back to DVD Review Home |
 |
When I wrote my review for “Lost: The Complete First Season,” I praised the show for actually achieving the feel of a novel for television. It was actually a stupendous thing. Instead of slamming through characterization for a two-hour film or using cardboard templates that actors can fill in over the life of a sit-com (which end up becoming caricatures instead), “Lost” is a series that takes its time.
This formula, if that is the correct word for it, works even better in season two. This second year is even better than the first, with the mysteries and intrigue stepping up several notches. The second season begins with new questions about the hatch and opens new doors. The plots and subplots become more complicated, and the viewer just gets sucked in.
My biggest complaint about the first season is that while they were characterizing the dozen or so people in the ensemble cast, events ran along with unnecessary mystery. So many secrets and back-stories were revealed throughout the season that the characters couldn’t talk honestly with each other or we would have been left with no unanswered questions.
For the most part, this flaw doesn’t exist in the second season. The bulk of the characters have already been introduced, and when new characters are brought in, there are plenty of good reasons to be suspicious. As the second season moves through, the mysteries of the island take forefront with the characters themselves reacting to things like the hatch, the Others and strange hallucinations on the island.
Season two starts off right where season one ended. Locke, Jack, Kate and Hurley have blown open the hatch with dynamite. Sawyer, Jin and Michael are left stranded on a raft after the Others have taken Walt. We start to learn the secrets of the hatch and how it relates to the doomed Oceanic 815 flight. We also meet the people from the tail section of the plane, introducing some excellent new characters.
In retrospect, with the actual season behind us, it is fun to watch how this show has developed and evolved. Listening to the writers during interviews in the bonus features, I get the sense that they don’t have everything quite figured out yet. They’re learning as they go, and the Internet fans are coming up with some pretty crazy ideas. It’s also interesting to see how TV golden boy deals with high-profile insubordination and chronic police records from the cast.
Season two opens up plenty of new doors and offers even more opportunity to speculate as to what the answers are to the secrets of the island. I’d love to wax poetic on the purpose of the Dharma Initiative, where the Others came from and how Walt fits into this whole picture, but I’d rather leave that to the message boards.
There are seven discs in the series, with the episodes on the first six discs, with several commentary tracks available throughout. Disc seven contains a bevy of special features, including lost flashbacks, deleted scenes, bloopers, behind-the-scenes documentaries, a spotlight on Sawyerisms and several featurettes that discuss some of the secrets and possible theories of everything from the Virgin Mary statues, Alvar Hanso and the characters’ spiritual journeys (which most likely are nothing more than red herrings in the grand scheme of things).
The last disc is pretty comprehensive, but not as chock-full as the one from the first season. Still, there’s plenty to love about the whole season, which is providing viewers with possibly the best television show on air today. It sure beats the pants off of “Dancing with the Stars.”
I’m probably not going to be able to escape watching “Lost” when it’s broadcast in its third season. Fortunately, the word is that they are going to split the season in half and run each part consecutively without annoying weeks off here and there for reruns. Suffice to say, I’ll be waiting for “Lost” to start up again in October.
Specifications: Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Surround Sound. Widescreen (1.78:1). English language subtitles for the hearing impaired.
