Lost - The Complete Sixth Season [Blu-ray]

I have been riveted to this show. I loved series 1-5 and have been looking forward to finally watching season 6 for some time.

I was left with very mixed feelings. The good - the acting from all the cast, especially the main characters is fantastic. The music, costume, props,setting, filming and editing can be beautiful and makes you lost in every moment (excuse the pun!). And I liked the fact that the whole series kept the viewers guessing. You never quite knew what was coming next and who to trust; just like the characters themselves.

We have had flashbacks and flashforwards in previous series but this had the flash sideways - a sort of paralel world although you are kept guessing about the reality of every situation.

But... although moving I was left with so many unanswered questions. Some they attempted to explain, although you do get a sense that the writers made it up as they went along and didn't really have a clear sense of direction at the start. It explores many of the big questions about life; religion, humanity, Science, fate, destiny etc etc but it does really leave it up to you to make your own conclusions. I quite liked this but was frustrated to find that some characters were not included in this resolution of sorts, perhaps the actors did not want to return?

It is worth watching the documentaries on the DVD's - some helpful guides from the producers which help to explain some of their choices.

To be fair, part of the reason Lost started off as being so intriguing was that there was so much mystery involved. Polar bears, the black smoke, the foot statue and so on. An then as the series went on, they had to explain everything. I saw an interview with Dominic Monaghan (Charlie) where he said it was only meant to last about three seasons and the writers had an ending for it. But then ABC rolled in and said "we've got good ratings, write a few more seasons". So they had to keep it going, introducing new characters, the concept of a time travelling, disappearing island, a nuclear bomb, the oceanic six that got off the island but then came back and all that jazz.

Then season six; they had to wrap it up somehow. And I can't think of another way they'd do it. So considering they had to explain all that and conclude six years of mystery, they did an okay job of it. The whole parallel universe/alternate reality thing is a little far-fetched but so was the rest of the series. I won't give the ending away, but it does make sense and is quite clever if you look at it from the right angle.

Sixth and final season of Island mystery series Lost.

NB: This is not a very good jumping on point for new viewers.

Viewers who have been with the show all the way will find all seventeen episodes of the final season here [the final episode is a double length one, but is only counted as one episode] in a dvd box set that contains five discs. Plus some versions of it have an extra sixth disc with a few more extras.

Languages and subtitles are as follows:

English, Italian, Spanish.

Subtitles: English, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Icelandic, Portugese, Dutch.

Those who saw the fifth season will recall it ended with a bang. A very big one. Designed to ensure that the Island was destroyed and Oceanic flight 815 never crashed.

As those who know their quantum physics - or who saw the 2009 Star Trek movie will know, meddling with time lines produces one result

Spoiler follows, but it's a spoiler you'd find on the back of the box in the blurb for part one anyhow...]

They flashed back. They flashed forward. And now they flash sideways. Into a world where the Island was destroyed in the 1970's, and the plane never crashed.

But at the same time, those who survived the end of season five - and other characters who were elsewhere on the Island, have to soldier on. Because a long standing threat is about to make itself known. The truth as to why the characters were brought to the island will come out. And they will have to fight for their future. And that of the rest of the world....

This close to the end, you will expect answers.

And some do come.

But you will probably spend a lot of time wondering where the season is going, as some things do seem to change from week to week.
What answers you get may seem anti climactic after so long.
And certain elements are left up to the viewer to draw their own conclusions.

the flash sideways are very clever and contain many delightful nods to things gone by from earlier seasons. But what they build to, just like the rest of the events in the finale, is something that will split opinion.

If you're looking for final answers to absolutely every question the show raised, you will be disappointed.

But...

If you think it was all about the characters rather than the questions, this is a fine ending. Because whilst they were lost figuratively and literally, by the end they are not. Which might leave you with a lump in your throat.

But either way, anyone who has come this far with the show will want to see it to the end. Just be prepared for the fact that it's a season which divides opinion.

The extras on the dvd are slightly light compared to earlier seasons as well.

Discs one to four have a commentary on one single episode each.

Disc five has:

New man in charge: twelve minutes of footage that was cut from the final episode for timing reasons, and which is basically an epilogue to the show. This is required viewing, because it does answer [definitively] three questions. The third being one that every fan will have asked post the final episode.

There's a thirty six minute long making of documentary about the season. Which is also about how those involved reacted to it coming to an end. You might just get something in your eye whilst watching it.

Other features are a bit cursory:

Hero's journey runs for just under ten minutes and considers the actions of certain chaacters across the course of the show.

See you in another life brotha is the same length and is a brief making of feature about the flash sideways.

There are four on location features, all running about six minutes or so each, and about the making of an individual episode. These are short but watchable.

There's the usual season blooper reel. Some of which are quite funny.

The aforementioned sixth disc has two more on location features.

A short one called Sayid V Dogen, about a making of a fight scene in one episode.

Chicken hunt, which runs for four minutes and is about flash sideways Hurley's life there, and is pretty good.

But well worth a watch is Lost live: clips from a concert of music from the show, done with readings by cast members. Good reading, good writing, and great music makes you wish you could see the whole thing.