LOST Season 5 Review

Damon Lindelof: "I am going to split my own fan base down the middle! But how?"
Carlton Cuse: "Time travel?"
Damon Lindelof: "Perfect!"


In A Nutshell:
As the oceanic six must decide whether or not to return to the island, and if so, how they're going to do it, the people still on the island find themselves jumping to different points in time, which, you know, can make things pretty confusing.


The Good:
The time jumping that comprised the first few episodes was downright awesome. Seriously, watching them go to different points, with an exasperated Faraday trying to explain what's happening to us common folk, while confusing, was just cool. It's also really interesting when they stop jumping and are stuck in a certain point, contemplating what to do, especially because that's when the time paradox questions start getting asked (it's also when Hurley attempts to write the script for Empire Strikes Back, with a few improvements, to save George Lucas the trouble, if that gives you any hint as to where they land). I also really liked Sawyer's role amid all the time travel in season 5, as he starts to permanently adopt the antihero persona that he began to take up in season 4. When I think about it, Sawyer probably got the most character development this season. Other great aspects of this season were all things Faraday (who finally got an episode centered around him), and all things Locke and Ben, whose roles change a bit this season as we got the fantastic episode "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham". We got a Miles-centric episode too, which was pretty cool. The time travel also lets us see how all of these characters are connected to the island, which I just loved.


The Bad:
The story of the Oceanic Six returning to island was the least compelling part of the season. It felt dragged out, and honestly, we all just wanted them to get back to the island already, so the fact that it took so long for them to do that is bit frustrating. The season was also a bit light on character growth when compared to the previous ones. Granted, I don't think we're really allowed to gripe about something like that when the show dedicated the entire first season and a lot of second to character growth. My biggest complaint though, was the sinful under-use of Desmond, who, like I've said before, is my favorite character. He only had one episode centered around him, and while it was good, it wasn't even in the same league as the Constant. After that episode he basically just has cameos every so often.


Final Rating: 98%