Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Lost: The Complete Third Season



Written by Hombre Divertido

Season three was definitely a season of risks for Lost. The decisions to show six episodes from October to November of 2006, and then show no episodes again until February certainly tested the loyalty of the fans.

Though a goal of not showing reruns may have been honorable, a show with this much depth and plot twists may have benefited from allowing fans to watch episodes a second time without having to go to the internet.

Nonetheless season three did kick off in October of 2006 with a large fan base anxiously waiting to find out what had become of those taken hostage by the mysterious Others, as well as the outcome of numerous other storylines.

Another risk taken this season was allowing so much of the first episodes of season three to focus on the Others. The mystery that was this group of people inhabiting our island with the passengers of the downed Oceanic Flight 815 had made for some great television the previous two years, and revealing too much about them could take away the intrigue surrounding them.

Though the first six episodes are good, they do spend far too much time with Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Sawyer (Josh Holloway), and Jack (Matthew Fox) being held captive in storylines that seem repetitive, and leave us wondering what is going on with the rest of the stranded group.

When Lost came back in February of 2007, it did so with a bang. Sawyer and Kate return to the camp and eventually so does Jack. The writing is some of the best of the series including a brilliant episode where we find out how Ben came to the island and achieved his current status, and one of the best episodes of the season “Tricia Tanaka is Dead” where the writers clearly display their ability to create comedy.

The world of Lost expands substantially in season three with new cast members, new islands, new stations, and much more. It is fun to watch the storylines and characters grow along with their environment.

There are some wonderful bonus features in this set along with some real duds. “The World of the Others,” “Lost Flashbacks,” and “The Lost Book Club” are thoroughly enjoyable and serve the ultimate purpose of bonus material in that watching them will make you want to watch the episodes even if you have already seen them. On the other side of the coin is a short feature with Terry O’Quinn, who plays John Locke, showing how to throw a knife. This segment is a waste of space. A few of the deleted scenes are interesting, but most were clearly deleted for a reason. The cast of Lost now has three seasons of bloopers that look staged.

Recommendation: This is good stuff for the fans. It’s a must for those who own the first two seasons, and there is enough bonus material to make it worthwhile

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