Review: LOST: The Complete Sixth Season on Blu-Ray

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And so it ends. A show whose pre-pilot commercials led me to expect a grown up Lord of the Flies turned into one of the most intricate, complicated and analyzed six seasons of television perhaps in history. I’ve been a fan of  LOST since I first saw one of those commercials (anything with a plane crash has me hooked) and though it turned out to be nothing like I expected, it was endlessly satisfying (save a couple of episodes in season 3). What drew me to the show were the characters, the mystery, the revelations and the humor. And while I enjoyed the mythology around the universe it created, that was never my favorite part of the show. Perhaps that’s why the series finale was extremely satisfying for me. I thought show runners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse took a huge chance having the flash sideways turn out to be what it was and having the final scene be what it was (trying not to be too bad of a spoiler here). For me – it was the ultimate happy ending. Perhaps it was even too satisfying – after seeing the series finale I expected to be eager to re-watch the entire series having the ending in mind. And while the revelations that were given still make that an attractive option, the ultimate ending of the final scene, in a way, makes it all unnecessary. Not that it invalidates the rest of the show, it just makes it sort of … superfluous. And I mean that only in a good way. In any case, I will undoubtedly watch it all again, especially now that I have Season 6 – the final season – in my hands on Blu-Ray.

As usual, I have nothing to say about the technical details of the Blu-Ray – I don’t even understand it. But I can talk about the special features. The feature most promoted from the release is The New Man in Charge – a short featurette that extends the LOST season just a little bit more by having Ben Linus visit a couple of DHARMA workers in Guam while he us working for Hurley (the new head of the island) as well as visiting Walt in a mental institution. This would take place sometime after the conclusion of the LOST series (other than the flash sideways). Again – no spoilers but this does give a couple more nitty gritty answers and it’s great to have just a little bit more LOST.

Up until now I’ve only seen one of the four audio commentaries – Damon and Carlton talking about “Across the Sea” which looks at the origin of Jacob and The Man in Black. I started with that one figuring if we were going to get any further clarifications from the duo, it would come here. And while there were a couple of minor points that they did clarify, for the most part they stuck to their usual “this is what answers look like on LOST” statement. Those who devoured every article and Fathom event leading up to the finale got quite used to that answer and it’s used liberally here as well. But those expectations aside, it’s still a thrill to hear the people who created the show commentary on an episode and I’d pay big, big money for a complete set that featured their commentary on every episode.

The other audio commentaries (which again, I haven’t seen) are for:

  • “LA X” – Damon and Carlton again
  • “Dr. Linus” – Edward Kitsis (writer), Adam Horowitz (writer), Michael Emerson (actor, Ben Linus)
  • Ab AAeterno – Melinda Hsu Taylor (writer), Gregg Nations (writer), Nestor Carbonell (actor, Richard Alpert)

Past season have often have one or two episodes where the commentary is actors only. They tend to be very silly and a little disappointing, so having writers with only one actor should make these really stand out.

Other Special Features

  • Bloopers: These are done in the same way as previous seasons accompanied by music and gone through very quickly. But they’re fun.
  • Deleted Scenes: Every little bit of new LOST is a good thing. Unfortunately, they’re not accompanied by commentary as deleted scenes often are
  • The End: Crafting A Final Season: This was a very interesting look at the challenges faced by any series coming to a planned end. It features not only the creators of LOST but of several other television shows as well. Interesting and entertaining.
  • A Hero’s Journey: – For those deep into the mythological aspects of LOST this feature compares it to the work of Joseph Campbell. For me … not so interesting..
  • See You In Another Life, Brotha: – This short feature looks at the flash sideways introduced in Season 6.
  • ‘LOST on Location’: This is always a great part of a LOST season release and this is no exception. Go behind-the-scenes of the creation of some of season six’s most memorable scenes including lots of cast and crew interviews. I never ceased to be amazed when watching LOST on Location at how Hawaii is transformed to so many different places (and time periods). Another cool aspect here is for some actors you get to see the final scene they filmed for the show after which the director makes that announcement and the actor often makes some remarks. I thought it was kind o special to let us see that.

    • I only wish I could end a blog as well as LOST ended its series. I’ll simply say any fan of LOST won’t be disappointed by this collection. So grab it and the other five seasons, and let’s get LOST again!