Blu-ray Review: Lost - The Complete Fifth Season

Release Date: December 8th, 2009
Running Time: 731 minutes

The Show

Over the course of five years Lost has taken viewers on one of the most engaging, puzzling, and dramatic adventures in recent television history. With every new season the mythology has expanded. The series began by introducing us to the island and its mysterious dangers before focusing on the hatch in season two, the Others’ camp in season three, and the freighter crew in season four. Season five, however, will always be remembered as the season where time travel changed everything. Lost: The Complete Fifth Season is a must-own Blu-ray title for fans, excelling in every area.

SPOILER WARNING

Season Four ended with a bombshell of a cliffhanger: the Oceanic Six get off the island and the island disappears. Season Five picks up with our characters split into two main groups. The first are the survivors that got home: Dr. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) and her “son” Aaron, Hugo “Hurley” Reyes (Jorge Garcia), Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews), Sun Kwon (Yunjin Kim), Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick) and Ben Linus (Michael Emerson), former leader of the Others. Jack becomes increasingly unstable as a certain truth becomes clear: he must bring everyone back to the island or everyone left behind will perish. While Jack and Ben have the impossible task of convincing the survivors to go back, Desmond (now happily reunited with his love, Penny) searches out Daniel Faraday’s mom and once again finds himself pulled back into the chaos. Ultimately the survivors return to the island in a surprisingly similar fashion as their initial arrival, though they don’t all arrive in the same year…

The second group of characters is stuck on the island, constantly jumping through time. The people enduring this painful, mind-boggling adventure include: James “Sawyer” Ford (Josh Holloway), Dr. Juliet Burke (Elizabeth Mitchell), Miles Straume (Ken Leung), Charlotte Lewis (Rebecca Mader), and physicist Daniel Faraday (Jeremy Davies). We also learn that Jin Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim) survived the freighter explosion from the Season Four finale. The islanders bounce around to 1954 where they encounter Richard and a hydrogen bomb, and are ultimately stranded in 1974 at the Dharma Initiative. With no way to get home, they set up a new life, acclimating and even enjoying themselves, until Jack and Kate arrive on their doorstep.

Other moments of interest in the season include: a flashback episode showing Locke’s fate; the Oceanic Six being split up between 1974 and 2007; Sayid trying to kill 12-year-old Ben; 2007 Ben going to the smoke monster to be judged; and Miles finding his father in 1977. The season ends with two massive revelations: a) John Locke goes on a mission in present day to find and kill Jacob, and b) The survivors in 1977 plan to detonate the buried hydrogen bomb, destroying the island and hopefully erasing all of the horrible experiences they have endured.

END SPOILERS

In Season Five Lost went full-on sci-fi, embracing the drama in all its glory. Time travel, hydrogen bombs, returning to the Island, the mysterious Jacob–Lost no longer tries to hide its roots. Having built up to these moments for numerous years, the execution of the season is flawless, answering season-old questions while raising even more. Not only is the writing some of the best on television, but the huge ensemble cast delivers time and time again. Even with so many different characters you still care about each and every one; no small feat.

This is serialized drama at its very best, presented in one of the most complete and skilled productions out there. Special effects, sound design, sets/costumes, editing, pacing—everything about this season of Lost is flawless. There have been times when Lost has missed the mark a bit, but this season makes up for any missteps the series may have had and completely restored my confidence in the show. By the time you finish the season you will be counting down the days until the final season airs.

The five-disc set contains all 17 episodes from the Fifth Season: “Because You Left,” “The Lie,” “Jughead,” “The Little Prince,” “This Place Is Death,” “316,” “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham,” “LaFleur,” “Namaste,” “He’s Our You,” “Whatever Happened, Happened,” “Dead is Dead,” “Some Like It Hoth,” “The Variable,” “Follow the Leader,” and “The Incident (Parts 1 and 2).”

The Discs

The video is presented in a 1.78:1, 1080p High Definition transfer. Colors are astounding, from the lush jungle greens to the crystal-clear ocean blues, yet even though the primary colors are quite bold they are never oversaturated. Black levels are perfect with top-notch shadow detail. The level of detail is pristine. Close-up shots show off the grime, stubble, and weariness of the characters while the image depth seen in the wide island shots is as close to 3-D as you can get without the technology. A fine level of grain preserves the film-like quality of the image. There are a few minor occurrences of video noise but other than that the transfer is free of any glaring video errors. Lost have never looked so polished and crisp.

The audio is offered in an English DTS HD 5.1 master lossless audio track, English/Portuguese Dolby Digital 2.0, and French/Spanish DTS 5.1. The very active surround speakers bring the various locations to life through atmospheric effects showing off the sound design. Action sequences feature smooth, realistic pans and well-placed directional effects. The powerful music is balanced with the clear, clean dialogue. The dynamic range is also impressive, especially the sounds made when the island skips time. There are very few television sets out there with a more engaging audio mix.

The Extras

Like the previous seasons the spread of extra content offered is robust, informative, and most importantly—entertaining.

Two Commentaries are offered. “Because You Left” features Executive Producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse in a spoiler-heavy discussion that covers most of the season, focusing on themes, plots, characters, etc. more than straight production information. “He’s Our You” features writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz in a more typical episode-specific discussion with heavy emphasis on the production itself.

“Lost Starter Kit” (5 minutes) is an ultra-fast recap of the series.

“Lost 100” (19 minutes) is a detailed look at the 100th episode and the celebration the cast/crew had for reaching the important milestone.

“Mysteries of the Universe” (26 minutes) is a fake documentary about the Dharma Initiative. It is supposed to be from the 80s so it is presented in a fuzzy, grainy standard definition like Watchmen’s “Under the Hood.”

“Making Up for Lost Time” (14 minutes) explores the season’s theme of time travel and the effect such a bold story choice has on the production and continuity.

“An Epic Day with Richard Alpert” (12 minutes) follows Nestor Carbonell on a particularly exhausting day of shooting.

“Building 23 & Beyond,” (12 minutes) has Michael Emerson touring the writers offices on the Disney lot in Burbank, but don’t expect an in-depth look at the writing process—it is mostly kept under wraps.

“Lost on Location” (38 minutes total) is a collection of episode-specific, behind-the-scenes featurettes for the following: “The Lie,” “The Little Prince,” “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham,” “Namaste,” “He’s Our You,” “Whatever Happened, Happened,” and “The Incident.” As far as explicit production dissection goes, these are the most informative segments on the set.

8 Deleted, but inconsequential, scenes run 14 minutes and the “Lost Bloopers” reel runs 4 minutes.

Season Play keeps track of your progress.

The most intriguing, and deep, special feature is called “Lost University” and is available over BD-Live. Through streaming videos, never-before-seen interviews, and guest lectures, you can learn an astonishing amount about the series and the science behind it’s mind-boggling storylines. Some of the “classes” include: “Foreign Language for Beginners,” “Ancient Writing on the Wall,” “Jungle Survival Basics,” “I’m Lost Therefore I Am” and “New Physics with Jeremy Davies.”

Final Thoughts

Lost: The Complete Fifth Season continues to prove that the series has some of the best Blu-ray releases out there. Packed with informative, unique special features and presented on technically superior discs, this title is a must-own for any self-respecting Lost fanatic.