Lost - The Complete Second Season

Genre : DVD ( DVD )
Release : 2006/09/05
Price : $16.99

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What was in the Hatch? The cliffhanger from season one of Lost was answered in its opening sequences, only to launch into more questions as the season progressed. That's right: Just when you say "Ohhhhh," there comes another "What?" Thankfully, the show's producers sprinkle answers like tasty morsels throughout the season, ending with a whopper: What caused Oceanic Air Flight 815 to crash in the first place? As the show digs into more revelations about its inhabitant's pasts, it also devotes a good chunk to new characters (Hey, it's an island; you never know who you're going to run into.) First, there are the "Tailies," passengers from the back end of the plane who crashed on the other side of the island. Among them are the wise, God-fearing ex-drug lord Mr. Eko (standout Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje); devoted husband Bernard (Sam Anderson); psychiatrist Libby (Cynthia Watros, whose character has more than one hidden link to the other islanders); and ex-cop Ana Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), by far the most infuriating character on the show, despite how much the writers tried to incur sympathy with her flashback. Then there are the Others, first introduced when they kidnapped Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) at the end of season one. Brutal and calculating, their agenda only became more complex when one of them (played creepily by Michael Emerson) was held hostage in the hatch and, quite handily, plays mind games on everyone's already frayed nerves. The original cast continues to battle their own skeletons, most notably Locke (Terry O'Quinn), Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineau), whose obsession with finding Walt takes a dangerous turn. The love triangle between Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway), which had stalled with Sawyer's departure, heats up again in the second half. Despite the bloating cast size (knocked down by a few by season's end) Lost still does what it does best: explores the psyche of people, about whom "my life is an open book" never applies, and cracks into the social dynamics of strangers thrust into Lord of the Flies-esque situations. Is it all a science experiment? A dream? A supernatural pocket in the universe? Likely, any theory will wind up on shaky ground by the season's conclusion. But hey, that's the fun of it. This show was made for DVD, and you can pause and slow-frame to your heart's content. Just try and keep that head-spinning to a minimum.

On the DVD

Commentaries by various cast members and producers reveal little other than the occasional easter egg (the Dharma logo on the shark fin, Walt's mumbling translating to "Don't push the button; the button is bad" backwards). But disc seven opens with an eerie Hanso Foundation instructional video, leading you to eight hours of bonus features, including cast members' own theories, deleted scenes, and featurettes on specific episodes. It's all well and good for Lost fanatics, but if you want the cream of the crop, check out: "Lost Connections," an interactive feature that reveals how all the islanders are actually linked (for instance, one of the officers who captured Sayid during the Gulf War is Kate's father); a Channel UK promo for the show directed by David LaChappelle in which cast members suck in their cheeks and, dressed in evening wear, tango in slow motion as if in a Calvin Klein ad (it has to be a joke, right?); and "The World According to Sawyer," which strings together each of the un-PC nicknames and pop culture references spewed by Holloway's character. Favorites include "Chewie" for Jin and "Ponce de Leon" for Ana Lucia. It's by far the cherry on top of a sweet dessert. --Ellen A. Kim

I had no idea how great this series was until I got this set. Excellent price for this 7-disk set.

Alright, so coming off the high that was Season 1, we dive into Season 2. Unfortunately, like any other sophomore season, this show has a LOT of growing pains, and they're very evident. Sure, we get a lot more mystery, but most of the events of this season are virtually erased by the middle of Season 3. But don't worry, Lost is about characters, not story, right? Yeah, but they frustratingly can get much right there this season.

Highlight Episodes:
Man of Science, Man of Faith
The Other 48 Days
One of Them
Lockdown
Live Together, Die Alone

Alright, so we do get a lot of great moments in the Hatch, and we do get to know the Tailies, but by season's end, most of the Tailies are dead, and the hatch is blown up. The mystery certainly did its job, but in retrospect, it was kind of for nothing, besides a few character building moments. Which brings me to the Flashbacks. These moments in the first season often gave us insight into the characters, but in season two, they mostly tell us what we already know, and a lot of them feel just straight-up pointless and not enjoyable. Sure, they're useful when first meeting the Tailies, but that's about it.

Then there's the crime this season commits against its characters. By the end of the first season, we had grown to love these characters, and while they weren't always likable, they had a good reason to be so. This season however, it seems the Island has a tendency to just make everybody annoying/jerky. Basically Sawyer, Sayid & Locke are untouched by this rampage of bad turns with characters, but that's because they align with who they were last season. I can't say as much for the rest of the characters. Jack becomes increasingly more irrational/annoying when he goes he becomes more of a roguish leader shaped by the harsh reality of the Island. Kate isn't given that much to do, but between love-triangles & more irrationality, she became annoying very quickly. Michael wasn't there for most of the season, and he was just trying to get his son back, but I found him more frustrating and just being in the way of the action I actually cared about to care about his predicament, or even try to justify his actions, since they were completely irrational. Sun & Jin took way too long to get where they were going in their personal journeys.

And then there was Charlie. My god, what did the producers/writers do to Charlie? There was simply no reason to bring back the heroin storyline with him, and they just made him into a pompous jerk bent on being a smart-ass & nothing more. There was simply no reason to do this, and again, the Writers spent a LONG time after that to get the guy to become likable again, and it just barely worked because it reminded us of the Charlie of Season 1, since Charlie of Season 2 was a douche. I also wasn't a fan of Claire, since she became the new Shannon, ala annoying screaming girl, who I just lost all physical attraction for. And again, most of her actions are not rational in any sense of the word.

But, for all that Season 2 does wrong with the characters, it does introduce us to the wonder that is Michael Emerson & Desmond Hume. Henry Gale/Ben Linus just makes for such a perfect foil of John Locke, and his character is just so compelling, even though you don't know a single thing about him. His expressions, his actions, every word he speaks and doesn't speak is absolutely spell-binding. And even though Desmond Hume is only in the Season a grand total of 2 or 3 episodes, the character is fascinating on every level, and does the most with his short time.

Overall, the story is compelling and a lot of interesting stuff is raises, the Season suffers from a grand sense of pointlessness, and what it does to the characters that we fell in love with just a season before, is almost unforgivable. They may have Lost their way, but at least there's enough good elements here to find yourself getting through the Season, on to bigger and better stuff.

Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), Locke (Terry O' Quinn), Sayid (Naveen Andrews), and the rest are back, or are still, on the island for the second season of Lost. Are there any survivors from the tail section of Oceanic 815, and if there are what happened to them? Who are The Others and where did they come from? What's in the hatch? What will become of Michael (Harold Perrineau), Sawyer (Josh Holloway), Jin (Daniel Dae Kim), and Walt (Malcolm David Kelley)? This season in Lost some of these questions will be answered, and many more questions will go unanswered!

By now, with the last season airing it's first episodes over the last couple of weeks, I'm starting to wish that I had started watching Lost sooner. I want to hurry up and get through the first five seasons so I can actually pay attention to what people are saying about the show in it's last season. Unfortunately, I have to avoid conversations about the show, or risk learning spoilers or getting lost in plotlines that haven't even started to unravel in the second season yet. I even had to set aside last week's copy of Entertainment Weekly because there was an article with predictions for the sixth season, which meant they were going to point out things in the rest of the seasons that I have not seen yet. Of course, my wanting to get through this has to do with the fact that I love the show, and only like it even more as time goes by and want to know how it's all going to end, just like when I read a great book.

Season two really feels like another beginning to the show. We're introduced to another cast of characters and new places, so a lot of the show is spent with these new characters and places this season in introductions. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. And, of course, the writers do a great job of expounding on each character, focusing on a different character with a spotlight on one character with each episode. This focus doesn't take away from the show, or ever get tiring. Instead, this helps enlighten us as to as to who these characters are, and at times what motivates them to make the decisions that they make as well as giving us insight into the previous skills of each character and opening up new ways these characters were possibly connected before they crashed on the island.

The second season adds in new and exciting characters and great actors as well. In the second season we're introduced to characters played by Michelle Rodriguez (Avatar, The Fast and The Furious), Henry Ian Cusick (Dead Like Me: Life After Death, Hitman), Cynthia Watros (Titus, The Drew Carey Show), Julie Bowen (Modern Family, Happy Gilmore), and even Clancy Brown (Carnivale, The Guardian) and Katey Sagal (Married with Children, Sons of Anarchy) show up for a couple of episodes. The true standouts in this season though are Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (The Mummy Returns, The Bourne Identity) as Mr. Eko, a man with a dark past who is now a priest, and Michael Emerson (Saw, The Legend of Zorro), who might be one of The Others or just a man who happened to crashed on the island by other means. As always the acting in this season is as superb as it was in the first season from all of the actors involved.

The main problem I have with this season though is that some of the characters either go against the way a real person would act in certain situations, or make really bad decisions. It's the first time I've seen this from this series, and at times had me nearly screaming at the TV. These bad ideas from characters leads the plot along at certain points, and while the places we are lead are exciting and drive the suspense, I believe there were other ways to get there than making bad decisions. Of course, it could be explained by the fact that these people are scared for their lives on a deserted island they crashed on and spend their time scared for their lives. That will cause people to do strange and stupid things, but I still couldn't buy some of the things that the characters did in this season.

All in all, Lost is still one of the best shows created for TV, but season 2 hit a snag. Rather than feeling like a season all it's own, it feels more like a place mat. You know how you read a book and you hit a chapter that doesn't tell a part of the story like the rest do, or read a series of books where one book doesn't quite stand on it's own (here's looking at you Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince), well, that's the way that Lost season 2 feels. But, hey, Lost's possible worst season is still better than most TV series best!

4/5

In its second season Lost brought in a plethora of new characters, phenomena, plot developments, and plot theories. It all worked becuase the series let itself bring things in at their proper pace, rather than rushing all elements and major characters into the first few episodes of Season 1. The bonds and relationships that got started in the first season grow, as do the inter-group rivalries - surprisingly, the most profound rivalry affecting the series isn't between Jack and Sawyer, but between Jack and Locke, who end up on opposite poles of the leadership spectrum. Jack's approach is practical, oriented towards finding a way to get the group off the island they're stranded on, and completely skeptical of any of the increasing hints as to a possible supernatural aspect to the island. Locke's stance is grounded in the belief that there's something far bigger at a work than a plane crashing on an uncharted island, on the idea of fate, and his quest to explore and understand and participate in the 'big picture'. In one regard, though, Locke's approach is more 'practical' (in the conventional sense of the word) than Jack's: Locke is the first in the group to become convinced that there are other people on the island, that they're hostile, and that there's something abnormal about this other group and its purpose (in other words, it's not a question of 'there might be a couple of cottages over on the other side of the island where people have their summer homes', it's something more unorthodox). Most of the rest of the group seems determined not to accept this because of it's implications; Jack seems determined at this stage not to accept any suggestion that would require him to look at the island and its particular circumstances in a highly unorthodox manner, or even a fantasical one.

The flashbacks in Season 2 are among the best of the whole series, with flashbacks delving into the back stories of Mr. Eko, Sawyer, and Sayid all being particularly powerful. Of all the seasons, Season 2 is the one that may gain the most from a second viewing. Part of the reason for this is that in the second half of the season, developments occur that initially have one wondering if all the revelations are going to end up being a letdown. Without being too specific, there was an uncomfortable sense that the series was going to move in a direction that revealed all the great mysteries as more or less red herrings, that we'd get an explained situation that was too bland and stripped away the 'awe factor'. Without going into what develops later, I think it's safe to say that the series doesn't do that. Not at all. At the same time, these possibilities arising Was a vital part of the show, and the affect it had on certain characters (Locke in particular) was an important part of their overall development. Another reason it gains so much on the rewatch is that you can appreciate certain happenings that, on the first time around, no one had any idea how pivotal they were going to be. I'm referring in part to the first appearance of a certain character who goes on to have a much larger role in the overall story than it would first appear when he's discovered. Actually, come to think of it, there are two characters who could easily fit that bill... And even the characters introduced here who turn out to be more or less 'supporting players' in the overall story have important impacts.

Topped off with a tremendous double-cliffhanger ending that couples with a truly shocking revelation, the conclusion of this set'll have you rushing to buy Season 3, and with good reason. Everything from the acting to the special effects to the cinematography capturing the island (at times gorgeous, at other times menacing) right through to the care in the packaging of the boxed set itself is first rate. Highest reccommendation, although obviously newcomers to the series (or those just starting to rewatch the series afte seeing its first run on television) will want to start with Season 1.

I have seen, loved and own every season out at the moment (1-5) and i have to say that season two & three is by far the greatest of all , because that's truly when all the twist and plots of awesomeness begins! I JUST ADORE LOST!