Creators:
J.J. Abrams
Damon Lindelof
Jeffrey Lieber
Cast:
Naveen Andrews ………. Sayid Jarrah
Emilie de Ravin ………. Claire Littleton
Matthew Fox ………. Jack Shephard
Jorge Garcia ………. Hugo ‘Hurley’ Reyes
Josh Holloway ………. James ‘Sawye’ Ford
Daniel Dae Kim ………. Jin Kwon
Yunjin Kim ………. Sun Kwon
Evangeline Lilly ………. Kate Austen
Dominic Monaghan ………. Charlie Pace
Terry O’Quinn ………. John Locke
Malcolm David Kelley………. Walt Lloyd
Harold Perrineau ………. Michael Dawson
Cynthia Watros ………. George Williams
Maggie Grace ………. Shannon Rutherford
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje………. Mr. Eko
The Show:
The hottest show of the year faced strong criticism for the way that it ended its inaugural season. While the audience craved answers, the producers pushed secrecy and the second season served as a compromise between the two. The second season began by answering the question that left many pulling out their hair during the summer when the first episode, “Man Of Science, Man Of Faith” revealed what was in the hatch.
Essentially, there are three ongoing storylines in the sophomore episodes of Lost. In addition to the revelation of the hatch, Michael’s (Harold Perrineau) son is still missing. In addition, with the self-appointed leaders of the camp being occupied, the rest of the survivors are left to fend for themselves.
While debates can easily be launched about which of the plots was at the center of the story, clearly the struggles of Michael, Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and eventually Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) are important because they lead us to meeting new series regulars, in the sense of more survivors from the plane crash. The three primaries are Ana-Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez), Mr. Eko (Adewale Akkinnuoye-Agbaje). All three had major impacts on the season two storylines.
Crashing in a separate part of the island from Dr. Shephard and company, it’s clear that Ana-Lucia’s group has had a much harder life. One of the most interesting episodes of the season is the one that features the ‘tail section survivors’ where the entire episode is dedicated to examining the first 48 days for them and the differences between their experience and those of our favorites.
As the first episode of the season indicates, this time around Lost completely focuses on the battle between faith and science this time around. When the survivors are told by Desmond that they must keep pushing a button in the hatch in order to keep the world functional, Locke accepts it at face value while Jack remains the omnipresent skeptic. One of the best storylines of the season is when Eko involves himself in the button saga as Locke starts to separate himself from it as the season moves forward.
There are other themes as well, including the characte’s almost all universally searching for some kind of redemption. Michael’s need to do whatever it takes to find his son to compensate for not being there during Walt’s childhood is an example. Ana-Lucia’s need to compensate for shooting somebody from her past is another. There’s also Eko’s desire to turn from a drug lord into a man of religion. Most of these all serve to profligate the theory that the island is a synonym
One of the techniques that was used a little more in the second season was the non-traditional flashback. Whereas most Lost fans are used to seeing glimpses of the characte’s lives before the plane crashed on the island, there are three episodes in the second season that actually flashback to previous events on the island which is an interesting techniques and adds to the many layers and complexities of the show. By rewinding back to previous events that the viewer has already seen, the show avoids a degree of predictability and it is no longer the generic 10 minutes of island sequence, five minutes of flashback sequence, rinse and repeat per episode formula.
There are many interesting moments in the second season, and while the character development is there, it’s clear that the writers are enjoying the creative freedom of already delving into the lives of their protagonists in the first. This affords the opportunity to explore more of the island’s mysteries in the second season. What does the hatch mean? Who are the Others? What is the Dharma Initiative? Just like anything on Lost, the answers are all connected, and really, the second season is just the second chapter in a novel of epic proportios.
The DVD:
Video:
The DVD is presented in a widescreen anamorphic aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The display is very clear and very sharp. No complaints in terms of picture quality.
Audio:
The sound is presented as English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround. English subtitles are available. Not much to say here as once again, there aren’t any deficiencies whatsoever.
Special Features:
Wow, you could write another three reviews just on the number of extras that are included on this set.
Where to begin?
The DVD includes seven discs, and there are five audio commentaries available. The season premiere, “Man of Science, Man of Faith” features commentary from creator Damon Lindelof, director Jack Bender and executive producers Carlton Cuse and Bryan Burk. Lindelof, Bender, Cuse and Burk also are featured on the “23rd Psalm” episode that is dedicated to Mr. Eko and widely considered the best episode of the season.
In terms of actors on the commentaries, Jorge Garcia (Hurley) is joined by Bender and Cynthia Watros (Libby) for the “Dave” episode. Evangeline Lilly (Kate) is featured on “What Kate Did” with director Paul Edwards and director of photography Michael Bonvillian. Finally, Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) along with writers Christina M. Kim and Elizabeth Sarnoff participate on the commentary for “The Whole Truth.”
The majority of the extras are on the bonus seventh disc and this is where the DVD reaches a completely new level. The disc is presented as a presentation by the Hanso Foundation and the DHARMA Initiative. The features are broken down into three phases.
Phase One
The first phase includes some featurettes. The first is “Fire & Water: Anatomy of an Episode.” It runs for just over 30 minutes and is a fascinating look into how an episode goes from the writer to the television screen. It features interviews with the actors, producers, writers, editors, set designers and even the interns who pick up the tapes from the airport and deliver them to the studio. It is truly amazing to see how much work is involved in putting together just one episode.
“Lost: On Location” runs for about 45 minutes and includes short segments from a few selected episodes.
One of the best extras is “The World According To Sawyer.” This featurette just pays homage to one of the program’s best characters and his best lines (as Sawyer is very quotable). Interviews with the actors on Sawye’s one-liners is also fun to watch.
Phase Two
The second phase includes three of “The Lost Flashbacks.” These are additional scenes that did not air on the characte’s episode. Two are for Shannon on the “Abandoned” episode. The other is for Locke on the “Lockdown” episode. Features some interaction with his father.
There are also 11 deleted scenes in the second phase of features. These are fun to watch, and will definitely provide some fodder for Lostholics.
Next up are Lost Bloopers. These are absolutely great. Bloopers can either work really well or go terribly awry, but the reason that they work in this case is because the show is so serious. To the point where it would on any day as a potential Saturday Night Live sketch. As a result, seeing Sayid quote lines from Brokeback Mountain is definitely worth a look. The bloopers run for about four minutes.
One of my favorite features in the entire set is a promo that aired for the show in the U.K. It is a completely different spin on the show and features the characters in a sort of macabre dancing sequence on the island where Locke is the mad conductor. The promo was directed by David LaChapelle and is fantastic.
Phase 3
The final phase contains two featurettes. The first, “Mysteries, Theories and Conspiracies” features interviews with the cast, crew and fans on what the island really means and what the larger story is. The second, “Secrets from the Hatch” is filled with anecdotes about what it took to build the structure and why it was the primary fixture and focus in the second season. It runs for about 16 minutes.
The feature that will receive the most attention is called “Lost Connections,” and opinion on it will vary. Basically it is a gigantic map of links that associate one character with another on the show and how everyone is connected. Think six degrees of the island. So you can see Jin standing behind Jack in the airport lineup, Jack’s father with Ana-Lucia in the car and almost hitting Sawyer when he opens the door and Hurley on Korean television. The problem is that it is very hard to navigate. The links are not labeled and you have to go to a separate map to figure out what each button does. You then have to match each characte’s button to a wire that connects them to somebody else, but there is no way of telling which two you are connecting because you can only select one character at a time. So it is random luck. In addition, the clips that connect the two characters are only about 4 seconds each.
Still, the concept is very cool and it is interesting to see how everyone is connected.
