Lost: The Complete Sixth Season
DVD/Blu-ray
WRITERS/DIRECTORS: Damon Lindelof, Carton Cuse, Jack Bender, Adam Horowitz, Paul Edwards, Tucker Gates, Edward Kitsis, Elizabeth Sarnoff
STARRING: Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly, Terry O’Quinn, Jorge Garcia, Josh Holloway, Naveen Andrews, Yunjin Kim, Daniel Dae Kim, Michael Emmerson, Emile de Ravin, Nestor Carbonell, Ken Jeung, Jeff Fahey, Henry Ian Cusick, Mark Pellegrino Dominic Monaghan
Disney Home Entertainment
RELEASE DATE: August 24, 2010

Reviewing The Final Season of LOST is not the easiest thing to pull off. If you have any interest at all in this sixth and last season, then you’ve seen seasons one through five already (at least you better have!). And if you’ve seen seasons one through five, then you were most likely just as excited to inhale the sixth as everyone else, and already know exactly what you think of it!

That said, this final season was met with a battle of varying opinions. Most Lost faithfuls came to love the way things were wrapped up; some had difficulty warming up to it, myself included, but in the end it all found a way to work. On the other hand, there were a surprising amount of fans who were enraged by what they saw, unfortunately.

I will do my best to share my thoughts on season six here, but let’s be honest: this review is really all about the Blu-ray and the many special features that it will present you. You already know whether you want to hold this in your hands and cuddle with it at night, but clearly the question is whether or not there’s enough extra goodies to really seal the deal.

As mentioned above, the final season of Lost was a bit of a bumpy ride for me. Never once did I find it “bad” as others did, but there was no denying that things didn’t quite feel up to the tremendously high bar previous seasons had set. Episodes like “Ab Aeterno,” “The Candidate,” and “Across the Seas” stood out this season for their answers and emotional importance.

“Ab Aeterno” gave us the Richard Alpert (Nestor Carbonell) episode we have been salivating for, and heading back to the 19th century to see how Richard got from where he was to the island was very exciting. “Across the Sea” was a little less well-received, showing the story of Jacob (Mark Pellegrino) and his origins story. Many felt this offered TOO much information that wasn’t necessary, but for me it was great to really know everything that happened. And when so many complain about not knowing what’s going on and lack of answers, it’s pretty difficult for anyone at all to hold a gripe against Lost for presenting too much information.

When it came to the finale, this is where everything culminates in ultimate acceptance or rejection. You could have adored every second of Lost building up to the finale before losing it all to one episode, and sadly some had just this type of reaction happen to them. The episode was incredibly hard to wrap your brain around at first, and even I just wasn’t sure what to think. But after a few days of pondering, the realization that this was all much more about faith and spirituality than religion (as many prematurely assumed), and some helpful discussions to gather your thoughts, it was much easier for me to embrace the conclusion to this near-perfect story.

For the longest time I considered this the perfect show (and still consider it to be the best we’ve ever had the great pleasure of seeing), but I can admit that the last season and finale could have gone in a much different direction and felt a lot more satisfying to the journey we were all on. Even so, as it was was more than enough to make this humble viewer happy. Especially in beautiful Blu-ray, which as you might have guessed, is a hell of a lot better than ABC and their watermarks and unforgivable red “V” promoting other crap. If you watched this season, you know of what I speak.

The best thing for me when it comes to Lost now that it’s over, is the excitement I have to watch it all over again. I will stubbornly wait until I can somehow afford the amazing Complete Series package they have released to do this; and by then, it should be just like watching it for the first time all over again. The only difference this time is that I will know what’s going on from the start, and I have a strong feeling this will help to enhance the overall experience.

Special Features

The obvious feature that everyone was talking about is called “The New Man in Charge,” a brief epilogue that takes place after Hurley (Jorge Garcia) has taken over the island. The epilogue starts with Benjamin Linus (Michael Emmerson), who Hurley brought on as his new right-hand man, going around shutting down the Dharma stations.

I won’t give too much away, but a couple of workers demand answers to what they’ve been doing all this time and what was the deal with the polar bears (a little nod to frustrated viewers early in the series’ run). Ben is in a rush but decides to show them a nice little Dharma video to explain. Our old friend Dr. Chang appears and talks a little about the protocol, but the interesting part is when he brings up genetic engineering. Chang shares that he wants to create genetically engineered hybrids of various species of animals, set them off into the wild, and study their progress. Now, I don’t know about you, but some crazy animal gene splicing storylines sounds to me like it would have been pretty fantastic. I’m not sure why they never chose to use it.

This is the majority of the epilogue, but there is another little bit which I definitely won’t get into, but let’s just say it involves a boy named Walt. You may remember him, and remember wondering what the hell happened to him. This presents some closure to you.

When we first heard about this epilogue, it was popular to joke that Hurley and Ben should get their own spinoff series. This was amusing to think about at first, but now having seen it…I actually kind of wish it would happen. We’ve seen series spinoffs before, and a world without Lost is a sad, sad world. So I for one would absolutely explode with excitement if we were told a season or two dedicated to these popular characters’ adventures on the island after the show ended was going to be made.

As for the rest of the special features, they consist of your typical but always entertaining extras. Here’s the rundown.

THE END: Crafting A Final Season — This is a making of featurette that I suggest all fans (and maybe even critics) or Lost should watch; it’s really one of the best making of special features I’ve seen. It just shows the creation of the final season, talks to a lot of cast and crew about the journey, and how much the show has meant to them, and how hard it really is to say goodbye. Even legendary producers of other shows offer their perspectives. I was an emotional wreck watching this thing just because I was able to connect to Lost and its world and characters so well, that anything like this will strike a chord.

As for the haters, they’ll probably keep on hating away after watching this, but being able to see just how important it was to everyone involved from actors to Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse and popular director Jack Bender might just shine a little light on the effort they put forth.

It’s so easy for us, sitting on our couches and drinking from a bag of Cheetos, to say “That sucked! You suck! Fail!” But to see how difficult it was to take this show from season to season and try and figure out the very best way to stay faithful to what they had built while finding a way to bring all of the stories and complications together successfully…that gives you a new appreciation of the mountain they had to climb. As one of the producers put it, it didn’t matter what they did, people weren’t going to be happy because the show was going off the air.

A Hero’s Journey — This is a feature that studies the “hero” as we know it and different ways of looking at what makes a hero. It’s a cool look into the many different heroes of Lost and what makes them worthy of such a title. There’s also quite a few Star Wars and Luke Skywalker references, which is always good.

See You in Another Life, Brotha — Ah, just that title and thinking of Desmond saying it gives me goosebumps. This is a feature that takes a closer look at the infamous “Flash Sideways” universe that left many people wanting. It’s a featurette that offers a little more detail on how they approached it, as well as feedback about the concept from cast and crew.

LOST On Location — Another behind the scenes featurette that follows shooting the show on location in Hawaii. Just another one of those fun little peeks into the every day goings on of Lost that fans love to watch. Anything that allows us to spend more time with these people is always acceptable.

After that is most of the smaller stuff you’ll often find: commentaries, deleted scenes, some more making of specific scenes featurettes, and of course, the necessary blooper reel.

You can even access the LOST University Master’s Program, which is an extension of the university we heard about at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con.

Lost is a show that will live on forever, and whether you’ve seen and loved every moment or haven’t even seen the pilot, everyone should own this and every other Lost season, either on DVD or Blu-ray — whichever suits you best. I envy those who haven’t seen the show, actually, because they’re still open to discover this great show and receive the joy it brought all of us for the past six years or so.