(Warning: Article may contain spoilers. Do not read if you have not yet watched the season five finale)
Wow. That is the only word that comes to me when thinking about season five of “Lost” and its finale.
Season five certainly wasn’t the best season (that still remains season three) or the most emotional (that would be season one). However, it was certainly the strangest. And I mean that in the same way as I did for “Happiness.” I mean the kind of strange that is strange because it is something unseen, something many would think of but few would ever carry out. They went back and forth between over two periods of time. Flashbacks became flash-forwards. Past became present. Future became present. And then, the bomb went off. Yes, the bomb went off. While most shows give off the sense of security that the bomb will never go off, the characters will always be safe, “Lost” threw that notion out the door. It threw the characters right in front of a speeding train.
And then, it took this twist one step further and made it the final moment of the season. So now we are forced to wonder: were they really put in harm’s way? Will the bomb save them, or kill them all? My friends, it looks like we’ll have to wait until 2010 to find that out.
This season, the cast shined as usual. Terry O’Quinn (Locke) and Michael Emerson (Ben) were standouts as usual. However, this season’s biggest standout was Jeremy Davies. Davies portrayed Daniel Faraday, a scientist who seemed timid and clueless in season four but really had every answer the survivors were looking for. Another standout was Josh Holloway, who’s Sawyer underwent one of the biggest character transformations in “Lost” history this season.
This season wasn’t perfect. The constant time jumping in the first few episodes was too hectic and too difficult to keep up with. Once Locke turned the wheel and the island stopped moving, things seemed to go back to normal. However, things were far from normal. While the past four seasons contained either past and present or present and future, this season managed to use all three and balance them out perfectly.
Each season of “Lost” has mixed science with science fiction by setting of themes of faith vs. science and mythology. This season it took a way more scientific approach and examined time travel. Not just time travel, but the implications of it. A new twist of “Lost”‘s central argument of fate vs. freewill: can humans change the past? Or was everything bound to happen no matter what? “Lost” never answered this question because this question should be up to the viewer. It is one of those things that no person could ever answer correctly.
The season five finale set up multiple new problems to be solved next season and questions demanding answers. Ben has killed Jacob, but what will happen when Jacob dies? When will Jin & Sun reunite? But most importantly, will the island even exist anymore now that Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) detonated the bomb? I can’t answer any of these questions but I will say this: Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse have continued to hold my attention, and I cannot wait until next year to find out all of the answers in the season to conclude one of the greatest sci-fi masterpieces ever made.