Lately my fake/Facebook wife Joanne and I have been tearing through season five of Lost. We're getting our fill of Daniel Faraday, Jeremy Bentham, Ben getting owned (rather repeatedly), retro Losties, and a lot more - it's a marvelous season.
Through and through, I'd say it is the most entertaining season of the series yet. You have reduced focus on Jack and Kate (the two weakest main characters in my mind), increased importance of Locke and Ben (if that is at all possible), and Sawyer taking the leap from a B grade character to an A+ character. While the segments that take place off the island early on are not the best the series has ever had (Joanne regularly responded to them derisively and we occasionally laughed at some of the drama), whenever the focus shifted back to the island of mystery, we were captivated.
We should finish it by Tuesday, when the sweet, sweet premiere of the sixth and final season starts up. When the fifth season ended in...well, disaster for almost all involved, I must admit I was perplexed: where could the series go from there? Previews have been minimal to date and Team Lost has done a phenomenal job of keeping word of its events down, but still, it will all be revealed soon in one hellacious season that will assuredly be as filled with crazy and intensity as we've come to expect.
While Joanne and I were watching, I had to pause and tell her my theory of what the last season will be and what reactions will be to it. I paraphrase:
Me: So I know what is going to happen in the last season.
Joanne: Oh yeah?
Me: Yeah, they aren't going to answer anything and we're going to be confused as all hell.
Joanne: They better not.
Me: They're going to do that because answers aren't what people want. When people get answers, they aren't happy. They aren't ever what they were looking for. The questions suck you in, but the answers just disappoint you. Trust me - more questions, no answers.
But it will be awesome.
That is without a doubt.
I think the quality of the last season depends on whether or not Carlton Cuse, Damon Lindelof, and the rest realize that sooner rather than later. While I think they're already not playing with a full deck (no Brian K. Vaughan on the writing staff this year), I do think they're fully capable of entertaining the living hell out of me. Let's just hope they realize my previous idea, and that the show is always better when Locke, Ben, Desmond, Daniel Faraday, or Sawyer are involved. That's your recipe people.
Now give us a tasty treat.
If you want to see the opening four minutes of Tuesday's premiere, check it out below. I would describe it as not really surprising, but they did a good job in the presentation of the predictability.