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Show:		7.0
Picture:		9.0
Sound:		9.0
Extras:		10.0
Score:		7.0

Director(s):	Jack Bender • Paul A. Edwards • Stephen Williams
Writer(s):	J.J. Abrams, Jeffrey Lieber, Damon Lindelof
Starring:	Daniel Dae Kim • Evangeline Lilly • Jorge Garcia • Josh Holloway • Matthew Fox • Naveen Andrews • Terry O'Quinn • Michael Emerson • Ken Leung • Nestor Carbonell • Jeremy Davies
Genre:	Action • Adventure • Drama • Fantasy
Website:	http://abc.go.com/shows/lost
Release Date:	December 08, 2009

List Price:	Blu-ray - $46.99
Amazon:

We all knew that just because Jack and a few others got off the island their stories weren’t over. Whether you figured that out because the last episode of season four wasn’t the series finale or because it’s Lost and that ending is just too easy, it doesn’t really matter because everyone who left must return and then some. If you ever wondered how you keep introducing characters in a show about an island no one can find until they’ve arrived, Lost has an answer: time travel. The solution is at once genius and cheap in that it simultaneously gives a new slant to the meaning of the show’s title and yet demystifies the mythos surrounding the island’s past. The fifth season of Lost marked a noticeable upswing in story and cohesiveness but at what cost? The best storyline doesn’t start until halfway through and the season has only 16 episodes. Overall, the result is a definite loss.

As of the fourth season’s finale, the story had essentially split between the faction who chose to follow Locke and stay on the island and those who followed Jack back to the rest of the world. Were they right to leave? Would their lives ever be the same? Through Lost’s signature multi-story style we receive glimpses into the lives of both parties (on-island and off) and find cryptic clues as to who the “saved” members of Lost have become since their departure. Meanwhile, the new islanders Charlotte (Rebecca Mader), Faraday (Jeremy Davies) and Miles (Ken Leung) journey along with Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and company in an attempt to put an end to the time skips which have begun to take a toll on them physically.

Then Locke (Terry O’Quinn) puts an end to it – and time returns to normal. However, thanks to the time skips, the main troupe left on the island has been stranded in the 1970s during the original Dharma Initiative. This is where the season really starts; halfway through the season (episode 8 of a 16 episode season) and the story picks up, better late than never. I already have reservations recommending a 16 episode season when the ones before it (save for season 4) were at least 22 episodes. Leaner? Certainly. But it’s 6-8 fewer episodes of time travel talk between Hurley and Miles, the moments which made the season so entertaining. The show’s other tangent, the remaining islanders still puttering about in the present, takes an interesting turn when Locke returns from the dead and leads a band of survivors to find the island’s legendary patron saint Jacob. It’s an interesting storyline but also doesn’t present itself until far too late in the season.

Where season five falters is in its elimination of the mystery it worked so hard to build and often in ways very glib. Fans have wondered since the first season, “Where’d that polar bear come from?” The answer presents itself in an offhand remark from a security advisor. Similarly, the underlying mystery of the Dharma Initiative comes crashing down by placing the characters smack dab in the middle of it. The visage of Dr. Pierre Chang (Francois Chau), the guy from all the Dharma Initiative videos, used to represent a mysterious and clandestine activity the extent of which the protagonists were slowly uncovering. I know the writers promised they’d start giving fans the answers to the questions, but they’ve done so in a way that cheapens everything they spent so long building.

The show looks fantastic on Blu-ray. The audio and visual get a nice kick up from their SD network broadcast quality (though if you’ve been watching it on an HD version of ABC, you’ve seen the show at its best). If it weren’t for the disappointing nature of the season, there’d be no reason not to pick up the fifth season of Lost on Blu-ray.

Blu-ray Bonus Features

Maybe ABC realized they were giving Lost fans the short end of the stick with the fifth season set, it would explain the rather involving extra feature it boasts. Like the past seasons there’s a share of production featurettes ranging from a talk with the writers as they develop the storylines and sort out the increasingly twisted timelines of the season. A fake documentary covers the activities of the Dharma Initiative in depth with bloopers, deleted scenes and audio commentaries finishing out the list of usual suspects.

Where the set really goes all out is with the Lost University concept. If you get through the entire season and just haven’t had your complete Lost fix, then this is the feature for you. The best part? As per its name, the Lost University doesn’t let you do all your classwork in one day. It’s an extra feature that unfolds over time with new courses added after each semester ends. It’s a tremendous idea for an extra as it seems to claim a bevy of future investment in the product from ABC. We’ll see how long they keep it going. But for now you can take classes taught by Matthew Fox, Evangeline Lilly and Jorge Garcia (in character of course) on subjects pertinent to Lost’s themes.