Season 4 So Far

Well, it's been a strange season for Lost. We've seen eight hours, and have five hours left. Here's my mini-review of each Season 4 episode, complete with grades. If I sound like a snob below, forgive me, but I'll be as honest as I can.

4.01 - The Beginning of the EndI was incredibly psyched for this long-awaited premiere. It had been nine months since our last episode, and every season's first episode has always been a mythologically-packed thrill ride (Pilot, Man of Science, Man of Faith, and A Tale of Two Cities).

Unfortunately, Season 4's premiere fell flat for me. I was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Freighter Four, but only got a one-liner from Daniel at the end of the episode. Other than that, Kate followed a dying Naomi around the Island, and the survivors split into Team Locke and the Jack Pack.

Hurley's flash-forward was a little tedious and a little frustrating for me. Charlie's apparitions didn't seem to conform to the rules of the show. The one bright spot? The introduction of uber-creep Matthew Abbadon, whose calculating, cool aura was a joy to watch. I really hope he becomes a key player in the future.

Conclusion: The On-Island action was virtually non-existent and served solely to split up the survivors, while the Off-Island flash-forward was a little too goofy (like most of Hurleys') and confusing for me to enjoy.

Grade: C

4.02 - Confirmed DeadNow this episode should have been the premiere. All four of the Freighter newcomers have eye-opening flashbacks (memory problems, ghostbusting, airline conspiracy theories, and a polar bear in Tunisia...whew!).

On the Island, Dan and Miles' interaction with Jack, Kate, and Sayid is priceless ("I collect soil samples" is one of my favorite lines ever), while Charlotte's rendezvous with the rebellious Team Locke had me on the edge of my seat. The episode's tag, where Ben shoots a luckily-armored Charlotte and then reveals her entire biography was a classic Lost reveal/twist/cliffhanger.

Conclusion: Revealing flashbacks + Forward motion on the Island = Great Episode.

Grade: A

4.03 - The Economist
In easily the best flash-forward so far, Sayid has turned into Ben's personal Jason Bourne. How did he get manipulated into that? Good question for the latter half of the season. I didn't buy Sayid's flash-and-bang romance with the slightly anorexic German, but seeing Ben stitch him up in a vet's office made it all worthwhile.

On the Island, Dan's too-cool experiment hints at the Island's time-dilating properties, and Sayid finds Ben's hidden room full of passports, money, and a Men's Warehouse clearance sale.

Conclusion: Learning more about Ben is always a fun ride, especially when we find out he's an international man of mystery. Plus, Sayid's always a thrill, and it's about time someone started doing some geeky science experiments on this Island.

Grade: A-

4.04 - EggtownEvery time I hear an episode is centered on Kate, a little part of me dies inside. Okay, exaggerations aside, her episodes tend to be some of the weakest (as were Charlie's and often Hurley's). This episode's tedious courtroom flash-forward seemed to exist solely to set up the twist at the end, where we discover Kate's pseudo-adoption of Aaron. Unfortunately, most of us had already figured it out by that point.

On the Island, Kate uses a lot of people. That's pretty much all that happened. Honestly.

Conclusion: Kate's episodes are usually solely focused on her, which may be interesting to people who care about her character. Too bad I don't. She's an embodiment of two of my biggest pet peeves (selfishness and utilitarianism), and everyone else just kind of stood around on the Island for this episode.

Grade: C+

4.05 - The Constant
The best episode of Lost ever. Everything was good, from the time-traveling consciousnesses to the tear-jerking telephonic reunion. Desmond's episodes are always a roller-coaster ride.

Conclusion: Yes, I missed the good ole Island, but the brilliant script made up for it.

Grade: A+

4.06 - The Other WomanI was pumped for another Juliet flashback, because 1) I love her character and the actress who plays her is both sexy and intelligent, and 2) her previous flashbacks have both revealed new facets to the Island's overall mythos.

This episode, however, added nothing. Yeah, there was a new Dharma station, which usually turns me on, but this one was just a room full of chemical vats. The entire episode felt like filler to me, and the flashback...yikes...even worse. Goodwin, Tom, and Ethan's cameos were forced and pointless, while Harper the Shrink's dialogue made me cringe.

The one high point? The reveal of Ben's childlike possessiveness and how it manifested itself in Juliet's past.

Conclusion: Pointless flashbacks are aggravating when we've only got two short seasons left, and the Tempest/Poison Gas subplot felt very...subplotesque.

Grade: D

4.07 - Ji-Yeon
Quite possibly the worst episode ever. People who enjoy Sun and Jin seemed to like this one, but they've always been one-dimensional characters to me, and we didn't learn anything new about them here. Plus, Jin's flashback was utterly pointless, existing solely to trick us into thinking he was alive.

On the Island...well...nothing happened. Sun got ratted out by Juliet, I guess, but that's about it. Oh and Jin went fishing with Bernard.

Conclusion: If the characters are so one-dimensional and irrelevant that you have to put the rest of the story on pause, and try to liven up the flash-forward with a cheap trick, odds are those characters shouldn't have hour-long episodes devoted solely to them. Harsh, I know.

Grade: F

4.08 - Meet Kevin JohnsonDefinitely a rebound after episode 6's near-miss and episode 7's airball, Michael's long-awaited return and flashback certainly filled in most of the gaps in his story. My only problem is that those gaps weren't all that interesting. A little predictable, even.

The score and direction was spot-on however, and Harold Perrineau sure can act. I'm hoping that his return to the Island will have real repercussions when Lost returns in three weeks.

Conclusion: Michael was great, but his story was a little mediocre, and still left some frustrating gaps.

Grade: B+

To Sum It Up: So far this season, I've liked 4 out of the 8 episodes. I've noticed that the bad ones tend to focus on minor characters who don't contribute to the main plot, and that the good ones tend to focus on the Island.

That's why I'm worried about this season. To me, Lost is successful because of its real main character, the Island. This season has definitely shifted focus away from the Island and onto the Freighter and the world beyond it. Think about it, has anything really happened on the Island this year? Have we learned anything new or explored a new corner of it? No! Ever since the Freighter Four got there, they've all just kind of sat around. Team Locke is just wasting time playing house in the Barracks, while the Jack Pack plays cards and eats cereal on the beach. Why aren't they bugging Dan and Charlotte about getting rescued? Why is Locke just waiting around for something to happen? Looking back at this season in the future, how many of these eight episodes are going to turn out to have been pure filler?

I still think Lost is the best thing since sliced bread, I'm just worried about the direction it's going in this season. But I'm confident, or at least hopeful, that my worries will disappear in April and May.

Next Lost-post: the biggest questions I want answered in the final five hours of Season 4.