Signs And Portents In The Comedic The X-Files Spin-Off The Lone Gunmen

The Good: Moments of humor, Decent acting and character development, some interesting plots
The Bad: Never seems to get to its potential, Addition of "beautiful people."
The Basics: In a fun, but average, series, the conspiracy theorists The Lone Gunmen attempt to save the world by exposing weird manipulations by those in power.


Perhaps what defined the trio of characters collectively known as The Lone Gunmen on The X-Files was that they were the atypical group of geeks who appeared, were paranoid and brilliant and did not quite fit the mold of what one would expect out of, well, pretty much anybody. They were, through and through, geeks. Part of their popularity with fans of The X-Files was that the Lone Gunmen were most analogous to the fans, somewhat crazy conspiracy theorists, many of whom lived in the basement. So, when Fox ordered a series based just on the Lone Gunmen, they were targeting a very specific demographic of a very specific demographic.

The Lone Gunmen follows the adventures of Byers, Frohike and Langly, the investigative reporters and editors of the conspiracy-theory publication The Lone Gunmen as they attempt to save the world from megalomaniacal computer hardware and foil a plot to blow up the World Trade Center using a plane (months before others succeeded in real life). Unfortunately, despite their drive, they are dirt poor and their business and publication are failing. They unwittingly enlist the aid and funds of a rather wealthy man improbably named James Bond and they find themselves constantly embroiled in schemes that pit them against the quasi-villainous Yves Adele Harlow.

On DVD, The Lone Gunmen is a complete series, of sorts. Basically, this is the end of The Lone Gunmen with footage of the trio's origins in The X-Files available only on some of the bonus features. There are thirteen episodes in the series and the DVD producers graciously added the sendoff to the series from The X-Files, entitled "Jump The Shark," which effectively ends the storylines left open in The Lone Gunmen.

So, what is this show really? It's a conspiracy-thriller comedy and the problem there is that throughout the series there is a sense that it does not know quite what it wants to be. There are moments that are so overtly going for laughs, most notably involving Frohike and slapstick humor, but the best episodes of the series tend to be the most serious. The superlative story, "Tango De Los Pistoleros" is in fact funny only in a dancing montage clip, but otherwise remains one of the most tense, humorless stories of the series. Beautifully shot, that episode follows the Gunmen following Yves to a tango competition to stop a smuggler from selling very classified information to enemies of the U.S.

And problematically, The Lone Gunmen abandon the classic, humble (dare I say "geeky") roots in its attempt to make a viable television show. In short, in order to make the show fly, the series adds Jimmy Bond and Yves Harlow, two very obviously, very Hollywood beautiful people. Yves, played well by knockout Zuleikha Robinson, is an adversary, but she's also quite obvious sex appeal to make the show, well, sexy. The problem is, the Lone Gunmen aren't supposed to be about sexy. They're geeks who live in a dungeon exposing the underbelly of government conspiracies!

The principle characters in The Lone Gunmen are:

John Fitzgerald Byers - The classy Gunman who has the integrity to probe into the government conspiracies based on a long-standing problematic relationship with his father. Byers is the cool head among the Gunmen and the most respectable of the bunch,

Melvin Frohike - Perhaps the most classic geek of the bunch, Frohike has ideas and old-school paranoia and ultimately acts as comic relief more than being useful,

Ringo Langly - The hacker, tech man for the Gunmen, he is the man who can get into virtually any computer service, until later in the series when the Gunmen inexplicably need help from someone even better at hacking than Langly. Go figure,

Jimmy Bond - Dimwitted and wealthy, Jimmy joins the Gunmen as its financial backer with brain of an ox and a heart of gold,

and Yves Adele Harlow - A woman of uncertain allegiance, she is essentially a bounty hunter who brings the Gunmen cases and/or foils their work.

The acting is fine. Bruce Harwood, Tom Braidwood and Dean Haglund each show up and give their usual wonderful performances as Byers, Frohike and Langly. The only real issue is that their acting talents are almost never challenged. They are playing the characters we're used to seeing on The X-Files for years, only here they are given more airtime.

Ultimately, the real problem with The Lone Gunmen is that it doesn't seem to know what it wants to be, so it ends up being a little of everything and not much of anything. So, it's political in "Like Water For Octane," suspenseful in "Tango De Los Pistoleros," and ridiculous in "Diagnosis: Jimmy." It's a tough nut to crack and odds are it will be enjoyed most by the sliver of fans of The X-Files that most loved the occasional trio of guest stars.

For other shows that originally aired on FOX, please check out my reviews of:
Family Guy Presents: It’s A Trap!
Glee - Season Two, Volume One
Fringe - Season Two
Arrested Development
Wonderfalls
Millennium
VR.5
The Adventures Of Brisco County Jr.

6/10

For other television reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2006 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |

A Better Second Season To Rome Still Yields A Historic Soap Opera.

The Good: Interesting character development, Generally good acting, Decent effects
The Bad: Plots are somewhat predictable and character interactions are very soap operatic, Rape as entertainment
The Basics: Rome returns to DVD with its final season, a bloodbath that chronicles the rise of Octavian to power set against the friendship of Vorenus and Pullo.


HBO has a reputation for being both daring and entertaining. Indeed, the advantage of the pay-for-programming station is probably in its original programming now far more than in its movies and as a result, at some point one suspects that the cable network will simply become a production house for series' that are produced with the boxed set DVDs in mind. Imagine shows like Carnivale being uninhibited by such things as ratings and being produced with the full seven seasons because the DVD sales were justifying it. Or digital downloads; either way the original programming seems to be the niche that HBO is truly attempting to dominate with.

In such circumstances, one wonders if there would have been more than two seasons of Rome, the historical drama/soap opera set in the turbulent period of Rome's history when some of its most recognizable personas were alive and vying for power. Following on the heels of season one and the events of that season (which are impossible to not mention and do an actual review, so those wanting Roman history and season one to be a complete and pleasant surprise, now's the time to go bake cookies or do something else), Rome - The Complete Second Season arrives on DVD and presents the story of Rome following the assassination of Julius Caesar. In order to get the most out of this season, it is pretty much essential to watch Rome - The Complete First Season (click here for my review!), though on DVD each episode features a pretty self-explanatory "Previously On" review clip for those starting with this season.

With Caesar dead, his will becomes a point of controversy when his nephew Octavian is declared to be - in effect - Caesar's son and heir and that the citizens of Rome are all to be given a portion of Caesar's massive fortune. Rome soon splits into three factions: those allied with Octavian who manages to initially outmaneuver Mark Antony for a position as Rome's proconsul, Mark Antony who is offended by the rise of Octavian and spurred on by his lover Atia, and Brutus, who is forced to flee Rome with his allies when Octavian declares Caesar's death a murder and the conspirators who killed him enemies of the state.

Allied with young Octavian is Titus Pullo, the warrior who is now settling into domestic life and is working hard to aid his heartbroken friend Lucius Vorenus. Vorenus, crushed over the suicide of his wife, curses his children and they are kidnaped into slavery, which encourages Vorenus to ally himself with the dark gods and ultimately to allow his bond to Antony to pull him reluctantly away from the path of reason and stability for the Republic that he knows is right. Pullo and Vorenus remain most loyal to one another as those who manipulate and control them push and pull them in other directions, often where they are only able to rely on one another.

Rome - The Complete Second Season is better than the first season in many respects, most notably that there is much less of a soap operatic feeling to the series. Instead of quick, implausible reversals that set up many different plot lines, the period of civil conflict between the three dominant powers in Rome becomes more of a political drama than a pure soap opera. This season is less preoccupied with who is having sex with whom and the use of that to manipulate and turn the plots quickly.

Instead, this season is preoccupied with the arranged marriages and the political influence behind them. So, while Octavian's lieutenant Agrippa clearly loves his sister, Octavia, Octavian uses her to seal the bond between him and Mark Antony. The marriage is a sham as Antony and Octavia are almost immediately having sex with their lovers, Atia and Agrippa, respectfully. Atia's political machinations are motivated still by personal vengeance, but she finds ways to justify it in the name of politics, especially when it comes to her nemesis Servilia.

The series is still jam packed with sex and violence, so those looking for entertainment with that will get a kick out of the sex, nudity, blood and sometimes very graphic (and impressive) on-screen murders that occur. Notable among these is the demise of Cicero, whose departure is actually a pretty impressive effect. As the politics and machinations develop, the two dominant powers, Octavian and Antony, make and break their alliances and the loyalty of Pullo and Vorenus - which at times quite literally transcends the battle lines - becomes a good foil to the carnage among the other characters.

The problematic aspect of all of this comes with the line that is crossed with Rome treating violations as a form of entertainment. Back to back, Rome presents episodes where rape is used as a form of torture or punishment, but it is treated within the context of the series as something that the viewer is expected to be entertained by and that's just sick. When Vorenus is betrayed by one of the thug captains of the Collegium, his men rape his adversary and when Servilia's assassination attempt on Atia goes wrong, Atia has her captured, tortured and violated graphically enough to be disgusting and anything but entertainment. This is not to say that torture cannot be presented in a way that is enlightening or has a message as Star Trek: The Next Generation did with "Chain Of Command, Part II." But Rome uses the most vile instances of rape as entertainment in a way that is more like the argument I made against Apocalypto; that is that watching and finding any entertainment value in such depravities makes us - the viewer - into the new Rome and it debases us. Given the effect on Servilia, there is no genuinely justifiable reason to have what happens occur on screen; viewers would have gotten it without.

In order to understand Rome - The Complete Second Season better, it helps to understand the principle characters in the large cast. The heroes and villains in this season include:

Lucius Vorenus - Traumatized by the loss of his wife, he becomes even more moody and withdrawn. When his children are killed, he goes into mourning and turns to darkness, until Pullo discovers they are alive. Though allied to Antony and his losing army, Vorenus ducks out to rescue his children only to discover that they pretty much hate him. Vorenus is forced, by his bond to Antony, to remain at the leader's side, though he seems quite able and willing to look out for Pullo's personal needs even as distance tears them apart,

Titus Pullo - Married to his love, Eirene, after aiding Vorenus in coming out of his slump, Pullo remains true to his protege Octavian, who relies on his counsel some. Pullo prepares to become a father, though his relations with his slave, Gaia, cause his life to spiral out of control and into tragedy as well,

Octavian - Declared the legal heir to Caesar, he quickly maneuvers to save his life and he raises an army when Antony refuses to release the funds Caesar willed him. Returning to Rome older and wiser, Octavian is quickly names Proconsul and he works to eliminate all of his enemies, which forces him to square off with Antony, who is being manipulated by others,

Mark Antony - Fleeing Rome after Cicero declares him a fraud and a tyrant to the Senate, he raises an army and prepares to eliminate Octavian and then Brutus, only to find himself still easy to manipulate by Atia. When Antony is granted the western realms of the Roman Republic, he returns to Egypt, where he finds himself intrigued by Cleopatra instead of the wife he left back in Rome,

Atia - Almost entirely outmaneuvered by her son, she finds her lover Antony estranged from her and her most loyal torturers, like Timon, unwilling to carry out her brutal wishes any longer. She is crushed by Antony's failure to come back for her, though on some level she discovers that Octavian is the exact man she built him to be,

Servilia - Brutus's mother, she and Atia are blood enemies. Furious over Brutus being driven out by Octavian's decree, Servilia declares war on Atia, which backfires on her in the worst possible way,

Cicero - In the wake of the Senate's assassination of Caesar, he finds himself ready to legislate and refuses to sit still while Antony seizes control. After helping to install Octavian as proconsul, he finds he has been outmaneuvered and he flees to his villa,

Brutus - Plagued by guilt over his part in Caesar's assassination, he flees with others involved when Octavian and the Senate declare them enemies of the state,

and Cleopatra - As Antony comes to power in her realm, her initial coldness to him quickly dissipates for passion and the two begin a romance where she becomes determined to keep dominion over Egypt, at any cost.

The characters are genuinely interesting in this season and Pullo, Vorenus and Octavian especially have compelling character arcs wherein they grow and change over the course of the episodes.

The acting in this season is actually of a consistently high caliber, as well. Of note, it is wonderful to see Zuleikha Robinson - of The Lone Gunmen - getting the juicy role of Gaia. She is able to play cunning and strong quite well and it is more than just the costume differences that differentiate her from her character of Yves on that show. Here she is expressive with a minimal of lines and it is easy to feel empathetic for her character when her relationship with Vorenus is brief, given the performance Robinson has given to insinuate her character's feelings for him.

Octavian is played by both Max Pirkis and Simon Woods in the course of the season as time lapses and an older Octavian is needed. Woods portrays him with a consistent sense of personality and ability as his predecessor. The result is the feeling that the character simply grew up as opposed to being recast.

Much of the season hinges on the performances of Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson, who play Vorenus and Pullo, respectively. McKidd pretty much nailed the quiet, taciturn and somewhat dark character from the very beginning. His portrayal even in some of his earliest scenes in the first season quickly established Vorenus as a darker, more melancholy character and "Season Two" finds him not so much building on that as repeating it and defining is, mastering it.

Stevenson makes up for McKidd's unflinching consistency with his more varied performance of Pullo. Stevenson is able to soften Pullo and present more emotional range as Pullo settles into being a husband and potential father. As Pullo develops from a warrior into a common citizen, Stevenson is given a chance to alter his solid body language and soften it with a performance that presents a man who is more flexible and genuinely loving and Stevenson does that quite well.

Polly Walker, who dominated the first season, is given far less to do as Atia, yet the penultimate scene of the finale gives her a moment to silently emote which is quite incredible. Watching her face and eyes, one can almost hear Servilia's curse ringing through Atia's mind based solely on Walker's performance!

On DVD, Rome - The Complete Second Season looks and sounds good. Each episode is packed with a pop-up text commentary option that points out the historical accuracy (and inaccuracies) of Rome. It is intriguing and makes for interesting viewing. Sadly, the commentary tracks are hardly as interesting. Especially the tracks for the two final episodes, wherein the James Purfoy (Antony) does not seem to have much to say about the episode and producer and historical consultant Bruno Heller and Jonathan Stamp allow much of the commentary track to be filled with dead air. The featurettes on Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian's rise to power, the class differences in Rome and the behind-the-scenes featurette are interesting and fans will get something out of them.

And while the historical drama is good, it's not the great series many want it to be. It lacks a spark that truly sets it apart as phenomenal television. Instead, it is good but seems to underperform based on the potential. For sure the costumes are rich and the level of sex and violence (outside the combination of the two!) is entertaining, but there's no flair to it that makes it something as great and enduring as some other series' that HBO has created.

But it is a better season than the first and it is entertaining, at the very least. If one wants entertainment from the B.C. era, this boxed set can deliver on that. But one wonders how much mileage one is liable to get out of these discs. For me, once was enough and rewatching the episodes with the commentary and/or "All Roads Lead To Rome" text commentary did not enhance the first impression.

For other HBO works, please check out my reviews of:
True Blood Season 1
Six Feet Under
Carnivale

6.5/10

For other television set reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2010, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



| | |

An HBO Series Easy To Pass On: Rome - The Complete Series!

The Good: DVD Bonus features are extensive, Moments of acting, plot and character
The Bad: Much of the plot is soap operatic, Stifling price, Much of the character is dominated by plot.
The Basics: A take-it or leave-it HBO series, Rome makes it easy to leave with its stifling price and soap opera qualities.


HBO is fairly well known for making great television and then unleashing it into the home video (DVD) market at a rather steep price. Every now and then, the network has a show that might not be up to the standards of the other shows and when it is released on DVD, it forces the consumer to consider if it truly is worth it or not. With the show Rome, bundled together for its complete series pack, my answer came fairly easily. No, this is not a series that is worth owning.

With only two seasons, Rome - The Complete Series is a bundle pack of the exact packaging and DVDs of Rome - The Complete First Season and Rome - The Complete Second Season. To be clear, there is no additional programming, no other discs, no bonus materials or collectibles received by purchasing the bundle pack of Rome. It is the entire series, exactly as presented before, with a shrink wrap connecting the two boxed sets. So, there is also no space saving benefit to purchasing Rome in this fashion. Though there is a new pack for the complete series, there are no additional features to that set.

For those unfamiliar with Rome, in its first season, is an ambitious historical drama series that looks phenomenal and has decent acting, but ultimately is written and played out like a soap opera. As it progresses, it begins to shed the soap operatic plot twists and instead makes the characters more concerned with who is having relations with whom and the characters begin to be somewhat droll. To be sure, this is an expensive and good-looking soap opera, but it never rises above a long series of plot machinations by petty characters all out to advance their own self-interest. And while it was initially gripping, there comes a point fairly early on in the the first season where it begins to drag and even when it finally overcomes that with the second season, much of the second season deals with cleaning up after the first and it is hard to care about much of what happens because the viewer has already been so bored. The plot and character twists - even for those not tuned in to history - are predictable enough to be seen well in advance.

Rome tells the story of the shifty period in Roman history about 50 years before the birth of Christ and it tells the story by offsetting the most important political figures of the day with two soldiers, Vorenus and Pullo, and two citizens who are close to the cordons of power, Servilla and Atia.

As the Gallic Wars come to an end, Rome's co-Consuls Pompey Magnus and Gaius Julius Caesar are ruling over the most powerful democracy in Europe, which is facing a crisis. As the Senate calls for Caesar to return to the city of Rome to answer for his illegal war against the Gauls, Pompey comes to understand that Caesar is unlikely to be willing to leave his post - which offers him immunity so long as he possesses it - willingly and when Pompey's wife (Caesar's daughter) dies in in labor, Pompey attempts to have Caesar put down with peaceful Senate bureaucracy.

Unfortunately for Pompey and Rome, Lucius Vorenus - a hero of the Gallic Wars - returns to Rome to his wife, with his comrade Titus Pullo at his side. When the political machinations of Pompey and the Senate condemning Caesar are undone by a drunken attack on the man who can veto the motion against Caesar - a result of Pullo and some bad gambling - Rome is plunged into a civil war and Caesar chases Pompey into Africa to claim control of Rome.

Along the way, Vorenus and Pullo become friends, look for work outside the Army, weigh their places as people embroiled deeply in political events way over their heads and struggle with their personal lives. Vorenus has returned home to Niobe, who has borne a son by another man while Vorenus was away for eight years fighting in the Wars, which Pullo soon learns about. On the other side of Rome, the scheming Atia, niece of Caesar works against Servilla, the rejected mistress of Caesar who desires revenge.

When Niobe's infidelity is exposed and Julius Caesar is killed, a power vacuum forms and the Senate, Antony, and Octavian - the willed heir of Caesar - sets the Republic into chaos. As Pullo struggles to find domestic bliss while saving Vorenus from his own inner demons, they find themselves on opposing sides of a three front civil conflict, despite their deep friendship.

The plots are more or less historically accurate, sexed up and with enough graphic violence to please those paying through the nose for the HBO series. Rather problematically, most of the plot devices and twists are rather predictable. So, for example, when Pullo finds himself disciplining a slave, it becomes pretty predictable - given his prior actions - that they would end up having sex and then, given how cunning and manipulative she has been, the actions she takes to try to make Pullo hers.

In order to better understand the series, it helps to have an idea of who the characters are. The principle characters in Rome are:

Lucius Vorenus - an honorable man, a warrior who is loyal to Rome and has a strong desire to provide for his family and do right by the democracy he believes in. Vorenus finds himself in the difficult bind of being caught behind Caesar's lines when the civil war begins and thus ends up on the side he disagrees with. Finding himself bonded to Mark Antony through an oath his honor will not allow him the break, after a personal tragedy, he finds his life uprooted frequently,

Titus Pullo - A partier and reckless warrior, he finds it difficult to live in Rome after he retires from being a soldier. He begins to watch Vorenus's back and he tries hard to form a relationship, with a slave he falls in love with named Eirene. He mentors the young Octavian and that gives him access and a valued position as the boy grows into one of the most powerful men in the world,

Octavian - Atia's son, a Roman boy who is coming into manhood during the turbulent times following the civil war. Octavian becomes an aide to Caesar and is mentored by Pullo. He has some wisdom and despises his mother's political machinations. Despite this, when power is thrust upon him, he becomes a cunning individual who rivals his mother,

Mark Antony - In waiting to rule the Senate, Antony finds himself drawn to Atia and is an ally of Caesar's. But as his term as proconsul nears an end, he finds himself in jeopardy and following Caesar's assassination, he begins to fight for his own political dominance of Rome,

Brutus - An ally to Caesar who flees with Pompey's forces because he believes that Caesar's advance is wrong. He straddles the difficult line between supporting Caesar, fearing him and wanting the Republic to be strong. As one of the people who assassinates Caesar, he is put in an awkward position when Octavian and the Senate declare him an enemy of the state and he is forced to flee,

Atia - A manipulative woman who rules Rome's social scene opposite Servilia. She uses her children to keep herself alive and in good standing. Lover of Mark Antony, she is heartbroken when Antony's machinations land him in Egypt in the arms of Cleopatra,

and Servilia - A manipulative woman who rules Rome's social scene opposite Atia. She was wronged by Caesar and seeks revenge and wants to watch him suffer. She wreaks havoc on Atia's family and ultimately Atia strikes back in a brutal way.

The only genuinely interesting character relationship is that of Pullo and Vorenus. They struggle through all adversity to remain friends, despite their initial distrust of one another. This is, in many ways, the story of Rome seen through the eyes of two soldiers who find themselves embroiled in the larger political matters, through little effort or desire of their own!

The acting is generally decent, though it is problematic in points because the characters are such "types" and are confined to executing obvious soap opera-like twists. But performers like Ciaran Hinds, Indira Varma, Max Pirkis, and Polly Walker lend the show a caliber that makes it watchable even at its worst.

Kevin McKidd is truly wonderful as Vorenus. He plays him as a truly tortured soul and the role gives him a lot to play with. He is moody and somber one moment, loving the next, caught between politics and morals the next. McKidd gives a subtle performance that is able to go through such a wide array of emotions almost constantly. Add to that, he has a stare that is lethal and wonderful.

Stevenson makes up for McKidd's unflinching consistency with his more varied performance of Pullo. Stevenson is able to soften Pullo and present more emotional range as Pullo settles into being a husband and potential father. As Pullo develops from a warrior into a common citizen, Stevenson is given a chance to alter his solid body language and soften it with a performance that presents a man who is more flexible and genuinely loving and Stevenson does that quite well.

On the DVD set, Rome is given a decent number of bonus features. There are commentary tracks on many of the episodes, there is a text commentary series called "All Roads Lead To Rome" on every single episode where a historian notes the historical truths and inaccuracies in the series, and there are multiple featurettes exploring the character relations, plot developments and behind-the-scenes production of the series. There are also recaps and previews with each episode, making it a very HBO standard release in that way.

And while it looks good with decent costumes and set designs, ultimately in many ways it is a soap opera and it is one that doesn't quite spark the way some HBO programming does. It makes it possible to pass on it because it is more average than extraordinary.

For a far better HBO series DVD sets, please check out:
Six Feet Under
Carnivale
True Blood - Season 1

5/10

For other television season reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2010, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.



| | |

A Near-Perfect Season Of Television You Shouldn't Buy Unless You've Already Been Lost (Season 6)!

The Good: Excellent character development, Great story twists, Great acting, Amazing finale, (Presumably) great bonus features.
The Bad: Utterly pointless for those who have not watched the series.
The Basics: Lost The Complete Sixth Season tells an amazing story and is a must for fans of the series, but stands alone poorly.


Lost recently completed its six-season run on television and almost the next day the DVD and Blu-Ray sets were announced. Most of those features have already been leaked - and many of them are the standard Lost features - but even without getting the bonus features the sixth season of Lost may be very completely considered and the review of the content of the sixth season is very simple.

Don't bother.

Yup, I said it. There are three types of people who might be reading this review: Lost fans, Lost fans who are patient, and those who have never seen Lost. For Lost fans, they are buying this set regardless for the simple reason that they have the other five sets and need the sixth season to complete the storyline. For Lost fans who have been patient, there is Lost - The Complete Series, which was being released concurrently with Lost - The Complete Sixth Season (and is linked at the bottom of this review!). For those few fans who didn't buy the DVDs all along, or those upgrading to Blu-Ray in one smart, fell swoop, Lost - Season 6 is a pointless investment. And then there are those who have never seen Lost before. For those people, reading a review of Lost - The Complete Sixth Season, especially one which has an "episode guide" quality to it is utterly pointless. Why? Lost is, more than any show on television in the last decade, a novel on television. Reading a plot synopsis of the episodes is like reading a synopsis of the last few chapters of a book. Sure, you might learn something about the plot, but: 1. the ramifications and significance of those events are often lost on the reader and 2. In Lost there are mystical aspects as well as twists that are either incomprehensible or ruined by reading the plots out of context.

That said, Lost The Complete Season 6 is easy to recommend for fans who need it to complete their collections. But for those who have never seen an episode of the series, this is an abysmal place to begin the series. There is no point in trying to start here and because it is layered, complex and phenomenal, the storyline will just baffle and confuse most people. So, despite the fact that I must write on to write a considerate review of the contents of Lost - The Complete Sixth Season I highly recommend casual readers stop now, rent or borrow (aren't libraries great?!) a copy of the first season of the series. If you get hooked, go out and purchase Lost The Complete Series. Buying just Season six is pointless and reading about it makes it impossible to get the full element of surprise that comes from the smart way the series unfolds over the six seasons. (If you haven't seen any of season six, it is impossible to discuss it intelligently without revealing some of what the characters go through early on and in important moments from the prior season.)

Lost - The Complete Sixth Season opens with "LA X," a double-long episode which appears to reimagine the entire series. Words like "appears to" in a Lost review are the way reviewers help to indicate that one has to be engaged while watching Lost without actually ruining the many twists and turns of the show. Gone are the time travel elements from the fifth season of Lost and they are replaced with what the producers are calling "Flash Sideways" occurrences. While I will gladly reveal how the "flash sideways" world differs from the standard Lost universe, the significance of the "flash sideways" experience is what is revealed in the final fifteen minutes of the series and ought not to be ruined by a reviewer.

In the "flash sideways" world, Oceanic flight 815 did not crash and Jack Shephard finds himself on that flight, a cut on his neck, but generally no worse for wear. He saves Charlie from a drug overdose in the bathroom of the airplane and when his father's coffin is lost, he meets John Locke and offers to consult with him on his spinal injury. As Kate flees the authorities and the very pregnant Claire tries to learn the status of her baby, other people on the flight - like the police detective James Ford - begin to return to their lives after their trips to Sydney, Australia. But when Desmond, who is working for Charles Widmore, needs to make sure Charlie gets to an event for Widmore, he begins to break through the realities and bring together those who were on 815 and those who have alternate lives off the island in this existence.

In the main narrative, Jack, Sawyer, Kate, Hugo, Jin, Miles and Sayid return to the present as a result of Juliet setting off the nuclear bomb at the climactic moment of the prior season. Sawyer, distraught, goes rogue while most of the others head for the Temple. Unfortunately for them, on the other side of the island, the man who appears to be John Locke is leading Sun, Richard Alpert, Lapidus and Ben Linus toward the Temple. Having killed Jacob, the group which is now led by Jacob's adversary, sets off on a mission to leave the island. The man who appears to be Locke wants nothing more than to leave the island and he soon reveals just how badly he wants to leave.

When Jin, separated from the others, finds himself in the care of Claire, he quickly realizes that Claire has gone quite mad and is under the influence of the man who appears to be Locke. When Charles Widmore manages to return to the island with a submarine, Jin is abducted and the various camps collide. As Jack tries to keep as many of his friends alive as he can, Locke attempts to leave the island and Charles Widmore establishes a dangerous camp which seems to be bent on exploiting the island for his own nefarious gain.

Whenever I've tried to get the few people I meet who are not already fans of Lost they tend to have an "I'll wait to see if it ends well and then start from the beginning attitude." Perhaps the very best thing one may say about Lost - The Complete Sixth Season is that it ends the series magnificently. With such an ambitious show, fans tended to want both answers and a resolution that justified the faith they had in the prior seasons. With this season, they get exactly that. The plots progress, people change sides and allegiances, backstory holes are filled in, mysteries of the island are revealed, Ben Linus gets beaten up and there is a sense still that the story is moving without it ever being dumbed down. In this fashion, season six may be a final chapter of a book, but it makes one want to go back and reread (or, in this case, rewatch) the book again.

The episodes hardly stand alone in the sixth season as the story progresses, but moves in a very strong, serialized way toward the end. In fact, the only real disappointment in the sixth season is that the story ramps up and adds tension to the main narrative the episodes "Ab Aeterno" and "Across The Sea" come up and break the flow. Those two episodes finally give explicit answers on how Richard Alpert's story and Jacob's stories unfolded to get them to the places they started the series. But while they are satisfying for fans and the overall narrative, they take tangents at awkward times, much like the cave scene on Dagobah in The Empire Strikes Back.

Lost Season Six returns the emphasis to characters, as well as just finishing the plot up. Sawyer's actions are largely motivated by his sense of loss and when we watch him, especially early in the season, it is hard not to feel for him. Similarly, Claire's return is more than just a pleasant reunion for the fans, it is a troubling exploration of a woman mentally tormented for three years. As Jack learns more about his fate and begins to adopt the idea of destiny in relation to the island and his life, he begins to step up to the challenges of protecting the island, especially now that Jacob needs a successor.

In the sixth season of Lost, the characters get their chance to grow and some of them make leaps and bounds in the brief season, making for a compelling sense of journey. In the final season the preliminary characters include:

Dr. Jack Shephard - Returning to the present, he tries to protect his friends and put some faith in others, like Hugo. As he learns about Jacob's need for a successor, he considers what the island has meant to his life and debates stepping into the role Jacob selected for him. In the flash sideways universe, he is a successful doctor with a son who offers John Locke hope,

Kate Austen - Her return to the present means Kate may actually have a chance to find Claire and when that quest takes a turn for the dangerous, she ends up in Locke's camp by default. Despite trying to help Sawyer through his loss, she is eager to get Claire and get off the island, to return to Aaron and her life in the real world. In the flash sideways universe, she is a fugitive once more who accidentally abducts Claire before continuing her run from the authorities,

Sayid - Almost mortally wounded, he is brought to the Temple by Jack and Hugo and ends up being menaced by their "protectors" there. When he attempts to do the bidding of the disciples of Jacob, he meets up with Locke and offers the man who appears to be Locke the best chance of eliminating threats to him that exist. In the flash sideways universe, he is trying not to be a mercenary, but problems with Nadia's husband compel him to return to his violent tendencies,

Hugo ("Hurley") - Returning to the present, he starts to see the recently-deceased Jacob and learn what it means to be a "candidate" of Jacob's. By following Jacob to a lighthouse - and taking Jack with him there - he manages to save himself from the man who appears to be Locke. But as the end draws nigh, his destiny appears to be most bound to the island. In the flash sideways experience, he is the luckiest man on earth,

Sun - Stuck with the man who appears to be Locke, she uses that status to search for Jin. Her single-minded quest causes her to splinter off from Locke's protection and she never gives up hope of finding Jin, especially when she encounters others whom she knew were lost in time. In the flash sideways, she is having an affair with Jin, despite her father's disapproval,

Jin - Back in the present, he starts looking for Sun, but finds himself caught in one of Claire's traps when he leaves the protection of the Temple. Almost as soon as he recovers, he is abducted by Charles Widmore's forces. In the flash sideways, he is charged with the task of bringing money to a mercenary with a cruel purpose while hiding his love for Sun,

James "Sawyer" Ford - Broken by the death of the one he loves the most, he heads back to where he was happiest on the island on his own. Soon, though, his drunken solitude is interrupted by the man who appears to be Locke, who tells him why he was brought to the island. Once that happens, Locke employs Sawyer to learn all he can about Charles Widmore's faction, which has landed on nearby Hydra Island. In the flash sideways, he is a police detective who is searching for Anthony Cooper,

Richard Alpert - Almost immediately realizing who the man who appears to be Locke actually is, he becomes convinced that he is in hell and develops suicidal tendencies. With Ben, he tries to insure that the man who appears to be Locke never leaves the island,

Miles - Pretty much along for the ride, Miles looks to stand up to the man who appears to be Locke while still getting himself off the island. He tends to take the less risky ways when he can and is pretty much out to survive. In the flashes sideways, he is James Ford's partner on the force,

Charles Widmore - Finally returns to the island ready to rule it for his own purposes. He quickly abducts Desmond and subjects him to a horrific experiment. In the flash sideways, he is a billionaire whose son is a piano prodigy,

Ben Linus - Changing sides almost every episode, he is on the run for his life when Ilana realizes he killed Jacob. Almost rescued by the man who appears to be Locke, he begins to question which side in the conflict for the island he actually wants to be on. In the flash sideways world, he is a history teacher who must choose to either help his favorite student or make a play to become principal of the school,

Desmond - Brought to the island again, he is experimented upon in a way that allows him to be used by Widmore and feared by the man who appears to be Locke. His love for Penny makes him want to leave the island more than anything else. In the flash sideways, he was on Oceanic 815 and actually works for Widmore directly,

Ilana - The bounty hunter who is bound to protect the remaining candidates, she becomes distraught when she learns Jacob has been killed. In the flash sideways experience, she is a lawyer who reunites Claire and Jack,

Claire Littleton - Left alone on the island for far too long, she went pretty much crazy, though she recognizes the man who appears to be Locke for who and what he is. She vows revenge against Kate and the Others for stealing Aaron. Protected by the man who appears to be Locke, she reenters the mix in a dangerous way. In the flash sideways universe, she is still pregnant and is aided by an unlikely Kate in her attempts to find the people who were supposed to adopt Aaron,

and John Locke - Having been revealed as only the form of the man, his true nature is slowly revealed as more than just an enemy of Jacob. He single-mindedly focuses on leaving the island while he tries to convert the remaining candidates to his cause. When Charles Widmore arrives on the island, he sees that he has one last opportunity and obstacle to leaving and sets about removing those obstacles. In the flash sideways, Locke is aided by Hugo in becoming a substitute teacher at the school Ben works at.

In the sixth season of "Lost," the acting is exceptional. For performers like Daniel Dae Kim and Evangeline Lily, this means honing their roles. But for actors like Jorge Garcia, Josh Hollowell, and especially Emile de Ravin, this season is a chance to branch out. Jorge Garcia gets a chance to play Hugo in an entirely different way in the flash sideways bits and he makes excellent use of that opportunity to reinvent the character. Hollowell is absolutely amazing in the way he plays a broken Sawyer. But from the moment de Ravin, who was absent from the prior season, returns, she is electrifying. She manages to play Claire as disturbing and disturbed in a way that will make fans realize just how much they missed both the character and the actress.

On DVD and Blu-Ray, the brief sixteen episode season (two are double - or better - long) of Lost comes with the Lost-standard bonus features. There are four featurettes, one on the flash sideways, the featurette that preceded the series finale and two others which talk about how the season progressed and the series ended (at least one is never-before-seen, produced for the DVD/Blu-Ray). There are also commentary tracks on four episodes ("The End" is NOT one of them) and fans are likely to be happy with the commentary track on "LA X" and the sidestory episodes. The Complete Sixth Season also includes deleted scenes and a blooper reel.

Fans of Lost will want to own "The Complete Sixth Season" and it is a great value for those completing their DVD series. But for those who haven't started, pass this buy, shell out a few extra bucks and buy the big set instead; this is a series that is worth the faith we put in it and "The Complete Sixth Season" ends it remarkably well.

For other Lost works, please check out:
Lost The Complete Series
Bad Twin
Lost Series 1 Shannon Rutherford action figure

9/10

For other television series reviews, please check out my index page!

© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
| | |