The Show
I've often used the word "trippy" to describe LOST, but it's never been more fitting than for The Complete Fifth Season. One team of survivors ("The Oceanic Six") has successfully journeyed back to the real world, while the island itself moves too, in time as well as space, leaving another team stranded in the year 1977! There (and then), an unexpected romance blooms between Sawyer and Juliet, as we learn more about The Dharma Initiative and their aggressive research, the so-called Others who threaten them, and the possibility of altering history. Mysterious characters are revealed, with typically top-secret agendas, one of which requires all of the familiar faces to make a complicated return trip to the island, in the eventual hope of hitting the reset button and undoing all of the events set in motion five years ago.
No other show combines mind-bending science fiction and paranoia-fueled action like LOST.
The Picture
Clarity and detail in the 1.78:1 HD image are outstanding, another incremental step up over the five-year evolution of the show. Even potentially difficult out-of-focus backgrounds and shadows exhibit only modest haze in this well-above-average TV-on-Blu-ray presentation. Blacks are solid if not perfect, while the lush greens of the tropical island in particular are pleasingly vibrant.
The Sound
The surrounds within the DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix are wonderfully active, as the scenes are often quite busy: construction (and destruction), teeming jungles, multiple gunfights and all kinds of weather. Michael Giacchino's mood-setting music is mixed big and full, part of a very clean, precise track from the first episode to the last. The weird and powerful energy at the heart of the island is unleashed many times early in the season, with tremendous impact if the master volume and sub are set adequately, and the movie-quality action reaches a crescendo in the big finale.
The Extras
Two episodes receive audio commentaries this time, one from co-creator/executive producer Damon Lindelof and executive producer Carlton Cuse--with a much-appreciated, firmly-worded "Spoiler Alert!"--the other from executive producers/writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz. Disc One packs a five-minute "LOST Starter Kit" to help catch us up, in HD and DTS 5.1, and Disc Four carries "LOST 100," a celebration of and in-depth look at the 100th episode, complete with an elaborate Ace of Cakes dessert (19 minutes, HD).
Disc Five contains most of the bonus material in the set. "Mysteries of the Universe" (26 minutes, SD) is a faux In Search Of...-type show probing The Dharma Initiative, and "Making Up for LOST Time" (14 minutes, HD) unravels time travel as seen on the show, complete with their resident continuity expert. "An Epic Day with Richard Alpert" (12 minutes, HD) chronicles a very long shooting day for the charming actor Nestor Carbonell; whose character expanded substantially in Season Five; working with two directors in two different time periods.
In "Building 23 & Beyond," actor Michael Emerson introduces us to the writing staff, stationed at the Disney lot in Burbank, an interesting and funny chance to give credit where it's due (twelve minutes, HD). "LOST on Location" reveals the challenges of stunts, special effects, props, sets and more for seven episodes, 38 minutes total, in HD. Eight deleted scenes, most from relatively late in the season, run 14 minutes all told, the last and longest being the best (standard definition). And the LOST Bloopers proffer a lot of people laughing on camera for four minutes, in HD. All of the HD extras on Disc Five are accompanied by Dolby Digital 5.1 audio.
As previously reported, classes begin at LOST University on December 8th, the day this set officially streets. Powered via BD-Live technology, this interactive compendium of all things LOST promises to be one of the most elaborate bonus features of the Blu-ray era to date.
Final Thoughts
Season Five of LOST told us a lot more about what's been going on this whole time, but not everything: guess they are saving the ultimate revelations for the ultimate season. February can't come soon enough for me, and there's no better way to prepare than by watching this excellent Blu-ray package.
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