Prologue: Lost: Season Five

Next week I begin reviewing the fifth season of Lost, one of the most well-produced dramas on US TV in the Noughties. I'll be reviewing it at the same time as the Nineteenth and Twentieth seasons of Doctor Who, which I'm doing not only for the sake of organisation but also because I think that comparing attitudes to science fiction across a 25 year divide will be interesting for you.
       Season Five doesn't have as big of a reputation as Season Four, mainly because it spent a lot of its time in timey-wimey situations. It managed, in its own way, to be paradoxical - not only in content but in that it featured more spiritualist elements while definitely heading in a more sci-fi direction. The first half of the series dealt with the Oceanic Six having to return to the Island for untold reasons, as well as the rest of the survivors jumping around in time. The second half of the series decends into stupid somewhat as both sides end up in 1977 with the Dharma Initiative, and evil demon The Man In Black takes on the appearance of the deceased Locke.
      I started watching Lost at the end of Season Five, after an extended Wiki Walk around Lostpedia got me interested in the series. Season Six, the final season, was not the best place to start. For me it was a total let-down; the ending was a load of spiritualist bull that had been masquerading as science-fiction for three months of my life. To have that turned around, to just have it melt away into something as vapid and as stupid as that ending... it didn't seem real. These problems in the series began here, in Season Five. I'm covering the series not only to continue on from the brilliant Season Four, but also to salve myself and find the exact point where it all went awry.

Thanks. See you next week.