US TV
Lost: Season Four Finale
Published Sunday, Jun 1 2008, 23:00 BST | By Ben Rawson-Jones | 31 comments
The revelation that Locke's dead body lies in the coffin doesn't quite pack the expected dramatic punch, given our knowledge that death in Lost is not necessarily a permanent disposition. However, the farewell scene between Locke and Linus in the Orchid is surprisingly touching and highlights the unique bond formed between the pair. "I'm sorry I made your life so miserable," Linus tells his comrade, his voice cracking with emotion.
Before long though, Linus returned to his ruthless ways by telling Jack that all the Oceanic Six must return to the island. One wonders if Linus has been watching the legendary 'Blink' episode of Doctor Who, for his eyes constantly gape open without the merest batter of an eyelid.
The visual scale of the finale was also a pleasure to behold, with the secret chambers of The Orchid providing a sense of wonder and the helicopter crash also serving as a fine spectacle. As for the time travelling bunnies, perhaps they can compare notes with the polar bear and Daniel Faraday's rat Eloise?
Matthew Fox has slipped below the radar on the acting front recently, as present day Jack is fairly bland in contrast to his surrounding characters. Yet Fox shows his class by really excelling as future Jack, consumed by bitterness, futility and plenty of facial fuzz.
Elsewhere, some cleverly contrived plot devices ramped up the suspense and thrills. Keamy's heart rate monitor meant that we were desperate for the swine to stay alive, and later both the liquid nitrogen levels on the boat and the fuel levels on the helicopter were - shock horror - running perilously low.
The need to shift some excess weight on board the helicopter prompted Hurley to keep quiet and Sawyer to selflessly plunge to safety, but not before a tantalising whisper to Kate. Women (and many guys) across the globe were undoubtedly to see Sawyer have his own Ursula Andress 'Dr No' moment, emerging topless from the sea after swimming ashore.
Is anyone's head starting to hurt just thinking about all the possibilities? Our best advice is to relax and challenge Mr Eko to a game of chess on Facebook...
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An exciting ending to the season, but so many NEW loose ends to tie up now. I'm not so sure it's possible to move an entire island just by turning a steering wheel, so there must be a certain "sci-fi" aspect to the show. By the way, I only started watching the show last August (via the internet). I didn't start watching it on broadcast TV because the networks have a bad record of starting serials (Invasion, Surface, Jericho, etc.) and then stopping them in the middle without any conclusion. However, in 2008 I realized that Lost was not going to be cancelled, so I tried it on go.abc.com. I got hooked and started to watch 2 or even 3 episodes at a sitting. This probably has made the show move at a faster pace for me than it has for those of you who have been watching it one episode at a time over 4 years. Now I'll have to just be like you and settle for one episode a week, with a year between the 5th and 6th season.
Everytime I think this show might be getting better, it does something so unbelievable and stupid that I lose interest...black smoke that picks people up, monsters, disappearing islands...it has gone on too long with no answers and doesn't make any sense
Out-stayed its welcome by a good series or two! The time-travel idea is a nice idea but too late to add to the confusion. Hops into the future were cheap gimmicks to pad the show out. Well-made still but needs to end!
Brilliant finale!!!! could have answered more answeres in my opinion but never the less was a fantastic episode!!!!
Absolutely fantastic, Lost is the best show on TV by far no doubt about it !!!
A disappointing end to a disappointing season.
I love lost but do feel they are dragging it out to much now. I don't think it's as gripping as it used to be. I agree with tont santos, sheffield on June 2nd, 2008 For example, how come theres a supposed delay from the boat to the island yet the radio signal to the explosives was almost instantanious? And again with bringing all the dead people back we have seen jin in the future so know he's not dead. There does seem to be some rather seemingless things going on now but I will still wait with baited breathe for the next series just hope it goes back to the gripping episodes it used to be.
In a word........... RUBBISH!, make the next series the last. Gone on too long and now total twaddle.
Used to love it, so did ALL my co-workers. No-one else bothers with it now (just me!) as they recon it's dragged out too much now. Has got a bit far fetched now and with the time travel it's a sci-fi series and not for me! (agree 100% with Alan and James below!). Also think the writers have got lazy and just rushed out the last few episodes because of the strike. And the "dead" people that turn up and aren't really dead???, lasiest way to bring back a character or back track in earlier story. WILL watch next series for first few episodes and see how it goes, but not for much longer.
Amazing episode, it had everything. The really big payoffs will come season six. I don't undertand some peoples need to know the ending right now. Then we would not have a show to watch. The writers job is to keep us entertained till the end comes and after that finale consider me enterained and then some. Sooo looking forward to more. Shorter seasons = better seasons.
People who have given up on this show in the second and third series dont know what they are missing The Best show on television by a mile and its only going to get better
Amaazing!! The best episode of the season...maybe even the entire show! It was great! There was happy endings, sad endings and lots of twists and turns! not to mention some answers were finally revealed! I Loved this episode! The full 2 hours were fantastic and I loved how everyone one (6) had a flashforward! And the ending was so intense! I got such a shock! I cant wait for season 5!
OMG what a finalie. Despite being told Jin would die in episode 4:07, i honestly didn't see his death coming. I just assumed he would live on the island with Sawyer lol Felt so sorry for Ben when he said he'd never come back to the island, and I was so relieved when Jack revived Desmond. That was one hell of a finalie. I didn't think they could top last years, but they did :D
BEST EPISODE EVER ! Fantastic last 2 episodes to a mixed season,Gutted that`s it for 8 months but what the hell.Think it will be worth the late,What`s betting once they land back on the island he will be alive again
I used to love Lost. I used to get so excited when I heard it was coming back for the new season. But then it just kept on going on and on and on AND ON yet we had no answers to ANY of the millions of questions which the Island posed. Not one! Apparently now the "loyal" viewers are being rewarded with answers, but for the people who have lifes and don't have the time to be sitting around all day waiting for some small bit of closure, it's far too little, much too late. Everyone I know used to watch Lost, now I hear nobody talking about it anymore.
Lost just gets better and better. BEST EPISODE EVER!I can't believe people who think they're just making it up as they go along; they have already confirmed that they know and always have known how it will end, and this is evident through excellent plot and character development. Great acting from Emerson as always- Ben is one of the greatest characters ever used in anything. Loved seeing Desmond and Penny reunited! Can't believe it's an 8 month wait. I haven't stopped thinking about Lost since last night! BEST SHOW ON TV EVER.
As much as i enjoyed it there did appear to be a few inconcistancies as far as i'm concerned. For example, how come theres a supposed delay from the boat to the island yet the radio signal to the explosives was almost instantanious?
This series was excellent, the storyline just gets better & better. The writers of this series have produced one of the best shows for years. Can't wait for series 5. Hope they get many Awards for this..
Darren, Wallington, on June 2nd, 2008
Although the Season 4 finale was fantastic, the draw of the show will always lie with the Island; not in 'real life'. It's a shame that most of Season 5 will focus on how the Oceanic 6 get back to the Island, but I'll still watch with excitement as I feel that Season 6 (The last season) will be mindblowing.
Although the Season 4 finale was fantastic, the draw of the show will always lie with the Island; not in 'real life'. It's a shame that most of Season 5 will focus on how the Oceanic 6 get back to the Island, but I'll still watch with excitement as I feel that Season 6 (The last season) will be mindblowing.
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Re: Rosie from Plymouth... First it seems it's only physical objects that suffer the time shifting (the helicopter, the pallet fired from the ship, the doctor etc) not radio waves, clearly obvious as they can talk in real time over their walkie-talkies. Secondly we haven't seen Jin alive in the future, the episode with him and Sun was a flashforward for her and a flashback for him. If you people bothered to pay attention then maybe you wouldn't be so confused. People moaning about loose ends should try appreciating that there are still two seasons left and we have been told the black smoke won't be explained until the end of the series...try having patience ffs!