Product Review: Lost Season 1 DVD Boxset – Can’t Live Without it – Best Show Ever

LOST is a show that for two seasons now has had tens of millions of fans LOST and loving it. If you have never seen the show, it can be summed up in one little word – mystery. Here we are two years into the show and nobody outside of The Powers That Be has a clue as to what is actually going on in the show. But that is the appeal of the show. It is like reading an Agatha Christie mystery novel. You will not know what happens until it is over. Week in and week out, the show’s mythology and mysteries grow deeper and deeper.

For the true fans, and there must be about 16 million of us according to Nielson’s Weekly Rankings of TV shows, each episode is a religious experience. Now that Season 1 is available on DVD (and Season 2 coming soon), it can be watched over and over and over again in a futile attempt to solve some of the show’s, too numerous to count, mysteries. Thank God for dvd.

When LOST premiered nearly 2 years ago, it was an instant smash. Immediately it became the it show for people seeking originality, suspense, and something different from their television viewing. I am one of those people. When I watch TV, I like to use my mind and not just my eyes. LOST affords this luxury. This show makes you think. You don’t just watch this show, not if you want to truly appreciate all it has to offer. The show is layered with so much information, which is extremely subtle, that you must pay close attention to it. You need to watch the episodes several times if you want to have a decent shot at analyzing it.

Now that it is available on DVD, I have been addicted to it even more. Anytime I have some free time, I watch the show again. Right now I am in the middle of watching Season 1 for the 4th time on DVD. Add that to the two times that I saw it on TV, and I’m up to my 6th airing of the show. Season 1 has 24 episodes, each an hour long.

The 6-disc box set has all these episodes plus dozens of hours of bonus features, commentaries, behind the scenes info, and bloopers. There is one particular blooper involving Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) and Shannon (Maggie Grace) where Charlie references the Lord of theRings movies that he starred in that is so funny that you have to see it.

Some of the other bonus features that we got with the box set include commentaries from many involved with the show. Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof (co-creators and producers) are a modern day Abbott and Costello in their musings with each other. They are masters of beating around the bush and hinting about what we should be looking at (or more importantly not looking at) in regards to the show, so that we can have some clues. They won’t give us many definitive answers, other than ‘they aren’t dead’, ‘it is not purgatory’, and ‘Charlie isn’t an Other’, but they do give us small clues (watch Jack’s face during scenes with his dad, whomever Jack’s wife was seeing is very important, that statue with 4 toes is half human half beast) to help us. It’s a shame that they don’t provide commentaries on every episode, that would be a dream come true.

This show works on so many levels. The cast is an ensemble of relative unknowns including Evangeline Lilly as feisty Kate, Josh Holloway as tough guy Sawyer, Jorge Garcia as the teddy bear Hurley, Dom Monaghan as rocker Charlie, Emilie de Ravin as the sweetheart Claire, and Naveen Andrews as logical Sayid. A few veterans including Matthew Fox (Dr. Jack) and Terry O’Quinn (John Locke International Man of Mystery) round out the cast. The cast works in the same way that the casts of Seinfeld, Star Wars, or Cheers worked so well – everybody brings a different, but necessary, piece to the table.

The writing on this show is on par with the all-time greats (Frasier, M*A*S*H*, All In The Family) in that it is such an important part of the story, more important than even the characters. In fact, the writing (or writers themselves) is a character unto itself. The story revolves and unfolds around how it is delivered, or more specifically when it is delivered, the dialogue is the message, the writers the messenger. If an imaginary twin brother personality can be nominated for an Academy Award (Charlie Kaufman is brilliant), then why not have the show’s writers get acting awards recognition when the next Emmy Awards come knocking.

LOST is an island in a sea of television mediocrity. It offers us hope that TV can actually entertain and not just be a showcase of attractive 18-24 year olds who have no discernible talents whatsoever. The show is a metaphor for life; good vs. bad, faith, hope, love, redemption, salvation, all of these are recurring themes. The offers so much to so many. I am a happy recipient of the good tidings that it delivers week in and week out.

I guess I will be able to test out the urban legend that a dvd can last forever (as long as not scratched) because I will keep watching Season 1 every chance I get, at least until Season 2 comes out on dvd in a few months (apparently October). Although I technically could survive without my LOST Season 1 dvd box set, I am very happy that I don’t have to. It really is that good. Namaste.