I knew that I was going to be a big fan of LOST before the show ever started. It was just a gut feeling, a tingly excitement whenever the commercial came on the air. I ended up waiting much longer than I'd intended for confirmation of that fact. But I've often found that when there is an unusual delay in reading a certain book or watching a particular movie or TV series, it seems as though it's been saved for the right time. Maybe it's just to make myself feel better for having been out of the loop for too long, or maybe it's the fact that I haven't had to wait a week between all the episodes, but I really think this was the proper time for me to see LOST. Unfortunately, as hard as I try to make my viewing uninformed by the opinions of those who have seen it already, since I have several friends who are glued to the show week after week, I can't help but pick up a few tidbits. So when we started watching the second season early in November, I was nervous, since the general consensus seemed to be that LOST had jumped the shark already, boasting a second season not nearly as riveting as the first. But the more I watched, the more I wondered, "Okay, when does it start getting crummy?" At the end of the season finale, I was still wondering.

If I'd watched the show right along with everybody else, I may have had a different experience, but as it was, I felt relief. And while there was a certain magic in the first season that may have been slightly depleted in the second, on the whole I was very impressed with season two. It encompasses slightly less time, largely because there are even more people to keep track of than before, and in several episodes they're so scattered that we see the same span of time from multiple perspectives. This approach is interesting and provides all sorts of additional information, though it sometimes becomes tedious to see the same thing over and over. In particular, three intense altercations seem to play out ad nauseam, though this is due in part to the recaps that precede most episodes. I suppose these refreshers are handy with a week between installments, but some clips are shown far more times than necessary, particularly since they tend to be climactic events viewers are unlikely to forget.

In the first season, John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) discovered a hatch, and half the season built up to finding out just what was in it. The revelation at the outset of season two only opens the door to many more questions, but the hatch becomes the centerpiece of the season. The game changes drastically because it veers far from a Robinson Crusoe-type experience of trying to survive in the wild while awaiting a rescue. Yes, this island has always been teeming with mystery. But now, there's a massive underground shelter equipped with stocks of food, a record player, a reel-to-reel tape player, a library... oh, and a computer, into which someone much punch a series of numbers - the same numbers that haunted Hurley (Jorge Garcia) in the first season - every 108 minutes. Or else.

Inhabiting this hatch at the time Locke and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) bust in is Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick), a wild-eyed Scotsman who's been stuck alone at his post since his companion's death a month and a half earlier. How anyone could manage to survive that length of time with fewer than two hours at a time in which to do anything, including sleep, is beyond me, but it certainly explains why he seems so unhinged. To top off the weird-o-meter, he and Jack once met back in the "real world," and that is only the first of many interconnecting back stories that we get this season. When Desmond runs off into the jungle, eager to escape the prison that has housed him for so long, Locke diligently takes up his button-pressing duties and sets up a schedule so that the task can be shared. His sense of purpose has shifted, and he believes that this is the task the island was preparing him for. Jack (Matthew Fox), however, isn't so sure, and he and Locke clash repeatedly over Jack's conviction that performing this ritual is of no value. Incidentally, I find it amusing that after Locke went to so much trouble to get into this hatch and climb the long ladder into its dark, mysterious depths, there's a backdoor that opens out into the jungle and scarcely seems hidden at all. A pity no one found that first...

Meanwhile, Sawyer (Josh Holloway), Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) and Michael (Harold Perrineau) make it back to the island with a little help from the wreckage of their raft, which was destroyed in their confrontation with "the Others," who snatched Walt (Malcolm David Kelley). All are in a compromised position, with Michael so enraged he can scarcely think straight, Sawyer hindered by a festering bullet wound and Jin still only understanding a modicum of English and being able to speak far less, though he and Sawyer seem to have worked out a decent communication system of their own. None of them, however, are well equipped to deal with the strangers who place them in captivity upon their arrival on dry land. But as it happens, these are not "the Others"; rather, they are fellow survivors of the very same plane crash, long thought dead, and if their behavior teeters on the hostile, it's because "the Others" have tormented these tailies relentlessly, whittling down their numbers to the point that they live in a constant state of fear and vigilance.

Among these newcomers are several who will become increasingly important as the season wears on. Abrasive Ana-Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez) is the ring-leader, a trigger-happy, tough-talking cop who calls the shots, though she's tempered by the mild-mannered Libby (Cynthia Watros) and enigmatic Mr. Eko (Adwale Akinnuoye-Agbaje), who is probably the most intriguing addition to the cast. A Nigerian priest with a dark back story, he is reminiscent of Locke as a man marked by unusual physical prowess and a mysterious sense of connection to the island. Eventually, their relationships with the island change due to a shared experience, leading to a dramatic confrontation in the season finale. Also noteworthy: the lost-long Bernard (Sam Anderson), fidgety, devoted husband to the calm, wise Rose (L. Scott Caldwell), whose role is increased in this season.

Different characters are preoccupied by different things in this season. For Locke and Eko, it's the hatch. Michael is obsessed with finding Walt, and Shannon (Maggie Grace) is convinced that she has seen him out in the jungle, though newfound love Sayid (Naveen Andrews) attributes her "vision" to stress. It certainly doesn't help that she loses track of Vincent, the dog Walt entrusted to her. Charlie and Hurley both battle their addictions while seeking romantic attachments. The discovery of a cache of heroin proves a great threat to Charlie's recovery process, and when Claire realizes that he has been hiding his past drug use from her, she loses her trust in him. Hurley, meanwhile, is attracted to the newly arrived Libby, but a sudden overabundance of food tests his self-control while other events call his sanity into question. Sun (Yunjin Kim) remains anxious over Jin's safety, while Kate is still torn between the affections of Jack and Sawyer. But love triangles become the least of everyone's worries when "the Others" become an increasingly tangible threat.

Before the end of the season, we get a good look at the presumed leader (M. C. Gainey), a bearded, hickish-looking fellow who was among the men who kidnapped Walt. He warns them, with a civil smile but growly voice, to stay away, but both sides have suffered losses attributable to "the Others," and Jack and Ana-Lucia begin to plot a possible ambush. We also spend a good deal of time getting to know a man named Henry Gale (Michael Emerson), who claims to be a survivor of a hot air balloon crash. A nebbish, cowering man with a pathetic story to tell, he is pitiable when Sayid drags him to the hatch for a torturous interrogation. In fact, when my dad watched that episode, he didn't much care for Sayid anymore. How is that behavior any more defensible than the atrocities "the Others" are feared to be responsible for? There's a great deal we don't know about Henry, and how the survivors relate to him creates all sorts of ethical dilemmas. Who are the "good guys" and who are the "bad guys"? Is such a division truly necessary?

One thing I didn't like about the second season was the violence. True, there were many unpleasant happenings in the first season, but most were wrapped up in the mystery of the island. Some suffered fatal accidents, others simply vanished. But as much as tempers flared, particularly amongst Sawyer, Sayid, Jin and Michael, there was little intentional infliction of lasting bodily harm. The second season almost seems a PSA against the NRA. Suddenly there's an overabundance of firearms, and everybody's getting just a little bit too trigger-happy. Hear a noise? Shoot, and hope you get lucky like Sawyer did in the first season and hit a polar bear closing in for the kill. Shoot blindly, because you can't afford to take the time to determine whether the source of the sound is malevolent. Shoot passionately, because you have all that power right there in your hand and you can. Heaven help anyone who ticks you off with those guns in reach. Locke tries to keep a lock on most of the weapons, but as fear and anger bubbles up, the island becomes increasingly dangerous, homicidal tendencies are unearthed in surprising places, and the list of known murderers among the castaways becomes ever longer.

The second season is in many ways uglier than the first, less marked by a sense of innate goodness in humanity, and while the mysteries persist, we begin to get the sense there are many practical answers to be found where mysticism was expected. The season finale drops a bombshell that explains a major event in a way that seems to deny destiny, implying instead a random coincidence. But there are far too many convenient entanglements amongst those who have found themselves on the island for me to believe that any of it was totally random. I am reminded of other stories exploring these themes, and I always come to the conclusion that certain events and characters come together for a reason. Bilbo Baggins was meant to stumble into that deep, dark cave and find the Ring and spare Gollum's life. Those four turtles were meant to be in the sewer when that mysterious green ooze found its way there. (Can you tell I'm gearing up for the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie?) That airplane was meant to crash on the island, with its specific combination of characters. And I was meant to watch LOST unfold just enough behind schedule to be pleasantly surprised by the quality of its second season.

Parodies:
Bohemian Rhapsody
I Am a Rock
White Christmas
Christmas Canon Rock
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
Christmas in Killarney
Henry the Eighth
Sweet Baby James
The Only Living Boy in New York
Here, There and Everywhere

Charlie figure

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD