Lost returns to DVD, bringing the second season of the acclaimed show to home video. Easily topping both the rental and sales charts its’ first week out of the gate, the DVDs have proven to be major winners for Buena Vista Home Entertainment. And why shouldn’t they be? Packed with over eight hours of extras, and the ability to watch the season at a comfortable pace, Lost: The Complete Second Season plays out much better on DVD than on network television.
As the official synopsis goes, push the button and prepare to be blown away by the groundbreaking television event USA Today calls “TV’s best series.” The multiple Emmy® Award-winning drama reaches new heights in its spectacular second season as the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 discover they are not alone in their battle against “the Others,” and a contested decision to open the hatch reveals a new realm of mystery and intrigue. Prepare yourself for the DVD experience of Season Two, complete with over 8 hours of original bonus material you can’t see anywhere else, including unaired original flashbacks, and you’ll discover for yourself why “everything happens for a reason.”
In short: There’s a lot on this release. Two weeks after the street date and I’m still uncovering new features on the disc. Much like the Lost: The Complete First Season release, this DVD comes with a disc devoted solely to extras, and they are plentiful and actually interesting.
Since the review is for the DVD itself, my comments on the main feature will be brief. After a stellar first season, the second season hit a big a snag due to the forced-perspective flashbacks. Many of the facts we gained in the first season were repeated, sometimes ad nauseum, in the second season, with only a handful of surprises. The lag felt by the second season also had to do with ABC’s sometimes erratic airing of the show, sometimes leaving viewers wondering when the next new episode would air. Thankfully, the DVD solves that problem, and helps with the lag felt by the episodes themselves, as connections become more apparent in the DVD viewing then waiting a week (s) between a new episodes. The season works much better as a whole than in episodic installments. While not as solid as the initial season, season two still holds up as a fine piece of network drama.
The audio and video are, as expected, top notch. Head above better than the network quality, every episode looks much stronger, with deeper colors and clearer sound. Dialogue sounds much better, making it easier to pick up on more of the subtle hints viewers may have overlooked on their network debut.
The extras are expansive, containing a host of deleted scenes (most of which don’t really add a lot to the episodes they were cut from) and some informative extras, plus a few additional bonuses. Probably the best extra on the disc is a detailed look at the making of an episode, particularly “Fire + Ice.” It helps understand the process of making an episode, and how complicated and time consuming it can be at times. It’s a great doc worth watching, and is probably my favorite extra on the set (I’m a sucker for extras like this). Additionally, you’ll a nice featurette on the making of the Hatch, more behind the scenes details, and another featurette looking at the many theories from both the from the fans and cast members. Other extras include a blooper reel, a compilation of Sawyer’s insults (“Sawyerisms”), and a neat featurette/game showing the connections between all the characters through their flashbacks (“Lost Connections”). You’ll get some surprising results from it, so take your time and be thorough with this extra. It can be a bit difficult to navigate, but it’s worth it, especially for the Lost devotees.
Just a side note, a particularly odd featurette is a Lost promo for the UK Channel 4. It’s . . . just odd. Watch it and you’ll see why.
Overall, an impressive package for an impressive show. Housed in a nice digipack case with a plastic over sleeve, it’s a sturdy collection that holds up to even the best DVD movie sets. For die-hard fans of the show, no doubt they’ve already purchased this set. I’d recommend it to the casual fan, as well. It’s a show worth revisiting over Andover, and thankfully the sub par episodes are far and few in-between, giving the entire set a hefty rewatch value. Both the show and the set come Highly Recommended.