And yes, the grounds are still there. The passengers of Oceanic 6 are now back on television and accompanying them once again is that piece of land which has compelled us to think and tear away at our Grey cells trying to figure out as to what on earth is happening. After eagerly waiting for well, some time now (albeit with some trepidation) regarding where the plot line will take it since the structure has been kept so open even after 4 seasons which by itself is very impressive. I must say that i am happy from the first episode as it now starts the season with a lot of content to pour into. Although i am not really a huge fan of the disappearing act of the island, i found the way it has been pulled through and now the pieces that are being put together are heading somewhere. Which is compensation for a bad wheel(aka Time Machine) and disappearing island in season 4. Also since they have shown a wheel in season 4 which is and has to be man made, i really want them to explain its existence which must go back to origins of the island. Wouldn't really want to elaborate further as that gives away some elements of the episode. Eagerly looking forward to this season.
4 Reviews
Skipping through time
TheLittleSongbird15 June 2018
When 'Lost' was in its prime, it was must-watch television. Remember first watching it, found it remarkably easy to get into, was hooked from the start and was on Season 3 by the end of one week. The general consensus is that the final season is a disappointment and cannot disagree.
Season 4 was a solid season, with high points such as "The Beginning of the End", the three part finale and particularly "The Constant" and the only disappointments (though they were still decent) being "The Other Woman" and "Eggtown". "Because You Left" couldn't be a better way to start Season 5. Definitely among the stronger 'Lost' season openers and one of the most confident and most settled.
The episode has pretty much everything that 'Lost' is all about. It's taut and thought-provoking, with utterly gripping on-island events. It may be primarily setting up and putting into place what is to come, but does that extremely well, while providing answers and new mysteries and questions.
On top of all that, it advances characters, shows plot progression rather than repeating itself or being filler. There are surprising moments and also illuminating ones. Ben's role demonstrates why he is thought of so highly by 'Lost' fans, myself included. The opening scene is remarkable, one of the show's best and most attention-grabbing scenes and Hurley and Sayid's roles have intrigue, entertainment value and intensity.
Also found "Because You Left" to be a non-stop thrill ride of insane entertainment value, edge of your seat tension and very emotional moments. The exposition, which there is a fair bit of, is a case of it being thought-probing, relevant and adding a lot rather than slowing things down and rambling.
Can't fault the performances, particularly from Michael Emerson, Naveen Andrews and Jorge Garcia once again showing his dramatic chops and with such adeptness.
Nor the stylishness and atmosphere of the visuals, nor the effectively understated and chilling use of music, taut writing and the tightly controlled direction (one of the best of the season and perhaps of the show).
All in all, wonderful season opener. 10/10 Bethany Cox
Season 4 was a solid season, with high points such as "The Beginning of the End", the three part finale and particularly "The Constant" and the only disappointments (though they were still decent) being "The Other Woman" and "Eggtown". "Because You Left" couldn't be a better way to start Season 5. Definitely among the stronger 'Lost' season openers and one of the most confident and most settled.
The episode has pretty much everything that 'Lost' is all about. It's taut and thought-provoking, with utterly gripping on-island events. It may be primarily setting up and putting into place what is to come, but does that extremely well, while providing answers and new mysteries and questions.
On top of all that, it advances characters, shows plot progression rather than repeating itself or being filler. There are surprising moments and also illuminating ones. Ben's role demonstrates why he is thought of so highly by 'Lost' fans, myself included. The opening scene is remarkable, one of the show's best and most attention-grabbing scenes and Hurley and Sayid's roles have intrigue, entertainment value and intensity.
Also found "Because You Left" to be a non-stop thrill ride of insane entertainment value, edge of your seat tension and very emotional moments. The exposition, which there is a fair bit of, is a case of it being thought-probing, relevant and adding a lot rather than slowing things down and rambling.
Can't fault the performances, particularly from Michael Emerson, Naveen Andrews and Jorge Garcia once again showing his dramatic chops and with such adeptness.
Nor the stylishness and atmosphere of the visuals, nor the effectively understated and chilling use of music, taut writing and the tightly controlled direction (one of the best of the season and perhaps of the show).
All in all, wonderful season opener. 10/10 Bethany Cox
Great episode to get things going in season five
ametaphysicalshark21 January 2009
"Because You Left" is the second best season premiere so far on "Lost", for various reasons. The most notable difference between this premiere and those which kicked off seasons two, three, and four (we'll leave 'Pilot' out of this because its intentions and purposes were different) is that it is more confident, more direct (and surprisingly straightforward, but we'll get to that later), and just more effective than the others. "Man of Science, Man of Faith" (the season two premiere) is better only because it managed to move the story forward reasonably well, focus on Jack as a character and do an admirable job of it, and set up some of the major conflicts in the series (the titular scene with Locke and Jack defines 'iconic'). Still, we are at a point in the run of the series where the story simply has to be told, and "Because You Left" is a more confident start to the season than any of the previous season premieres, even season four's.
What's the main difference? The main difference is that previous premieres actually calmed things down to start over again, to tell the new season's story. "Man of Science, Man of Faith" not as notably as the two after it, because season one was relatively low-key, but "A Tale of Two Cities" (the season three premiere) not only neglected to answer several of the immediate questions season two's finale posed, but took things in a whole different direction to tell a whole different story. "The Beginning of the End", the season four premiere, followed one of the most talked-about pieces of TV ever made, and while it is very enjoyable and accomplished what it set out to do admirably well, it again served the purpose of basically slowing down the pace from the season three premiere and starting to tell season four's story (the Oceanic 6, the freighters, etc). "Because You Left" feels like a more natural start. We see exactly what happens right after the events of season four, nothing is slowed down, the scope of the battle is as great as ever (although we're not even sure what battles are being fought right now). There is a lot of time spent on recap, but little on slowing down and starting over. I liked that.
This is not a recap, as there are dozens of those on the internet already, so I won't bother going over exactly what happened in the episode all over again. I thought the opening scene was remarkable, and easily the best of the traditional 'surprise openings' we are now accustomed to seeing on "Lost" since Desmond in the hatch in season 2. The scene was deliberately similar, and I also liked that it went on longer and hence gave us more to chew on. It was also great to actually see Marvin Candle (or Pierre Chang, if you're up to speed on the Comic-Con video from 2008) in a scene rather than on a screen in an orientation film/video. The episode was a bravura piece of genre storytelling, setting up the rules for the copious amounts of time travel we are surely going to see efficiently and surprisingly naturally. Considering that "Because You Left featured as much recap as it did of season four's climactic events, and most of the rest was made up of exposition, it was remarkably good in the end, mostly because it moved the story forward and provided some great set-pieces and new mysteries.
I'm very intrigued by Locke's role in the future of this series, and am glad that he is already being given a more significant and interesting storyline than he was given in season four. I loved his scene with Richard, and the compass surely has some sort of future significance. "Because You Left" wouldn't have pleased everyone: it did not focus on any character enough to provide much of interest as far as that angle goes, which is why it worked well shown back-to-back with the second episode "The Lie", and as hectic as it was, it was remarkably straightforward and efficient. The script by Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof set season 5 in motion without taking the time to slow things down and start over. That's refreshing, and as I said earlier, it's surprisingly straightforward and frank about what's to come. The exposition, such as Daniel's explanation of the brand of time travel being used here, is handled extremely well also. One thing "Lost" will never lose is its unpredictability. For everything about this season which I guessed right there was something I guessed wrong. The way Desmond was brought into the events of season five was certainly not something I had thought of before watching the episode.
What's the main difference? The main difference is that previous premieres actually calmed things down to start over again, to tell the new season's story. "Man of Science, Man of Faith" not as notably as the two after it, because season one was relatively low-key, but "A Tale of Two Cities" (the season three premiere) not only neglected to answer several of the immediate questions season two's finale posed, but took things in a whole different direction to tell a whole different story. "The Beginning of the End", the season four premiere, followed one of the most talked-about pieces of TV ever made, and while it is very enjoyable and accomplished what it set out to do admirably well, it again served the purpose of basically slowing down the pace from the season three premiere and starting to tell season four's story (the Oceanic 6, the freighters, etc). "Because You Left" feels like a more natural start. We see exactly what happens right after the events of season four, nothing is slowed down, the scope of the battle is as great as ever (although we're not even sure what battles are being fought right now). There is a lot of time spent on recap, but little on slowing down and starting over. I liked that.
This is not a recap, as there are dozens of those on the internet already, so I won't bother going over exactly what happened in the episode all over again. I thought the opening scene was remarkable, and easily the best of the traditional 'surprise openings' we are now accustomed to seeing on "Lost" since Desmond in the hatch in season 2. The scene was deliberately similar, and I also liked that it went on longer and hence gave us more to chew on. It was also great to actually see Marvin Candle (or Pierre Chang, if you're up to speed on the Comic-Con video from 2008) in a scene rather than on a screen in an orientation film/video. The episode was a bravura piece of genre storytelling, setting up the rules for the copious amounts of time travel we are surely going to see efficiently and surprisingly naturally. Considering that "Because You Left featured as much recap as it did of season four's climactic events, and most of the rest was made up of exposition, it was remarkably good in the end, mostly because it moved the story forward and provided some great set-pieces and new mysteries.
I'm very intrigued by Locke's role in the future of this series, and am glad that he is already being given a more significant and interesting storyline than he was given in season four. I loved his scene with Richard, and the compass surely has some sort of future significance. "Because You Left" wouldn't have pleased everyone: it did not focus on any character enough to provide much of interest as far as that angle goes, which is why it worked well shown back-to-back with the second episode "The Lie", and as hectic as it was, it was remarkably straightforward and efficient. The script by Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof set season 5 in motion without taking the time to slow things down and start over. That's refreshing, and as I said earlier, it's surprisingly straightforward and frank about what's to come. The exposition, such as Daniel's explanation of the brand of time travel being used here, is handled extremely well also. One thing "Lost" will never lose is its unpredictability. For everything about this season which I guessed right there was something I guessed wrong. The way Desmond was brought into the events of season five was certainly not something I had thought of before watching the episode.
Paradoxical and Messy
claudio_carvalho24 January 2009
After a long period without "Lost", in a total lack of respect of the producers with the fans, this cult-series finally returns with a paradoxical and messy episode à la David Lynch. The plot goes backward and forward in time and using ellipsis, and what was only mystery in the previous seasons, now is confusion. For an average viewer like me, that does not spend time researching in Internet or watching the episodes again and again and see other movies and series, it is almost impossible to follow the storyline with such confusion. The writers have never resolved many intriguing situations from the last seasons, and now they seem to be really lost. My vote is six.
Title (Brazil): Not Available
16 April 2013
Dr. Pierre Chang records a tape for the Dharma Initiative and Daniel Faraday is among the workers in the island. Jake and Ben are with the body of Locke in a Funeral Home and they plan to return to the island. Three years before, the camping in the island is gone and Daniel explains to the group that was left in the island that they need to go to a landmark made by man since they are dislodged in time and jumping in time. Locke sees the accident with the plane of the drug dealers and Ethan shoots Locke on the leg. However, Richard removes the bullet and gives a compass to Locke. Daniel meets Desmond in the hatch and tells that he is special and needs to go to the Oxford University and meet his mother since he is in danger. In the future, two men from a law firm visit Kate requesting a blood sample from Aaron and her. Sun is hold in the airport by Charles Widmore and she tells that she wants to kill Ben Linus. Sayid brings Hurley from the mental institution to a safe house in a motel but they are attacked by killers. .
On 24 January 2009, I saw this episode and I hated it. Recently I decided to see all the episodes of "Lost" again on DVD and now I liked much more than four years ago. There are many mysteries that have not been explained yet but I decided to give another chance to this series that was my favorite when it was released. My guess is that the Machiavellian Ben is behind this request of the blood sample of Kate and Aaron, to motivate her to return to the island. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Because you Left"
Title (Brazil): Not Available
16 April 2013
Dr. Pierre Chang records a tape for the Dharma Initiative and Daniel Faraday is among the workers in the island. Jake and Ben are with the body of Locke in a Funeral Home and they plan to return to the island. Three years before, the camping in the island is gone and Daniel explains to the group that was left in the island that they need to go to a landmark made by man since they are dislodged in time and jumping in time. Locke sees the accident with the plane of the drug dealers and Ethan shoots Locke on the leg. However, Richard removes the bullet and gives a compass to Locke. Daniel meets Desmond in the hatch and tells that he is special and needs to go to the Oxford University and meet his mother since he is in danger. In the future, two men from a law firm visit Kate requesting a blood sample from Aaron and her. Sun is hold in the airport by Charles Widmore and she tells that she wants to kill Ben Linus. Sayid brings Hurley from the mental institution to a safe house in a motel but they are attacked by killers. .
On 24 January 2009, I saw this episode and I hated it. Recently I decided to see all the episodes of "Lost" again on DVD and now I liked much more than four years ago. There are many mysteries that have not been explained yet but I decided to give another chance to this series that was my favorite when it was released. My guess is that the Machiavellian Ben is behind this request of the blood sample of Kate and Aaron, to motivate her to return to the island. My vote is seven.
Title (Brazil): "Because you Left"
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