Title: Lost: The Complete Fourth Season
Studio: Touchstone/Disney
Rating: PG
SRP: $96.99 (Blu-ray)

FEATURE: A+
I’m a Lost fan. I screwed up mid-way through season 4 and missed a few episodes. The lack of a TiVo meant that I had to stop watching, so about half of this disc was entirely new to me.

This was also my first time watching Lost after the season ended since the first season, and I think I prefer this experience to the broadcast release. Setting aside the audio/video bonuses (the video is beautiful and the audio is very high quality, as expected), the show flows better when watched in chunks. I burned through the set over the course of maybe two days, with a third day for the extras. Getting through it so quickly kept all the little details and references from each episode fresh in my mind and made for a better viewing experience overall.

While Lost features good acting, directing, and writing, the real fun is in the guessing game. Putting together the clues, forming new theories, and trying to figure out exactly what just happened, where it happened, and what is going to happen next is crucial to the Lost experience. With the addition of SeasonPlay (detailed down in the Extras section) and a few of the bonus features, I think it’s safe to say that the home video format is the best way to watch Lost.

As far as the season itself goes, it is comprised almost entirely of good to great episodes. Season 3 suffered in the first half, started picking up in the second half, and ended on a killer finale. Season 4 skips the meandering style of the first half of season 3 and skips right to the good stuff. We get lots of answers, lots of questions, and a ton of action.

Most of my favorite parts of Lost are the character interaction bits, but season 4 featured some pretty spectacular action sequences. The main antagonist for the latter half of the season was a paramilitary strike force, so we are treated to a few really great bits that put the survivors into the mix of untenable situations.

It wouldn’t be Lost without some out-of-left-field reveals, and season 4 delivers. Old characters return, new ones make indelible impressions (Miles Straume needs an hour-long special of his own), and other characters die. This isn’t always a perfect formula. There’s one scene part-way through the season where three people I’ve never seen before die in quick succession in an attempt to give a sequence some weight, but my only thought was, “Wait, who was that? Were they important?”

Cannon fodder aside, the main cast, and its new additions, perform admirably. The chase to get off the island, and what happens when the Oceanic Six return to civilization, form the two stories that run throughout the season, and both are equally exciting. One ends up being filled with action and drama, and the other is full of tense character moments. I’m hesitant to spoil any of the reveals, but even the low key reveals are often payoffs for long-time fans who have been wondering what’s up with (fill in the blank).

PRESENTATION: A+
I’m kind of amazed at the care that was put into this Blu-ray’s menus. Each disc has different menus, and all of them are very cool. Rather than going for the standard “shot of the movie, words on the bottom, a little animation,” Lost Season 4 features locations from the season that are fully animated with a couple minutes of footage. You can see the docks, landscapes, the beach, the control room in the Orchid, and other areas.

The actual menu options float in the air over the animations, making for a nicely ethereal feel. Selecting a menu brings up a bar along the bottom of the screen that lists the options, which slide from left to right. The menu moves quickly, with no wasted animation, and gets you right into the action. The menus also loop pretty seamlessly, as I found out when I watched a couple of them just to see how long they were.

The Blu-ray packaging is also pretty fun. The case has a slipcover, which has the usual technical info and marketing text, but the real fun is inside. Nestled in with the promotional material (Desperate Housewives on ABC!) is a clever little folded pamphlet in the style of an airplane safety advisory. It pokes fun at the Lost mythos and style of storytelling, and does a stellar job of working minutiae about Lost into the jokes. It’s proof that the team doesn’t take itself too seriously, which is always nice to see. It’s small, but it’s welcome.

I remember when DVDs were first getting popular and one of the ways they were being sold is that they featured “Animated Interactive Menus.” For a long time, I scoffed at that. Why is that a bonus feature? Shouldn’t it be required? This release definitely proves that the menus matter, and handsome menus make the overall set better.

EXTRAS: A
Lost Season 4 is pretty well packed with extras. I found “Lost in 8:15″ to be a funny and informative re-introduction to Lost, and a perfect primer for the new series.

There are a few less-than-serious extras, some of which are hidden as easter eggs. The feature on the guns of Lost was both longer and funnier than I expected, but also shows the attention to detail that the Lost team employs when producing the show. The number of each model of gun was catalogued, tracked, and detailed over the course of the four seasons by way of charts, notes, and sheer force of will. This, plus the extra with Ben and a crewmember explaining what Lost is (better than other shows, of course), make the set fun to watch.

The real stand-out extra is the new SeasonPlay feature. It is both the ultimate in laziness and usefulness, which is pretty much exactly what I like to see. It plays each episode on the disc in order, and then prompts you for the next disc. If you stop midway through a disc, it will save your position so you can pick up right from where you left off. It’s the kind of no-brainer feature that makes you wonder why it isn’t on every release, but everything has to start somewhere.

There’s many more features, too. Spotlights on the location, the freighter, and the flash-forwards help round out the discs, as well as the usual complement of audio commentaries and deleted scenes. You’ve got a few good hours of bonus viewing here, in addition to the season’s running time.

OVERALL: A+
Lost would be nothing without compelling characters, and season 4 introduces brand new ones into the mix that provide the right mix of abrasion, weirdness, and mystery for a successful cast. The interaction between Miles and Sawyer alone was fun, not to mention the new life the newcomers brought along with them. The fourth season moves along quickly, always managing to find a good balance between action, drama, and mystery. As usual, the answers to old mysteries just bring up new questions, but that’s part of the fun.

This five-disc set is excellent, from top to bottom. The episodes are high quality, the easter eggs are fun, and the wall of extras are sure to keep you entertained. Even the package design is attractive, with a cool blue, deep black, and shiny silver making for something that stands out without being obtrusive or garish.