Lost season 4 explained

The fourth season of the American serial drama television series Lost commenced airing on the ABC network in the United States,^[1] and on CTV in Canada on January 31, 2008, and concluded on May 29, 2008. The season continues the stories of a group of over 40 people who have been stranded on a remote island in the South Pacific, after their airplane crashed there more than 90 days prior to the beginning of the season. According to Lost executive producers/writers/showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, there are two main themes in the fourth season: "the castaways' relationship to the freighter folk"^[2] and "who gets off the island and the fact that they need to get back".^[3]

The fourth season was contemporaneously acclaimed for its flash-forwards, pace and new characters.^[4] Retrospective reviews have been more critical of the season, and later seasons of Lost as a whole.

The fourth season aired Thursdays at 9:00 pm from January 31 to March 20, 2008, and at 10:00 pm from April 24 to May 15, 2008. The two-hour finale aired at 9:00 pm on May 29, 2008. Buena Vista Home Entertainment (under the ABC Studios label) released the season on DVD and Blu-ray Disc under the title Lost: The Complete Fourth Season – The Expanded Experience on December 9, 2008, in Region 1;^[5] however, it was released earlier—on October 20, 2008—in Region 2.^[6]

Production

The season was originally planned to contain sixteen episodes; eight were written before the start of the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.^[7] Following the strike's resolution, it was announced that only five more episodes would be produced to complete the season;^[8] however, the season finale's script was so long that network executives approved the production of a 14th episode as part of a three-hour season finale split over two nights.^[9]

Writer's strike cut material

Three episodes were cut from the second half of the season. A Ben-centric (Michael Emerson) flashback^{[10] [11]} (later repurposed as a flash-forward), and a Charlotte-centric (Rebecca Mader) flashback,^{[12] [13]} are two known scrapped episodes from the season's original back half. It is unknown whether the back half of the season was changed slightly, or significantly.

Mader admitted her character's storyline got "completely cut" in general because of the strike. She joked:

"It all went wrong for me after that so, looking back, I selfishly wish that hadn’t happened. I wanted to be Charles Widmore (Alan Dale)’s daughter. I think it would have been brilliant if I’d been a bit more intrinsically linked to all of that – and he was played by Jim from Neighbours".

Shortly before production of the fourth season began, Michael Emerson disclosed on a podcast that Annie (played by child actor Madeline Carroll) would return, and viewers would see her adult appearance. This is set up in the episode "The Other Woman", as Harper Stanhope (Andrea Roth), Juliet's therapist, remarks she looks "just like her", the "her" being an adult Annie. This is further teased in the episode's enhanced caption. Annie's identity for Harper's comparison was confirmed by Lindelof in a 2010 podcast (which implies Ben's mother (Carrie Preston) was a red herring).^[14] Harper's reappearance was also affected by the strike.^[15]

Showrunner Damon Lindelof also revealed at the 2007 San Diego Comic-Con they planned to show how Ben got caught in Rousseau's trap by accident and what he was doing on the other side of The Island (as it was left ambiguous whether it was intentional or not). They also expressed a desire to show his motivation for participating in The Purge. But neither storyline panned out. Speculation arose from fans, and Emerson who portrays Ben himself, that Annie may be a character the viewers are already familiar with.^[16]

There was also plans to resolve Libby's backstory in two further episodes after her appearance to Michael (Harold Perrineau) as an apparition.^{[17] [18]}

Other cut material includes further development following the reunion between Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan) and Alex Rousseau (Tania Raymonde) after being reunited for the first time in 16 years since Alex's abduction. Though Furlan stated in her posthumously released memoir that they chose to kill her character off out of spite after she asked for better accommodations with her schedule after facing mistreatment on the set, hence why the reunion storyline was ignored.^[19]

Crew

The fourth season was produced by ABC Studios, Bad Robot and Grass Skirt Productions. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse served as the season's show runners.^[20] The show was primarily filmed in Hawaii with post-production in Los Angeles.^[21] Lindelof and Cuse's fellow executive producers were co-creator J. J. Abrams, Bryan Burk and Jack Bender. The staff writers were Lindelof, Cuse, co-executive producers Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz, and Drew Goddard, supervising producer Elizabeth Sarnoff, co-producer Brian K. Vaughan and executive story editor Christina M. Kim. The regular directors were Bender and co-executive producer Stephen Williams.^[22]

Cast

The fourth season featured sixteen major roles with star billing. The show continues to chronicle the lives of the survivors of the crash of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815; the survivors' interactions with the island's original inhabitants, whom they refer to as "the Others"; and a group of people who arrived on a freighter. The list is ordered by actors' last names, with brief summaries of the characters.

Main

• Naveen Andrews as 815 survivor Sayid Jarrah, a former soldier of the Iraqi Republican Guard.
• Henry Ian Cusick as Desmond Hume, a man who has been living on the island for three years and who has developed the ability to time travel, though this is beyond his control.
• Jeremy Davies as Daniel Faraday, a socially awkward physicist from the freighter.
• Emilie de Ravin as single new mother Claire Littleton of Flight 815.
• Michael Emerson as Ben Linus, the leader of the Others.
• Matthew Fox as Dr. Jack Shephard, the leader of the castaways.
• Jorge Garcia as unlucky millionaire and mentally unstable Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, one of Jack's fellow survivors of 815.
• Josh Holloway as the sardonic 815 survivor James "Sawyer" Ford.
  • Daniel Dae Kim as the non-English speaking Jin Kwon Yunjin Kim as Jin's pregnant wife Sun.
• Ken Leung as Miles Straume, an arrogant medium from the freighter.
• Evangeline Lilly as fugitive Kate Austen.
• Rebecca Mader as anthropologist Charlotte Lewis from the freighter.
• Elizabeth Mitchell as fertility specialist Juliet Burke, a woman recruited by the Others who joins the 815 survivors in the third season and becomes involved in a love square with Jack, Kate and Sawyer.
• Dominic Monaghan as Charlie Pace. Monaghan only received star billing in the episode in which he appeared.
• Terry O'Quinn as John Locke, an 815 survivor with a deep connection to the island.
• Harold Perrineau as Flight 815 survivor Michael Dawson, who returns aboard the freighter undercover for Ben as a deckhand, after escaping the island in Season 2.

Recurring

• Sam Anderson as Bernard Nadler, a survivor of Oceanic Flight 815, who is Rose's husband
• Anthony Azizi plays Omar, a mercenary on the Kahana
• Blake Bashoff as Karl, an Other, who is Alex's boyfriend
• Zoë Bell as Regina, a crew member of Kahana, who is involved with communications between the freighter and the island
• Grant Bowler as Gault, the captain of the Kahana, which is a freighter sent on a mission to find the island
• L. Scott Caldwell as Rose Henderson, a survivor of Oceanic Flight 815, who is Bernard's wife
• Nestor Carbonell as Richard Alpert, an Other, who does not age. While Ben is held in captivity, Richard is the leader of the Others.
• Alan Dale as Charles Widmore, the man who funds the Kahana mission. He is also Penelope "Penny" Widmore's father.
• Mira Furlan as Danielle Rousseau, a marooned island inhabitant of sixteen years, who is reunited with her sixteen-year-old daughter, Alex
• Kevin Durand as Martin Keamy, the leader of the team of mercenaries on the Kahana
• Jeff Fahey as Frank Lapidus, who was supposed to be the pilot of Oceanic Flight 815, but he was replaced.
• Malcolm David Kelley as Walt Lloyd, a survivor of Oceanic Flight 815
• Tania Raymonde as Alexandra "Alex" Rousseau. She is the biological daughter of Danielle Rousseau. She was kidnapped as a baby. Ben raised her and told her that she was his daughter.
• Lance Reddick as Matthew Abaddon, a mysterious man with connections to Naomi, Hurley, and Locke.
• Fisher Stevens as George Minkowski, a crew member of Kahana, who is involved with communications between the freighter and the island
• John Terry as Christian Shephard, who is Claire's and Jack's biological father. Claire does not meet him until she is a teenager or young adult. Jack does not know he has a half sister until he is an adult.
• Marsha Thomason as Naomi Dorrit, a young woman who arrived on the Kahana
• Marc Vann as Ray, the doctor for Kahana's crew
• Cynthia Watros as Libby, a survivor of Oceanic Flight 815. The actress was initially contracted to return for multiple episodes in the season to explore the character's mysterious backstory, but this was scrapped due to the 2007–08 Writers Guild of America strike.^[23]

Reception

Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the season has an approval rating of 88% with an average score of 8.6/10 based on 25 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Lost regains its mojo in a fourth season that reaffirms the show's place as one of TV's most unique undertakings."^[24]

Time named Lost the seventh best television series of 2008 and praised the fourth season for "complicat[ing] [''Lost''{{'s}}] time-and-space-travel story deliciously".^[25] Don Williams of BuddyTV dubbed "The Beginning of the End" "the most anticipated season premiere of the year"^[26] and Michael Ausiello later called the final hour of Lost fourth season "the most anticipated 60 minutes of television all year."^[27] American critics were sent screener DVDs of "The Beginning of the End" and "Confirmed Dead" on January 28, 2008.^[28] Metacritic gave the season a score—a weighted average based on the impressions of a select twelve critical reviews—of 87,^[29] earning the second highest score in the 2007–2008 television season after the fifth and final season of HBO's The Wire.^[30] In a survey conducted by TVWeek of professional critics, Lost was voted the best show on television in the first half of 2008 "by a wide margin", apparently "crack[ing] the top five on nearly every critic's submission" and receiving "nothing but praise".^[31] The May 7, 2007 announcement of a 2010 series end date and the introduction of flashforwards were received favorably by critics,^[32] as were the season's new characters.^[33]

Awards and nominations

See also: List of awards and nominations for Lost.

The fourth season was nominated for seven Primetime Emmy Awards, with one win, for Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Comedy or Drama Series (One-Hour). The series was nominated for Outstanding Drama Series, its second nomination in that category since the first season, while Michael Emerson received his second consecutive nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. It also received nominations for Outstanding Cinematography for a One-Hour Series, Outstanding Music Composition for a Series (Original Dramatic Score), Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series, and Outstanding Sound Editing for a Series.^[34]

The season earned Lost two Television Critics Association Award nominations for "Program of the Year" and "Outstanding Achievement in Drama".^[35] The season also was nominated for a 2008 Writers Guild of America Award in the category of Dramatic Series.^[36]

Ratings

Throughout the fourth season, Lost continued to slip in the ratings. The season premiered with 16 million American viewers, giving Lost its highest ratings in 17 episodes; however, the size of the audience steadily decreased throughout the season. The eighth episode, which served as the mid-season finale as a result of the writers' strike, brought in 11 million,^[37] setting a new series low.^[38] The next episode and midseason premiere climbed slightly to 12 million, but the episode after that set the current record for lowest-rated episode in the United States with 11 million people watching. The finale was seen by 12 million, reaching the most viewers since the midseason premiere and making it Lost lowest-rated finale yet.^[39] Despite the decline in viewers, Lost consistently ranked within the top 20 programs of the week with one exception. The finale topped the chart, due to its broadcast being over a week after the official end of the television season. Entertainment president Stephen McPherson commented that while he would "love to see the show grow … the reality is that the numbers are pretty good."^[37]

Episodes

See also: List of Lost episodes. The number in the "No. overall" column refers to the episode's number within the overall series, whereas the number in the "No. in season" column refers to the episode's number within this particular season. "Featured character(s)" refers to the character(s) who is centered on in the episode's flashbacks or flashforwards. "U.S. viewers (million)" refers to the number of Americans in millions who watched the episode as it was aired. A clip-show recapping the first three seasons titled "Lost: Past, Present & Future" preceded the season premiere episode.^[40]

Home media

Lost: The Complete Fourth Season – The Expanded Experience
Set details			Special features
14 episodes 6-disc set/5 Blu-ray Discs 1.78:1 aspect ratio Subtitles: English English (Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround) – DVD English (PCM 5.1 Surround) – Blu-ray			Audio commentaries "The Beginning of the End" by Evangeline Lilly and Jorge Garcia "The Constant" by Mark Goldman, Damon Lindelof, and Carlton Cuse "Ji Yeon" by Stephen Semel, Yunjin Kim, Daniel Dae Kim "There's No Place Like Home (Part 2)" by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse "The Right to Bear Arms" "The Freighter Folk" "The Island Backlot: Lost in Hawaii" "The Oceanic Six: A Conspiracy of Lies" "Offshore Shoot" "Soundtrack of Survival: Composing for Character, Conflict & Crash" "Lost on Location" "Course of the Future: The Definitive Flash-Forwards" "Lost: Missing Pieces" Deleted scenes Bloopers Easter Eggs
Release dates
September 24, 2008	December 9, 2008	October 29, 2008	January 21, 2009	October 20, 2008

External links

• • List of Lost season 4 episodes at Lostpedia

Notes and References

1. . March 21, 2007 . Fourteen Early Pick-Ups Announced for the 2007–08 Season . July 7, 2007 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20090103043527/http://abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=032107_03 . January 3, 2009 .
2. Jensen, Jeff "Doc" . February 20, 2008 . Lost: Mind-Blowing Scoop From Its Producers . . July 10, 2008 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20080529062712/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0%2C%2C20179125_4%2C00.html . May 29, 2008 .
3. Web site: Albiniak, Paige . February 24, 2008 . Ten Reasons Why Lost is Found . . March 17, 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080229004444/http://www.nypost.com/seven/02242008/tv/10_reasons_why_lost_is_found_98856.htm . February 29, 2008 .
4. Web site: Ryan, Maureen . January 29, 2008 . Lost Fab Start to Season 4, and a Chat with Co-Creator Damon Lindelof . . January 30, 2008 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20080131192209/http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/entertainment_tv/2008/01/lost-shockers-a.html . January 31, 2008 .
5. Web site: Lambert, David . April 22, 2008 . Get Lost Again this December . . July 7, 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080611072224/http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/lost-season-4/9460 . June 11, 2008 .
6. Web site: . Lost – Season 4 . July 14, 2008.
7. Web site: November 5, 2007 . Lost Writers: 'Like Putting Down a Harry Potter Book in the Middle' . https://web.archive.org/web/20110520195932/http://weblogs.variety.com/wga_strike_blog/2007/11/lost-writers-li.html . May 20, 2011 . . November 8, 2007.
8. Web site: Ausiello, Michael . February 13, 2008 . Exclusive: Lost Boss Outlines Revised Season 4 Plan . . July 18, 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140416182915/http://www.tvguide.com/news/exclusive-lost-boss-8314.aspx . April 16, 2014 .
9. Web site: Dos Santos, Kristin . April 11, 2008 . Exclusive! Three-Hour Lost Season Finale Over Two Nights . . July 11, 2008 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140416174430/http://www.eonline.com/news/4249/exclusive-three-hour-lost-season-finale-over-two-nights . April 16, 2014 .
10. Jimmy Acquino. Comic News Insider: Episode 93 — Michael Emerson. Comic News Insider . 13 June 2007. 23 April 2024.
11. Lost Panel @ San Diego Comic Con 2007 . YouTube.
12. Web site: Stolworthy, Jacob . May 22, 2020 . 'There's a fixation over the way it ended': Lost cast and showrunners reflect upon the finale, 10 years on . The Independent. April 23, 2024 .
13. There's No Place Like Home: Parts 2 and 3, DVD commentary . There's No Place Like Home (Lost)#Part 2 . Lost . Lost (2004 TV series) . Jack Bender (director); Damon Lindelof & Carlton Cuse (writers, commentators) . ABC . May 29, 2008 . 4 . 13 & 14.
14. Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. Official LOST TV Show Podcast Full - Seasons 2-6. Internet Archive . ABC. 11 March 2010. 23 April 2024.
15. Web site: Ausiello, Michael. February 12, 2008 . Exclusive: Lost Boss Outlines Revised Season 4 Plan . . April 23, 2024.
16. Web site: DiNunno, Gina. February 17, 2009 . Lost's Michael Emerson: "We May Already Know Annie" . . April 23, 2024.
17. Jensen, Jeff, (January 31, 2007) "The Isle Files ", Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved on August 19, 2007.
18. [Michael Ausiello|Ausiello, Michael]
19. Book: Furlan, Mira. July 29, 2023. Love Me More Than Anything In The World: Stories About Belonging . Kindle. Gajic & Furlan Enterprises, Inc. Kindle Edition. 658–664.
20. Web site: Keller, Joel . January 15, 2007 . ABC's Show Runners Talk About Pitching, Network Notes, and Internet Scrutiny . . August 30, 2007 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120905141712/http://www.aoltv.com/2007/01/15/abcs-show-runners-talk-about-pitching-network-notes-and-inter . September 5, 2012 .
21. Web site: Brislin, Tom . January 25, 2007 . UH Academy for Creative Media, Lost, Create Student Internship Program . . August 30, 2007 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20090918081938/http://hawaii.edu/news/article.php?aId=1664 . September 18, 2009 .
22. Web site: Andreeva, Nellie . July 12, 2007 . Williams to stay Lost at ABC Studios . . August 17, 2007 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20121102085832/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/williams-stay-lost-at-abc-142803 . November 2, 2012 .
23. Web site: Michael . Ausiello . Michael Ausiello . September 20, 2007 . Lost Resurrects Libby! . . May 17, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20071112011829/http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Exclusive-Lost-Resurrects/800022625%26start%3D15 . November 12, 2007.
24. Web site: Lost: Season 4 . Rotten Tomatoes . November 14, 2021.
25. News: Top 10 TV Series of 2008 . . Poniewozik, James . December 8, 2008 . November 3, 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100228044342/http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0%2C28804%2C1855948_1863395_1863402%2C00.html . February 28, 2010 .
26. Web site: Williams, Don . January 31, 2008 . Lost: Episode 4.1 'The Beginning of the End' Live Thoughts . . January 31, 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20080201214041/http://www.buddytv.com/articles/lost/lost-episode-41-the-beginning-16266.aspx . February 1, 2008 . mdy-all .
27. Web site: Ausiello, Michael . April 11, 2008 . It's Official: Lost Finds Extra Hour… But There's a Twist! . . July 8, 2008 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20090201200811/http://www.tvguide.com/news/Its-Official-Lost-8140.aspx . February 1, 2009 .
28. Web site: Goodman, Tim . January 30, 2008 . Want to Get Lost? There's Still Time as Season Starts . . February 2, 2008 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20121023144525/http://www.sfgate.com/tv/article/WANT-TO-GET-LOST-THERE-S-STILL-TIME-AS-SEASON-3230470.php . October 23, 2012 .
29. Web site: Lost: Season 4 . Metacritic . February 16, 2008 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20121021070930/http://www.metacritic.com/tv/lost/season-4 . October 21, 2012 .
30. Web site: The Wire: Season 5 . Metacritic . July 8, 2008 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20121024050248/http://www.metacritic.com/tv/the-wire/season-5 . October 24, 2012 .
31. Web site: Krukowski . Andrew . July 6, 2008 . Favorites Hold Fast . . July 7, 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130329094536/http://www.tvweek.com/news/2008/07/favorites_hold_fast.php . March 29, 2013 .
32. . May 7, 2007 . Lost to Conclude in 2009–10 Television Season . July 31, 2007 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20081226094855/http://abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=050707_01 . December 26, 2008 .
33. Web site: Lachonis, Jon "DocArzt" . February 13, 2008 . Rebecca Mader Lost Interview . https://web.archive.org/web/20080320042956/http://www.ugo.com/tv/lost/?cur=rebecca-mader . March 20, 2008 . . March 16, 2008.
34. Web site: Lost . Emmys.com . June 7, 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120928085415/http://www.emmys.com/shows/lost . September 28, 2012 .
35. Web site: Sassone, Bob . 2008 Television Critics Association Awards nominees announced . AOL TV . June 3, 2008 . July 14, 2012 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20120509194327/http://www.aoltv.com/2008/06/03/2008-television-critics-association-awards-nominees-announced/ . May 9, 2012 .
36. News: TV trio rack up WGA nominations . . McNary, Dave . December 8, 2008 . December 15, 2008.
37. Jensen, Jeff "Doc" . April 10, 2008 . Secrets from the Set! . . July 8, 2008 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20080529022353/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0%2C%2C20190415_3%2C00.html . May 29, 2008 .
38. Web site: Williams, Don . March 24, 2008 . Lost Season 4 Suffers Ratings Decline . . April 19, 2008 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20100524154926/http://www.buddytv.com/articles/lost/lost-season-4-suffers-ratings-17888.aspx . May 24, 2010 .
39. Web site: Hibberd, James . June 3, 2008 . ABC's Lost Puts on a Show . . July 8, 2008 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20121022192250/http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/abcs-lost-puts-a-show-113096 . October 22, 2012 .
40. . January 14, 2008 . A Look Over the Past Three Seasons will Attempt to Shed Some Light on Where the Survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 are and if Rescue Truly is at Hand . January 20, 2008 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090107065152/http://abcmedianet.com/web/dnr/dispDNR.aspx?id=011408_16 . January 7, 2009 .