On favourite Lost seasons

I was musing last night about the nature of Lost and what would be the best seasons of Lost. And it occurred to me that the season 3 finale, that is, where it was revealed what was presented as a Jack flashback was actually a flashforward, could be seen as a question that would come to define the entire season 4. From a literary point of view I would definitely say season 4 was the best season (ignoring the fact that The Shape of Things to Come, my favourite episode happened during it).

And I say best because what happened was we were presented with an over-arcing mysterying, that is, how did they get off the Island. Both the flashforwards and the present storyline both advanced towards answering that question, though not revealing anything until the very final episode and doing it in a way that is emotionally satisfying.

Using that criteria, I guess one could definitely say that season 6 also will work like that. In the season 5 finale we were presented with the scene of Jacob and MIB at the statue, setting up one basic question: Who the hell are they and what the hell are they talking about? Indeed, it seems like this question, as MIB calls is, is the most important question of the show. As for the flashsideways, without know what they are or how they reconcile, it's far more difficult on concluding whether or not it will provide a satisfying conclusion.

In the same way season 1 could satisfy this criteria, with the question of: Who are these people? As we got all our flashbacks many of the character driven mysteries were revealed.

As for the seasons left out ... I would say season 3 doesn't fit probably because the announcement of the end game totally changed the entire focus of that season (Which I think would've been based all around the Others and explaining their story (the non-temple Others, that is)). Season 2 did not feel that way because there was a cliff-hanger which was resolved pretty quickly. Season 5 is more difficult. I've always felt it felt like two mini-seasons, the time-flashes and then DHARMA. If anything, one could argue the entire season was based around the notion of the Island moving and the chrono-consequences, an idea that was expressed right until the very end with the dropping of the bomb, though the Ajira 2007-timeline did not cover this.

Just some meta-musings outside of my usual episodic thoughts. I do have some thoughts about Lighthouse, which I will probably get around to in time. Tomorrow maybe.