Lost: Season 5

After the flash-forwarding mind screw of season four polarized audiences, almost every (halfway sane) Lost fan seems to agree that 2008’s fifth season was a colossal letdown. It’s being released to build buzz for the final season opener in January, but save for a handful of pantheon-worthy episodes and a late rally from the action-light, explication-heavy plot, there isn’t much to get excited about. Lost fans have come to expect the through story to move in frustrating fits and starts, but much more troubling in season five is the failure of tried and true elements: Michael Giacchino’s suddenly goopy score, the benumbed performances from the usually reliable ensemble cast (especially Matthew Fox’s blandly heroic Jack, by now a practically useless appendage in the story, and Josh Holloway’s sensitive sleazebag-next-door Sawyer, sporting one of the most malformed “buff” chests on record).