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What Washington is watching
5 “Cop Out” 1
(with Tracy Morgan, above left, and Bruce Willis)
“Death at a Funeral” “The Losers” “The Last Song” “Furry Vengeance”
2 3 4 5
SOURCE: Redbox, for the week ended Aug. 22.
Fans get more ‘Lost’ with new extras by Jen Chaney “You can’t just walk out of here. We deserve answers.”
—A laid-off Dharma Initiative employee, in the “Lost” DVD epilogue, “The New Man in Charge”
After six seasons of watching and re-watching episodes of “Lost,” fans of ABC’s brain-addling drama definitely wanted answers from the show’s sixth and last season. But when the much-hyped series finale aired in May, some felt that — as emotionally moving as those parting moments with protagonist Jack Shephard may have been — there were not enough. Now comes “Lost: The Complete Sixth Sea-
son” (DVD: $59.99; Blu-ray: $79.99) and “Lost: The Complete Collection” (DVD: $229.99; Blu- ray: $279.99), which were released this week and invite the island’s true believers to again search for a narrative string to tie around those lingering loose ends. Here’s the good news, though: Both releases deliver some answers, as well as — in keeping with “Lost” DVD tradition — some of the more detailed, entertaining extras of any TV collec- tion. Viewers know that Season Six — with its com- pelling and perplexing flash-sideways story line —often polarized the show’s unflinchingly loyal fans. But that won’t stop them from digging back into the episodes with the benefit of post- finale hindsight. True “Lost” lovers won’t bother with the episodes right away, though; they’ll head for the much-hyped “The New Man in Charge,” a 12-minute epilogue that gives the au- dience a hint of what happened to some key characters where the series left off. It’s a clever piece, told with more than a few knowing winks and enough details about nagging matters (the reason for the island’s problems with pregnant women, Walt’s fate, a prominent character from seasons one and two) to make Dharma Initia- tive devotees rather giddy, even as they might wonder why they had to find out some of this
he reads the finale script — to absorb every emotion involved in bringing the show to a close. A quartet of commentary tracks also ap- pears, including insights from executive pro- ducers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse dur- ing the episodes “LA X” and “Across the Sea.” Don’t expect to hear from them during the fi- nale, though; the last episode, “The End,” has no audio accompaniment. Then there’s the complete series collection, a
MARIO PEREZ/ABC
Go behind the scenes with “Lost” stars, from bottom, Evangeline Lilly, Josh Holloway, Ken Leung and Matthew Fox, on DVD extras.
news from a DVD extra rather than an actual episode. “The New Man in Charge” is hardly the only additional piece of material in the Season Six re- lease. It also comes with several behind-the- scenes featurettes, nine deleted scenes, numer- ous Easter eggs, a blooper reel and the opportu- nity to continue “Lost”-related courses toward a “master’s degree” from Lost University. The highlight, though, is “Crafting a Final Season,” a nearly 40-minute documentary that goes deep behind the scenes — onto the set as cast mem- bers run their lines and wrap their final scenes, and even into star Jorge Garcia’s living room as
ALSO OF NOTE
FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION Unrated, 2010, $49.98
DUE TUESDAY
A stunning Michael Caine in a stinking Harry Brown; an awkward, unfunny Marmaduke; and an empty but diverting Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married Too?
The basics: Recent New York transplants Bret (Bret McKenzie) and Jemaine (Jemaine Clement) make up the band Flight of the Conchords from New Zea- land. Their audience usually consists of two mem- bers: Mel, their lone fan, and their manager, Mur- ray. The two rely on their friend Dave to help them fit in with American culture in this comedy. The lowdown: The series follows Bret and Jemaine as they play gigs, attempt to get girlfriends and, of course, perform hilarious songs. In Season 2, Mel and Murray join in on the tunes, a not-so-funny addi- tion that sometimes drags. A stand-up comedy spe- cial is packed with the laughs that landed the pair a show in the first place. The extras: The features show that the Conchords are consistently funny guys, from their radio appear- ances to comments on their co-workers. It’s easy to see why HBO nabbed the pair for the network.
THE SQUARE R, 2010, $24.96; Blu-ray, $30.95
NICOLE RIVELLI
Bret McKenzie, left, and Jemaine Clement bring the laughs (and the music) in the HBO comedy series “Flight of the Conchords.”
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ON WASHINGTONPOST.COM/DVDS More DVD reviews and information.
The basics: In this Australian thriller Carla (Claire van der Boom) and Raymond (David Roberts) fall in love and plan to leave their spouses in this Austral- ian thriller. When she finds a bag of money her hus- band has hidden in the attic, she steals it, and Ray- mond hires someone to burn the house down to cover up the theft. The lowdown: The characters offer little to make you feel for them, and if the film weren’t packed with fights and death, it would be hard to care at all about what’s going on. The extras: It seems that the deleted scenes con- tained all the film’s character development. A 10- minute short film titled “Spiders” begins with the words “It’s all fun and games until someone pokes an eye out.” You can guess where it goes from there.
— Kristen Boghosian
36-disc box set packaged in a case designed to look like an ancient Egyptian artifact. All the episodes and extras from every season — along with such bells and whistles as the senet board game played on the show by Jacob and the Man in Black, and an ankh with a tiny message from island protector Jacob tucked inside — are what justify the hefty price tag. Well, that and a hid- den disc that requires some extensive detective work to find filled with three hours of even more engaging bonus features: an exceptional retrospective, “Letting Go: Reflections on a Six- Year Journey”; a fun exploration of the show’s fandom called “Planet Lost”; a featurette that captures composer Michael Giacchino leading his musicians through the final day of recording the score (and making Cuse and Lindelof tear up in the process); and much, much more. So is it worth buying the complete series? Yes, for some. If you’ve got the disposable income, are a “Lost” collector or lack some of the seasons on disc, the set is certainly worthwhile and won’t disappoint. Others might want to hold off, though, at least until it’s time to start hinting about holiday gifts.
With both DVDs, but particularly the com-
plete series collection, we finally have the chance to absorb “Lost” in its entirety. “I hope that in hindsight, people will feel like the journey was worth it,” Cuse says during the “Crafting a Final Season” documentary. After revisiting the series via one of these DVD and Blu-ray sets, most Oceanic 815 loyalists will con- clude that, lingering questions and all, it abso- lutely was.
jen.chaney@
wpost.com
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THE WASHINGTON POST • FRIDAY, AUGUST 27, 2010
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