Best TV Show: Lost
by Hannah Rogers After six seasons of dynamic storytelling, “Lost” came to an end in late May. The final episodes captured the best of the show millions came to love: the heightened action, the twisty plot lines and the development of beloved characters.
Since 2004, viewers have followed Jack (Matthew Fox), Locke (Terry O’Quinn) and Kate (Evangeline Lilly) as they faced polar bears, time travel and a smoke monster. But the true joys of the show came from Kate helping Claire (Emilie de Ravin) deliver her baby, Juliet (Elizabeth Mitchell) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) discovering their love for each other and Locke realizing he can walk again. The final episode paid homage to the characters and moments viewers adored, while tying up loose story ends.
While all the mysteries may not have been solved, there are enough clues from the of the collective seasons for those who care enough to figure out the meaning behind it all. The one puzzle that mattered, the parallel timeline, was solved in a way that was neither hokey or erased the meaning of the original world.
The finale provided closure for Jack, allowed Ben (Micheal Emerson) to begin truly seeking his redemption and allowed Desmond (Henry Ian Cusick) and Penny (Sonya Walger) to finally be reunited. Though some characters like Daniel (Jeremy Davies), Miles (Ken Leung) and Richard (Nestor Carbonell) were left up in the air, the show gave enough hints for the viewer to decide the fates of these characters.
“Lost” was never more emotional or well-written than in the final hours of its last season. The show had the magic of having protagonists just as engaging as its thrilling plot lines. The ending of a ground-breaking show kicked-off the summer television season in the best way possible – with laughter, tears and excitement for what is yet to come.
Best TV Show: Breaking Bad
by Will Malone
“Breaking Bad” is the best crime show in television history. Yeah, I said it.
Three seasons ago, Walter White (Bryan Cranston) came into the lives and television sets of millions of Americans as a down-and-out high school chemistry teacher who was looking down the barrel of the Grim Reaper’s gun. Three seasons later, Walter is now the leading producer of crystal methamphetamine in the southwestern United States and a criminal mastermind.
Walter White, diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, took his wealth of chemical knowledge and focused it on perfecting a crystal meth recipe in order to leave enough money for his wife and disabled son when he dies. He partners up with an old punk student of his, Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) to help him cook and distribute the product.
As if staying one step ahead of his D.E.A. brother-in-law (Dean Norris) wasn’t enough, Walter must outrun and outsmart an eerily calm, ruthless drug dealer (Giancarlo Esposito) and two mute axe-wielding assassins.
The writers and creator (Vince Gilligan) of “Breaking Bad” consistently write engaging and original material. Especially in the third season, many scenes involve just two characters speaking the best lines of dialogue written by anyone since “The Wire” without hard profanity. The episode “One Minute” builds to the most thrilling climax of the series and leaves the viewer completely floored.
Bryan Cranston, who now has two Emmys under his belt for his performance, is one of the best actors on television today. Having been greenlit for a fourth season, it would behoove you to get caught up on a wonderfully dark show and follow along as Walter continues to make horrible decisions that make for nail-biting television.
Worst TV Show: FlashForward
by Harry Nelson
“On October 6, the planet blacked out for two minutes and seventeen seconds. The whole world saw the future.”
Everyone on Earth blacks out and has a vision of six months in the future. Some people, including FBI Agent Demetri Noh (John Cho) see nothing during the blackout and assume that means they’ll be dead in six months.
Dr. Olivia Benford (Sonya Walger) sees herself with another man. Her husband, Agent Mark Benford (Joseph Fiennes) sees himself drinking on the job (he’s a recovering alcoholic). Agent Janis Hawk (Christine Woods) sees herself pregnant, which is surprising since she has no significant other and is a lesbian anyway.
The FBI assembles a team to investigate the cause of the blackout and uncovers video of a man walking around at a baseball stadium while everyone else was blacked out. Soon, they uncover a large sinister group of people behind the blackout and evidence of a smaller-scale blackout in Somalia in 1991.
Sounds awesome, right? Seriously, this is one of the coolest concepts for a tv show I’ve ever heard.
Unfortunately, the show was nothing like that. It was full of plot holes. The first half of the show was a big debate over whether the visions had to happen or not. After seven episodes, one character jumped off a building to prevent his flashforward from coming true, and newspaper headlines around the globe reported a confirmation the future could be different? Am I seriously supposed to believe it took months for anyone in the entire world to think of this?
I can understand why all of the characters had plot-relevant flashforwards. But since the characters were aware of the blackout in the flashforwards (for example, Mark sees himself investigating the blackout in his flashforward), shouldn’t most people see themselves celebrating the flashforward in the flashforward? Especially since that’s what most people actually did that day.
(Yes, the show established the future can be different. But not especially different. Or something.)
That one episode where Demetri was put into the death machine was pretty good, but aside from that, the show was a mess. Apparently it was originally pitched as an HBO. That’s a shame. I’m sure HBO’s high standards would have made the show as amazing as the concept.