Because You Left - Release and Reception

Release and Reception

The fifth season of Lost was promoted with a music video for the song "You Found Me" by The Fray intercut with new Lost scenes and the tagline, "Destiny Calls". Television critic Maureen Ryan of The Chicago Tribune has deemed the latter an "endlessly mockable slogan"; Don Williams of BuddyTV gave a more positive review, summing it up as "a fitting way to describe the upcoming season." The staff of TV.com ranked the fifth season first on their "Most Anticipated of Early 2009" list. Christopher Rosen of The New York Observer went so far as to deem the return of Lost a "bigge event" than other happenings in that week, specifically the unveiling of the 81st Academy Awards nominations and the United States presidential inauguration of Barack Obama. "Because You Left", as well as the following episode "The Lie" averaged 11.347 million viewers in the US, and 1.195 million in the UK. The episode, aired by itself, brought in 405,000 Australian viewers. "Because You Left" and "The Lie" were uploaded to ABC's media website—ABC Medianet—on December 29, 2008 to be viewed by members of the press for advance reviews attached to limited confidentiality agreements. "Because You Left" was first broadcast on January 21, 2009 on ABC in the United States and was simulcast on A in Canada, back-to-back with the next episode, "The Lie". Before the broadcast was aired "Lost: Destiny Calls", a clip-show recapping the first four seasons. It marked Lost's return to its original timeslot on Wednesdays.

Reviews were positive. James Poniewozik of Time thought that "Because You Left" provided a good balance of characterization and mythology and commended the character of Faraday, partially "because a perfectly-cast Jeremy Davies has turned him into a likeable, flawed, brusque, slightly-in-over-his-head nebbish-god." Matt Mitovich of TV Guide stated that the premiere "offer compelling twists … the foundation is laid for a pivotal penultimate season … it sends the mind reeling and uncorks infinite possibilities." Robert Bianco of USA Today wrote that "it's hard to name a series that is as engaging, surprising and flat-out gorgeous as Lost, or one in which every effort and penny expended seems to be put to shimmering good use. This is an epic big-screen adventure done for the small screen—and done in a way that makes most big-screen versions pale in comparison." Bianco also commended the characterizations, noting them as realistic and compelling. Maureen Ryan of The Chicago Tribune praised the opening sequence, calling it "really, really great … nerd-tastic for hardcore Lost fan; it's full of shout-outs and callbacks to classic Lost moments and trivia." She concluded that the premiere is "quite good" (three and a half out of four stars) with "a lot to like", specifically the expanded screen time for Faraday; however, Ryan expressed difficulty in understanding the use of time (travel) in the show and felt that one to two more viewings were warranted for her to give a better review of that aspect. Verne Gay of Newsday summed up that "The season's premiere represents pig-in-the-python storytelling—there's so much to work through, so many details, stories, characters and time dimensions to attend to, that after a while this all starts to feel like a very full meal. A bloated feeling may result." Among other pieces of praise, Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle was impressed by the "parallel plotting" of the characters on and off the island in different times. Despite deeming the premiere "riveting" and the script "tantalizing as ever", Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe had a mixed response, for he worried that he would not be able to handle a season's worth of time travel, stating that "I may be alone in this, and I hope I will be proven wrong, but I expected the solution to "Lost" to be more metaphysical, and more original, than simply people being unstuck in time." Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger deemed it "really good, in terms of keeping the momentum from last season going, servicing the characters and their emotions, and providing an appropriate number of 'Whoa's per hour." In a three out of four stars review, Thomas Connor of the Chicago Sun-Times stated that "the time-travel training wheels are coming off—and the path thus far seems blissfully free of the usual stumbling blocks", due to the previous four seasons of "baby steps" that set up the science fiction driven fifth season. Caryn Kunz of the Honolulu Advertiser said that "This was a great episode to get back into every aspect of our favorite show: relationships, mythology, reunions/cameos, and enough whoa moments to keep me on the edge of my seat throughout."

Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly summed up the entirety of the premiere as "pretty cool" and "worth the wait". He wrote that "Lost's tradition of opening the year with a killer, capture-the-imagination sequence is honored and upheld, though the thing I loved most was how it was brazenly frank (and engagingly funny) about the heady high-concept conceit that will define the season." Brian Lowry of Variety concluded that "Lost … approaches its twists with what appears to be a greater degree of intellectual rigor than almost anything else on primetime. Even when it's difficult to keep track of the myriad connections, a sense lingers that somebody knows—which is strangely reassuring." Despite being more interested in the romantic aspirations of the show's characters, Jennifer Godwin of E! remarked that "the Lost mythology is a miracle to behold. It's grandiose, compelling, gaspworthy and, despite what the haters would have you believe, altogether satisfying". Katherine Nichols of the Honolulu Star-Bulletin enjoyed the opening scene, "but the rest of it didn't capture as hoped it would", citing high expectations due to the eight-month hiatus after the fourth season finale and a possible "yearning for more character-driven stories over machinations revolving around time travel, however clever they might be." John Kubicek of BuddyTV said that "the opening scene itself will leave your mouth wide open and you'll probably forget to close it for a few minutes." He also wrote the premiere episodes "are vintage Lost, full of some unbelievable twists and a whole lot of groundwork". H.T. Strong of Ain't It Cool News said that "Because You Left" "is a corker, aggressively advancing the story in all kinds of directions."