At one point during season 2 of Lost I was sure it was a one-season wonder. Season 1 was great, but the second season was frustrating because it answered questions with more questions. This, unfortunately continued into season 3, but then about halfway through season 3, something happened and the show took a turn for the better.

Now about halfway through its 5th season, I think it is easily one of the best shows on television.

This past week’s episode, “LaFluer,” was one of the best episodes the show has ever had. And the reason it works is the same reason why I think the show overall is working. As The Joker says in The Dark Knight, “It’s all a part of the plan.”

That is to say that it seems pretty clear now that Lost always had a plan for where it was going to go. Those lackluster episodes in season 2 and 3 were really just set up for what is happening now. They both fleshed out characters, and laid the tracks for storylines. It’s the same reason why we’re seeing a lot of sequels in comic book movies that are better than the originals — the originals have to set up chacters and lay the groundwork, so the sequels can have all the fun.

As a TV show, Lost is now in that sequel phase, and is hitting the ball that seasons 1-4 put on the tee. The fact that its writers have been able to put together an extremely rich narrative while constantly interweaving complicated elements like [MINOR SPOILER] time travel — something which I’ll go ahead and brag about that I was right about a few years ago — is pretty amazing for a show that has mainstream popularity.

And in my mind, Lost just looks all the better when compared to shows like Battlestar Galactica and 24, both of which previously were my favorite shows on television. 24 is pretty decent this year I think, but it’s far from its height, which was season 1. It’s been up and down since then, but overall it’s still trending downward.

Battlestar Galactica is an especially tricky show. This second half of its final season (season four) is airing over a year after the first half went on. This second half is better than the first half, but in my mind, it in no way compares to the first three seasons of the show. Whereas 24 has been a slow road down with some spikes here and there, BSG I think has been on a constant path down.

The problem with the show in my mind is simple: While Lost had a plan from the beginning (even if no one thought it did in seasons 2 and 3), BSG clearly did not beyond season 1. It’s creator has admitted as much. And so now we have plot elements like relatively weak characters as cylons, being driven mad by an [MINOR SPOILERS] an old popular song “All Along the Watchtower,” (which jumps between bizarre to cheesy and back again) and working with the humans.

The reason why this second half of the season 4 is better is because there finally are bad guys again, after a whole year of quasi-villains. The whole Gaeta thing was the most interesting I think, but that lasted a whole two episodes. Now we’re stuck with the dude from Quantum Leap and Bad Boomer.

I’m sure there will be some big plot twist in the end, but I don’t have a lot of faith that it will be good.

Battlestar Galactica’s mini-series and season 1, was some of the best science fiction television in decades. One of the reasons for that was that the Gaius Baltar character was so good as the egomaniacal, accidental villain. Now they’ve turned him into a religious cult figure, going completely against character. He’s essentially been neutralized, as has Lee Adama as a wussy political figure.

Laura Roslin went from a strong character to an annoying one, and the fact that she’s been dying for the entire series is so very old now. Starbuck is interesting still, but underused until these past two weeks. And Bill Adama is of course still solid, but they keep having him have the same nervous breakdown and recovery every episode now.

And while I’m ranting, what happened to the cylons’ super-human strength? Remember when they could throw guards across the room and move super quick? Now they’re exactly like humans. It’s boring. They aren’t threatening in the least bit.

Going back to this week’s Lost, I think it ties in well with BSG because of the whole [AGAIN SPOILERS] jumping ahead in time a few years element. That was one of the last great moments of BSG, when Baltar was elected President and then BOOM — cut to a few years later and they’re all living on New Caprica, and life is shit.

I think this week’s episode of Lost may have been more powerful if they waited to cut to “Three Years Later…” until right after Juliet tells Sawyer she’ll give him two weeks, but that’s a minor point. The whole thing was handled brilliantly.

Now let’s just hope Lost doesn’t go downhill from here as BSG did following its big leap in time. As I said, I don’t think it will, because its creators actually seem to have a plan while BSG is stumbling towards the finish line.