Top 5 LOST Episodes

So, there's lots of things to be excited about right now. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Senior year, friends coming back from Greece, graduation, and of course the Titans are 9-0! And now that ABC has announced the premier date for Season 5 of LOST for January 21, I'm officially getting excited. Just 68 days to go! Honestly, season 4 was so good that I was content with having no LOST for a while. It was like a great thanksgiving meal that keeps you full for 8 months. But now I'm definitely getting pumped, and I have no idea what to expect. So, I figured I would commemorate my pump-itude (my word I made up for a pumped attitude) by rolling out my top 5 Lost episodes from the first 4 seasons. So, without further ado:

#5-The Constant-(Season 4/Episode 5)

When I first saw this episode, my mind felt like mush when it ended, and I was frustrated that it didn't really extend the overall narrative of the show. But on further review, this is really the best episode of last season (which was a fantastic season). This was a Desmond episode, which are always weird. Throughout the episode, Desmond keeps flashing back between the current time and 1996, when he was in the army. As he keeps flashing back, he finally discovers that he must find a constant in both time periods and tries to contact Penelope. This lead to one of the greatest Lost scenes of all time when Desmond finally talks to Penelope on the phone and they discuss how they will find each other again.

This show was a big risk from the producers. They had to interrupt the overall storyline to present one of the weirdest time travel experiences ever on television. But it ultimately paid off, and gave us one of the best stand alone episodes in Lost. While I enjoy most Lost episodes for how they fit into the overall storyline, this was just a fantastic single hour of television.


#4-Pilot (Parts 1 and 2)

Lost burst onto the scene with this episode and nothing was ever the same. This entire episode was brilliantly planned by the writers, beginning with the initial close up of Jack's eye, followed by the 20 minute action sequence of the plane crash, the introduction of the monster and the polar bear, the shocking death of the pilot, the creepy French lady over the recording, and finally Charlie's statement that defined the show, "Guys, where are we?"

However, the best part about this episode was how it carefully set up these incredible characters and presented Lost as a character-driven show with fantasy elements, instead of the other way around. By the end of the pilot, we already felt like we knew these characters, and we were excited to learn more. This provided the framework that the whole show was built.


#3-Exodus Part 2 (Season 1/Episode 24)



Following the premier of the first season comes the finale of the first season (still my favorite season, by the way). I know this was originally a 2-part episode spread over 2 weeks, but I'm going to focus on the 2nd part. This was a fantastic episode beginning with Arzt blowing up and Hurley's classic line, "Dude, you have some Arzt on you." While most episodes focus on one character, this one showed flashbacks from every character in the cast, proving that this is an ensemble show. It also neatly summed up the entire first season, giving the season a fulfilling, distinct plotline that no other season has been able to re-create. The scene at the end with everyone getting on flight 815 with Michael Giacchino's piano in the background was beautiful. This episode also set up the Man of science/Man of faith debate between Jack and Locke which has really driven the show since. It also provided a perfect cliff hanger for the summer with Walt getting kidnapped by the Others and Jack and Locke peering down into the hatch. But that was back when we only had to wait 4 months in between seasons, instead of the 8 that we have to wait for now.



#2-Through the Looking Glass-(Season 3/Episode 22)


This was another 2-part season finale. I remember watching this one in Jason's living room, and it was one of the most exciting moments on tv ever. The episode was action packed, with fights with the others on the beach and below in the Looking glass station, plus the scene where Jack beat the snot out of Ben. It had the classic showdown between Jack and Locke. It had tons of tension over trying to get into contact with the freighter. Plus it had a fantastic heroic end for Charlie as he died letting Desmond know the boat was not Penny's.


However, the episode's best moments happened in Jack's flashforward. Of course, at the time, we thought it was just a flashback, but we didn't know where it was in Jack's storyline. This was Matthew Fox's best acting, and he was superb as the drug addicted, depressed, future Jack. When I finally realized it was a flash forward, it floored me for weeks. The final cries of Jack, "We have to go back! We have to go back!" were probably the best way to ever cap off a season. This was the biggest game-changer Lost has ever had and perfectly set up the flashforward/get off the island plotline of season 4.


#1-All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues-(Season 1/Episode 11)

This was another great Jack-isode, and still lives up as my favorite Lost episode ever. This was a tense episode as Jack, Kate, Locke, and Boone went after Ethan after he kidnapped Charlie and Claire. After an awesome fight scene with Ethan, Jack and Kate eventually found Charlie hung up in a tree. After minutes of Jack giving cpr and the sad piano music, I really thought Charlie was dead, but then Jack went at it again and Charlie somehow gasped for air. The flashback really made the episode though. After his dad ended up killing a patient, Jack eventually goes along with the lie that the patient died of natural causes, until he eventually stands up at a board meeting and said it was Christian's fault. This wasn't the biggest episode in terms of the overall plot, but it's still the most entertaining and most re-watchable for me.

Honorable mention goes to last season's finale, "There's No place like home" parts 1, 2, and 3. This episode was meant to be seen as a 3 part arch, so it really is like Lost: The Movie. It was probably the most packed episode storyline-wise in the history of the show. I'm still sorting it all out. It really culminated the entire arch of season 4. The storyline on island and in the flashforwards were awesome. I still need to watch it a few more times, before I can make a good judgment on it, but for now, it doesn't quite crack the top 5.

So, there's my top 5 so far. I'm hoping season 5 will add some more to that list, and I'm sure it will. What are your top 5?