It has been about seven months since I wrote about "Lost" after its conclusion. Since then I have been able to re-watch all six seasons and therefore have the opportunity to write about it once more. Here's a list of the best and worst episodes of the show.
(As was the case with the previous "Lost" post, if you have not seen or finished viewing "Lost," please do not view this post.)
The Best "Lost" Episodes:
I still admittedly do not care for the way the writers handled the end of Jin and Sun and thought their justification was rather thoughtless (but not as thoughtless as having Shannon be Sayid's soulmate); at least it was filmed beautifully. That being said, that is the only flaw of the episode. "The Candidate" is as emotional as it is thrilling. One particular thing I liked about it is the opportunity Season 6 provided for actor Terry O'Quinn. It allowed him to be as much of a villain as possible as the Man in Black in the original timeline while simultaneously being a train-wreck of vulnerability and fragility but also plain decency that was John Locke in the flash-sideways timeline. O'Quinn's performances were further proof of the brilliance behind the casting of "Lost."
The Best "Lost" Episodes:
10. There's No Place Like Home (Season 4)
Season 4's episodes spanned from romantic ("The Constant") to haunting ("The Shape of Things to Come"), but it ended with a bang in "There's No Place Like Home." We finally and emotionally see the Oceanic Six return home to their loved ones (except Kate and Sayid, who have no one waiting there), but as we will see in later episodes, the Island is not yet finished with them.
9. Exodus (Season 1)
The finale to Season 1 led to some frustration for those wanting to know what was in the Hatch (their questions would immediately be answered at the commencement of Season 2). But "Exodus," the finale, is a very exciting episode put together with near perfection. The departure of the raft, the kidnapping of Walt, and the final moments reflecting on the passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 are classic "Lost" moments.
8. The Candidate (Season 6)
7. Ab Aeterno (Season 6)
Finally, after seeing Richard serving as some sort of mysterious advisor who, despite being alive for several centuries, does not have one speck of grey in his hair, we get his story. One of the most mythological episodes of the show with hints of Homer's "The Odyssey," it is nearly perfect in its acting and romance and thrills. With the help of Michael Giacchino's new theme for Richard, suddenly, in one episode, there was a romance that rivaled Penny and Desmond's or Jin and Sun's. It ends terrifically, as well, with Jacob mocking the Man in Black with his bottled wine allegory.
6. Live Together, Die Alone (Season 2)
Every single finale was incredibly exciting, especially Season 2's. Jack, Michael, Sawyer, Kate and Hurley seek out the Others (but the giant bird that screams Hurley's name interrupts them), while the Hatch has again become a center of conflict (see below), but this time, Locke has lost his ways, even as Eko and eventually Desmond (with the help of Charlie) try to change his mind and save the world.
5. The Man Behind the Curtain (Season 3)
The first episode centering on the leader of the Others, the good bad guy (or bad good guy) Benjamin Linus, this episode allowed actor Michael Emerson to demonstrate his acting talent which later won him an Emmy for his performance on the show. It is also the first appearance of the mysterious Jacob, the individual supposedly in charge of the Island.
4. Pilot (Season 1)
Created by J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, the two-part Pilot introduced viewers to "Lost" in September of 2004. The characters were a doctor named Jack, played by Matthew Fox, a strong woman named Kate (Evangeline Lilly) who eventually is revealed to be a convict, a pregnant girl named Claire (Emilie de Revin), a junkie rock star named Charlie (Dominic Monaghan), a man (Harold Perrineau) only now getting acquainted with his young son (Malcolm David Kelley), feuding siblings (Ian Somerhalder and Maggie Grace), a Korean couple (Daniel Dae Kim and Yun-jin Kim), a Southerner (Josh Holloway) who we later discover is a con man, a rotund man who we later discover is a cursed lottery-winner (Jorge Garcia), and an odd yet angry man who is "special" (Terry O'Quinn), along with a monster and polar bears.
3. Orientation (Season 2)
What I like most about this episode is two things. First, we are introduced to the Dharma Initiative, that enigmatic organization that apparently once inhabited the island. We are introduced to them as the characters are: through short vintage orientation videos with a doctor (later re-introduced as Dr. Chang and becoming a character in Season 5). Second, it has its resolution in an intense scene which pits Jack against Locke as they struggle to push the enigmatic (and cursed) code of numbers into the Hatch's computer; they do not know why they must push the button, and it is not explained until much later. But time is running out. They are taking a psychological leap of faith, and this becomes a major theme throughout the show: faith versus science, or better, order versus chaos and nothingness.
2. Through the Looking Glass (Season 3)
Locke survives; Jack leads the group to safety; Bernard, Jin and Sayid kick some Other-ass; Sawyer and Juliet go to help but it's Hugo in his Dharma car who saves the day; Ben warns that those coming to the island are not going to help but to destroy; Desmond and Penny are nearly reunited; Charlie sacrifies; Mikhail dies (again); and it ends in quite the shocker. "We have to go BACKKKK!!!"
1. Walkabout (Season 1)
While the first several episodes introduced viewers to characters on the mysterious island with a monster and polar bears, "Walkabout" really helped distinguish "Lost" from just about anything else. It was in "Walkabout" that audiences knew the show was not only well-written to detail the struggles and triumphs of terrific characters, but also that there was just something truly unique about "Lost." "Walkabout" did that first.
The Worst "Lost" Episodes
-Whatever the Case May Be (Season 1)
Kate's episodes were usually the most boring and that was usually the fault of her flashbacks. This one depicted a bank heist she was involved in. (Her character was harder to believe than a guy betting cursed numbers to win the lottery or a wheel-chair bound man who could suddenly walk.) Is Kate stealing money? No. She's stealing a toy plane that she played with her childhood friend, whom she also happened to kill.
-Fire + Water (Season 2)
Charlie, who started as a sympathetic and interesting character, evolves into a hateful jerk as he hallucinates about his evangelical need to steal Claire's baby and "baptize" him. Charlie's drug addiction was settled by the end of Season 1, and it was dreadfully unnecessary for it to be revitalized.
-The Long Con (Season 2)
This episode came immediately after "Fire + Water." Many folks know that the role of Sawyer was originally meant for an older man with slick hair and most likely not a Southern accent. Josh Holloway got the part, and he did a very effective job and was the favorite of many American moms (including mine and Jorge Garcia's). But I never got over the silliness of Sawyer pretending to have medicine for a dying girl and not giving it to her, all because he wanted people to "hate him." In this episode, he raises the stakes by having "crazy Charlie" beat up Sun while making it seem like it was the Others so Sawyer can pit Locke and Jack against each other, thereby allowing Sawyer to become the "new sheriff in town."
-A Tale of Two Cities (Season 3)
This is undoubtedly the slowest start to any "Lost" season openers. Jack's flashbacks show that he doesn't just hate his father, he really hates his father. Other than a nice homage to "Raiders of the Lost Ark" with Ben and Kate having breakfast and the revelation that the Others are actually kind of normal, this episode is totally skippable.
-Stranger in a Strange Land (Season 3)
Jack is in Thailand. Why? Something about his tattoos, which never were and never were going to be a "Lost" mystery. Chinese actress Bai Ling plays what first appears to be a Thai prostitute but instead someone who can write people's character in tattoos...ah, who the hell cares?
-Expose (Season 3)
I didn't hate Nicki and Paulo as much as many people, but even with return cameos of Ethan, Dr. Artz, Boone and Shannon, and a cameo from Billy Dee Williams as himself, I share the sentiment of Daniel at TMZ that their elimination from the show did not warrant an entire episode. Nicki looking for the diamonds immediately after the plane crash? Paulo staring into the sky after the crash? Paulo not only discovering a hatch but spying on Ben and Juliet and not telling anybody about it?!
"The Other Woman" (Season 4)
This episode wasn't that bad, but whereas the other Season 4 episodes had such clarity and energy behind them with the innovative flash-forward timelines, suddenly we were brought back to the redundant flashback, this time with Juliet. The redundancy was augmented due to the fact that we learned nothing new, that Michael Emerson as Benjamin Linus was more interesting to watch, and that it became evident that the writers decided that Juliet (and for that matter the majority of its female characters) had become uninteresting and therefore ready to be blown away by a hydrogen bomb.
"Across the Sea" (Season 6)
Again, this episode wasn't that bad, but I remember I had such anger after viewing this episode because after the fast pace and cliffhanger of "The Candidate" we suddenly shift gears with an entirely unjustified episode featuring Jacob and the Man and Black, which, as Jimmy Kimmel said, was like the last episode of "Seinfeld" being only about the Soup Nazi. I liked some parts of the episode: the details about the smoke monster, Allison Janney's presence (but I wish she was given something better to do), and I like the mythology of it; yes, including the bright light, the "heart of the island." But it was terribly timed and whatever relevant information here could have been placed in "Ab Aeterno."
There were some episodes that were bad but still had exceptional moments. One of them was "Further Instructions" from Season 3. The flashbacks were only a novelty in the first season, but the revelation in "Further Instructions" that Locke was a hippy pot farmer was the final nail on the coffin. That being said, this was also the episode where the ghost of Boone appeared before Locke to guide him through a beautifully-scored and hypnotically-crafted airport of symbolism as he discovers which of his fellow Losties he must help.
There have also been other exceptional episodes that I have not mentioned, like the dark humor of "Not in Portland" from Season 3 explaining what happens to pregnant women on the island and introducing Richard Alpert, or "Sundown" from Season 6 with the return of Keemey and the episode's eerie and pessimistic ending. I have left out many other comments to avoid repeating observations from previous writing on the television show, but I would like to give a final shout-out to the characters Lapidus, Mr. Eko, Tom Friendly, Charles Whidmore, Keamy, and Mikhail. May almost all of them rest in peace.
Namaste, everyone.
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I wanted to comment about the Shannon/Sayid stuff. From a great LOST blog...
ReplyDeleteRewatch those first couple seasons, and not just the lovey scenes between Sayid and Shannon. Sayid tortured Sawyer to get Shannon her inhalers, he tried to kill Ana Lucia when she shot and killed Shannon, he fought scary scary Mr. Eko in order to get to Ana Lucia after she shot Shannon, he told Ana Lucia to kill him, and later he made several references to the fact that it didn’t matter what happened to him because he was “already dead.” Even look at just the scene between him and “Henry Gale” in which he asks Henry how deep he dug his “dead wife’s” grave. That guy was in love. And, as for Shannon’s side of it, just look at literally every other relationship with a man she’s ever had. Sayid made her feel loved, happy, and safe for the first time in her life. Long paragraph short: Nuh-uh, they were both incredibly in love with each other.
On the subject of his love for Nadia and Island Love, let’s first talk about Love in general. How many times have you been in love? How many times are people allowed to love? What is love? Baby, don’t hurt me. No more.
My point is that just because you love someone, it doesn’t mean you can’t love again. That would make life pretty depressing for a lot of people. Jack was married before he met Kate, Kate was married before she met Jack (and Sawyer), Claire conceived a child with her boyfriend before she met Charlie, Juliet had a husband and a romantic relationship with Goodwin before she met Sawyer, and Boone boned his step-sister before he met John Locke. Personally, I have been in love more than once, and I don’t think that negates the feelings I’ve had for any of the participating parties. To quote no one, “Love is not exclusive. Love is everywhere. Love, love everywhere, but not a drop to drink.” Or something like that.
Now, let’s talk about Island Love. Is Island Love more “real?” No. But is it stronger? Kind of, yeah. I’ve discussed earlier about how important the Island was to the characters’ lives, and also about the Heart of the Island, which is the Source of Life. Both of these directly relate to the issue of Island Love, and to put it all together we need to understand that the main thesis of the show was essentially “Life is Love.” The idea of A Constant shows that most of all, but also look at the characters’ relationships and motivations throughout the series and how much love informed their actions. And let’s not forget the series finale, which is a pretty appropriate time to sum up your show. The survivors’ awakenings in the Sideways were based primarily on love. That Sideways world itself came from the Island, the Source of all life. So, I would say in relation to the Sideways world’s purpose and the very nature of the Island, yes, Island Love is stronger. If Life is Love, and the Island is the source of Life, then the very fabric of the Sideways world was built with the love that was born during the survivors’ time on the Island.
So, while Sayid did love Nadia very much, his love for Shannon was more “real” in its connection to the Island, the Sideways world, their lives, and most importantly the thesis of the whole series. The Numbers and hatches and smoke monsters aside, that’s what the show was about. Maybe it’s a little corny, but LOST was LOVE.
That’s okay, though. So were The Beatles.