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Lost: Top 5 Episodes plus Epilogue review

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‘Lost’ officially ended several months ago, but as soon as news got out that the Season 6 DVD would include an exclusive 12-minute ‘Epilogue’, this was set in the minds of all fans as being the REAL point at which we’d be ready to let the show go. I was lucky enough to be able to view the DVD extra recently, and am pleased to report that it offers up answers to questions ignored by the finale (the biggest of which being Walt’s surprising fate and why pregnant women on the island meet the same grizzly fate) and while not containing anything too mind-blowing, serves as a nice little extra few scenes giving a glimpse into how the ‘New Man In Charge’ (as the Epilogue is titled) is running things.

Now that Lost does finaly feel over in my mind, I’ve decided to compile my own list of my five favourite episodes, which can be found below in no particular order. Please note that, although the above Epilogue review featured no explicit spoilers, the content below will speak openly about plot twists during, after and preceding the episodes.

The Man Behind The Curtain (Season 3) – Lost was often criticized for it’s tendancy to set up mysteries that effectively left it’s viewers hanging over an icey crevasse of un-explaineded TV plotlines while a snotty teenage boy stamped on their fingertips and laughed heartily at their confusion, but they were often not credited for the several episodes throughout the series that answered many big questions in truly gob-smacking hours of television. The Man Behind the Curtain was one of the first episodes to start delivering answers by the truckload, revealing not only the origins of one of the best TV antagonists in television history (Michael Emerson’s Benjamin Linus) but also lot’s of information about the mysterious Dharma Initiative and their ultimate demise at his hands.

To top this off, the on-island story is equally thrilling as a revitalized John Locke forces Linus to lead him through the jungle to the elusive and terrifying ‘Jacob’, who at this point we knew very little about. The ensuing scene in the cabin was one of the most memorable of the series, as the paranormal aspects of the island began to be explored explicitly on-screen for the very first time, and the episode finished with a shocking cliffhanger as Linus – now fearing his authority over ‘The Others’ was slipping – shoots Locke and leaves him for dead amongst the bodies of the Dharma Initiave victims.

Memorable Quote (Ben): “I was one of the people who was smart enough to make sure I didn’t end up in that ditch… Which makes me considerably smarter than you, John.”

All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues (Season 1) – Possibly the most pivotal episode of the first season, this episode set in place a number of plotlines that would shape future series. We discover that Christian Shepherd’s alcoholism lead to Jack ratting him out at an investigation, Ethan’s abduction of Charlie and Claire (although how he managed to overpower both characters is never really explained – we can only assume that Charlie is, infact, a pansy) revealed that there were, infact, others on the island and hinted at their intentions for our Losties, and the episode climaxes with Locke and Boone discovering a metal panel amongst the dirt in the jungle that would later reveal the Hatch, and the setting an over-arching mystery for much of Season 2.

Memorable Quote (Jack): “By the time I got there it was clear that my father was not only impaired, but that he had also severed the patient’s hepatic artery. Which in my professional opinion, caused the crisis which led to her death.”

Sundown (Season 6) – A truly kick-ass episode. John Locke was dead and being immitated by the Smoke Monster, who we now knew was responsible for previous apparitions on the island (such as Christian Shepherd in season 1, Hurley’s ‘Dave’ visions in season 2, and Hopkirk [deceased]… oh wait, wrong show) and, presumably, was also the real occupant of the Cabin visited in season 3, the point at which he chose John Locke as his means to escaping the island. In terms of ‘great Smoke Monster attacks’ in the sixth season, the massacre at the end of this episode and the decimation of Jacob’s guards in the season premier (after which we discovered that the man masquerading as Locke was infact Smokey) are difficult to chose between, however the bizarre ‘flash-sideways’ begins to get interesting in this episode and Sayid’s eventual turn to the ‘dark side’ is surprising and satisfying in equal amounts.

Memorable Quote (Claire): “He’s coming, Kate. He’s coming and they can’t stop him.”

Live Together, Die Alone (Season 2) – The two-hour season two finale answered one of the biggest questions on Lost up until this point – why did Flight 815 break-up in mid-air and crash on this mysterious island? The answer: because a scottish man called Desmond Hume who had been punching a series of numbers into a computer every 108 minutes for over three years inside a hatch built under the jungle by the Dharma Initiative very nearly missed an entry, causing an electromagnetic burst of energy to eminate from the island before he managed to rectify the situation. And further more, one of the passengers, John Locke, would later discover the hatch and prevent Desmond from committing suicide, and then take over the job of inputting the numbers until he would discover another hatch and began to lose faith in the importance of pushing the button, leading to the climactic events of this finale which sees the hatch explode and a core group of the main characters captured by The Others, and also allow the island to be detected by the outside world which would eventually lead to the island being moved through time for it’s own protection. Hand’s up, who called it after the first episode?

Memorable Quote (Desmond): “….. I think I crashed your plane.”

The Shape of Things to Come (Season 4) – The best episode from my personal favourite season, Lost was already benefiting from having a set end-date and thus a reduced number of ‘filler’ episodes, and by this point the conflict between the Losties and The Others seemed like a memory of happier times for all involved as a team of ruthless merceneries began storming the island, complete with machine guns and rocket launchers. But what came as a shock to viewers and the Losties alike was that Benjamin Linus had a secret weapon of his own – at the touch of a button, he was able to summon the Smoke Monster to dispose of the gun-toting maniacs and allow the group to retreat to safety. And jaw-dropping moments are kind of a specialty for this episode – we also have Claire’s house exploding, Alex being murdered, and a memorable gun fight between Sawyer and the merceneries in the opening scene. Exhilerating stuff.

Memorable Quote (Ben): “He Changed the Rules.”

Unfortunately, because I only chose to pick five episodes, this meant one season had to go without representation. As Season 5 was my least favourite, this ended up being the one cut out. Sorry about that. For what it’s worth, ‘The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham’ and ‘Follow The Leader’ were excellent episodes.

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