The Absolute Best Episodes of Lost

This is Lost at it's best ... Hurley got to save the day by driving a van into The Others, Sayid broke someone's neck with his legs, Ben got his ass kicked, Penny was on the radio, and Charlie died a beautiful hero's death. Amazing. And then in the last scene we realize that the episode's flashbacks were actually flashforwards, and there were castaways finally living off the island. Well done.

I always loved story lines that involved Desmond, until I realized too late in the game that the writers had no idea what they were doing with Desmond. In Season 3 he seems to be able to see the future, and then by Season 5 this power is lost. But this Desmond-centered episode was one of the best, showing how his consciousness was starting to be fractured once he left the island for the freighter. Thanks to Daniel Faraday, we learn that Desmond needs to find his "constant," Penny, in order to save his brain from becoming swiss cheese. Sayid comes to the rescue, showing that he isn't the evil killer people make him out to be, and he helps Desmond make a radio call to Penny on Christmas Eve. Total tear-jerker.

I still believe that the pilot episode of Lost is by far the best episode ever. Enter Jack, staggering around in the jungle in a beat-up looking suit. He shoves his hand in his pocket and pulls out an airplane-sized bottle of alcohol ... and then you can hear the screaming. We realize that he is walking around in shock and there is a beach-full of carnage only a few yards away. Brilliant. Add to that the ensuing creepiness that sneaks in ... Jack, Kate and Charlie go into the jungle to find the remains of the plane only to discover the pilot still alive. Then the pilot is sucked out of the plane by the smoke monster and killed. Sawyer kills a polar bear, and Sayid picks up a transmission from the island in french repeating "it killed them all." Charlie asks "where are we?" and then blackout to the LOST logo. Awesome creepy goodness.

This is the season when it's reveled that Locke was in a wheelchair before the plan crashed onto the island. We see flashbacks of him being tormented at work by his mean-spirited manager, while back on the island he is leading the survivors on a boar hunt. We watch flashbacks of his excitement about going on the walkabout during his upcoming trip to Australia. Then at the end of the episode we learn that he had been in a wheelchair the whole time, culminating in a heartbreaking scene in which the tour company refuses to let him participate in the walkabout due to his condition.

Thanks to Desmond's ability to see snippets of the future, Charlie knows that death is around the corner. In this episode we see Charlie creating the greatest hits list of his life, flashing back to all the best memories. This was an excellent set-up for his dramatic drowning scene later, in which he sacrifices himself to save Desmond, and we are all reminded of why we've always had a soft spot for Charlie in the first place.

Despite my hatred of Season 6, I will put this episode on the list for one reason: the death of Sun and Jin. However, this episode begs to very important questions. 1. Why didn't anyone tell the submarine captain there was a bomb on the ship? Instead, they just say "bring the ship up! now!" Why not explain about the bomb? Maybe people would take you a bit more seriously. 2. Why did Jin stay and die with Sun? Sure, it's romantic and all, but don't forget that they have a child together who is now an orphan. I'm just saying, maybe he should have left her there so that he could be a father to their child.