In September 2004, ABC debuted Lost, one of the biggest hits in the history of the network. The series began as a riff on Survivor, as a group of plane crash survivors found themselves trapped on an uncharted tropical island. But soon enough, the show revealed that it was more than just a survival drama. Elements of sci-fi, fantasy, and mystery had fans hooked from the start. By the end of its six-season run, Lost was a cultural phenomenon.
Now that Lost is back on Netflix, we’re sharing the five episodes that you need to watch. These aren’t the only great episodes from the show, and they may not make much sense to first-time viewers. As we’ve said before, the best way to enjoy Lost is to watch each episode in order. However, Lost veterans should be able to freely jump between any of these picks if they’ve already watched the show.
Walkabout
Season 1, episode 4
The fourth episode of the entire series helped establish that Lost was something special. The flashbacks focused on John Locke (Terry O’Quinn), and viewers soon learned that the confident hunter seen on the island was very different in his mundane life before the plane crash. Instead, Locke was a figure to be pitied, someone who had no true friends or lovers and was determined to overcome his “condition.”
It isn’t until the closing moments of this episode that an apparent miracle is revealed, and it changes Locke’s life forever. From that point on, Locke looks for spiritual meaning behind the island’s many mysteries. And he is living proof that something divine may be in play.
The 23rd Psalm
Season 2, episode 10
The creative team of this show loved to play with audience expectations. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s Mr. Eko was introduced to the audience early in season 2 as one of the survivors from the tail section of the plane. Eko presented himself as a priest, but it wasn’t until his flashback episode, The 23rd Palm, that we learned this was a lie.
Eko and his brother, Yemi (Adetokumboh M’Cormack), took very different paths in Nigeria. Eko became a child soldier and a killer to spare his brother from the same fate, while Yemi embraced religion and became a priest. When they are reunited as adults, Eko’s life takes another tragic turn and he adopts his brother’s calling as his own. Outside of the island, Eko was just a fraud masquerading as a priest. On the island, Eko dedicates himself to living up to his brother’s example.
Through the Looking Glass, parts 1 and 2
Season 3, episodes 22-23
It’s too big of a spoiler to explain why Dominic Monaghan’s Charlie wrote “Not Penny’s boat” on his hand, but that is the indelible image from the incredible third season finale of Lost. It may be a cheat to add these two episodes together as a single entry, but Through the Looking Glass was both the midpoint of the series and a game-changer that shook up the status quo in a huge way.
The storyline on the island features the final showdown between the survivors and the Others, which had been building since the end of the first season. However, the parallel story of Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) off of the island was one of the most memorable in the show’s history. Few fans picked up on the clues that Jack’s side story wasn’t quite what it initially seemed to be, and that set the stage for the show’s fourth season and beyond.
The Constant
Season 4, episode 5
The Constant is widely regarded by many Lost fans as the greatest episode of the series. It’s one of the most sci-fi-heavy episodes as well, but it’s carried by the love story between Desmond Hume (Henry Ian Cusick) and Penny Widmore (Sonya Walger). In the present, Desmond’s mind becomes unstuck in time and his consciousness keeps slipping eight years in the past to 1996. And when Desmond’s mind returns to the present, he has no idea what’s happened to him since 1996.
Desmond’s mental time travel is potentially fatal, and the only way he can restore himself to his proper timeline is if he can make contact with his “constant,” Penny, in both time periods.
Whatever Happened, Happened
Season 5, episode 11
By the fifth season, time travel was more overtly part of the show’s lore. Many of the survivors were trapped in 1977, where they encountered Ben Linus (Sterling Beaumon) as a boy before he grew up to become one of their enemies on the island. Regardless, Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly) does everything she can to save young Ben after he’s shot by one of her own. One of the reasons Kate does this is because she’s looking for redemption for her own choices.
Jack makes the morally questionable decision to withhold his aid from Kate because of everything Ben will do in the future. That leads Kate to take drastic actions which may ensure that the timeline that turned Ben into one of the Others comes to pass despite the attempt to change it.
Watch Lost on Netflix.
