Top 10 Greatest Lost Moments
Written by: The CinCitizens
CC2K staffers compiled their picks for the top 10 moments from the seasons 1-5 of Lost. (Don’t worry: we know that many of you watch on DVD or TiVo, so we won’t spoil season 6 for you.)
Season 1, Episode 1: “Pilot”
A lot of the elements that became big mysteries of Lost were introduced, or hinted at, in the pilot: the Smoke Monster, the polar bear, the French woman. And if we look back now, most of those mysteries have been resolved. But there’s one exception: the question, posed by ex-rocker Charlie Pace, at the end of the episode: “Guys, where are we?” It is this question that has been the core of Lost for the last six years. –Beth Woodward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSnXeTRqDE4
Season 2, Episode 20: “Two for the Road”
When Walt was kidnapped by the Others, Michael took extreme measures to get him back: shooting Ana Lucia and Libby in cold blood to free their leader from the Lostaways. Death was not a stranger on Lost island, but the cold and sudden nature of these deaths—at the hands of a formerly sympathetic character—remains unmatched. It was a “holy shit!” kind of moment and the first time we saw just how dark the dark side of the island can become. –Beth Woodward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCrNH7SRDbg
Season 3, Episode 10: “Tricia Tanaka is Dead”
When Hurley decides to fix a rusted VW van and go joyriding with the help of Charlie, Sawyer, and Jin, it’s a fun, lighthearted moment. Hurley realizes he’s not cursed. Charlie confronts his fears about death. And Sawyer realizes, if only briefly, how much he longs for companionship. Does it feed into the larger mythology of the show? Not really. But it’s the kind of bonding moment that makes you realize why these people would risk their lives for one another over and over again. –Beth Woodward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwZOmB9Fi30
Season 3, Episode 14: “Exposé”
One of the best, because most shocking and gruesome moments of the show was when they Nikki and Paulo alive after they had been bitten by spiders. They were just paralyzed but fully aware of everything, but the other survivors didn't know this and so they buried them. I "loved/hated" the last few images of that episode: first the frog perspective (camera in the grave) when all you saw was Hurley throwing yet another shovel of sand into the grave. And then the survivors walked away and the camera lingered on the finished grave. The quiet horror that crept up my spine thinking "OMG, they are buried alive! Go back and save them!" was intense. It's everyone's nightmare, I am sure, and to be paralyzed and yet completely aware while it happens is just the doubling of the horror. I am telling you, no splatter movie a la Saw scared me as much as that scene! –Phoebe Raven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x791s2quP40
Season 3, Episode 23: “Through the Looking Glass”
When Desmond tells Charlie that he has foreseen his death, and that Charlie must die in order to save the other survivors, Charlie doesn’t believe it. He denies it. He tries to avoid it. But at the end of season 3, aboard the Looking Glass station, Charlie knowingly sacrifices himself to save Desmond and the other survivors—but especially Claire and her son. When I saw this episode for the first time, I thought, “Why didn’t Charlie just close the door behind him instead?” But watching the clip again, I get it: in that moment, Charlie has accepted his death as destiny. Whether we agree with that or not doesn’t negate the fact that this remains one of Lost’s saddest moments. –Beth Woodward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz8Ib5q4D3Q
Season 3, Episode 23: “Through the Looking Glass”
Up until the end of season 3, one of the biggest questions of the series was whether the Lostaways would ever get off the island. I presumed, probably like many other people, that we wouldn’t find out until the end of the series. But in a jaw-dropping twist midway through its run, the show flashed forward to reveal that some of the survivors had, indeed, gotten off the island, and that Jack—who, in the island present, is doing everything he can to get the survivors off the island—has become desperate to get back. In pure shock value, no other moment of Lost even comes close, and that one moment changed the playing field of Lost for the rest of the series. –Beth Woodward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vK5LacXdwbo
Season 4, Episode 5: “The Constant”
Compared to the other Lostaways, Desmond Hume’s story was always pretty simple: he was just a guy trying to get back to the girl he loved. Of course, he also had a strange resistance to electromagnetic radiation and a tendency to travel through time. But when Desmond finally reconnected with his Penny—via a very brief, magical telephone call on Christmas Eve 2004—it was enough to bring tears to your eyes. But in the grander scheme, it answered a much bigger question—that Desmond’s trips through time hadn’t been hallucinations—and posed many, many more. –Beth Woodward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7gX8zzfM-s
Season 5, Episode 17: “The Incident”
They exploded a hydrogen bomb. THEY EXPLODED A FRIGGIN’ HYDROGEN BOMB!!! Where the hell do you go from there? –Beth Woodward
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rBS0HTIsNY
Season 1, Episode 4: “Walkabout”
This episode and this ending – both acknowledged classics in the history of TV – told me that Lost meant business.
This show grew slowly on me. I missed the pilot and only started watching the series out of sequence. If memory serves, there were copious repeats available to watch, and my roommate at the time, CC2K’s Red Baron, had saved most of the first season episodes on our DVR. I’m glad he did.
Sometimes the best way to misdirect an audience is to shine a spotlight on what you’re trying to conceal. The Lost showrunners employed this very tactic by opening on the image of Locke looking at his feet and ending with the revelation that he’s wheelchair-bound. To top it off, they saddled Terry O’Quinn with cheesy dialogue straight out of a Lifetime movie of the week, and the sheer power of the players involved transformed those lines – “Don’t tell me what I can’t do!” – into an immortal TV moment.
“Walkabout” also signaled the audience that we were in store for either a lot of kooky science-fiction or a healthy serving of contemporary fantasy. Turns out, we got both. — Tony Lazlo
Two Scenes With Sawyer
Submitted for your approval are two moments featuring my favorite Lost character, James “Sawyer” Ford. I couldn’t decide between them, so I submit them in a two-way tie for inclusion on this list.
Season 1, Episode 16: “Exodus”
First, I offer this scene from the season 1 finale, “Exodus,” where Sawyer reveals to Dr. Shepherd that he ran into his father in Sydney – and that the good doctor’s drunk, ne’er-do-well father is proud of him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuoSMaQhLV0
Sawyer appeals to me because he’s the kind of character I aspire to write in my own fiction – a sweet-talking redneck scoundrel – but mostly I like Sawyer because he’s grimly determined to redeem himself. It’d be easy to write Sawyer off as a villain, but he isn’t. He’s lion-hearted, and he’s spent the last six seasons of Lost learning a vocabulary of heroism he never even knew existed. — Tony Lazlo
Season 1, Episode 16: “Outlaws”
The “I Never” scene. You know you love it.
I’m sure there are legions of fans who want to see Kate and Sawyer wind up together. Me, I hope James makes his way back into the arms of Juliet in the sideways universe, but I can understand the attraction between these two characters. They’ve both run afoul of the law, and in this classic scene, they bond over a goofy drinking game that most of us probably last played in college.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9uuxwt4Wc4
I heap praise on this scene because of everything it doesn’t have. When Sawyer says, “I never killed a man,” there’s no swagger in his voice. No pride. No toughness. There’s only grief in his voice and desolation in his eyes.
And when he says, “Well, it looks like we’ve got something in common after all,” there’s no suggestion in his voice. No innuendo. No flirtation. There’s only a quiet call for help; a hand extended from one frail, fractured soul to another. — Tony Lazlo