2: Showdown at the Beach

Episode: Through the Looking Glass, Part 2 (3×23)

The final episode of season three was my favorite of the series. I actually was nervous for a good deal of it. Masterful pacing and storytelling. While the final few seasons tried to tell a really complex story, I don’t think they were ever able to quite capture the magic they had right here.

From the tension where Sayid, Bernard, and Jin all try to blow up the dynamite, all the way to Sawyer killing Tom Friendly, the whole scene kills. I was able to track down one clip which takes us from Hurley coming to the rescue, to Sayid delivering the craziest of the show’s executions.

1. Not Penny’s Boat

Episode: Through the Looking Glass, Part 2 (3×23)

Penny and Desmond make it into two of the top three scenes. I wasn’t crazy about either character individually, but I really loved watching them together. Unlike the pangs of lust that came between a lot of the castaways, everything between Penny and Desmond felt genuine, a sort of touchstone to reality off the island.

I was pretty sure Charlie was going to die, and I wasn’t looking forward to it. I did want his character to be gone, but if you looked at the other character deaths (Boone, Shannon, Ana Lucia, Libby, Mr. Eko), they were all sudden and in vain. While not all deaths should mean something, I did not want Charlie to die pathetically. This was the absolute perfect way for him to go. One of my favorite reveals of the show. Combine it with the raw power of the entire episode, and it’s easily my favorite moment. I also like to pretend the episode ended there and not with the flash forward of Kate and Jack being whiny bitches.

What other moments are among your favorites?

4. Book Club

Episode: A Tale of Two Cities (3×01)

Season two kind of ended on a whimper. A lot of big things happened.  The hatch blew up.  The gang went searching for The Others camp. Michael and his son got away. We saw the four-toed statue. It was fine, but I was getting really tired of the show constantly adding more mysteries while treading water with everything else.

Then this:

3. Desmond Calls Penny

Episode: The Constant (4×05)

Probably my second favorite episode. While the show dealt with time travel quite a bit, this hour of television dove right in and told a complete and fascinating story around it. The Constant has it all: action, suspense, mind-blowing sci-fi, and a huge emotional payoff.

6. Mr. Eko Saves His Brother

Episode: The 23rd Psalm (2×10)

Of the new characters introduced from the tail section, Mr. Eko was easily the best. We first saw him chasing Jin back to the beach on a rampage. We then learn that he’s a quiet, introspective man who has the most compassion amongst Ana Lucia’s crew. We know he’s capable of great love and also great violence. But it’s not until this episode we find out why.

Ugh.

5. Waaaaalllllltttt!!!

Episode: Exodus, Part 2 (1×24)

I watched Lost well after all six seasons had aired. I knew virtually nothing about it other than how long it went on. But that was enough for me to know that there was no way in hell that the raft was ever going to reach rescuers. My prediction was that they’d wind up back on the beach, despite never changing direction, due to some bizarre forces that separate the island from the rest of the Earth. I did not expect The Others, assuming they were stranded on the island just like everyone else, to have a boat.

Michael had slowly become a sympathetic character by the end of season one, and his strengthening relationship with Walt was a joy to see. And then Tom Friendly kills it.

“Only the thing is, we gonna have to take the boy.”

8. Locke’s Fall

Episode: The Man From Tallahassee (3×13)

The show had teased for a long time with the when and how of Locke getting paralyzed us. Getting hit by a car in the parking lot was a lame “ah, gotcha” moment where he turned out to be fine. I had a pretty good feeling his father was going to be responsible somehow, but when it happened, I was still taken by surprise.

7. Charlie’s Greatest Hit

Episode: Greatest Hits (3×22)

Oh, Charlie. He was mildly interesting in the first season, but after 36 flashbacks about him being a heroin addict (yeah, we get it) and his bizarre, short-lived turn into Evil Charlie (via attacking Sun and stealing Aaron), I was tired of him. But once Desmond pegged him as walking dead, he finally got the treatment he deserved. In this episode, the flashbacks detail the highlights from Charlie’s life. They’re bittersweet, and a bit sentimental, but I got a little choked up at the end. Either way, his greatest hit is way better than “You Are Everybody.”

10. Michael Shoots Ana Lucia and Libby

Episode: Two For the Road (2×20)

When Boone and Shannon were killed off, I wasn’t surprised that they began adding characters to replace them. One would have thought that of the four people from the tail section that came back to camp, a few of them would either become regulars or at least survive. Ha.

Ana Lucia was not well liked, but she got her own flashbacks, so you figure she’s going to stick around a while. I was completely unprepared for Michael shooting her, but got over it in about 1.2 seconds. Libby was the gut-punch. While we didn’t know much about her, she was giving Hurley the time of his life, and the sickening feeling came from knowing he just lost her.

Then MIchael turns the gun on himself. Damn this show mastered the cliffhanger.

9. Don’t Ever Tell Me What I Can’t Do!

Episode: Walkabout (1×04)

This was the episode that made just about everyone fall in love with Locke. In fact, without him, the show would lose about half of its emotional weight. On many television shows it takes characters about a season or so to really get to know their character and ease into it. Terry O’Quinn masters Locke already. The entire episode is a brilliant hour of television, but the last few minutes seals the deal.

12. And Arzt Goes the Dynamite

Episode: Exodus, Part 1 (2×23)

Considering he had only been in one episode prior, and was fairly obnoxious at that, I bet 95% of all viewers knew that Leslie was going to be blown to smithereens when he started handling the dynamite. I don’t think that fact made it any less awesome. Plus, it set up Hurley to later say, “Dude, you got some Arntz on you.”

11. Light Em Up!

Episode: The Hunting Party (2×11)

I really enjoyed the character of Tom Friendly, both as the gruff bully with the fake beard and as the laid back yes-man for Ben. At this point in season two, he appeared to be the leader of The Others (who seemed to be savages), and he had already kidnapped Walt and was always the one giving orders. This scene was wrought with tension. I wish they could have done something with it other than turn Kate into Gilligan, but all the same it was a crushing defeat for the castaways and added to the mystery that was their enemy.

14. Sayid Tortures Sawyer

Episode: Confidence Man (1×08)

This is the first episode where we learn something about Sawyer that hints that he’s not the most horrible person on the island.  We learn that he’s a con man, but we also learn that he’s willing to end a con if a young boy would be hurt by the deal. It won’t be for a few episode that we learn why, but the seed is planted. Of course, when we turn to the island, Sawyer proceeds to be as awful as he’ll ever get, denying asthma medication to Shannon for no apparent reason.

Jack sees no choice but to employ the skills of his torture buddy, Sayid. The shot of Sayid sharpening the bamboo is pretty intense. Sawyer finally breaks, but in true fashion, he still maintains control over the situation by demanding to work with Kate and then manipulating her.

13.5.  There’s a New Sheriff In Town

Episode: The Long Con (2×13)

The above entry reminded me of another moment I just can’t leave off the list. Well, see for yourself.

13. Sayid Shoots Avellino

Episode: The Economist (4×03)

I more or less hated the flash forwards. While I occasionally don’t mind a tease as to what is to come, I think the show overdid it, sometimes focusing more on this vague future than all the fun going down on the island. But for a brief moment, I was engaged. It was nice to see Sayid playing a serene round of golf. You figure, maybe he’s at peace now. Nope.

17. Locke Cold Cocks Boone

Episode: Hearts and Minds (1×13)

Locke was a mysterious character from the get go. By this time, we had learned enough about him that he seemed less disturbing and more of a sympathetic character. But when Boone decides to tell the rest of the group about the hatch, Locke knocks him out cold. He then somehow makes Boone hallucinate his sister’s horrific death (via Smoke Monster, not Ana Lucia Monster).  Yet another time in season one that my expectations were flipped upside down.

The episode itself was one of the weaker ones of the first season, as one story line I was not looking for was Boone and Shannon’s desperate, drunken tryst.  But moments like this kept me riveted as I wondered where the hell the writers were going to take me next.

16. Gary Troup Gets Sucked Into a Turbine

Episode: Pilot (1×1)

When I saw the preview for the show back in 2004, I thought it looked kind of cool, but I couldn’t see how an entire series about castaways could hold up. Obviously, I never paid close attention. I have little doubt now that had I actually bothered to watch the pilot I would have been hooked immediately. The chaos on the beach was a visual and visceral treat. I noticed the turbine right away and thought it would be freaking awesome if some idiot gets sucked right into it. It took a few minutes, but some dude finally got too close. KA-BOOM!  I was hooked.

15. Finding The French Woman’s Transmission

Episode: Pilot (1×1)

If the pilot being sucked out by WTF! and coming face to face with a polar bear wasn’t enough, the first episode ended on a fantastic cliffhanger. For one of the only times in her short run on the show, Shannon was useful, translating Rousseau’s message into English. Sayid gets to show off his skills as a communication specialist, dropping another bombshell on the group. Yeah, I was going to watch the second episode.