The top 20 “Lost” episodes so far: #20 and #19

With the season five premiere of “Lost” only ten days away [January 21 at 9 PM on ABC], fellow “Lost” fanatic John Barnett and myself decided to go over the best 20 episodes in the show’s history so far. And because we’re awesome, we’ll be unveiling our choices two-at-a-time from now until the show’s premiere date.

To choose the best episodes, we considered the ep’s value to the overall mythology, its writing, which character it focuses on, etc. And as always, if you agree, comment and say why. If you don’t, voice your picks for alternative episodes.

That said, let’s get it started with the first two on our list.

20. “Two for the Road” S2 EP20, Ana Lucia Centric

This Ana Lucia-centric episode from late in Season 2 still boasts one of the most shocking endings in series history, with Michael murdering Ana and Libby out of absolute nowhere. It also deepens the Christian Shephard mythology by supposing that Jack’s dad could show up absolutely anywhere and be a relevant part of the action.

Ben, then still known as Henry Gale, fully reveals his malevolent side, and Locke is at his soul-searching best. Early in the episode, we’re also introduced to one of our first mentions of the mysterious Jacob, a cryptic reference becoming more and more important to the series’ overall mythology.

Peripherally, Sawyer and Ana’s jungle tryst is pure horror movie fodder in the “whoever screws is doomed” vein,” and Ana and Christian’s Australia flashbacks, as well as Ana’s final phone call to her mother in the airport, prove her a vital supporting character in the series, despite some fans’ objections.

-John Barnett

19. “The Man from Tallahassee” S3 EP13, Locke Centric

After the audience learned that Locke spent some of his life pre-Island in a wheelchair all the way back in season one, we’ve all wondered how he got there. Over two years later, we finally figured it out and the reveal didn’t disappoint. Once his con man dad was introduced, we expected that he had something to do with Locke’s condition, but pushing him out an eight story window was frankly…awesome, yet gruesome.

This episode also had a significant amount of great scenes between characters we hadn’t seen interact in a while: Kate walked in on [slightly weird acting] Jack playing the piano and he basically let her get thrown around so he could leave the Island on the sub in hopes of coming back for her [or did he really mean that?]; Ben and Locke had the famous “imaginary wish box” conversation that drove the interwebs crazy; and the disdain Jack’s face displayed for Locke was just another major moment in their strained relationship. And obviously, the reveal that Locke’s bastard dad Anthony Cooper was on the island was a great cliffhanger.

Perhaps more importantly to the health of the show, this episode was the absolute turning point in show where it went from a more plodding, slow-burn of answers to the fast-paced writing we’ve gotten ever since.

-Cory Barker

[Images couresty of ABC and Lostpedia].

Come back tomorrow for the next two on the list!

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