Five Essential Episodes
I’ll be watching these before Tuesday!
Looking for ‘Lost’ Clues? Watch These Episodes
By EDWARD WYATT
With 95 episodes of “Lost” already broadcast, it would be all but impossible to review the entire series before the premiere of the final season on Tuesday. But there are shortcuts. Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof, executive producers of the series, provided a list of the episodes that they think are the most crucial for newcomers who want to prepare for the final season and for longtime viewers who want to refresh their memories about key plot points and characters. Total viewing time? About six hours. Episodes are available free on ABC.com and Hulu.com and for sale or rent on iTunes, Netflix and on DVD.
PILOT —“The absolute essential starting place,” said Mr. Cuse, detailing the crash of Oceanic Airlines Flight 815 and introducing most of the relevant characters. “There is a circularity to the storytelling,” he added, meaning that the final season would answer questions raised in this very first episode, where Locke, ostensibly explaining how to play backgammon, lays out the central premise of the series: “Two players, two sides. One is light, one is dark.” (Two parts.)
THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS Jump ahead to the final episode of Season 3, when a freighter, perhaps sent to rescue the survivors, appears offshore. Leaving the island will require sacrifices, however, including the death of a major character, while a shocking twist changes everything viewers understand about the fate of the survivors. (Two Parts.)
THE CONSTANT The fifth episode of Season 4 is probably the creators’ favorite, they said. While not essential in explaining the mythology of the series, the episode reveals abundant information “that will pay off in the final season,” Mr. Cuse said, including details about Desmond Hume, who was discovered by the survivors to be living on the island and whose familial relationships place him near the vortex of the island’s mysteries.
THE VARIABLE A companion to “The Constant,” the 14th episode of Season 5 sees Daniel Faraday, who came to the island on the freighter, reconsider his belief that it is impossible to change one’s path, and thus, one’s destiny. As the island travels through time, Faraday comes to believe that detonating a hydrogen bomb left on the island might prevent Flight 815 from ever crashing.
THE INCIDENT The finale of Season 5 sets the stage for all that remains. For the first time, Jacob, who seems to control the island, is introduced, dressed in white, along with another man, in black, who wants to kill Jacob. Two players, two sides. The new season will pick up immediately after the earth-shattering explosion that concluded last season. (Two parts.)
January 31st, 2010 at 6:26 pm
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February 4th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
been rewatching season 3 and i caught something i missed before. episode 17 – Catch 22 – the one where we learn the story of desmond becoming a monk in a flashback – towards the end we see him saying goodbye to the monk who dismissed him and (at 36.21 on the dvd) there is a shot of desmond where we see a photo of this monk with eloise in the photo with him. personally i doubt it means anything, just thrown in there by the makers as something for us to catch. but all the same its quite cool.