My Top 20 Favorite Episodes of LOST (a work in progress)
Submitted by AAA v. 2.0 on Sat, 05/09/2009 - 07:17
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- “The Man Behind the Curtain” (Season 3, Episode 20: Ben takes Locke to see Jacob while we finally see scenes from the life of Benjamin Linus, a lonely young boy who goes from disgruntled Dharma workman to evil mastermind in ten seconds flat.)
- How in the world do I begin to write about my favorite episode of one of television's most incredible creations? I think the only way to convey just how awesome this hour of television was when I first watched it is to break down the essential elements into four bullet points.
- * This is the first episode to focus on Ben. This totally rules seeing as how he is perhaps the show's most interesting character, and possibly one of pop culture's greatest villains. We get to see young Ben be sad, Ben's dad get drunk, Ben murder said dad for forgetting his birthday (...or something), Ben playing with dolls, and even Ben working as a Dharma Beer Delivery Man. Suddenly, the dastardly Ben was evoking audience sympathy, even as he shot one of our beloved heroes in the back. Seriously, even Ben doesn't deserve all that crap on his birthday.
- * This marks the first time we see the actual Dharma initiative, flashback or otherwise. Introducing actual human drama into the Dharma back story was a smart move, and it paved the way for all of Season 5. "Man Behind the Curtain" introduced a ton of important elements to the Dharma wing of the show's mythology: Horace Goodspeed, the mass grave, that damned swing set, and, of course, the fact that Ben wasn't born on the island, somehow going from Dharma kid to Others bigwig in twenty years.
- * Just like Locke, we were all pretty impatient to figure out who Jacob was, but the show gives an even better alternative. The meaning of the three minutes spent in Jacob's cabin is a puzzle the producers are still dangling in front of us to this day.
- * John Locke has always been a man of great potential, and disappointing results. That stops with "The Man Behind the Curtain". Between this episode and "The Brig", John Locke takes the first steps toward his idealized, island-based enlightenment. Over the course of the episode Locke drops his dead Dad at Ben's feet, successfully demands to see the unseen Jacob, beats the holy hell out of the formidable and dangerous Mikhail (a feat even Sayid struggled with), turns the Others against Ben, hears Jacob beg for his help, correctly calls Ben's biggest bluff, and ends up shot through the spine, lying in a mass grave. The island really puts its champions through the ringer, doesn't it?
- “The Constant” (Season 4, Episode 5: When he flies too far from the island, Desmond's flashes are amplified into a form of temporal madness, bouncing his consciousness back and forth between his present and past. Racing to (re)arrange events in order to save himself, Desmond must simultaneously contact Penelope in the past and present, establishing her as his "constant".)
- "Dead is Dead" (Season 5, Episode 12: The newly resurrected John Locke forges an uneasy alliance with Ben, who is forced to acknowledge his role in his daughter's death, and face final judgment by the island's infamous Smoke Monster.)
- While I was assembling this list, something became very clear to me: I really love Locke & Ben's bizarre mentor/student cum mortal enemies dynamic. The antagonism between Benjamin Linus and John Locke is possibly my favorite dramatic element of LOST's twisty back-half narrative. Locke's instinctual connection to the island, as well as his intuitive yet self-doubting nature, contrasts so spectacularly with Ben, who has used his incredible gift for manipulation as a substitute for any real connection to the island. In my eyes, this dichotomy has delivered a good number of LOST's greatest moments, many of which occur in "Dead is Dead", an episode that permanently shifts the power dynamic of these two characters. Pre-death, the most fundamental difference between Ben and Locke was that Locke always tipped his hand, never knowing what secrets to keep to himself, while Ben was constantly obscuring his true intentions, motivations, and knowledge. Locke's journey for truth threatens Ben's carefully constructed stats uo, reminding Ben of his own disconnect from the island he loved more than anything else. Of course, despite already getting shot in the back by him, Locke had no clue about Ben's resentment until Linus murdered him a season later; John is a bit too trusting. But then "Dead is Dead" goes and makes this incredible rivalry even more bitter and engrossing. For the first time, Ben must turn to Locke for answers, and he is seriously uncomfortable doing it. When he spins Locke a yarn about going to Smokey for some trial, Locke may play dumb at first but by the end of the episode, he has not only managed to force Ben into making good on his story, he did it without Ben finding some hidden strategic foothold. Locke is the only character to have gotten Benjamin Linus so fully backed into a corner, a feat illustrated by the monster strangling Ben and ordering him to follow Locke, without killing him along the way. "Dead is Dead" acts as a mini-comeuppance for Ben, as well as a showcase for Locke's brand of bad-assery, both of which were a long time coming. Oh yeah, we also get to see and learn more about Smokie in one episode than we have the entire series so far.
- “One of Us” (Season 3, Episode 16: Jack and Juliet try to convince the castaways to accept Juliet's presence; flashbacks show us snippets of Juliet's time with the Others, from her arrival to the island up to the day 815 crashed.)
- It may seem odd to have such a character-driven episode so high on my list when LOST is such a plot-heavy enterprise, but "One of Us" is not just one of LOST's greatest character sketches, it is one of the most satisfying self-contained hours within the entire series. Like most of the first half of Season 3, the introduction of the mysterious Juliet to the show's dynamic didn't immediately seem to work. She was as manipulative and cold as most Others seemed to be, but it was hard to care too much about the back story of a new character when the show's plot had ground to a virtual standstill. So, as Season 3 divided fans, so would Juliet. Some LOSTies loved her unreadable motivations, others regarded her as a mere plot-hole filler. Even if audiences weren't swayed by her familial devotion in "Not in Portland", the bait and switch thrill of "One of Us" ended most of the debate surrounding her relevancy. This episode is satisfying not just because it fleshes out Juliet's personality and history, but because it does so while simultaneously deepening the dramatic tension surrounding her loyalties. While Juliet's cool demeanor may annoy some, Elizabeth Mitchell's performance is pitch perfect in this episode, deepening with repeated viewings. Most importantly, Juliet's evolution from gentle soul to cold hard Other is illustrated through flashback, while her true allegiances are further muddied and obscured by the revelation that she has infiltrated the castaways under direct orders from Ben. Dr. Juliet Burke is by far one of the best characters to be introduced during the show's run, and her most essential moment remains "One of Us".
- "Pilot: Parts 1 & 2" (Season 1, Episode 1/2: En route to Los angeles from Sydney, Oceanic Flight 815 breaks apart in mid-air, stranding a group of survivors on a strange island. The castaways begin to explore their new surroundings, encountering a "monster" hidden in the jungle, as well as a cryptic distress signal that has played on loop for over twenty years.)
- “The Brig” (Season 3, Episode 19: Ulterior motives firmly in place, Locke provides Sawyer with the opportunity to kill the man responsible for his parents' deaths.)
- “Cabin Fever” (Season 4, Episode 11: The unlikely team of Locke, Ben, and Hurley set out to find Jacob in hopes of protecting the island from the mercenaries led by Martin Keamy. Through flashback, we discover that Locke's connection to the island runs deeper than even he could have guessed.)
I knew I shouldn't have looked (and I managed to avoid reading the entry for 'Dead is Dead') but the fact that there's a season 5 episode in third place just makes me all the more anxious for that season.
Still 4 long months to go