A man wakes up in a forest. He immediately darts to danger, saving anyone and everyone he can from the wreckage of a crashed airplane. What happened, what’s going on, and what happened before all of the horribleness? Lost began in a pretty unprecedented fashion for a TV series in 2004 and kept changing the game for what could be done on a television show. Its unique mix of mystery, suspense, and adventure immediately captivated viewers and made die-hard devotees almost immediately.
Throughout the series, we’d learn more and more about our favorite characters through flashbacks that quickly became a staple of the show and a way to provide some twists without divulging from the main story. Some of these twists went nowhere, but others reverberated throughout the series. Nevertheless, once seen, they were all mouth agape moments. Here are 10 Flashbacks That Contained Big Surprises On Lost
“Dave” - Season 2, Episode 18
Since we first met Libby, she had been one of the brighter aspects of the show. Her genuineness and warmth towards Hurley really made fans root for her as a character and them as a couple.
In “Dave,” we learned a little bit about Hurley and his imaginary friend / source of his neurosis, Dave. But we also got what fans thought at the time was a massive clue about everything in the form of Libby being revealed as a patient in the same facility as Hurley. It ended up being a massive red herring, but fans had originally thought it was a massive clue to everything.
“Outlaws” - Season 1, Episode 16
Sawyer is told by an old con friend that the “real” Sawyer is in Australia. James takes off to hunt the man but winds up not killing him. At a local bar, he’s washing away his sorrows when a man tells him “some people are meant to suffer…that’s why the Red Sox will never win the damn Series.”
Viewers knew that Sawyer just met Jack’s dad. Several moments later on the Island, Jack says the same thing and Sawyer just realized it, too.
“Par Avion” - Season 3, Episode 12
Crashes and accidents fueled several of Lost’s flashbacks. Season three’s “Par Avion” was no exception it opened up with Claire getting involved in a horrific car accident. Her mother, Carole was lying in the road injured.
While at the hospital, it was revealed that all of Carole’s medical bills have been paid off. Claire eventually sees her mom has a visitor. Demanding to know who he is, he admits that not only is he the one who footed the bill, he’s her father, Christian; making Jack and Claire half-siblings.
“A Tale Of Two Cities” - Season 3, Episode 1
Sometimes, episodes of Lost started with a crazy reveal. For the first two seasons, we had seen and learned little to nothing about “The Others.” While fans knew they had some technology, they were also thought of as the Island natives and possibly brutal savages.
The opening scene of the third season changed all of that. We meet a woman (Juliet) getting ready to host a book club meeting about Stephen King’sCarrie. But after a tremendous sound reverberates through the home it’s revealed that this quaint home and these well-dressed people are actually the Others and Ben is their leader instructing everyone what to do about the recently crashed Oceanic 815.
“Man Of Science, Man Of Faith” - Season 2, Episode 1
Connections between the characters were abound all throughout the first season. Would they go on to mean anything? Would the characters themselves find out? Or just fun Easter eggs for the fans to invest in? These connections would bleed into the Island story with the season two premiere, “Man Of Science, Man Of Faith.”
After the Hatch was finally open we’d all come to learn what and who was inside. Off-Island, Jack has met his eventual wife, Sarah and operated on her to fix her spinal cord. He also would literally run into a man he was about to meet on the Island, Desmond.
“The Other 48 Days” - Season 2, Episode 7
The entire story to the Tail Section group of survivors is one big twist that contained all kinds of surprises. The first 48 days on the Island had only been seen up until this point from Jack, Kate, and company. Rose had held out hope that her husband and the tail section were off somewhere wondering about them. Not only were the Tailies alive, but their time on the Island made our heroes’ time look like a wonderful vacation in comparison.
“The Life And Death Of Jeremy Bentham” - Season 5, Episode 7
The quest to bring the Oceanic Six back to the Island was a harrowing one. But once Locke is able to escape the Island, he is taken to a hospital where Charles Widmore tasks him with bringing the Oceanic Six back together and gives him the fake identity of Jeremy Bentham.
After failing to bring them all aboard, Locke decided to end it all. Ben talks him out of it, only to do the dastardly deed himself. But if Locke’s dead, who’s on the Island with the Losties?
“The Man From Tallahassee” - Season 3, Episode 13
How did John Locke end up in a wheelchair? After his dad, Anthony Cooper conned him out of a kidney, the vile man returned into Locke’s life when a young man find Locke to tell him that Cooper is marrying his mother to con her out of money.
Locke tries to convince dear old dad to not go through with his plan. Cooper winds up staging the young boy’s death. Once Locke finds out, he again confronts Cooper and shoved out a window eight stories up for his trouble.
“Through The Looking Glass, Part 2” - Season 3, Episode 23
Jack’s more depressed than usual. He’s drinking, popping pills, and trying to kill himself. A woman isn’t returning his calls and his most recent attempt to jump off a bridge shocked a nearby motorist who got into an accident himself. He goes to the funeral of a man eventually revealed to be Jeremy Bentham.
It all leads up to one final attempt to see the woman, Kate. Jack screams “we have to go back!” We weren’t watching a flashback of something that happened, but a flash-forward of what will happen.
“Walkabout” - Season 1, Episode 4
For the first four episodes of Lost, John was one of the more intriguing castaways to watch. A man of nature who seemingly feels he has some sort of communion with the Island. It wouldn’t be long before we not only found out why, but had the show’s first big reveal.
The reveal was a doozy that showed anything could happen on the show. In flashbacks, Locke is getting ready for a big “Walkabout” trip. But it’s one that he’s ultimately disqualified from once the organizers realize that John Locke is in a wheelchair and was paraplegic when Oceanic 815 had crashed.
Next: LOST: 5 Couples Who Were Great Together (& 5 That Made No Sense)
