In the back half of the 2000s, Lost dominated our world of pop culture. The ABC series captivated audiences for six seasons thanks to an engaging mystery, mind-blowing plot twists, sweet special effects, and flawed characters you just had to watch. It was one of the biggest shows in television history for all of those reasons and more. You could consider Lost as the start of the “golden age of television” that we have been enjoying for over a decade now. It was one of the first shows to feel like it had a big budget and to run with a high concept.
When Lost was at its best, it was incredible. But most fans agree on the times when the series struggled. Halfway through the third season was rough as the series was stalling without a planned end date in sight. The final season also left some fans cold. That up and down nature of the show’s quality makes it interesting to look at the highs and lows. With that in mind, we’re taking the best episode of each season and ranking them.
Season 6: Ab Aeterno
Lost was notorious for giving us more questions before providing answers. While many of us were still trying to figure the show out, they introduced us to Richard Alpert during the third season. We became enthralled with him as flashbacks indicated that Richard didn’t age. He looked the same in scenes that were decades apart. Season 6 focused on the “flash-sideways” concept for most episodes but abandoned it for “Ab Aeterno.”
Instead, this episode was an extended flashback that finally revealed Richard’s past. The title is Latin for “from eternity,” which is fitting for Richard. In the 1800s, he was arrested for alleged murder and sentenced to serve on a slave ship. That ship crashed on the island and he was the only survivor. Richard became engaged in the conflict between Jacob and the Man in Black, opting to side with Jacob in exchange for eternal life. It was an episode that explained aspects like Richard’s age and the Black Rock, while also making Richard into a more sympathetic character. Nestor Carbonell helped things with a spectacular performance.
Season 5: The Incident
If there was one thing that Lost usually did well, it was delivering great season finales. All six season finales had a shot at making this list. Season five’s climax is the finest time for that stretch of episodes. “The Incident” wrapped up what was the most daring and ambitious season of Lost. Two separate timelines had to be juggled thanks to the time travel aspects brought in. The main focus was in the 1970s, where Jack attempted to detonate a hydrogen bomb that would destroy the hatch and thereby prevent Flight 815 from ever crashing on the island in the first place.
It was filled with the kinds of things you want in a big episode. We got to see Jacob for the first time after being mentioned a bunch over the previous seasons. Beloved couple Rose and Bernard made a surprise return as we discovered they had been living a peaceful life away from the action. Locke was revealed to be dead. And Juliet, on the verge of death, chose to detonate the bomb and leave us with an insane cliffhanger going into the final season. Did she erase everything that we knew? What exactly happened? Whatever the case, we were left with an emotional episode that was nominated for a writing Emmy.
Season 2: Man Of Science, Man of Faith
One of the driving forces throughout the series was the stark contrast between Jack Shephard and John Locke. Jack was the man of science and Locke was the man of faith. Those ideas caused the two to push back on one another more than any other pair of characters. At the end of season one, the two opened the mysterious hatch together and we waited months to find out what was inside. When season two’s premiere was titled “Man of Science, Man of Faith,” you knew to expect something stellar. And Lost completely delivered.
When this episode began with an unidentified person, seemingly in the 1970s, going about his day, viewers were confused. Then it panned up to show that this person was living in the hatch and we were blown away. It all played out impressively, from Kate’s disappearance in the hatch to the mystery of Jack’s key getting pulled by a giant magnet. And then the biggest twist of them all. During Jack’s flashback, we saw him get advice from a random guy named Desmond. It turns out that Desmond was the man living in the hatch. Small world, right?
Season 1: Pilot
A lot of shows have pilot episodes that don’t quite work. The series doesn’t know exactly what it wants to be and it can often feel out of place with later episodes. That wasn’t the case with Lost. They came out with a bang. The first shot of Jack opening his eye and running out to discover the chaos of a plane crash is an incredible way to start. We watched as he rushed to save nearly everyone in sight, including a pregnant woman. And all of this happens within the first 10 or so minutes.
From there, the intrigue just gets ramped up. The dinosaur sounding thing knocking down trees in the dark. The distress call that has been playing for over a decade. The unknown entity that brutally killed the pilot. The freaking polar bear! It all gets pumped up by stellar character moments like Jack bonding with Kate as she stitched him up or Locke teaching Walt how to play backgammon. The latter went on to foreshadow the main theme of the series in a brilliant moment.
Season 4: The Constant
This has become the common answer when discussing the best episodes in Lost history. It is often listed right at the top. Some even call it the best Christmas episode of any show ever. There’s a good reason for that. Desmond Hume surprised many by becoming one of the most beloved characters on the show. His love story with Penny Widmore was one that broke out hearts. This episode was centered around them.
Desmond’s consciousness became torn in time, jumping between the past and present. The only way to fix his brain was to find his “constant.” The person he could connect with in the past and present. That person was Penny. We watched as he begged her in the past not to change her phone number. Even though she was unhappy with him, she obliged. Their phone call in the present brings a tear to everyone’s eyes. An emotional, mind-bending episode.
Season 3: Through The Looking Glass
“The Constant” may slightly be the best episode of the show but this one gets the nod because there is no episode that epitomizes Lost more than it. Every aspect that made the show work was present here. So much was going on. You had Jack leading the survivors and Danielle to the radio tower so they could get rescued. There was Sayid helming a group that battled the Others as they tried to kidnap the pregnant women. And of course, Charlie went on a suicide mission infiltrating an underwater station.
Everything excitingly came to a head. Hurley got a hero moment by running over an Other with a van. Locke and Jack faced off again. Charlie sacrificed himself to save everyone with the series’ most emotional death and made the words “not Penny’s boat,” into something iconic. But the capper was the flashbacks. We spent over an hour watching Jack struggle as a bearded drunk mess. When he greeted Kate, we were confused because they didn’t know each other before the island. This sick version of Jack dropped another iconic line with, “WE HAVE TO GO BACK!” which let us know that this was a flash-forward. They got off the island and for some reason, Jack wanted to go back. One of the greatest twists in entertainment history.
