The ‘Lost’ episodes
A show-by-show guide to ‘Lost’
Forget about Desperate Housewives: In our opinion, Lost is the new show to watch.
For those of you who have been trapped on an island somewhere, Lost is about, well, people trapped on an island somewhere. It’s a high-concept series that follows the adventures of a band of plane-crash survivors, with intricate flashbacks into their troubled pasts. And there’s definitely something weird afoot on the island, where an unseen monster makes its presence felt from time to time.
The show manages to juggle its huge cast — 14 or so regulars, with lots of guest stars — while deepening the mystery with each episode. Theories abound: Where are they, really? How could they have survived the crash? Why are dead people and polar bears suddenly appearing on the island? And why isn’t the fat guy losing any weight?
Now, with the show in repeats until Feb. 9, we figure it’s the perfect time to play catchup. Consider this a sort of Coles Notes to Lost. We give a rundown of every episode and tell you which theory we’re leaning toward in each.
THEORIES
1. They’re all dead and in Purgatory
2. They’re part of a scientific experiment
3. They’re hallucinating everything it’s a dream
4. They’re on a Forbidden Planet-like island, where their thoughts are physically manifested
5. They’re being pitted in the ultimate battle of Good vs. Evil
SHOW-BY-SHOW GUIDE
1. PILOT (Part 1)
A plane flying from Australia crash lands, leaving 48 survivors trapped on a mysterious tropical island where bestial noises erupt from the jungle. Doctor Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and former rock star Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) find the plane’s cockpit, where some unseen monster rips the pilot out and chews him up good.
FLASHBACK
The harrowing crash is recalled through Jack’s eyes.
COMMENTS
When a man gets sucked into the plane’s engine, causing it to explode, you know you’re not watching the usual 8 p.m. network fare.
RATING: A
THEORY: 1
2. PILOT (Part 2)
When a small band of survivors go searching for the source of a signal picked up on their transceiver, they’re attacked … by a polar bear?! Also, our heroes find a gun, handcuffs and Vincent, the dog of young Walt (Malcolm David Kelley).
FLASHBACK
The crash through Charlie’s eyes: He’s revealed to be a drug addict, as he rushes into the plane’s bathroom to get a fix.
COMMENTS
Former model Lilly shows off her lithe body with a gratuitous scene where she strips down to her bra and panties … The creepy message on the transceiver — in French, saying “They’re all dead” — has been repeating for 16 years … Young Walt reads a comic book featuring a polar bear. Coincidence?
RATING: A
THEORY: 5
3. TABULA RASA
Jack and Hurley (Jorge Garcia), the tubby comic relief, discover that Kate is a Canadian criminal who was captured by a U.S. marshal (Fredric Lane) badly injured in the crash. In order to relieve his suffering — a hunk of shrapnel lodged in your chest will do that to ya — Jack shoots the marshal.
FLASHBACK
Kate’s seedy past, where she’s apparently in hiding in Australia and captured by the marshal.
COMMENTS
Kate as a canny international criminal? It’s hard to suspend our disbelief — Lilly’s prettiness, and average acting ability, work against her on this one. Still, this is her first acting role, and she has shown lots of potential.
RATING: B-
THEORY: 1
4. WALKABOUT
The taciturn, mysterious Locke (Terry O’Quinn), Kate and single dad Michael (Harold Perrineau) go hunting for wild boar — and instead run into the unseen monstrosity in the jungle. But Locke lives to tell about it and returns unscathed — apparently deeply moved by the experience.
FLASHBACK
Locke’s past as a shirt-and-tie-wearing drone at a box company. The episode’s big twist reveals he’s a paraplegic in a wheelchair, lending the climactic scenes of him rising to his feet a powerful emotional wallop.
COMMENTS
By far the series’ best hour, featuring a superb performance by O’Quinn, who makes Locke more sympathetic than previous episodes let on … His full name is John Locke, the same as the great 17th-century anti-authoritarian philosopher.
RATING: A+
THEORY: 4
5. WHITE RABBIT
Jack, suffering from insomnia, apparently sees his dead father walking around the island and goes in search of his coffin. He does find it — but it’s empty. He also discovers a valley that contains fresh water and more plane wreckage.
FLASHBACK
Jack again — he travels to Australia to find his alcoholic dad, who has drunk himself to death. Mysterious Korean Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) appears briefly at the airport queue as Jack tries to get his father’s coffin on board the plane.
COMMENTS
A big letdown from the previous episode, this one highlights Jack’s blandness, a problem shared by the female lead, Kate … The number of survivors is culled to 46 when a throwaway character drowns.
RATING: C-
THEORY: 4
6. HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN
Michael is badly beaten by Jin, who thinks he’s stolen a watch that has sentimental value to him. Afterward, Jin’s wife Sun (Yunjin Kim) reveals to Michael that she can actually speak English. The camp splits up, with some heading for Jack’s valley — where two 40-year-old corpses are found in a cave — and others staying on the beach.
FLASHBACK
Sun’s turbulent history with her husband, who goes under her father’s shady employ in order to win her hand in marriage. Sun has a chance to leave the emotionally distant Jin at the airport in Australia, but stays because she still loves him.
COMMENTS
You have to wonder how Sun’s ability to speak English will play out — maybe she’ll be used as a spy of some sort if the rumoured split of the camp comes to pass.
RATING: A
THEORY: 5
7. THE MOTH
Locke offers to help Charlie beat his drug addiction — and when the cave collapses, trapping Jack, Charlie goes to the rescue. His new sense of self-worth allows him to finally kick the habit.
FLASHBACK
Charlie’s raucous past as a member of the rock band Driveshaft, his poor relationship with his brother and their drug addiction are highlighted.
COMMENTS
Actually features the painfully un-ironic line, “You used to be about the music!” … Locke’s motives for helping Charlie are a mystery — Locke once again straddles the line of creepy manipulator and hard-love spiritual guru … Somebody knocks out Sayid (Naveen Andrews) when he tries to find the source of the French transmission.
RATING: C+
THEORY: 5
8. CONFIDENCE MAN
After bitchy babe Shannon (Maggie Grace) suffers an asthma attack, Jack and Sayid (Naveen Andrews) suspect Sawyer (Josh Holloway) might be hoarding her medication. Sayid tortures Sawyer to get him to talk. As it turns out, he doesn’t have the meds, but Shannon is saved by Sun’s homeopathic remedy.
FLASHBACK
Sawyer turns out to be a con artist trying to bilk a couple out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. He has a sudden change of heart when he sees their cute little son.
COMMENTS
And here we thought Sawyer was a one-note bad boy. The letter he’s seen reading from time to time is revealed to be one he penned as a child to a con artist who destroyed his family … How did the torture scene, involving splinters and fingernails, get past the censors? Not that we’re complaining.
RATING: B+
THEORY: 5
9. SOLITARY
Feeling pangs of remorse for torturing Sawyer, Sayid exiles himself from the group and explores the island. He is captured by Danielle (Mira Furlan), the looney French woman who has been sending the signals. Sayid manages to escape, stealing maps and charts.
FLASHBACK
Sayid’s history as an Iraqi Republican guard is explored, as he helps a female prisoner with whom he’s fallen in love apparently escape execution.
COMMENTS
How much of what Danielle is saying is true and how much is just insane gibberish? She’s been alone for years, her son Alex has disappeared and she says she murdered the other members of her team because they became “sick” … Ethan (William Mapother, who is a cousin of Tom Cruise) makes his first appearance, hunting boar with Locke.
RATING: B
THEORY: 2
10. RAISED BY ANOTHER
Pregnant Claire (Emilie de Ravin) begins having nightmares of someone trying to kill her. When Hurley starts a census using the passenger manifest, the survivors realize Ethan, who claims he’s from Ontario, couldn’t have been on the plane. The very weird Ethan shows up at the end, menacing Claire and Charlie.
FLASHBACK
Claire’s sorry past is revealed, where she’s left by her deadbeat boyfriend and is told by a creepy psychic that it is imperative her unborn baby not fall into the wrong hands and that she raise the child.
COMMENTS
One of Claire’s dreams features Locke with one white and one black eye — harkening to his conversation with Walt in the Pilot about backgammon and how there are two sides, one good and one evil.
RATING: A-
THEORY: 5
11. ALL THE BEST COWBOYS HAVE DADDY ISSUES
The survivors mount a search for the missing Claire and Charlie. Jack and Kate manage to track down Ethan, who beats Jack to a bloody pulp. They find Charlie hanging from a tree, but while Jack is able to revive him, Claire remains missing. Meanwhile, Locke and Boone (Ian Somerhalder) discover a metallic hatch hidden deep in the jungle.
FLASHBACK
We see more of Jack’s arrogant, alcoholic father — and how the son tattles on Dad when he causes the death of a patient.
COMMENTS
By now, the show’s “Did they actually do that?” spell is so potent you’re convinced that Charlie has been killed off … Jack’s backstory this time around is a vast improvement over the White Rabbit episode.
RATING: B+
THEORY: 5
12. WHATEVER THE CASE MAY BE
Kate and Sawyer fight over a locked metal briefcase that belongs to her. Jack and Kate dig up the marshal’s rotted corpse to get the key — and inside the case are money, guns and a small toy airplane. Meanwhile, Sayid enlists the French-speaking Shannon’s help to decipher his stolen maps and charts.
FLASHBACK
More Kate backstory — now she’s involved in a bank heist, where she manipulates her accomplices into helping her steal that toy airplane from the bank’s vaults.
COMMENTS
Lilly’s babe factor works against her being the potentially cold-blooded femme fatale the show wants her to be. Still, this enriches her mystery, as she reveals the toy belonged to the man she loved — and killed … The serene, matronly Rose (L. Scott Caldwell) — not seen since Walkabout — makes a return, as she consoles Charlie over the loss of Claire.
RATING: B-
THEORY: 1
13. HEARTS AND MINDS
When Boone wants to confess to his stepsister Shannon that he and Locke have found the hatch, Locke ties him up and leaves him in in an effort to teach him to “let go.” Boone only frees himself when he fears the unseen monster has attacked and killed Shannon — but it turns out this was only a hallucination.
FLASHBACK
The sickest yet, as Boone is revealed to have had the hots for his screwed-up sis for years — and when he tries to collect her in Australia, they succumb to their desire in a hotel room. Ewwwww!
COMMENTS
The source of Boone’s hallucination is the salve Locke rubbed on his head wound … Boone’s flashback also features Sawyer getting arrested at a police station … Sayid’s compass goes wonky, showing that North isn’t really North on the island.
RATING: A-
THEORY: 3
14. SPECIAL
Michael becomes even more resentful of the bond Locke forms with his young son Walt. But when Walt’s life is threatened by another polar bear, he and Locke team up to save him. Later, as Locke and Boone return to the jungle, they encounter a shaken Claire, apparently escaped from her captor.
FLASHBACK
We learn Michael is a struggling artist/contractor, who’s shut out of his son’s life by the boy’s manipulative lawyer mom.
COMMENTS
The comic book makes another appearance, with that same shot of the polar bear … It’s clear Walt has powers of some kind that he can use to make things he desires appear.
RATING: B
THEORY: 4
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