Wednesday, April 29, 2009

URBAN LEGEND Top 20 LOST Scenes (Seasons 1-4)

*Posted January 11, 2009*

LOST is back, and its about time, TV has been sucking lately. Scenes have been on my mind lately, and I decided to look into some from LOST. There are so many and it was tough to just knock it down to 20. Here are some honorable mentions that didn't make the cut: Ben's late night talk with Widmore, Sawyer killing Cooper on the island, Locke seeing Cooper on the island, Sayid's neck breaking work, Jin and Eko see the others and that teddy bear, and how about when Friendly shows up right before Michael tries to kill himself. You can find YouTube videos for all of these, but I am only providing them for the top 5, don't want to take up too much space. Here's a solid Ten 10 list someone made on YouTube.


20. Tail Section Crashes - S2, E7 - The Other 48 Days - Pretty sweet intro to one of those connect the dots type episodes. LOST has some pretty sweet openings to certain episodes, and this should rank toward the top, plus you have to give some love to the often ridiculed tail section crew.

19. Alex Capped - S4, E9 - The Shape of Things to Come - Dan and Dave love this scene more than me, but it still deserves to be on the list. One of the great things about LOST is the total unexpectedness of certain moments and this was certainly one of them. Ben’s one and only big misstep?

18. Distress Signal 16 yrs and running - S1, E2 - Pilot Part 2 - This may be a surprise to some, but I think it was the moment that got me hooked on LOST. The Pilot Part 1 with the pilot getting killed got my attention and this wrapped me in. A spooky French voice, a signal playing over and over again for sixteen years. “Guys, where are we?”

17. Locke sees Walt - S3, E22 - Through the Looking Glass - We all know Locke is important, but I don’t think some fans realize the importance of Walt. Shannon’s vision of Walt was pretty sweet and this vision rejuvenated Locke and enabled him to “get up” and kill Naomi. A vision? A dream? Smokey transformed?


16. Charlie’s Death - S3, E22 - Through the Looking Glass - It is pretty fair to say that throughout the first three seasons Charlie was a big loser and nobody liked him. My dad referred to him as that “annoying hobbit.” But at his end, Charlie redeemed himself a little. Every scene in the Looking Glass station was pure; Mikhail, Charlie’s message to Desmond, and his ultimate sacrifice.

15. Sayid Works for....Ben - S4, E3 - The Economist - My favorite character Sayid was pretty sweet in this episode as a sleek assassin in the future. But why is he killing people? Who is he working for? The conclusion and big reveal wrap up a solid Season Four episode.

14. Cooper pushes/paralyzes Locke - S3, E13 - The Man From Tallahassee - The character Anthony Cooper was involved in many sweet scenes, his island reveal and his death at the hands of Sawyer come to mind, but nothing beats Locke’s flashback and the reveal of how he ended up in his wheelchair. We knew something was coming, but the scene still shocked us all.

13. Ben unleashes Smokey - S4, E9 - The Shape of Things to Come - This could be connected with Alex getting capped, but I'll choose to separate them. Every so often, LOST creators will flex their special effects muscles and this was certainly one of those scenes. Smokey rushing through the “others” barracks was quite memorable, not to mention the job it did to Keamy’s crew.

12. “Are they still alive?” - S4, E1 - The Beginning of the End - The introduction of the mysterious Abbadon character sends chills down everyone’s back. Who is this guy that's visiting Hurley? The question he ends with makes one realize that there is a deep struggle between the Oceanic 6, the people still left on the island, and an introduced group of people that may know more than we think.

11. “How do I save the island?”- S4, E11 - Cabin Fever - The Ben semi-speech of the island wanted me to get sick and you to get well John is a good lead up to what is about to happen. Locke enters the cabin alone and talks to Christian and Claire, both dead?. People talk about how good the Ben and Hurley back and forth is while they are waiting for Locke, but the nuts and bolts occur inside the cabin.

10. “Don't tell me what I can't do!” - S1, E4 - Walkabout - Pretty much the powerful intro of John Locke. Who is this weird tough-guy on the island? What’s the deal with his flashback? Ok, he was in a wheelchair, and now on the island he can walk. The mysteries deepen.

9. “Help Me” - S3, E20 - The Man Behind the Curtain - TMBTC is one of my favorite episodes. Ben has a great flashback; it’s good to get a view of the island before the Losties were there, and it was interesting to see a peak of the Dharma Initiative. But, the climax of the episode was the first look at the mysterious cabin and the mysterious Jacob. We think Ben is just fooling around with Locke, until Locke himself hears Jacob.

8. “I Love You Penny” - S4, E5 - The Constant - Don’t start crying Dan. A powerful scene even though it’s probably the sappiest on the list. The Constant was a great episode with the back and forth between Desmond and well, himself. At the end he finally connects with his long-lost love. Best phone conversation in TV history?

7. “We’re going have to bring him too.”- S4, E13 - There’s No Place Like Home Part 2 - I thought it was a pretty solid conclusion to Season 4. When you think about it, I guess it had to be Locke in the coffin. Even better than the final reveal was the conversation between Jack and Ben in the funeral home. Is Ben the consensus best character on LOST now?

6. “The boy, we’re going to have to take him.” - S1, E24 - Exodus Part 2 - How was Season One of LOST going to end. The clock was ticking and there wasn’t much time left. Were Sawyer, Jin, Michael, and Walt going to make it. Yes, they came across a boat, until..........the people on the boat took Walt. Another powerful scene. What role will Walt play throughout the rest of the series?

5. “So I guess I’m out of the book club.”- S3, E1 - A Tale of Two Cities - LOST tries to fool us into thinking we are watching a flashback when we are really on the island. Who is this Juliet? Did we realize that she would turn into one of the better characters on LOST? The scene raises many more questions about the “hillbilly” others and gives a good look back at both Ethan and Goodwin. How sweet was that plane breaking in half in the sky?


4. Does Alpert Age? - S3, E20 - The Man Behind the Curtain - Probably the best flashback of the entire series during arguably the best LOST episode. My heart was literally pounding when Ben saw visions of his mother and when he went after “her” through the jungle. The height of the entire episode was his encounter with Alpert. Ben was part of the Dharma Initiative until he wiped them out and joined the others/hostiles. Richard Alpert and his age, or lack thereof, is still a big question mark but another awesome LOST nugget.


3. Michael? - S2, E20 - Two for the Road - Did anybody see this coming? We knew Michael would do almost anything to get his son back and get off the island, but killing two people? Perhaps it was a result of the LOST DUIers with both Michelle Rodriguez and Cynthia Watros getting the ax for behaving badly in real life. Season 2 is underrated in my opinion, but those that were bored with a lot of episodes in the middle, this scene pushed the enveloped toward a very exciting conclusion.


2. “We have to go back” - S3, E22 - Through the Looking Glass - How do you successfully complete a show about people on a stranded island. They either die or get rescued. So much of LOST is wrapped up in flashbacks, why not make interesting flashfowards. The genius of LOST. Jack’s “flashback?” in the Season 3 finale seemed odd, out of place, until we realized it was a flashfoward. The best season finale of any LOST season.


1. Intro of Season 2/Hatch/Desmond - S2, E1 - Man of Science, Man of Faith - In the entire LOST universe, this scene probably doesn’t have as much meaning as the Season 3 flashforward, Michael’s killing spree, or even anything about Jacob, but scene-wise, visually, it’s the best scene in LOST history. With this scene, it was pretty evident that LOST wasn’t going to jump the shark after the great Season 1. We start of course with the eyeball. What’s that beeping? Who’s flashback is it? What was that explosion? The HATCH! It’s really tough to describe, you just have to watch.





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