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Lost - The Best Moments

Posted by The TV Critic on 28 June 2010 | 6 Comments

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Hey everyone,

This penultimate podcast is a chance for you to gush about what you loved about Lost. Below I have put my own personal favourite moments from the show and I encourage you to share yours.

I will record this as a podcast on Sunday 4th July. You can leave me a voicemail on (001) 206-338-7832 or send me an audio file. Any decent tweet,  facebook or email will get on the podcast too.

The following week will be a chance for you to say anything else you want to about Lost. Whether that be about the show itself or about your own viewing experience or life or podcasting experience etc. It will literally be a chance for you to contribute anything you like. I will write my final closing thoughts on the whole Lost experience and then I will be off on holiday hoping to avoid a plane crash and years of misery on an unknown island.

You can find the podcast for "The Unknown" under the third episode of season one of Lost (http://www.thetvcritic.org/casts/Lost_The_Unknown.mp3).

Robin (The TV Critic)

 

The Best Moment

In all my reviews I pick out the best moment. Sometimes it's the moment which had the most emotional impact on me, sometimes I will pick something which just showcases the excellence of the story being told. But on some level that moment is simply my favourite from the episode.

As I watch so much TV the moments that really stick with me are the ones that shock me or engage me so much that I forget everything except what I'm seeing. So here are my three "best" moments from Lost:

3. Desmond and Penny on the phone (Season 4, Episode 4, "The Constant")

One of the best standalone episodes the show ever produced. The writers ingeniously turn Desmond into Marty McFly and Daniel Faraday into Doc Emmett Brown and ingeniously use the flashback formula to create a whole new kind of time travel story. The writing and pacing are exquisite as Desmond goes from confused, to concerned to panicked as his fate becomes clear. The death of George Minkowski demonstrates graphically the fate awaiting Desmond if he can't stop jumping through time.

This is where Desmond's acting was second to none. He played his absolute desperation to get Penny's phone number beautifully and acknowledged how insane the request would seem to her. When he finally gets through to her they both play the emotion so well that this most ludicrous sounding love story never becomes cheesy but remains very moving. With different actors and writers this could have been awful, instead it was truly wonderful.

2. Jack recognises Desmond in the hatch (Season 2, Episode 1, "Man of Science, Man of Faith")

This episode was a masterpiece. There was real pressure on the show to keep the quality of season one going and it delivered big time. The revelation that there was a man living down in the hatch was a big game changer of course. But then the whole episode piled on the intrigue as first Locke, then Kate and finally Jack all climbed down and slowly discovered more and more about this strange subterranean structure.

Of course in flashback we also see an apparently unrelated story about how Jack met his wife. More than just his chance meeting with Desmond in the stadium though it's the surgery which Jack performs that underlines the clever storytelling. Jack has already experienced a 'miracle' and it's actually very similar to the one which convinced Locke that it was their destiny to be on the island.

That sort of crazy talk angered Jack. The idea that he wasn't in control of his destiny or that there was something which he couldn't understand bothered him deeply. Slowly he makes his way through the mysterious Swann station uncovering several of its dark secrets until finally he comes across Locke with a gun to his head. He is pretty much thrilled. He throws the destiny idea back in Locke's face. Despite the surreal surroundings you can tell Jack is relieved to see a man made structure and a lunatic with a gun. These are things he can understand and deal with. Until of course he recognises the gun man. Suddenly Jack can't hide anymore, maybe Locke was right after all.

1. Ana Lucia cries in Eko's arms (Season 2, Episode 7, "The Other 48 Days")

An episode which shattered all my preconceptions about what Lost was capable of. It was such a daring move to feature none of the main characters but instead focus entirely on our new arrivals. The intensity of their torment at the hands of the Others was so gripping and at the centre of it was Ana Lucia. You could see the stress wearing down on her as she channelled her anger at what was happening into a determination to survive.

She walks up a tall hill with Goodwin, one of the people she has come to trust and lean on. Slowly but surely she has worked out that he is one of them and responsible for her sorrows. She kills him and a short while later tells Bernard that this is it. There is no rescue coming, there are no other survivors, this is their life now. That realisation finally gets her to let go and she weeps into Eko's arms.

It was utterly compelling storytelling and it's possible that no other moment on TV has ever made me sympathise more with one character than that.

The Best Season

Sadly the predictable answer is Season One. In a way of course Season One had the advantage over every other season because the audience knew nothing at that point. Every revelation was going to be a surprise and every walk into the jungle could expose the next exciting event. But even with that advantage Season One was an awesome achievement. The quality of the episodes never dipped for more than one and the acting, writing and pacing was exceptional.

Season Two started brightly but then began to stumble, recover and then stumble again. It was a pattern which would repeat throughout Seasons Two and Three. In between excellent episodes there were duds. Characters second or third flashbacks began to feel irrelevant and the Others became less and less other. Season Four kick-started the end of the show now that the end date was in sight. We'll never know quite what might have been thanks to the writers' strike. At first glance the season was very strong with a string of excellent episodes and the flashforwards recapturing that Season One sense of discovery. But the lack of explanation or payoff as to what the freighter was doing there and a feeling that knowing so much about the future was making the present less interesting took their toll.

Season Five was a mixed bag in the end. The time travel story seemed endlessly intriguing but raised far more questions than it answered. The return of the Oceanic Six was very disappointing and the season ended too hastily with the characters agreeing to detonate a nuclear bomb on somewhat flimsy reasoning. But we now got the answers we had been asking for as Jacob and the Man in Black came out from behind their respective curtains. Sadly Season Six never got going, the flashsideways being even more of a handicap than the flashforwards had been. So in the end Season One wins it easily but don't let that take away from its enduring quality.

The Best Episode

Unsurprisingly my favourite episodes are the same as my favourite moments. I did give a very high score to the Season Five finale which was controversial even to me. But that episode paid off the major mystery of the show answering the question of whether or not there was any kind of all encompassing answer to the show's mysteries. And there was, the revelation of Jacob and MIB's involvement as puppet masters was the major answer to the show's questions and I felt the producer's deserved credit for paying that off. But in terms of individual episodes I wouldn't put it up there with:

Season 2, Episode 7, "The Other 48 Days"                            - 92/100
Season 2, Episode 1, "Man of Science, Man of Faith"           - 87/100
Season 4, Episode 4, "The Constant"                                     - 85/100

It is worth looking at the "honourable mentions" though:

Season 1, Episode 4, "Walkabout"                                         - 86/100

Make no mistake; this could arguably be the most important episode of Lost ever made along with the pilot. So many fans became hooked when Locke began wiggling his toes. The mystery of why this bald box salesman was behaving so strangely in the jungle became genius with one brilliant twist.

Season 3, Episode 22, "Through the Looking Glass (2)"       - 86/100

The flashforward was a big format change and once more changed your perspective on what exactly Lost was capable of. But also remember Charlie's sacrifice under the sea which was also compelling viewing.

Season 3, Episode 20, "The Man Behind the Curtain"           - 84/100

Sympathy for Ben and an invisible Jacob, nuanced characterisation mixed with bold science fiction revelations.

Season 3, Episode 19, "The Brig"                                           - 83/100

Sawyer and Locke's personal tragedies combine and the growing sense of the murder which is about to happen was epic stuff.

Season 4, Episode 11, "Cabin Fever"                                      - 82/100

A sometimes forgotten but quite brilliant episode showing us John Locke's upbringing and growing sense of destiny.  

Season 1, Episode 8, "Confidence Man"                                 - 82/100

An underrated episode which carried off the unexpected but tragic story of James Ford and why he wants everyone to hate him. Excellent writing and strong acting.

The Best Character

I think this has to remain who is your favourite character rather than branch off into an actual debate contrasting the characterisation in the show.

With that said:

1. John Locke

It's difficult to look past the man who believed that this plane crash was his destiny. He was so much fun to watch no matter what he was doing. He managed to be infuriating and foolish but remain ultimately sympathetic.

2. Mr Eko

The other man of faith was almost as compelling as Locke. Unlike John he was strong and held fast to his convictions. His slow burn performances were wonderful to watch.

3. Desmond Hume

Quite how he does it I don't know. But it's hard to think of a more likeable character than Desmond. No matter how many women he jilted or drunk and foolish he got he remained the ultimate sympathetic hero throughout.

4. Sayid Jarrah  

Ditto, despite the torture and murder he remained the sympathetic romantic. Part of his appeal was his logic. No other character kept talking about escape from the island more than Sayid.

5. Jack Shephard

Everyone it seemed got sick of self righteous, uncommunicative, angry Jack. But that also made him seem like a real person, warts and all he was the right man to lead others and was heroic throughout including of course in death.

I was huge fan of Daniel Faraday's unique performances, I think Hurley could have been involved in more serious stories and pulled them off just fine and Sawyer of course I thought was excellent throughout. I could also happily have seen more of Keamy, Tom, Michael, Juliet and Jin's father J

That's that from me, what do you guys like?


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Comments

  • Lost seemed to be very strong in certain periods and then go on dry spells, so it's no surprise that some of my favorite moments come from episodes close in sequence to those Robin picks. The first button-pushing crisis/confrontation moment between Jack and Locke in Orientation stands out as both dramatically overwhelming television in the moment and also of fundamental importance to the show.

    For the reason I mentioned, episodes that ran in succession in ways creating memorable multi-episode sequences blend together in my mind, so that I tend to remember small moments within larger sections of the series.

    Certainly, the early segment of the show has to be high on my list. The Pilot and Walkabout are gems. Starting to find out about the characters' backgrounds, especially Locke's and Kate's were striking moments for me. I remember becoming really unsettled as we came to see extremely uncertain position Kate found herself in as a secret fugitive among highly on-guard group of strangers. I guess this would mean Tabula Rasa, but certainly that understanding adds to most early episodes, in particular the wound-stitching and Marshall-examining scenes between Jack and Kate. Similarly with what we learn about Locke.

    As has been mentioned before, these perspective shifts were much of what Lost was about and did well. The flash-forward is another example, and I agree with Robin's pinpointing it. Again, that entire period I found to be compelling, as the various illusions of settled post-Island life were punctured for the Oceanic Six. My favorite portrait in that period is the composite one of Jack's unwinding as helped along by a hallucinogenic Hurley in Something Nice Back Home, all of which was begun in Through The Looking Glass and played ou in There's No Place like Home Pt. 2, bracketing Season 4 (all of which in retrospect make Season 4 look a lot more compelling than I remember it being in real time). In all of that, the Christian vision in the hospital lobby stands out for me for its chilling, electric feeling of foreboding and dread played out in the frayed nerves evident on Jack's face, and on the completely spooked, get-me-outta-here, maybe-you-need-to-talk-to-someone reaction of his colleague.

    Then, of course, there is every Desmond episode in the series. Enough said.

    I can't pick my favorite episodes for the reason I mentioned, but I will say that for me the Pilot will always be a standard to measure television against, including all other episodes of Lost.

    One last sequence that really struck me as a remarkable one-off sketch portrait of two of the most troubled souls on a show about troubled souls clinging in fleeting, despairing embrace was the unexpected pairing of Ana Lucia Cortez and Christian Shepard, disgraced as professionals in their families' cherished trades and estranged from loved ones, each in need of escape, making a flight to a distant, wild island (and then to Another), and existing in each other's presence for a few short days before coming to see each too much of themself in the other and moving on to confront their fates. I'm always ready to sprawl out on the living room floor with a bottle of bourbon and Neil Young's On The beach on the stereo after seeing that episode transpire. Don't worry, I just go to sleep instead. :)

    Favorite characters are a tie between Jack and Locke, with Desmond close behind. But that has to be said while also noting that at different times at least five other characters probably made such impressions on me that I thought to myself for at least a moment that one of them was my favorite. Certainly this show had at least half a dozen characters that I connected with more closely than any others in any form of screen or stage drama I've taken in.

    I'm probably, no definitely, forgetting a whole assortment of moments and entire story lines that provided high points. What stands out shifts from week to week for me, though I am sad to note how quickly the show as a whole is fading from my memory. But what's here I think constitutes what for me were the really triumphant moments of the show for me. If there was one thing that ties them all together, I would say it's their darkness. Lost was a show about redemption, but in my view what made it a success overall, and its first two-thirds its best part, was how convincingly it dealt with the destructive, and especially self-destructive, part of the human character. When it came time to turn darkness to light, it ran into problems. Lost I believe was a show that was most at home giving portraits of souls at war within themselves. And that it did as well as any I know.

    So... Hooray for this wonderful collector's set of TVCritic.org Lost podcasts we'll all have to help us remember our impressions of the show from now on. Sorry I couldn't get it together to save you some reading time on this comment, Robin. Cheers everyone!

    Posted by Mike Drew, 04/07/2010 8:11am (2 years ago)

  • You've covered my best moments and episodes in spades. The Desmond/Penny dynamic was fantastic, Ana Lucia was one of my favorite characters, and the flash forward scene was iconic.

    All I'll add to this "Best of Lost" edition, is that Michael Emerson was the true star of this show. He consistently acted at such a high level that I relished every moment he was onscreen. His marginalization by the writers in season 6 was a disappointment but up until then, his character to me was THE most interesting and captivating. I'd like to be so bold as to say that Ben Linus might be the best TV show character ever.

    Posted by Lying in the Statue's Shadow, 02/07/2010 2:30pm (2 years ago)


  • 1) The last 5 minutes of Exodus. Starting with Sun and Jin tearful conversation this entire scene was an emotional rollercoaster. Vincent running into the water to chase after Walt was a great touch and I thought that the entire scene did an amazing job of conveying the hope, fear, and sadness that the characters felt. Some really powerful score work from Michael Giacchino here as well. This is one of those scenes that I can watch now and still feel the same emotions that I felt when I first watched it.

    2) The final 5 or so minutes of Deus ex machina. John Locke waking up in the hospital and finding out that his father scammed him out of his kidney was a gut punch for the viewer. This scene featured some of Terry O’Quinn’s best acting and I thought that his emotional break down in his truck was amazingly powerful. The way that they transitioned from the flashback right to Locke banging on the hatch was incredibly well done. Of course the best part of this scene was the light coming on in the hatch. At that point in the show we had no clue what was in that hatch and seeing that light come on really excited me beyond words. Giacchino really shined in this scene as well.

    3) The Jacob and MiB beach scene in The Incident. After hearing about Jacob since season 3 it was great to finally get a chance to see him. This scene between Jacob and his brother was an absolute game changer and one of the bigger pieces of mythology that we had seen at that point. I thought it was gutsy of the producers to introduce such a huge character so late in the game like that I thought that both actors handled that scene quite well.


    Posted by Aaron, 30/06/2010 2:34pm (2 years ago)

  • An opportunity to gush over what I love about LOST? Now that is my cup of tea, mate!

    I'll try to restrain my voicemail to sermon-length...

    Posted by the Simpleman, 30/06/2010 8:36am (2 years ago)

  • i think it was exodus pt 3 where Sawyer indirectly  tells Jack he had actually met his father in Sydney before he died and how his father wished he "had the stones" to pick up the phone and tell him he loved him, etc.   Good guy Sawyer started showing through here. At least we begin to see he's not such a hard ass that he wants everyone to think he is. Such a well acted scene. It has always stuck with me ....

    Posted by Ilene, 30/06/2010 7:01am (2 years ago)

  • I for one will be re-watching most of the aforementioned episodes again to try and remember why exactly I watched it through to the end. Thanks.

    Posted by The G man, 29/06/2010 12:40pm (2 years ago)

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