Lost‘s fourth season has been an unadulterated success. You cannot convince me otherwise. Aside from a few minor gripes (and one and a half mediocre episodes) the Lost team has conjured up a series of great episodes thus far in season 4. The mythology has been expanded, the writers have added even more storytelling devices to their repertoire and I’m still as confused as ever. Ever since ABC and Lost agreed to a series end date, the story of Lost has been told at a furious pace. Although the strike has forced Cuse and Lindelof to expedite season 4’s ultimate story, we’ll tackle that when the new episodes begin airing at the end of April. While we’re on this Lost hiatus, we thought it’d be a good time to look back on the eight episodes which have aired so far, and see how they stack up to each other.
As this is Lost, and Lost fans are prone to disagreement, you will probably have some qualms with this list. That’s fine, it won’t hurt my feelings. In the comments section below, we urge you to give us your episode rankings. Let’s see if we can reach some sort of consensus.
#8 – Episode 6, “The Other Woman”
The only season 4 episode that I could have done without. Nothing happened that the viewers couldn’t have figured out for themselves. The on-island plot, with the freighter people shutting down the gas (or whatever) seemed contrived. Not a terrible episode by any means, but not up to par with the rest of the season.
#7 – Episode 8, “Meet Kevin Johnson”
I wanted to like this episode. There were just too many things that bothered me. First, I know this is Lost and all, but some explanation as to why Michael couldn’t tell anyone what happened or why he’s not allowed to see Walt would’ve been appreciated. Also, maybe a hint at how he actually got back to the mainland. On the bright side, we met Arturo, who makes me laugh just to think about him.
#6 – Episode 2, “Confirmed Dead”
It’s unfair – it’s more interesting to see stories about characters we already know. This was a clever way to introduce the freighties, and the more screen time Daniel Faraday gets, the better. I’m not convinced one or two or all of the flash backs weren’t actually flash forwards.
#5 – Episode 3, “The Economist”
Sayid: professional assassin. That’s all I need. The first scene was a classic, and I enjoyed the spy game aspect of the episode. Of course, the thing most people discuss when this episode comes up is the big twist at the end, which lends more credence to the “Been as a good guy” idea.
#4 – Episode 4, “Eggtown”
I’m a Kate fan. I generally enjoy all of her episodes, and this was no different. I have to give huge props to the writers for what they did with those last few scenes. First, they completely fooled me. I thought for sure Kate was pregnant with Sawyer’s child on the island, and caring for it off. And, if we assumed this to be true, Jack’s parking garage conversation with Kate makes sense. He’s a little jealous; understandable. However, after the twist is revealed, that parking garage conversation is far more mysterious. What are they covering up, and what happened to Claire?
#3 – Episode 1, “The Beginning of the End”
I never would have thought Lost would begin the season with a Hurley episode. It worked wonderfully. Charlie’s appearance was nice, but the moment I keep coming back to is the basketball scene with Jack. In that couple minutes of dialogue, we learned a lot. We know they’re keeping a big secret. We know that Jack began his off-island life content, though he’ll soon change his mind. We know that something happened in Locke’s camp that makes Hurley feel terrible for not going with Jack. And, we know that there is cause to go back.
#2 – Episode 7, “Ji Yeon”
I’m a sucker for creative story structure. A flash forward death (though I believe Jin is still alive) and the dual flash forward/flash back was ingenious. Yunjin Kim gave the best performance of the season.
#1 – Episode 5, “The Constant”
What can I say about “The Constant” that hasn’t already been said. An insane, mind-blowing hour of television.
-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of ABC)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
