The 25 most essential island moments on 'Lost'

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by: Tyrone Warner
Date: 12/17/2009 10:28:00 AM ET

After over five years and 100 episodes, “Lost” has finally arrived at its final, bittersweet concluding season.

Many fans (like myself) are going to be disappointed to see the series go, and will have to turn to new sci-fi dramas like “Flashforward” and “Fringe” to fill the void. But on the bright side, “Lost” is getting the final season it truly deserves: it dared to tell an epic story, and with an end date in sight, it will be able to tell a truly epic ending.

There are going to be many questions answered, but we should all know that many of those answers are going to be incomplete, baffling, or wholly unsatisfying. Will we ever know about the “Hurley bird”? Probably not. Will we ever know why the guy with the eye patch never died? Not likely.

Because “Lost” is such a massive undertaking, and its storylines so sprawling, in retrospect, there were many moments that were not as important as others. On the flipside, insignificant events have turned out to be the most essential.

For example; despite all the speculation about the survivors of Flight 815 in the “tail” section of the plane, when they were finally revealed, all of them in short order died, save for Bernard, who was reunited with his wife Rose.

And all that warring-with-the-Others business? Turned out to not be so important when the Losties found out that the Others were more worried about Widmore.

So because there are many important facts audiences will need to remember for the upcoming season, here are the 25 most important moments you’ll need to keep in mind.

1. Unseen killer

It all begins in a swift split-second when the pilot of the crashed Oceanic 815 (played by “Heroes” star Greg Grunberg) is snatched by an unseen “monster.” Earlier theories suggested it was a dinosaur or King Kong, but we now know it was the smoke monster all along. As we learn later, Frank Lapidus was “supposed” to pilot that flight, so perhaps the smoke monster was giving out some moral “course-correction” or “judgment”?  (From “Pilot.” )

2. Locke can walk

The revelation that Locke was previously paralyzed -- but can now walk -- set his character apart from the rest, defining him as a miracle man and a character that will always have a particularly special relationship with the island. (From “Walkabout.”)



3. Beach discovery

When Sayid discovered the wire on the beach, the island’s character was expanded: it was now connected to something else, and there was something resembling civilization inside the jungle. Sayid would not be the only person on or off the island to discovery something by accident. (From “Solitary.”)

4. 8 15 16 23 42

The numbers make their way to the forefront when Hurley, who learned about them in a mental institution, confronts Rousseau with them, and in turn, the audience discovers the numbers written on the side of the hatch. Besides being the “Code” that must be typed into the computer terminal later on, and being numbers vital to the Valenzetti Equation, the mystique of the numbers has yet to be fully explored. (From “Numbers.” )

5. I have seen the light

Following Boone’s death, Locke stares down into the hatch, desperate for a sign. He’s given one, in the form of light emanating from the window. We later find out that it is Desmond inside, and that the hatch is a part of a larger series of hatches, but it’s this symbolic “turning on the lights” which transforms the entire series from a story of survival to a sprawling, time-traveling epic. (From “Deus Ex Machina.” )

6. WAAAALT

The Losties (original crash survivors) come face-to-face with the Others for the first time when they steal Walt away from them and burn their raft. At this point the Others are still pretending to look “dirtier” than usual and initially reveal their interest in Walt, who may or may not have burned the first raft down with his mind. (From “Exodus, part two.")

7. Watch very carefully

Now inside the hatch, Locke watches the first orientation video. Not only does the clip provide a bigger picture of the Dharma initiative, it introduces us to the post-Incident, one-armed Pierre Chang, who will later interact with the Losties 30 years in the past. (From “Orientation.”)

8. Benry

The leader of the Others, Ben Linus, first appears on the series when he’s caught in a trap set by Rousseau. He claims to be Henry Gale and is eventually found out, but not before he causes serious tension between Jack and Locke. According to the producers of the show, “Henry Gale” was never meant to be a larger character, but due to Michael Emerson’s amazing performance as Ben/Henry, they decided to change the character so that Emerson could remain with the show. (From “One of Them.” )



9. Desmond is my constant

Desmond, who previously ran off into the jungle, finds his rebuilt sailboat and escapes the island, is back. He claims that the island is one big snow-globe, and there’s no way to leave. Thankfully Desmond returned, because his character has become pivotal to the series, with his time-travel abilities and love story with Widmore’s daughter, Penny. (From “Live Together, Die Alone.”)

10. Can it be real?

When Ben shows Jack the clip of his beloved Red Sox winning the World Series, a whole new facet of the island and the Others are revealed: that they were able to come and go from the island, and that they existed in “the present.” Maybe it was the producers distancing the series from the “Island-is-Purgatory” theory by grounding the show in the “real world.” (From “The Glass Ballerina.”)

11. Judgment day

Mr. Eko really felt like he was supposed to be an “important” character, like a spiritual brother to Locke. Instead, he seemingly got crazier and crazier, until he finally encountered the smoke monster, which took the form of his young dead brother, then got Biblical on Mr. Eko, forming the sign of the cross as the smoke monster pulverized him into the ground. Apparently Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje wanted to be written out of the show, but in his character’s death, we start to see the “judgmental” nature of the smoke monster. (From “The Cost of Living.")

12. A sip of McCutcheon

After Hurley and Charlie get suspicious, they finally force Desmond to reveal that he can see the future, which according to him, cannot be changed. Time travel, and the ability to change the past or the future, becomes one of the show’s most important themes. (From “Flashes Before Your Eyes." )

13. Fresh from the box

In my opinion, the “Purgatory” theory is alive and well when we get the appearance of Locke’s father, bound and gagged and tied to a chair inside the dank basement of some Dharma laboratory. The way he describes his arrival on the island could be a description of his own death experience, sent to the island to be either redeemed by his son, Locke, or punished by Sawyer. He was punished. (From “The Man from Talahassee.")

14. Seen at last

With two words, “Help me,” everything that we knew about Jacob was turned upside-down and inside-out. We learn that Ben did not hear those words, but Locke did, which eventually stirs up hateful jealousy in Ben. In a flash, we also see the hairy shadow of a man in a rocking chair... this could be Jacob, or it could even be Horace Goodspeed, who Locke sees building the cabin in a time-looped vision. (From “The Man Behind the Curtain." )

15. Let's get out of here

When Jack and co. set their eyes upon the helicopter for the first time, they finally realize they are getting off the island. The helicopter represents a big change in the primary timeline of the series, in that it goes from being island-based, to one that exists out in the world. (From “Confirmed Dead." )

16. Give me a ring

In my opinion, the episode in which we learn about the brain-melting side effects of time travel, and how they can be prevented, is the finest 42-odd minutes the show has ever produced. The love story that never quite clicks between Jack-Kate-Sawyer is put to shame with the devastatingly emotional phone call between Desmond and Penny on Christmas Eve. (From “The Constant.”)

17. The rules of the game

When Ben’s “daughter” (really, Rousseau’s daughter) is murdered by mercenaries outside his house, he mutters that someone has changed the rules. What that means is that his nemisis, Widmore, is like Ben and other Others who venture out into the real world, cannot be harmed. So that in order for Widmore to inflict pain on Ben, he decided to take out what he loves most -- his adopted daughter. Even though we later learn that Ben can’t follow through with killing Widmore’s daughter (Penny) and grandson (Desmond’s son, Charlie) off-island. (From "The Shape of Things to Come." )

18. What's in your head

The Island moves and skitters through time, and kicks off the show’s controversial “time-travel” season. Will it be more controversial than next season’s so-called “Zombie” season? We’ll have to wait and see. (From “Because You Left." )

19. Turn, baby, turn

Here’s where the time travel gets confusing and paradox-infused. Locke, in order to turn the “Frozen Donkey Wheel” and stop the time travel, goes to the Orchid station. When it disappears in a time-flash, Locke and co. instead discover a well nearby. They lower Locke down the well on a rope, but in another flash, the well disappears, and the rope they were holding before now leads directly into the ground. With this in mind, how did the Others or the Dharma Initiative discover the mystical cave with the wheel in the first place? It’s because they found this rope, placed there in the “past,” by the Losties from the future. (From “This Place is Death.")

20. Groovy

After successfully getting on a second plane and having it “crash” on the island again, Jack and co. wake up in the bush, where they discover they are 30 years in the past, in the 1970’s heyday of the Dharma Initiative, where Sawyer and co. have been living the past few years. Thankfully, the time travel is over (for now). (From "316." )

21. One of us

Perhaps the most significant “past” event occurs after Sayid decides to murder the young Ben Linus. Sayid fails to do so, and in a last-ditch effort to save Ben’s life, Kate brings Ben to the Others, who agree to save him, but warns her that from then on, he will be “One of them.” Maybe if Kate didn’t do this, Ben would never have been “turned,” and would have never later killed off the Dharma Initiative. (From “Whatever Happened, Happened." )

22. Temple of doom

The long-enduring mystery of the smoke monster is more-or-less revealed when Ben takes Locke to the Temple, where among strange hieroglyphs, asks to be judged by the smoke monster. Ben is spared, and told by his reincarnated-by-the-smoke-monster daughter to do whatever Locke tells him to. Of course, Ben is likely to betray Locke (again), but for now it seems like he’s learned his lesson. (From “Dead is Dead." )

23. You knew all along

Way, way back in the past, well before the Dharma Initiative’s time on the island (around the 1950s), Daniel seemingly realizes that he hasn’t been able to change the past when he’s gunned down by his own much-younger mother. He furthermore realizes that all his life, she knew that she had already killed him. It’s okay if you’re confused. (From “The Variable.")

24. Esau

When Ben is handed a knife by Locke or someone-reincarnated-as-Locke, the spurned leader of the Others decides to kill Jacob after a lifetime of isolation from the ethereal being. The implications of Ben’s actions will be one of the two biggest questions that need to be answered in season six: Who is Jacob, and what happened when Ben killed him? (From “The Incident.")

25. For her Romeo

As Juliet smashed the nuclear warhead with a rock and set off the explosion, she sent the world of “Lost” into limbo. Did she cause “The Incident,” or did she cause something entirely different to happen, changing the future and rewriting the present? That is the heart of the second major question that the final season must answer. (From “The Incident." )

Agree or disagree? Did I leave something out? Log in and leave a comment and have your say!

"Lost" returns to CTV in primetime in 2010. Season five of "Lost" is available in stores now on DVD and Blu-ray.