Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Aw, What the hell--Another Top Ten

Favorite episodes (as of today):

1. "Pilot" (I count 2-parters as one episode) Season One

I can watch this epi over and over. You cannot--simply cannot--beat the first fifteen minutes of the pilot. Here's a bunch of strangers thrown together by an airplane disaster, and if that weren't bad enough--but when the first night falls on the island, there's a horrific sound, a mechanical howling, and trees shake in the distance. Uh-ohhh....They haven't crashed on Club Med, that's for sure. By the end of the episode, things are certainly strange for our castaways--but how little they know that polar bears and a 16-year old radio distress call were the merest portents of the mysteries yet to come, and not nearly as strange as survival on the island would soon prove to be.

2. "Through the Looking Glass" Season Three

Beautiful. The last epi of LOST so far, the capper to a fantastic third season. A daring new means of storytelling introduced, the death of a major character, and one HELL of a cliff-hanger. It's only been three months since it's aired, and the remaining five-plus months before the fourth season starts are simply agonizing!

3. "Lockdown" Season Two

Notable for the reveal of the Blast Door Map of the island, with its tantalizing clues and comments, many in Latin. Even though the map was no doubt destroyed in the Implosion, I hope the cryptic comments about Cerebus activity (among others!) have a payoff down the road.

4. "The Other 48 Days" Season Two

Brilliant way to show how much the Others had terrified the tail section survivors. Almost like "Lord of the Flies" or "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street", with more than a dash of paranoia salted in with the terror. The befuddlement of the characters registers so well, although no one really says out loud what they must all be thinking; "Why are these people doing this to us?"

5. "Numbers" Season One

The first Hurley flashback, and the introduction of 4-8-15-16-23-42.

6. "The Brig" Season Three

Josh Holloway more than holds his own in probably the best Sawyer epi ever--even though it was a Locke-centric epi. Best performance I've seen from any of the LOST actors, and surely a portent of what's to come for Sawyer next season.

7. "One of Us" Season Three
Detailing Juliet's arrival to the island, and cleverly integrating the teaser from the Season Three opener into its storyline.

8. "Orientation" Season Two
Ladies and Gentlemen...the Dharma Initiative!

9. "Walkabout" Season One
The show that let you know that John Locke was going to be a very, very interesting character. And we still don't know exactly what made Locke smile with such unvarnished joy when he confronted The Monster! Will they ever reveal that?

10. "The Man Behind The Curtain" Season Three
When I first heard about a Ben Linus flashback, I was beside myself. It ended up not being quite what I hoped (I would have liked a little more Dharma background, and hey, maybe an appearance by Marvin Candle that isn't on a Dharma orientation film!), but I certainly wasn't expecting to see Richard Alpert in a Ben Linus flashback, and that little mystery more than made up for what I was hoping the epi would be.

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