It’s hard to introduce a show likeLost, because it’s so many things at once (and it’s probably even harder to convince a newcomer, in 2025, to watch it, since they’ve probably heard so many divided opinions). It is, famously, a show that kept getting wilder and less predictable with every season, and its first season was no slouch when it came to being weird and twist-heavy. Things kick off with a plane crashing on an island, and the survivors of said crash trying to survive while hoping rescue will come, eventually, but they find out pretty fast that the island is bizarre, and home to countless secrets.
Some might prefer the earlier seasons ofLost, before things got too crazy, but then there’s also an argument to be made that the ways the later seasons branched out and played around with the show’s structure made things distinctively moreLost-ian (Lost-y?Lost-esque? One of those). In any event, every season ofLosthas its own ups and downs, butin the interest of highlighting those ups, here’s the best episode from each of the show’s six seasons, starting with the first and ending with the last (chronological order seems the best way to do things, even thoughLostitself didn’t really enjoy telling its story in chronological order). Also, multi-part episodes featured here are counted as one episode, even if they aired over more than one night.
Season 1, Episodes 1 and 2 (2004)
Lostgot off to the best of starts with “Pilot,” which was both the pilot episode and called “Pilot” because it’s about a plane crash and does spend a little time with the plane’s pilot (he doesn’t last long, being one of the first of many characters to get killed off). It’sobviously an essential episode for introducing all the initial main characters, some of whom stick around until the show’s final season, while there are others (and Others) who don’t show up until a bit later.
The thing about “Pilot” that still impresses is how grand and cinematic it all feels. You’re likely to be hooked instantly, everything is cinematic in a way network television hardly ever is, and you instantly have a feel for all the key players in the season to come. It does just about everything the first episode of a show should do, and it even finds room to introducesome ofLost’s biggest mysteriesright off the bat, some of which wouldn’t be answered or elaborated upon until many episodes later.
5"Live Together, Die Alone"
Season 2, Episodes 23 and 24 (2006)
Yeah, so maybe get used to seeing season finales pop up here, becauseLostoften saved its best material every season for the very end, obviously with the exception of Season 1, which had more great episodes than “Pilot,” but it was that one that impressed the most. And so, with Season 2, the episode worthy of most praise is its two-part finale, “Live Together, Die Alone,” which capped off a mostly strong batch of episodes that kept Season 1’s momentum going, further suggestingLostwas up there as one of the greats, as far as TV dramas went.
There’s a lot of stuff going on here with that infamous hatch, which had been a focus of both Season 1 and, more directly, in Season 2, while the rest of “Live Together, Die Alone” balances catharsis with cliffhangers. The writers ofLostseemed pretty confident in the show going on quite a bit longer, andso there’s a good deal here that’s not wrapped up, and a few fates are left uncertain as a result. It doesn’t feel frustrating, though; more compelling, and given things haven’t got too wild by this point (just moderately wild), you still feel like you’re in relatively good hands.
4"Through the Looking Glass"
Season 3, Episodes 22 and 23 (2007)
Featuring two of themost famous quotes inLost’s entire run(one at the episode’s end, and another not even spoken; just written on a character’s hand), “Through the Looking Glass” is monumental for the series as a whole in so many ways. The later seasons weren’t as long as the first three, so this episode isn’t technically right at the halfway mark overall, but it does represent a shift of sorts for the show. Without giving away everything, it bids farewell to the well-established flashback formula the show had used up until this point with style, and shock value to boot.
It’s also a farewell in other ways, and an episode that suggests things will move forward in (many) more ways than one. So much of it feels climactic, cathartic, and tear-jerking, but then there areother clever ways that “Through the Looking Glass” adds intrigue, and an undeniable temptation to keep watchinginto the fourth season and beyond. It isLostat its absolute best, and though nothing beyond this episode topped it, there were a handful of (also) brilliant episodes that came pretty damn close. Such as…
3"The Constant"
Season 4, Episode 5 (2008)
“The Constant” is sometimes held up as the best single episode ofLost, and it almost definitely is if you’re judging episodes for how well they stand up as standalone episodes. “The Constant” does further things along overall, and is vital for one ofthe show’s most interesting characters, Desmond, but it’s not a knockout in the way some of these other previously mentioned episodes might knock you out, at least in the sense that there are no massive shocking moments, things that feel climactic, or events that entirely change the direction of the show.
Instead, “The Constant” works because it’s intimate and so focused on just Desmond and a handful of other characters, stripping things back and getting more personal than most episodes ofLost. It’s also structurally ambitious and continually fascinating, with a very interesting (and chaotic) way of exploring how it might feel to be unstuck in time.Season 4 ofLost(and onwards) played around with jumping forward (and eventually sideways) in time quite a lot, but if you want to see that side of the show at its most creative and emotionally fulfilling, “The Constant” is where it’s at.
2"The Incident"
Season 5, Episodes 16 and 17 (2009)
Another season ofLost, another multipart finale worth shouting out. Here, it’s Season 5, and that big old finale worth praising is “The Incident,” which does a fine job at getting one ofLost’s lesser seasons back on track… actually, surprisingly so. It doesn’t fix the low-lights of Season 5 entirely, but it does make an occasionally frustrating season worth sticking with. Or,if you’re cynical, maybe it’s just a cathartic and compelling episode because it brings a close to all the weirdness involved with the island jumping around in time; something that was dizzying and mind-bending for both the characters and the audience alike.
There are other parts of “The Incident” that are more typically appealing by the standards of a season finale, including at least one bittersweet farewell and a reveal regarding Locke (if you know, you know) that is appropriately jaw-dropping as one final thing to get you interested in the final season. This finale is, quite easily, the best of what Season 5 ofLosthas to offer, and even if it was merely a pretty good episode instead of a pretty great one, the same could still potentially be said.
1"The End"
Season 6, Episodes 17 and 18 (2010)
Like Season 5, Season 6 ofLosthad some fairly messy episodes. Unlike Season 5, though, Season 6 had a somewhat divisive season finale that, given this was the final season, also served as a series finale. But the haters ought to be shaken off “The End;” for too long has it been unfairly criticized. Imagine ending a show likeLost. Imagine that kind of pressure.The fact that it was able to be this moving and wrap up as much as it did (not everything, sure, but still most things) makes it brilliant.
This is not one of those shows where the final season stands out as especially heinous, since “The End” is too good a series finale for the whole of Season 6 to be seen as a failure. Things do come full circle here, there’s a cinematic quality that mirrors the pilot episode, all the callbacks feel earned, and where the characters end up is undoubtedly emotional to see (the music here helps a lot). If you want a finale that directly addresses every mystery or confusing thing aboutLost, then yeah, maybe you’ll come away disappointed. But if you go in wanting a farewell to the show’s weird world and its wonderful characters, and are okay with most mysteries being addressed, then you’ll likely come away more than satisfied with “The End” ofLost.
