Lost Has 121 Episodes, And You Should Watch 120 Of Them
On the whole, Lost is one of the greatest TV shows ever made. Anyone who’s looking for a good binge should give Lost a watch. Its combination of mystery-box intrigue, gonzo sci-fi thrills, and straight-up survival horror make it a riveting, fast-paced binge-watch, but above all, what makes it work is its sprawling ensemble of colorful characters. From the goofy lottery winner to the fake Gallagher brother to the doctor with more tattoos than a born-again bodybuilder, Lost is full of lovable characters that’ll keep you coming back.
Each episode focuses on one in particular, as their A-story on the island is contrasted with a flashback B-story, and we see how their past informs their decision-making in the present. For the most part, Lost maintained a healthy balance of screen time between its best characters. But one week, Lost dedicated an entire hour-long episode to two ridiculously minor characters who just might be the least likable characters on the show.
Watch Lost, But Please Don't Watch "Exposé"
After its stellar first and second seasons, Lost started to go downhill in season 3. That’s when the writers started running out of ideas and scraping the bottom of the barrel to come up with excuses to keep everyone stuck on the island. The series’ quality took such a drastic downturn that the showrunners noticed it and took action. They set an end date for the series — arranging with ABC to keep Lost on the air for another three seasons, and end with season 6 — so they could start working toward an endgame. This led to the rescue storyline, the time-travel storyline, and all the other great storylines that came after the wheel-spinning third season.
In season 3, Lost dedicated an entire episode to Jack’s tattoos and their tragic backstory. They did an episode where Locke is plagued by visions of Boone. But, worst of all, they gave a whole episode to Nikki and Paulo. Nikki and Paulo had never been popular characters; most fans didn’t even bother to learn their names until they were forced to in season 3, episode 14, “Exposé.”
This is the only episode of Lost you should skip. It’s not the only bad episode, but it’s the only one that’s so bad it’s unwatchable. The A-story builds to an admittedly awesome twist ending, but it’s not worth spending 43 minutes with Nikki and Paulo to get to that point. The flashback B-plot is just a clichéd showbiz soap where Nikki and Paulo come off as more insufferable than ever.
Lost's Other Weaker Episodes Still Have Good Bits In Them
Lost had plenty of bad episodes besides “Exposé,” but the other weaker installments at least have some redeeming qualities. The Jack tattoo episode, “Stranger in a Strange Land,” has some great banter between Kate and Sawyer as they journey back to the beach with Karl in tow. “Across the Sea,” the two-hander between Jacob and the Man in Black, is a bunch of boring, pseudo-intellectual dross, but it has some stunning visuals, key pieces of Lost lore, and a pair of strong performances by Mark Pellegrino and Titus Welliver.
Lost’s series finale has proven to be wildly divisive among fans, with some finding it to be a satisfying ending and others dismissing it as a disappointment. To be fair, a lot of the naysayers misinterpreted the ending and came away with the impression that it was all a dream, or they were dead the whole time, and that’s just not the case. The final episode did leave a lot of questions unanswered, but the writers had written themselves into a corner in some cases. And even if you hate the Lost finale, you can’t deny that it’s an appropriately grand, epic conclusion to this survival saga.