Written by: Aaron Bala

With the premiere of the final season of Lost starting there isn’t a better time to look back on the series as a whole. This recap should serve as a great reminder for fans of the show, and can even help those new to the show catch up on all they’ve missed. Spoilers abound, so this is your fair warning.

Season 1: The start of the show focuses on survival. A plane crash leaves 48 survivors on a mysterious tropical island featuring polar bears, an unseen monster capable of ripping trees out of the ground and killing people, a dead man making sporadic reappearances on the island and a man miraculously healed of his paralysis.

As the first 44 days pass, the survivors come to realize that there is no hope of rescue, and must learn to live on the island, hunting and fishing for their food.

They encounter another survivor in the jungle, an inhabitant on the island for 16 years, who has clearly gone crazy from the stress of living in solitary for so long, but through her madness bits of truth come out, like how the survivors aren’t alone. There are a group of people on the island known as 'The Others', one of whom has infiltrated the camp and taken one of the survivors captive. She is later rescued and the infiltrator is killed but his actions serve as a reminder to the survivors that there is more going on in this deserted island than they think.

The discovery of a hatch in the jungle yields a new mystery for the survivors – what’s inside? Who created it and for what purpose? John Locke makes it his personal mission to find out the truth about the hatch near the end of the season. Boone Carlyle dies while at the same time new life is born on the island in the form of Aaron Littleton.

The finale sees Michael Dawson captain a raft in order to seek rescue for the survivors still on the island, but instead of rescue, his son Walt is snatched from his arms by the mysterious Others and his raft is destroyed. At the same time Locke has figured out how to open up the door to his hatch, and the season ends as they peer down a long shaft into the darkness that awaits them below.

Behind these mysteries, the underlying heart of Lost was about each of these characters - who were they? Through the use of flashbacks we learned about the histories of the survivors, which made us care for their individual plights, and their reasons for getting on the doomed Oceanic 815.

Important Episodes: "Pilot" (Our introduction to the characters, and the first big mysteries of the island), "Walkabout" (Locke, the survivalist in the group is revealed to have been in a wheelchair in the real world, but has been miraculously healed by the island), "Solitary" (Sayid Jarrah meets Danielle Rousseau who tells him about 'The Others', and hears the whispers upon his escape), "Homecoming" (Claire Littleton struggles to rejoin the group, and the survivors trap and kill Ethan Rom), "Do No Harm" (Boone dies and Claire gives birth to Aaron), and "Exodus" (Michael sets off on the raft, and Locke blows open the hatch)

Season 2: The second season explores the mysteries of the island. Inside the hatch the survivors find a man living inside--Desmond Hume--who pushes a button every 108 minutes for reasons even he doesn’t fully comprehend.

The survivors on the boat slowly float back to the island where they discover other survivors from flight 815 (termed 'Tailies') whose half of the plane crashed on the other side of the island, and have had a far worse time than the main group of survivors. They then begin the arduous journey of traversing the island to the core group.

The survivors also find another person living in the jungle, but is he really who he says he is or is he actually an Other? The survivors start an expedition to verify Henry Gale’s facts but after uncovering his lies Michael releases him in a trade for his son back before anyone can do anything.

Michael then leads, Jack, Kate Austen, Sawyer and Hugo Reyes on a trip to get Walt, which is secretly a trap for our heroes by the Others that Michael engages in so he can leave the island.

By the end of the season Locke believes that pushing the button has been a mind game all along and resolves to stop pushing the button at the station. His resolution coincides with a drunk Desmond’s return to the island (he tried to escape in a boat) who pieces together his memory realizing that he was late one time in pushing the button – the time Oceanic 815 crashed on the island. As the hatch starts to implode upon itself, the button’s duty of keeping the electromagnetism of this spot in check is fully understood. Desmond turns the failsafe key resulting in a large outburst of electromagnetic energy. This energy is strong enough that its effects are witnessed by 2 researchers who inform their boss, Penny Widmore, Desmond’s girlfriend who has been searching for him for the last 3 years.

Important Episodes: "Orientation" (The purpose of the Hatch is explained), "The Other 48 days" (The entire story of the Tailies time on the island), "What Kate Did" (Kate’s crime is revealed), "The Hunting Party" (The survivors meet face to face with the Others), "The Long Con" (Sawyer shifts the power balance in his favour by gaining all the guns), "Maternity Leave" (Claire recalls what happened to her when she was kidnapped by Ethan), "?" (The survivors investigate another hatch and Locke loses his faith about the button), "Live Together, Die Alone" (Jack, Kate and Sawyer are captured by the Others, while Michael leaves the island for good. Locke and Desmond stop pushing the button causing the hatch to implode upon itself)

Season 3: Having been led to the Others' camp the focus on season three was about the Others. Jack is coerced into performing a surgery on Benjamin Linus, the leader of the Others and the man who willingly got himself captured by the survivors and claimed to be Henry Gale in season two. We are also introduced to Juliet, another doctor who is with the Others, but evidently had a life off the island and was recruited to the island to solve a fertility issue.

Sawyer and Kate get to return to their camp, but mount a rescue expedition to get Jack back. However they also return with Juliet and the survivors are unsure where her loyalties really lie. Locke elects to stay with the Others and gets an opportunity to meet Jacob, a man hinted as having godlike abilities. Ben fears that Locke is being groomed by Jacob to usurp Ben’s role as leader of the Others, and so shoots him and leaves him for dead.

Following the implosion of the hatch Desmond emerges a changed man. He has gained the mysterious ability to see bits of the future, and sees visions of Charlie dying. Desmond does his best to save him each time but eventually comes to the realization that Charlie is fated to die.

When a mysterious stranger parachutes on the island from a helicopter it kicks off a chain reaction leading up to the finale. She reveals she was sent to find Desmond by Penny. In order for her to contact the freighter anchored off shore from which she came from, the survivors need to shut off a distress signal Rousseau recorded 16 years earlier, and turn off a switch in a station underwater that’s jamming the signal.

Charlie sacrifices himself to turn off the switch underwater but it able to transmit a final message to Desmond after learning that the boat isn’t Penny’s. As the survivors call the freighter Locke returns and kills the parachutist but Jack is still able to call the boat who assures him they will rescue the survivors.

In this finale we get the usual flashback structure and discover a bearded, helpless, hopeless Jack who has lost his will to live. As the episode closes we discover that this is not a flashback, but rather a flashforward. Leaving the island has had grave consequences for Jack and the final words of the episode are “We have to go back!”

Important Episodes: "I Do" (The love triangle between Jack, Kate and Sawyer is resolved, for now), "Not in Portland" (Juliet’s history is revealed and we learn how one becomes an Other), "Flashes Before Your Eyes" (The writers tease us with the idea of time travel, and Charlie learns he must die), "The Brig" (Sawyer finally gets his chance to exact vengeance on the man who ruined his life), "The Man Behind The Curtain" (We see the history of Ben, and meet Jacob for the first time), "Through the Looking Glass" (Charlie dies to allow his friends the opportunity to live, and Jack calls the freighter for rescue)

Season 4: This season’s theme focuses on rescue and it’s implications. Following the revelation that the freighter isn’t owned by Penny the survivors choose between following: Jack who trusts the ship for rescue and Locke who fears those coming from the boat have evil intentions for the island.

A group of scientists descend on the island eager to help Jack’s crew while hiding their true motives. A mercenary team also arrives from the freighter whose mission is to capture Ben and bring him to their boss Charles Widmore, Penny’s father.

Ben has recruited Michael to be a spy on his boat and to sabotage them from the inside. Michael however comes face to face with his old friends as Jack’s crew starts ferrying themselves to the freighter for rescue. Locke, fearing the outcome if the mercenary team succeeds, talks with Jacob who tells Locke that he must move the island in order to save it.

As Ben and Locke go about the process of entering the secret room allowing them to move the island, Locke talks to Jack about the mystical properties of the island and that they shouldn’t leave. He cautions them that if they do leave they will need to lie and keep the island safe because if everyone knows about the island and its powers it would cause a frenzy.

Ben and the Others kill the members of the mercenary team, however the lead mercenary has connected a detonator to his heart rate monitor that if he should die, the freighter will explode.

Michael, Desmond and Jin-Soo Kwon find the bomb on the boat before it explodes and are able to freeze the firing mechanism to buy themselves time. Jack, Kate, Aaron, Hurley, Sayid, Desmond, and Sun-Hwa Kwon escape the boat on a helicopter minutes before it explodes but as they seek the safety of the island, Ben moves the island and it disappears in a blinding flash.

Out of fuel the helicopter crashes into the ocean and the survivors float in a life raft helpless, until they see a boat in the distance. It is revealed that on the boat is Penny Widmore and she and Desmond have a tearful reunion. On her boat Jack and the others start to craft a lie as to what really happened to them in order to protect the island.

In the flashforwards we see the six survivors (referred to in the media as the Oceanic Six) try to readjust to their lives back home. Kate pretends to adopt Aaron and must face her long-delayed trial, Sayid has become a hitman working for Ben (who left the island by way of the process of moving it), Hurley is haunted by visions of those who’ve died on the island, Sun is tormented by her belief that her husband has died and seeks vengeance on those responsible and Jack returns to his job as a doctor and seems to be the most well-adjusted of them all, eventually becoming engaged to Kate, and acting as a surrogate father for Aaron.

Important Episodes: "The Beginning of the End" (The survivors have to decide where their allegiances lie), "Confirmed Dead" (We get to meet the science team, Daniel Faraday, Charlotte Lewis, Miles Straume and Frank Lapidus, and learn a bit of their history), "The Constant" (Desmond gets a chance to talk with Penny for the first time in 3 years), "Meet Kevin Johnson" (Michael outlines what happened to him after leaving the island, and we learn that if the island still has plans for you, it won’t let you die), "The Shape of Things to Come" (Ben leaves the island, and more of his shared history with Charles Widmore, Penny’s father, is revealed), "Cabin Fever" (Locke’s long connection to the island is revealed through his flashbacks), "There’s No Place Like Home" (Some of the survivors find rescue, while Ben moves the island in order to save it)

Season 5: The penultimate season of the show revolves around the history of the island. Moving the island entails a movement not just through space but also through time, however something has gone wrong and the survivors find themselves jumping backwards and forwards through time.

Locke receives instructions from Richard Alpert (The second-in-command of the Others) that he needs to bring back those who left the island in order to stop the time jumps, and that in order to convince them he will need to die. As Locke engages in moving the island he is reminded that he was the one ordered to move the island, not Ben, leading to the time jumps. After moving the island the time jumps stop but the remaining survivors are left in 1974 and meet the group that created the hatches/stations – The Dharma Initiative.

After moving the island Locke returns to the real world, three years after the Oceanic Six arrived, and sets about the task of recruiting them to return. After being rejected by all of them he loses all hope and attempts to commit suicide before being stopped by Ben. After learning of Locke’s mission however Ben murders Locke and stages it to look like a suicide.

His death shakes up the Oceanic Six, most notably Jack who starts to believe Locke that they made a mistake in leaving the island. Jack is told that he needs to replicate as much of the original crash as possible to return. He is able to convince most of them to return (along with bringing John Locke’s body) although Desmond, Walt, and Aaron remain in the real world.

After getting on a plane piloted by Frank Lapidus, halfway through the flight there is a large flash of light and Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid are transported to 1977 while the rest crash on the island in present day (because Jack did not replicate the original crash exactly).

After crash landing on the island a resurrected John Locke awakens and tries to explain what happened to him to a new group of survivors. He, Ben, Sun and Lapidus take off and upon learning that their friends are stuck in the past, decide they need to see Jacob in order to learn how to bring them back to the present.

Locke and Ben finally meet Jacob face to face, as the new survivors (who know more than they let on) show up carrying with them the real body of John Locke. We learn that a being that has been at war with Jacob for centuries inhabits Locke and convinces Ben to kill Jacob. After being stabbed Jacob’s final words are “They’re coming.”

In 1977 the survivors all meet up and join the Dharma Initiative. Sayid tries to kill a young Ben in order to prevent who he will become in the future, but Kate and Juliet take pity on him and take him to the Others living at that time. They promise to heal him but warn that afterwards he will never be the same.

Daniel Faraday starts to suspect that because they are strangers to this timeline if they were to cause a large enough incident in it they would be returned to their proper timeline. Jack is able to get a bomb and they attempt to set it off. However it doesn’t work and Juliet sacrifices herself in order to explode it, resulting in a large white light engulfing the screen and ending the season.

Important Episodes: "Because You Left" (The survivors start jumping through time), "316" (The Oceanic Six return to the island they worked so hard to leave), "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham" (Locke’s endeavours off the island to bring his friends back), "LaFleur" (Sawyer takes charge of those remaining after Locke leaves and they join the Dharma initiative), "Dead is Dead" (Ben and Locke go to the Temple to confront the Smoke Monster), "The Variable" (Faraday conceives a way to return to their timeline), "The Incident" (Jacob and his nemesis meet, while the survivors in 1977 try to blow up a hydrogen bomb).

The Characters:

Jack Shephard: A doctor plagued by an overbearing father, he emerges as the de facto leader of the survivors after the crash. Jack is a man of science and believes there is a rational reason for all that is occurring on the island. Jack cares for Kate and yearns to be with her, competing with Sawyer for her affections. Following the death of Locke, Jack starts to change and turns into a man of faith, he starts to believe in destiny and steps down from being the usual leader.

Kate Austen: A convict upon crashing on the island she usually follows Jack’s leadership decisions and looks up to him. She murdered her abusive father as an adolescent but was turned in by her own mother. Upon leaving the island she served as a surrogate mother for Aaron, giving her a newfound sense of purpose. She chose to return to the island in an effort to find Claire and reunite her with Aaron.

John Locke: A man of faith, Locke was raised in the foster care system and was conned by his father into giving him his kidney when he finally met him. This act of betrayal left him bitter and angry eventually resulting in his father pushing him out an eight-story hotel room, paralysing him from the waist down. After crashing on the island he regained the use of his legs and credits his recovery to the island. He puts his faith in the island and gives his life to protect it.

James “Sawyer” Ford: A former con man he is brash and hot-headed. He witnessed his parents’ murder-suicide but is given a chance to exact vengeance on the man ultimately responsible while living on the island. Afterwards he becomes more reserved but following the departure of the Oceanic Six and Locke he emerges as a leader eventually taking Jack’s place in the group dynamic. He competes with Jack for Kate’s love, but lived with Juliet for three years after being transported to the past.

Juliet Burke: A former Other, she was a fertility expert before coming to the island. She was recruited in the hopes of solving the Others' inability to produce children. After being forced to stay on the island she joins up with Jack’s group in the hope of finally getting to leave. She knows more than she tells about the history of the Others and seemingly sacrifices her life to explode the bomb hopefully allowing her friends to return to their own time.

Sun-Hwa Kwon: Married to Jin, she starts the series very reserved and subservient to Jin though she is planning to leave him. After changing her mind minutes before flight 815 leaves she and Jin work out their differences on the island eventually producing a child together, while she grows more independent and assertive. After escaping the exploding freighter she believes Jin has died, and only returns to the island in an attempt to find him again and restore her family.

Jin-Soo Kwon: Married to Sun he worked for her father on the island turning him into a violent man and putting a heavy strain on their marriage. After crashing on the island he starts to see his flaws and works on becoming the man he was when he first met Sun. Infertile, he is seemingly healed by the island. He barely escapes the freighter explosion and asks Locke not to bring his wife back to the island, but now seeks a way to return to her.

Sayid Jarrah: A former member of the Iraqi National Guard he served as a torturer after the Gulf War. After crashing he exhibits a knack for fixing electronics, often repairing broken pieces of machinery to help the survivors find rescue. After escaping the island he is reunited with his lost love Nadia for a scant nine months before she is murdered and he becomes a hitman working for Ben killing all those responsible. After returning to the island he attempts to kill a young Benjamin Linus feeling it is his destiny, but upon learning he has failed he becomes near suicidal joining Jack’s plan to explode the bomb.

Hugo “Hurley” Reyes: A multimillionaire after winning the lottery, Hurley feels the money has been a curse to him and seeks to shake his bad luck landing him in a mental hospital. Often a source of comic relief for the survivors he built a golf course in order to help them relax. Off the island he is haunted by visions of his dead friends who give him instructions of the island’s wishes. He seems to share a connection with the island that grows stronger over time.

Benjamin Linus: Born outside Portland his birth caused his mother’s death simultaneously. He went to the island at age eight with his father to work for the Dharma Initiative. He sees visions of his mother in the jungle and joins the Others, eventually launching a toxic gas attack killing all the members of the Initiative becoming the leader of the Others. He has a talent for manipulation, getting others to fall squarely into his traps. Ironically he was manipulated himself by the entity claiming to be Locke into murdering Jacob.

Desmond Hume: A former soldier he embarks upon a race around the world eventually crashing on the island and living in the hatch for 3 years. Pursued by his long-lost love Penny, they are eventually reunited and go into hiding whilst building a family together. According to Faraday he is special and the rules of the timeline don’t apply to him.

Claire Littleton: Half-brother to Jack (though neither knew it until years later) she is pregnant upon crashing on the island, and gives birth to Aaron on her first month on the island. She is expressly warned by a psychic that she must be the one to raise Aaron but she abandons him in the jungle and follows a vision of her father leaving Kate to care for her son.

Written by :

Arban

 

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