Ranking the Season 4 episodes

I ranked the episodes halfway through the season, but now that we can see the entire arc and gain some perspective, it's about time I rank every Season 4 episode. I'm reasonably confident with my rankings, although let's face it, at least some of this is arbitrary. With that said, let's take at every episode of Season 4, from the worst to the best...

13. "Ji Yeon"
(Episode 7, Sun/Jin-centric)

The writers capitalize on our confusion (does Aaron count as a 6er?) by giving us supposed Jin flashforwards, only to reveal at the end that they're flashbacks, inserted not to tell a story but simply to trick us. Offensively bad.

12. "The Other Woman"
(Episode 6, Juliet-centric)

Unoffensively bad. Not much happens - Juliet's backstory fleshes out the facts but does nothing for her character - in fact, it moves her two steps backwards, originality-wise - and on the island, nothing happens of any consequence.

11. "The Beginning of the End"
(Episode 1, Hurley-centric)

Very underwhelming for a season premiere, but then again, Lost has always had better finales than premieres. The castaways split up into two camps in a very belated Lord of the Flies plot point, while we tie up the loose ends from the Season 3 finale (oh, I guess Naomi's not dead...whoops, yes she is) and first hear the term "Oceanic 6." Then again, Hurley telling Claire about Charlie was one of the saddest things I've ever seen.

10. "Something Nice Back Home"
(Episode 10, Jack-centric)

Frankly, from here on in I legitimately liked every single episode. It's just that some were more awe-inspiring than others. Jack's fill-in-the-blanks flashforward of how things went to hell for him was good, and Sawyer, Miles, and Claire's trek back to the beach was filled with neat subtle moments. But Jack's emergency appendectomy felt like they just needed to give him something to do before the finale rolled around.

9. "Eggtown"
(Episode 4, Kate-centric)

There was plenty of humor to be had from watching Locke's camp live in the Others' old neighborhood in much the same manner as college freshman. And Miles' proposition to Ben was a cool plot point (even though it went nowhere). Kate's flashforward had a neat end-reveal but didn't do her character any favors. Way to get out of a murder rap - of which you were guilty - by coercing your mom. Plus, Jerk Locke got old quickly.

8. "The Economist"
(Episode 3, Sayid-centric)

Sayid, one of the coolest characters alive, gets a neat flash-forward but has to deal with a few lame developments on the island. Hurley "betraying" Sayid and Kate by handing them over to Locke was appallingly out-of-character. Still, the working-for-Ben reveal was one of the chief top-notch developments of the season.

7. "Meet Kevin Johnson"
(Episode 8, Michael-centric)

A lot of people didn't care for this one as it kicked off a month-long hiatus and ended with the abrupt deaths of Danielle and Karl. To be sure, that part was super-lame, especially because it made no sense why Keamy's band of freighter freaks would randomly find them, much less sneak up on them. But Michael's flashback was pretty awesome - he can't die! And hooray, Tom's back! And Walt's in the window! I thought that was a lot of fun.

6. "There's No Place Like Home, Part 1"
(Episode 12, Oceanic 6-centric)

You can't call it cohesive - it was lots of running around and setting up for the finale - but it was fun. The climactic let's-see-where-everyone-stands montage is an overused TV device but worked terrifically here. And I loved the Sawyer/Kate/Jack scene that ends with Sawyer running after Jack, grousing, "You don't get to die alone." Alpert's Robin Hood-like appearance at the end was neat-o, too.

5. "Cabin Fever"
(Episode 11, Locke-centric)

Locke's climactic visit in the cabin with Christian and a very ghost-like Claire was awesome and sad at the same time. His search leading up to it, accompanied by Hurley and Ben, was also neat. And the freighter scenes were brimming with excitement - Keamy killed the doctor! And shot the captain! Terrific combination of action-heavy scenes and mythology-heavy scenes.

4. "Confirmed Dead"
(Episode 2, Freighter Folk-centric)

The true point where the season got started. The introductions to the four freighter folk - Faraday, Miles, Charlotte, and Frank - were all terrific stand-alone scenes. And talk about foreboding: in the scene with Naomi and Abaddon (!), Naomi expresses doubts about taking the four of them to the island, but is assured by Abaddon, "that's why they have you." Cut to: dead-as-a-doornail Naomi.

3. "There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3"
(Episode 13-14, Oceanic 6-centric)

Okay, the deck is stacked a bit because it's two hours and thus twice as awesome. While it wasn't a perfect finale, it was pretty darn awesome. (But I suppose I've already talked about it enough recently.)

2. "The Shape of Things to Come"
(Episode 9, Ben-centric)

Everything about this episode was awesome. Yeah, I'm quite sad to see Alex go, but her death was shocking in all the right ways. Ben's flashforward: spectacular (especially now that you know it happened directly after the season finale). The attack on "New Otherton": spectacular. Even the title is spectacular.

1. "The Constant"
(Episode 5, Desmond-centric)

No surprise here. "The Constant" works as an amazing episode of Lost - action-wise, mythology-wise, and character-wise - and even works, for the most part, as a brilliant stand-alone sci-fi story. One of the best single episodes of television I've ever seen.

TAGS: Lists, Season 4
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