JTH182

I guess if you absolutely HAVE to, watch all the season finales along with the 'previously ons...."

Still won't do justice, but better than nothing I guess? idk

GenPion

This can't be done. Sorry OP. Do a marathon of S2 episodes, and let her go from there on her own... or have her stay a week, take off work, and cram for your Lost exam - I mean, the new season premiere.

DthRdrX

FWIW, lostpedia does have a thread devoted to 'must rewatch' episodes.

Groucho

Key word there is re-watch.

DthRdrX

Thats why I said "FWIW" and "rewatch".

You're just cheating yourself if you don't watch everything anyway.

mndtrp

Jeez, this would be almost impossible. My fiancee and I just spent the past few months watching all of the episodes up to season 6. There are some episodes that aren't essential to the series, so far, but they are all pretty important.

I just don't see how you could possibly succeed at only watching select episodes, and still have enough of a story to follow what is going on.

dsa_shea

Why ruin a great show for someone by simply showing them the highlights? Either they want to watch the show or not. If they're not interested after the first four episodes of season one, including one of the best "Walkabout", then LOST isn't for them.

MLBFan24

I agree as well. Can't be done. My dad stopped during season 3 and last year asked me to recap for him (while we were killing time at the airport). I was like uhhhhh, impossible.

but Hulu has all the full episodes up now, so your friend can catch up later on as well

Rizor

I guess you can sorta do it and just explain what may have been missed. Since I've been thinking about doing it, let me see. Some episodes have completely skippable flashbacks or subplots.

Season 1 - most of season 1 is pretty simple and just tells character stories and builds on the mystery of the island. I've highlighted the key points of each episode. Not too much of it is essential, but 90% of it is great television and if you've never seen Lost, I'd definitely recommend watching most/all of it before jumping to later seasons. Something important usually happens in each episode or an idea is setup.

1. Pilot, Pt 1 - they crash, we're introduced to the characters, the island, and smokey
2. Pilot, Pt 2 - the radio transmission
3. Tabula Rasa - Kate's a fugitive
4. Walkabout - Locke used to be in a wheelchair, is a hunter, and has a communion with the island
5. White Rabbit - Jack's daddy issues and seeing Christian on the island
6. House of the Rising Sun - Sun and Jin have marital issues
7. The Moth - Charlie is/was a drug addict
8. Confidence Man - Sawyer's backstory
9. Solitary - we meet Rousseau
10. Raised by Another - the mythology surrounding Aaron, intro to the Others, Claire is kidnapped
11. All the Best Coyboys Have Daddy Issues - Jack's daddy issues, part 2; Locke and Boone find the hatch
12. Whatever the Case May Be - they get guns
13. Hearts and Minds - some Boone/Shannon backstory. skip it.
14. Special - Walt is special, Claire is found in the jungle. Michael decides to build a raft.
15. Homecoming - Charlie kills Ethan
16. Outlaws - we find out what Sawyer was doing in Australia
17. ...In Translation - Sun and Jin have marital issues, pt 2
18. Numbers - Hurley won the lotto and thinks he's cursed
19. Deus Ex Machina - Locke's daddy issues, the Nigerian drug plane and Boone's accident
20. Do No Harm - Jack was married, Boone dies, Aaron is born
21. The Greater Good - Nothing, really.
22. Born to Run - Meh.
23. Exodus, Part 1 - Lots of stuff is set up. The crew on the raft takes off, Jack and some Losties go fetch some dynamite to open the hatch so they can hide in case the Others attack.
24. Exodus, Part 2 - They open the hatch. The raft is destroyed and Walt is kidnapped by the others.

For a person who's already been introduced to the show, just a quick refresher/runthrough of who's who and what's what might do and with perhaps a viewing of episodes like the ones I've bolded. The first part of the finale in particular has a pretty good "previously on" which hits on most of the happenings of the first season.

Season 2 - Some of the episodes are non-essential, but we're meeting new characters and new elements of the show's mythology.

1. Man of Science, Man of Faith - Locke, Kate, and Jack go into the hatch and Jack recognizes Desmond from his flashback
2. Adrift - Michael and Sawyer wash up on shore
3. Orientation - Jack, Locke and the gang figure out what's up with the hatch, the rafties meet the Tailies
4. Everybody Hates Hugo - Hugo finds Dharma food
5. ...And Found - the flashback tells of how Sun and Jin met, we get to know the Tailies a little more as they decide to trek to the beach camp
6. Abandoned - Shannon sees visions of Walt and gets shot
7. The Other 48 Days - we find out what happened to the Tailies
8. Collision - the Tailies meet the other survivors and Ana Lucia is a crazy bitch
9. What Kate Did - Kate exploded her daddy real good and sees horses
10. The 23rd Psalm - Eko's backstory & connection to the Nigerian drug plane, he also stares down Smokey
11. The Hunting Party - Jack, etc. go looking for Michael who has left to look for Walt. The Others draw a line in the sand.
12. Fire + Water - Avoid this one.
13. The Long Con - In a flashback, we meet Cassidy, Sawyer's baby-mama.
14. One of Them - Henry Gale is caught by Rousseau and brought to the Losties
15. Maternity Leave - Claire remembers what Ethan did to her
16. The Whole Truth - Sayid, Ana Lucia and Charlie check out Henry's alibi, Sun is pregnant, in flashbacks we find out she was sleeping with another man
17. Lockdown - Henry Gale is found out at the end of the episode
18. Dave - Hurley sees his old imaginary friend (Smokey?)
19. SOS - Rose and Bernard's backstory. She had cancer and the island cured her.
20. Two For the Road - Ana Lucia knew Jack's dad back in Australia. Michael shoots her and Libby and lets Henry go.
21. ? - Locke and Eko find another hatch. Locke has his faith shaken.
22. Three Minutes - We find out what happened to Michael as he met with the Others. He made a deal to get Walt back.
23. Live Together, Die Alone - we learn about Desmond, the hatch implodes, and Michael and Walt go home while Jack, Kate, and Sawyer are captured by the Others, led by "Henry Gale"

I guess what others said is true. Probably best for someone to watch the whole show. But if that can't be done, be sure to explain certain plotpoints that may have been missed. They may get more and more confused and things go on. I'll try and recap seasons 3-5 tomorrow.

Michael Corvin

Which is why I found re-watching it so intriguing. In hindsight, Damon and Carlton knew full well what they were doing, it was the fans knee jerk reaction to the new 'cast' that led to their demise. So instead of getting Libby's backstory in season 3, for example, we get "Stranger in a Strange Land" which is 45 minutes devoted to Jack's tattoo. They were giving fans what they wanted. Little did we know that we didn't want that at all and would have preferred the tallies to stick around.

Same with Shannon, as I mentioned above. We didn't think at the time, "who cares" and "her character is worthless," it was all about one of the tallies killing one of our Losties, it didn't matter who.

jeffbase34

True, but I'm going to attempt it anyways. Apparently, season 1 didn't blow her away, and she stopped watching because of another show in that time slot. After I explained the awesomeness of the show and showed some clips off youtube, she got very excited. We both share the same interests and strong love of movies and great stories, and I want to be able to watch and talk about the final season with her as it is aired.

Rizor

Season 3 - Lots of filler early on, but it gets chugging towards the middle and there's A LOT that happens in the second half of the season.

1. A Tale of Two Cities - we meet the Others including Juliet and see how they attempt to break Jack, Sawyer, and Kate; flashbacks are probably skippable.
2. The Glass Ballerina - Sun shoots an Other
3. Further Instructions - Locke, Eko, and Desmond survive the explosion
4. Every Man for Himself - We realize Jack, Sawyer, and Kate are being kept on a second island from the one they crashed on
5. The Cost of Living - Eko is killed by Smokey because he's not sorry for his sins
6. I Do - Jack agrees to perform surgery on Ben but twists it to allow Kate and Sawyer to escape; flashbacks are completely skippable
7. Not In Portland - we find out more about Juliet, and are introduced to Richard Alpert! We also see the conclusion to the last episode
8. Flashes Before Your Eyes - Desmond can see the future: Charlie's gonna die. We meet Mrs. Hawking as well.
9. Stranger in a Strange Land - Jack and the Others go back to the main island
10. Tricia Tanaka Is Dead - Hurley and the gang find an old Dharma van
11. Enter 77 - We meet Mikhail at a Dharma station, flashbacks are skippable. Maybe not essential, but cool stuff regardless.
12. Par Avion - Jack's dad is Claire's dad
13. The Man From Tallahassee - Locke, Sayid, and Kate try to rescue Jack; Locke blows up their submarine and finds his dad on the island; we also find out how Locke got in a wheelchair
14. Expose - Nikki and Paulo die
15. Left Behind - Kate and Juliet are stuck together; in flashbacks, Kate befriends Cassidy
16. One of Us - Juliet joins the Losties, flashbacks are essentially Pt 2 of "Not in Portland"
17. Catch-22 - At the end, Naomi parachutes to the island, saying she's from Penny's boat
18. DOC - Women who conceived on island die in childbirth so if Sun stays on the island, she'll die
19. The Brig - the Others are excited by Locke's presence, but he needs to kill his father. He gets Sawyer to do it because it turns out Locke's dad is Sawyer's Sawyer.
20. The Man Behind the Curtain - Ben's history. Ben and Locke go meet "Jacob" at the cabin. Locke gets shot.
21. Greatest Hits - Charlie's gonna go down to some underwater Dharma station to turn off some signal jamming the radio tower so that they can call the boat and get rescued.
22. Through the Looking Glass - Jack and the Losties reach the radio tower and call the boat/freighter for rescue... But it turns out the boat is not Penny's and in flash-forwards, Jack is off the island and wants to go back.

Season 4 - pretty tight storytelling, though there are some filler episodes.

1. The Beginning of the End - the Losties split into two factions: those who want to be rescued go with Jack, those that feel the freighter folk are suspicious go with Locke
2. Confirmed Dead - we meet the members of the Freighter team: Daniel Faraday, Charlotte Lewis, Frank Lapidus and Miles Straume
3. The Economist - In the off-island flashforward, Sayid is an assassin working for Ben
4. Eggtown - In the off-island flashforward, Kate is raising Aaron
5. The Constant - Sayid and Desmond travel to the freighter where Desmond gets unstuck in time. Maybe not essential, but one of the show's best.
6. The Other Woman - meh
7. Ji Yeon - In the off-island flashforward, Sun gives birth to her baby and Jin is apparently dead
8. Meet Kevin Johnson - We find out what Michael is doing on the freighter and why he's in Ben's employ
9. The Shape of Things to Come - the mercenaries from the boat kill Ben's daughter and in the flashforward, Ben is off the island
10. Something Nice Back Home - In the off-island flashforwards, Jack and Kate's relationship falls apart
11. Cabin Fever - John Locke Begins. Claire disappears and Christian tells Locke he has to move the island.
12. There's No Place Like Home, Pt 1 - Everyone moves into place
13. There's No Place Like Home, Pt 2 - Jack, Kate, Sayid, Sun, Hurley, Aaron, Desmond, and Lapidus get off the island but have to lie about it. Ben turns a wheel that makes the island disappear while Jin and Michael presumably die as the freighter explodes. Off the island in the future, we find out Locke has died. Ben makes plans for the Oceanic Six's return to the island.

Season 5 - this one might get confusing if you skip around.

1. Because You Left - Those who were left behind are jumping through time. Ben and Jack plan to go back.
2. The Lie - Hurley is upset.
3. Jughead - Those on the island jump to the 50s where they meet Richard Alpert and a bomb.
4. The Little Prince - The Oceanic 6 meet at the pier.
5. This Place Is Death - Locke turns the wheel and stabilizes the time jumps.
6. 316 - the O6 get on a plane back to the island
7. The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham - Locke, now off island, tries to recruit Jack, etc. into coming back. He's unsuccessful and is murdered by Ben. Back on the island, Locke seems to be among the living again.
8. LaFleur - the gang is stuck in the 1970s and join the Dharma Initiative
9. Namaste - Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid wind up in the 70s while Locke, Ben, Sun & Lapidus are in 2008. Sawyer sneaks his pals into the Dharma Initiative.
10. He's Our You - Sayid shoots young ben in the 70s
11. Whatever Happened, Happened - We found out Kate gave Aaron to Claire's mom and she helps save young Ben Linus by handing him over to the Others
12. Dead is Dead - Ben becomes Locke's bitch
13. Some Like it Hoth - Pierre Chang is Miles' dad
14. The Variable - Faraday returns and plans to explode a hydrogen bomb in order to change the future including the plane crash from ever happening. He gets killed.
15. Follow the Leader - Jack plans to carry out Faraday's idea. Locke comes back to lead the Others and plans to kill Jacob.
16. The Incident - We meet Jacob and the Man in Black. The 70s Losties blow up the bomb. In 2008, "Locke" has Ben kill Jacob and we find out the real Locke is really dead.

Groucho

What ever happened with this? What did you watch? Is she hooked enough to watch season 6 (starts in only two days!)