The BEST episodes of Lost season 1

Every episode of Lost season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Lost season 1!

After their plane, Oceanic Air flight 815, tore apart whilst thousands of miles off course, the survivors find themselves on a mysterious deserted island where they soon find out they are not alone.

Last Updated: 2/11/2024Network: ABC (US)Status: Ended
Share:
Exodus (2)
star
8.18
1344 votes

#1 - Exodus (2)

Season 1 - Episode 24 - Aired 5/25/2005

Directors: Jack Bender
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Pilot (2)
star
8.04
4927 votes

#2 - Pilot (2)

Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/29/2004

Having escaped the "creature" and retrieved the plane transceiver, a group of the survivors travel to higher ground so they can transmit a signal. En route, they receive a mysterious transmission and encounter another of the island's inhabitants. Meanwhile, back at camp, Jack tends to a wounded man who reveals a secret about Kate.

Directors: J.J. Abrams
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Pilot (1)
star
8.02
6150 votes

#3 - Pilot (1)

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/22/2004

Stripped of everything, the 48 survivors scavenge what they can from the plane for their survival. Some panic. Some pin their hopes on rescue. A few find inner strength they never knew they had-like Kate who, with no medical training, suddenly finds herself suturing the doctor's wounds. The band of friends, family, enemies and strangers must work together against the cruel weather and harsh terrain. But the intense howls of mysterious creatures stalking the jungle fill them all with fear. Fortunately, thanks to the calm leadership of quick-thinking Jack and level-headed Kate, they have hope. But even heroes have secrets, as the survivors will come to learn.

Directors: J.J. Abrams
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues
star
7.88
3868 votes

#4 - All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues

Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 12/8/2004

Survivors wonder why Charlie and Claire have been abducted - and by whom - and a search party ventures into the treacherous jungle to look for the pair. Suspicions focus on Ethan Rom, who, it was recently discovered, was not a passenger on the doomed flight. Jack battles inner demons relating to his father, while Boone and Locke discover another island mystery.

Directors: Stephen Williams
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Deus Ex Machina
star
7.88
3589 votes

#5 - Deus Ex Machina

Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 3/30/2005

Locke thinks he's being sent a sign on how to get the hatch open, and he and Boone venture inland. Jack is reluctant to offer assistance when Sawyer begins to experience excruciating headaches and needs glasses.

Directors: Robert Mandel
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Exodus (1)
star
7.87
3551 votes

#6 - Exodus (1)

Season 1 - Episode 23 - Aired 5/18/2005

The French woman shocks the survivors by showing up to the camp with a dire warning about "the Others". Meanwhile, Michael and Jin ready the raft for sailing. In flashbacks, we see the survivors final moments before they boarded their fateful flight.

Directors: Jack Bender
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Do No Harm
star
7.85
3794 votes

#7 - Do No Harm

Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 4/6/2005

While trying to make contact with the outside world from a plane discovered in the jungle tree canopy, Boone Carlyle is critically injured when the plane suddenly shifts and crashes to the ground, so Jack Shephard desperately tries to save his life. The flashbacks in this episode revolve around Jack's marriage to a former patient, Sarah.

Directors: Stephen Williams
Writer: Janet Tamaro
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Walkabout
star
7.82
4319 votes

#8 - Walkabout

Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 10/13/2004

The survivors are jolted awake in the middle of the night when wild island beasts (which are wild boars) invade the beach encampment. Kate and Michael join the mysterious Locke on a hunt for food -- and a shocking secret about Locke is revealed. On the hunt for food someone is injured. Meanwhile, some survivors are horrified by Jack's plan for the dead bodies still scattered among the wreckage -- he wants to burn them. Jack sees someone that's not there, and we find out that one of the survivors was not able to walk but now he can.

Directors: Jack Bender
Writer: David Fury
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Raised by Another
star
7.76
4051 votes

#9 - Raised by Another

Season 1 - Episode 10 - Aired 12/1/2004

Claire has a horribly realistic nightmare about her new baby being harmed or kidnapped. Flashbacks reveal Claire's backstory. Hurley is shocked and confused when he discovers that another plane crash survivor, does not appear on the flight manifest.

Directors: Marita Grabiak
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Confidence Man
star
7.75
4061 votes

#10 - Confidence Man

Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 11/10/2004

Shannon's inhaler runs out and Boone believes Sawyer has the remaining three in his stash. When Sawyer refuses to give them up, Jack and Sayid resort to torturing Sawyer until he agrees to reveal the location of the inhalers. In flashback we hear Sawyer's story...

Directors: Tucker Gates
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Numbers
star
7.71
3723 votes

#11 - Numbers

Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 3/2/2005

When Hurley becomes obsessed with the French woman and heads into the jungle to find her, Jack, Sayid and Charlie have no choice but to follow. Hurley flashes back to the hugely life-altering experience he had before boarding the plane.

Directors: Dan Tallias
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Solitary
star
7.68
3888 votes

#12 - Solitary

Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 11/17/2004

Sayid's life is placed in grave danger after he stumbles upon the source of the mysterious French transmission, the woman Danielle Rousseau. She was on the distress call and is found alive. Meanwhile, Hurley has a ridiculous plan to make life on the island a little more civilized. The plan involves golf clubs he finds in the debris, and it looks like it just might work. Lastly, we flash back to Sayid's childhood friend Nadia as well as his participation in hostage situations in Iraq.

Directors: Greg Yaitanes
Writer: David Fury
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Greater Good (a.k.a. Sides)
star
7.66
3612 votes

#13 - The Greater Good (a.k.a. Sides)

Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 5/4/2005

After another funeral, tempers rise as the survivors' suspicions of each other grow, and an unlikely survivor vows revenge. The events that landed Sayid on Flight 815 play out as he engages Locke in a psychological game of cat and mouse to uncover the truth about the mishap that claimed Boone's life.

Directors: David Grossman
Writer: Leonard Dick
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Tabula Rasa
star
7.62
4783 votes

#14 - Tabula Rasa

Season 1 - Episode 3 - Aired 10/6/2004

Jack and Hurley discover an alarming secret about Kate, as the marshal's life hangs in the balance and he suffers a lot of pain. Meanwhile Kate, Charlie, Sawyer, Sayid, Boone and Shannon ponder the mysteries they have begun to uncover and worry that telling the other survivors will cause panic. They decide to lie for the time being. Also, Locke's befriending of Walt disturbs Michael, but Walt is more concerned in finding his dog. Lastly, Kate flashes back to when she was arrested by the marshal in Australia.

Directors: Jack Bender
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Outlaws
star
7.62
3527 votes

#15 - Outlaws

Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 2/16/2005

Kate and Sawyer divulge dark secrets to each other while tracking a renegade boar that Sawyer swears is purposely harassing him. Hurley and Sayid worry that Charlie is losing it after facing a brush with death and killing Ethan with 6 bullets to the chest. A shocking prior connection between Sawyer and Jack is revealed in a flashback...

Directors: Jack Bender
Writer: Drew Goddard
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Special
star
7.59
3753 votes

#16 - Special

Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 1/19/2005

Violence ensues and a mysterious island beast makes a re-appearance when Michael and Locke clash over Walt's upbringing. Meanwhile, Charlie is tempted to read the missing Claire's diary, and Sayid enlists Shannon to help decipher the French woman's map.

Directors: Greg Yaitanes
Writer: David Fury
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
The Moth
star
7.57
4130 votes

#17 - The Moth

Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/3/2004

Charlie begins a painful journey of withdrawal from drugs, surprisingly aided by Locke, whose true motive for helping Charlie is a mystery. Meanwhile, survivors struggle to find and free Jack when he's buried alive in a cave collapse, and someone might be secretly thwarting Sayid, Kate, and Boone when they enact a plan to find the source of the French transmission.

Directors: Jack Bender
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
...In Translation
star
7.56
3641 votes

#18 - ...In Translation

Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 2/23/2005

When the raft the survivors have been building mysteriously burns down, Michael is convinced that Jin is responsible for the sabotage, which only serves to escalate their rivalry. Meanwhile, Sun stuns her fellow survivors with a surprising revelation, and Boone gives Sayid a warning about his step-sister Shannon. Lastly, more details of Jin and Sun's troubled marriage are revealed through flashbacks.

Directors: Tucker Gates
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Born to Run
star
7.55
3864 votes

#19 - Born to Run

Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 5/11/2005

Jack suspects foul play when Michael becomes violently ill while building the raft. The suspects include Sawyer and Kate, who compete for the last seat on the raft and do anything possible to prevent each other from getting it. Meanwhile, a secret from Kate's past is revealed to the other survivors on the island.

Directors: Tucker Gates
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
White Rabbit
star
7.55
4106 votes

#20 - White Rabbit

Season 1 - Episode 5 - Aired 10/20/2004

Jack is nearly delirious from lack of sleep and struggles to overcome the haunting events that brought him to Australia and, subsequently, to the island. Meanwhile, Boone gets caught in a treacherous riptide trying to save a woman who went out swimming. A pregnant Claire's health takes a bad turn from lack of fluids, and a thief may have stolen the last bottles of water. Also, Jack flashes back at 12 years old, to find himself on the playground in an altercation with a bully.

Directors: Kevin Hooks
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Homecoming
star
7.54
3591 votes

#21 - Homecoming

Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 2/9/2005

After the missing Claire returns with no recollection of what has happened since before she boarded the doomed Oceanic flight 815, Jack and Locke formulate a plan of defense against her kidnapper, who threatens to kill off the other survivors one by one unless Claire is returned to him. Meanwhile, the disappointment Charlie feels when Claire does not remember him triggers recollections of a woman he had let down in the past.

Directors: Kevin Hooks
Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
House of the Rising Sun
star
7.53
4119 votes

#22 - House of the Rising Sun

Season 1 - Episode 6 - Aired 10/27/2004

Walt and the others are shocked when Michael is brutally beaten, but only the non-English-speaking Jin and Sun know the truth behind the attack. Meanwhile Kate, Jack, Sawyer and Sayid argue about where the survivors should camp -- on the beach, where they're more likely to be seen, or in a remote inland valley where fresh water abounds.

Directors: Michael Zinberg
Watch Now:Apple TV
Hearts and Minds
star
7.52
3673 votes

#23 - Hearts and Minds

Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 1/12/2005

When Locke learns that Boone wants to share their "secret" with Shannon, Locke decides to teach him a lesson. Boone and Shannon's dark past is revealed in a shocking backstory that recalls their relationship right before the plane crash. Kate, who has become a confidante to the soft-spoken Sun, is puzzled by Sun's mysterious behavior. A hungry Hurley must convince Jin to share his fish by making up for offending Jin by rejecting his offer of raw fish early on, or he'll continue to suffer digestive problems from the limited island diet.

Directors: Rod Holcomb
Watch Now:Apple TV
Whatever the Case May Be
star
7.47
3787 votes

#24 - Whatever the Case May Be

Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 1/5/2005

Jack, Kate and Sawyer fight over possession of a newly discovered locked metal briefcase which might contain insights into Kate's mysterious past. Meanwhile, Sayid asks a reluctant Shannon to translate notes he took from the French woman. A rising tide threatens to engulf the fuselage and the entire beach encampment, and Rose and a grieving Charlie tentatively bond over Claire's baffling kidnapping.

Directors: Jack Bender
Watch Now:Apple TV