History Series / LOST

* KeepReading: When Sawyer shows Kate the letter "a little boy" wrote to "Sawyer", prodding her to read the whole thing out loud. When she stops reading, he says "Oh don't stop now!" implying the most dramatic part of the letter is yet to come. It partially happens again in a season three episode, when Sawyer hands the letter to [[spoiler: Anthony Cooper, the person it's intended for]], ordering him to read it. But this time the letter isn't read in its entirety, so presumably, the audience is expected to know what it contains. (Also, in the second setting, the reading-out-loud is a bit more natural.)

** Sawyer is a con-man, not unlike a certain [[TheAdventuresOfTomSawyer lovable scamp]]. Lampshaded in that Sawyer took that name from [[spoiler:Anthony Cooper, who himself took it from the fictional Tom Sawyer.]]

** A number of episodes are directly named after works of classic literature - ''Literature/TheShapeOfThingsToCome'', ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen'', ''[[Literature/AliceInWonderland Through the Looking Glass]]'', ''Literature/TheLittlePrince'', ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'', ''Literature/StrangerInAStrangeLand'', ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo'', etc. Some of these books are directly referenced in the episodes as well. Other episode titles are less direct - for instance, "The Man Behind the Curtain" and "There's No Place Like Home" are both references to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''. The episodes [[JeffersonAirplane "White Rabbit"]], [[BruceSpringsteen "Born to Run"]], and [[Music/TheAnimals "House of the Rising Sun"]] are named after popular songs.

** ''ARG/TheLostExperience'' {{ARG}} revealed that the numbers are [[spoiler:the core products in the [[FormulaicMagic Valenzetti Equation]], which "predicts the exact number of years and months until humanity extinguishes itself."]]

The show was famous at the time for its high production values (the pilot alone cost $14 million and led to the firing of a ABC executive for greenlighting such an expensive endeavor), [[SlidingScaleOfContinuity inhumanly dense plotting]], [[KudzuPlot a tendency to raise more questions than it can answer]], and somehow remaining a smash hit despite all these "hurdles". The show also heavily involved its fandom in the storytelling process through the parallel Alternate Reality Game ''The LOST Experience''. The success of ''Lost'' inspired network TV to commission [[NoughtiesDramaSeries a slew of imitators]] (''Series/TheEvent'', ''Series/{{Jericho}}'', ''Series/{{Surface}}'', ''Series/TerraNova'', ''Series/{{Invasion}}'', ''Series/FlashForward2009'', ''Series/{{Revolution}}'', and Creator/JJAbrams's follow up show ''Series/{{Alcatraz}}''), all serious and densely plotted serialized dramas based around a central mystery and tinged with a sci-fi edge. Unfortunately most of these shows have failed to recapture the lightning and almost all of them were cancelled after one or two seasons.

* BerserkButton: When Charles Widmore's mercenary Martin Keamy [[spoiler: executes Ben's daughter Alex in front of him]], Ben responds by ''summoning the smoke monster to fry his team.'' One of Keamy's men is thrown 50 feet into the air and torn apart, while the rest of them barely escape in time. And on top of that, the episode's flashforwards show Ben teaming up with Sayid for a RoaringRampageOfRevenge against Widmore.

** [[spoiler:Jacob]] has [[BlondGuysAreEvil blonde hair]], likes wine (and uses it as a metaphor for evil "corked" by the island), interferes with the lives of the characters in subtle ways, and is explicitly called "the devil" by the Man in Black, though he was presumably saying this metaphorically to [[BeliefMakesYouStupid exploit]] [[spoiler:Richard]]'s Catholic faith. He's also played by Mark Pellegrino -- Lucifer in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''.

* [[spoiler: PlaceBeyondTime: the FlashSideways.]]

* PolarOppositeTwins: [[spoiler:Jacob and the Smoke Monster]].

* RasputinianDeath: Mikhail

* [[ReassignedToAntarctica Reassigned to HYDRA Island]]: In Season 5, Dr. Chang threatens to reassign Hurley to shoveling polar bear turds if he mentions the corpse he saw.

* RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Sayid]].

** Heck, pretty much EVERY SINGLE DEATH of a main character was this. Once they fulfilled their purpose for the Island, or came to terms with a deep problem in their life, BAM!

--> '''Hurley:''' Dude... Nikki's dead.
-->'''Sawyer:''' Who the hell's Nikki?

* {{Retcon}}: Oh, boy.
** What do you mean, [[TheScrappy Paulo and Nikki]] weren't there all along?

* ScaryBlackMan: Mr. Eko, at first; also Abaddon

* ScottyTime: during TheGreatRepair of the Ajira plane in the GrandFinale:
--> '''Miles''': Hey, how much longer 'til we get this thing in the air?
-->'''Frank''': I still have to check the electrical and the hydraulics. Five hours, maybe six.
-->'''Richard''': You've got ''maybe'' one.

* ShapeshifterModeLock: [[spoiler:The Man in Black, after killing Jacob, can only change into John Locke when not in smoke form.]]
** And in the SeriesFinale, [[spoiler:he's {{Shapeshifter Mode Lock}}ed into a human being when the island's keystone is pulled out by Desmond, allowing him to be killed.]]

* TheStoic: Dr. Juliet Burke.

* SuperWeight:
** Type 0: The people at the Temple
** Type 1: Most main characters, the freighter commandos, elite others, Charles Widmore, Anthony Cooper
** Type 2: Richard, Desmond, Hurley, Miles, Walt, [[RasputinianDeath Mikhail]], [[spoiler:Ben, after the finale]]
** Type 4: The Man in Black, Jacob, [[spoiler:Jack during and Hurley after the finale]]
** Type 5: The Rules, the Island itself

* SurvivalistStash: The Dharma bases.

* TokenEvilTeammate: Ben, starting around season 4.
** Made hilariously obvious when he's part of [[FiveManBand Ilana's Group.]]

* TheUnsolvedMystery: Several.

* WastelandElder: Jack

* WhamEpisode: The {{Season Finale}}s, with several in between.
** "The Candidate" is probably the biggest non-finale wham episode of the series.

---> '''Jack:''' But...[[spoiler: you're dead]]. How are you here?
--->[[spoiler:'''Christian''']]: [[spoiler:[[DeadAllAlong How are YOU here]]]]?

* WistfulAmnesia: The flash sideways.

*** Not even though, because Ben [[spoiler: lived with Sawyer, Juliet, Jin and Miles for three whole years in the 70s]], and yet he does not remember any of them. There weren't THAT many people in the Initiative

* FiveBadBand: The Others in season 3
** BigBad: Ben Linus
** TheDragon: Richard Alpert
** EvilGenius: Mikhail Bakunin
** TheBrute: Tom Friendly and Danny Pickett
** TheDarkChick: Beatrice Klugh
* FiveManBand: The "A-Team".
** TheHero: Jack Shephard
** TheLancer: John Locke
** TheBigGuy: James "Sawyer" Ford
** TheSmartGuy: Sayid Jarrah
** TheChick: Kate Austen
** TheSixthRanger: Ana Lucia, later Juliet
*** The Freighter Folk had one going--[[TheLancer Frank]], [[TheBigGuy Miles]], [[TheSmartGuy Daniel]] and [[TheChick Charlotte]]--but there's a lack of an obvious [[TheHero hero-leader-guy]], as Naomi was killed off before the Freighter Four even landed on the Island, and Keamy was only out to [[AxCrazy brutalize as many people as he could get away with]]. No surprise they didn't last too long.
*** For the Losties who spent time with Dharma, there's [[TheHero Sawyer]], [[TheLancer Miles]], [[TheBigGuy Jin]], [[TheSmartGuy Daniel]], and [[TheChick Juliet]].
*** In the final two episodes, it becomes [[spoiler: [[TheHero Jack]], [[TheLancer Kate]], [[TheBigGuy Sawyer]], [[TheSmartGuy Ben]], and [[TheChick Hurley]]. And then immediately [[PlayingWithATrope played havoc with]], as Hurley's the one that eventually lands's Jacob's job, with Ben becoming his Lancer]].

* FromACertainPointOfView: "The box was a metaphor."
** WordOfGod reportedly has it that by "magic box" Ben meant the island itself. (Or the island's power, you could say, if that helps clear things up.)

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Ben Linus.

* GeographicFlexibility: The Island.

* GrandFinale: "The End." See [[GrandFinale the page]] for details.

* GrayingMorality
* TheGreatRepair: In the final episode.

* GuileHero: Desmond [[spoiler:in the flash-sideways universe]].

* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: [[spoiler:Sayid and Benjamin Linus.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Juliet and Ben]].
** [[spoiler:Sayid in his final act of heroism]].
** Kate pulls one at the beginning of the show.

* HookersAndBlow

* HumansAreBastards / RousseauWasRight: [[spoiler:As it turns out, this is the nature of the conflict between the Man in Black and Jacob. The Man in Black believes the former, while Jacob believes the latter.]]

* [[InformedJudaism Informed Islam]]: Sayid is obviously meant to be a Muslim -- he is ''once'' shown praying and recites the shahada at one point when he's been caught in Rousseau's trap -- but he also gets liquored up and fornicates with non-believers.

* KilledOffForReal: Many, ''many'' people.

* KnifeNut: Locke

* LoanShark: [[spoiler:Flash-sideways Keamy.]]

* LoveMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler:Sayid in "Sundown".]]

* MadeOfEvil: [[spoiler:The Man In Black.]]
* MafiaPrincess: Sun, though she does not really approve of it.
** And her [[CorruptCorporateExecutive father]] believed that she [[ObfuscatingStupidity was unaware]] of her status as this trope until she [[spoiler:threatened to stop pretending unless he helped out Jin]]. But in the long run, [[spoiler:Sun's threat doesn't actually help either of them]].

* MetaTwist: The season 3 final episode.

* MisplacedWildlife / NoisyNature: Season 3 reveals that most of these are escaped DHARMA experiments from 12 years before the crash.

* MoralityKitchenSink: See discussion under GreyAndGreyMorality above.

* MorningRoutine: The first episode of the second season starts with one.

* MurderByCremation: Burn, [[spoiler:Jacob]], burn.

* OracularUrchin: Walt, maybe.

* TheAgeless: Richard Alpert.

* TheAlcoholic: Christian, and later Jack.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Sawyer has the fangirls to prove it.

* AntiHero[=/=]AntiVillain: Every character on the show -- with the exception of PsychoForHire Keamy, there are no straight-up heroes and villains on ''Lost''. Our "good guys" are incredibly flawed and rarely stick to the scruples of heroism, while the "bad guys" often have a very good FreudianExcuse or else genuinely believe they ''are'' the good guys.

* BigBad: [[spoiler:The Man in Black]].

* BigFun: Hurley.

* BlatantLies: Ben. Always.

* CharacterDevelopment: Everyone.

* ChekhovsBoomerang: Multiple.

* ChekhovsGunman: Many.

* [[spoiler:EarnYourHappyEnding: Oh yeah. On, like, a Creator/DonBluth character level.]]
* EasyAmnesia: Claire and Ben.
** Also the main character of the video game, though he got his in the plane crash.

* EducationMama: Eloise Hawking.

-->'''Hurley''': But what about the B-O-D-Y-S?
-->'''Michael''': What are you trying to spell, man, "bodies"?
-->'''Walt''': B-O-D-I-E-S.

* EvilBrit: Charles Widmore

* ExpositoryHairstyleChange: AKA Flashback Wig.
* EyepatchOfPower: Mikhail.

* TheAbridgedSeries: [[http://abc.go.com/shows/lost/lost-untangled Lost Untangled.]] The kicker is that it's not just ''endorsed'', but was ''made'' by the airing channel.
** The extremely funny [[http://www.youtube.com/show/lostwwhn?s=1 Fine Bros Lost parody]].
** And then there's "[[http://neverseenlost.wordpress.com/ The Final Season of 'Lost' as Seen by Someone who has Never Seen 'Lost']]", which is pretty much exactly what it sounds like, and is a thing of beauty.

The show was famous at the time for its high production values (the pilot alone cost $14 million and led to the firing of a ABC executive for greenlighting such an expensive endeavor), [[SlidingScaleOfContinuity inhumanly dense plotting]], [[KudzuPlot a tendency to raise more questions than it can answer]], and somehow remaining a smash hit despite all these "hurdles". The show also heavily involved its fandom in the storytelling process through the parallel Alternate Reality Game ''The LOST Experience''. The success of ''Lost'' inspired network TV to commission [[NoughtiesDramaSeries a slew of imitators]] (''Series/TheEvent'', ''Series/{{Jericho}}'', ''Series/{{Surface}}'', ''Series/TerraNova'', ''Series/{{Invasion}}'', ''Series/FlashForward2009'', ''Series/{{Revolution}}'', and Creator/JJAbrams's follow up show ''Series/{{Alcatraz}}''), all serious and densely plotted serialized dramas based around a central mystery and tinged with a sci-fi edge. Unfortunately most of these shows have failed to recapture the lightening and almost all of them were cancelled after one or two seasons.

** Lapidus: [[spoiler:Took a 3-inch thick steel door to the face '''and survived''', then pulled off a short take-off with a 737 as the island fell out from underneath it ''[[TwentyTwelve 2012]]''-style]]. "Amen, Frank" indeed.

** A number of episodes are directly named after works of classic literature - ''Literature/TheShapeOfThingsToCome'', ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen'', ''[[Literature/AliceInWonderland Through the Looking Glass]]'', ''Literature/TheLittlePrince'', ''ATaleOfTwoCities'', ''Literature/StrangerInAStrangeLand'', ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo'', etc. Some of these books are directly referenced in the episodes as well. Other episode titles are less direct - for instance, "The Man Behind the Curtain" and "There's No Place Like Home" are both references to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz''. The episodes [[JeffersonAirplane "White Rabbit"]], [[BruceSpringsteen "Born to Run"]], and [[Music/TheAnimals "House of the Rising Sun"]] are named after popular songs.

If you're looking for answers, [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/108-answers-to-losts-supposedly-unanswered-questions/ Cracked]] has got your back.

** The Man in Black is very similar to Creator/StephenKing's world-hopping villian Randall Flagg, especially his incarnation from ''TheStand.'' In Ab Aeterno, the scene where he makes a deal with a chained and starved [[spoiler:Richard]] (who at this point has been chained in the ship for several days) parallels the one between Flagg and a starved and imprisoned Lloyd very closely. Then again Lost seems to have quite a few similarities with ''TheStand'', which makes sense considering Team Darlton says the book was influential on the creation of Lost.

The show was famous at the time for its high production values (the pilot alone cost $14 million and led to the firing of a ABC executive for greenlighting such an expensive endeavor), [[SlidingScaleOfContinuity inhumanly dense plotting]], [[KudzuPlot a tendency to raise more questions than it can answer]], and somehow remaining a smash hit despite all these "hurdles". The show also heavily involved its fandom in the storytelling process through the parallel Alternate Reality Game ''The LOST Experience''. The success of ''Lost'' inspired network TV to commission a slew of imitators (''Series/TheEvent'', ''Series/{{Jericho}}'', ''Series/{{Surface}}'', ''Series/TerraNova'', ''Series/{{Invasion}}'', ''Series/FlashForward2009'', ''Series/{{Revolution}}'', and Creator/JJAbrams's follow up show ''Series/{{Alcatraz}}''), all serious and densely plotted serialized dramas based around a central mystery and tinged with a sci-fi edge. Unfortunately most of these shows have failed to recapture the lightening and almost all of them were cancelled after one or two seasons.

* KeepReading: When Sawyer shows Kate the letter "a little boy" wrote to "Sawyer", prodding her to read the whole thing out loud.

!This series features examples of:

* AWizardDidIt: Kind of ends up [[spoiler: being the explanation for the entire show]]. Everytime something happens that obviously relies on too much heavy ContrievedCoincidence or just plainly [[MindScrew doesn't seem to make any sense]], just [[MST3KMantra relax]] and repeat "The Island did it".

* NoPeriodsPeriod: For the most part ''Lost'' adheres to this trope, rather than even attempt to deal with the inconveniance of twenty or so women of childbearing age trapped on a desert island with no feminine supplies. However, in Season 4's "Eggtown", Kate, who's been worried that she might be pregnant is suddenly ''certain'' she isn't, ''and'' it's mentioned that she and Sawyer abstained the night before.

The show was famous at the time for its high production values (the pilot alone cost $14 million and led to the firing of a ABC executive for greenlighting such an expensive endeavor), inhumanly dense plotting, a tendency to raise more questions than it can answer, and remaining a smash hit despite all these "hurdles". The show also heavily involved its fandom in the storytelling process through the parallel Alternate Reality Game ''The LOST Experience''. The success of ''Lost'' inspired network TV to commission a slew of imitators (''Series/TheEvent'', ''Series/{{Jericho}}'', ''Series/{{Surface}}'', ''Series/TerraNova'', ''Series/{{Invasion}}'', ''Series/FlashForward2009'', ''Series/{{Revolution}}'', and Creator/JJAbrams's follow up show ''Series/{{Alcatraz}}''), all serious and densely plotted serialized dramas based around a central mystery and tinged with a sci-fi edge. Unfortunately most of these shows have failed to recapture the lightening and almost all of them were cancelled after one or two seasons.