by Megan Bailey, Staff Writer

Previously on Dispatches from the Hatch, we covered the phenomenon of season one of LOST. In honor of Valentine’s Day, I wanted to take a look at the various couples, love triangles, quadrangles, and pentagons present in the show. The most famous is the Jack/Kate/Sawyer love triangle, which turns out to be something of a love square when Ana Lucia and then Juliet are introduced. There’s romantic tension between Jack and Kate (“Jate”) and Kate and Sawyer (“Skate”).

Early in season one, Sawyer makes Kate kiss him. In season two, as Jack patches Sawyer’s wounds, Sawyer confessed to Jack that he loves Kate. And then, in the same episode, Jack and Kate kiss. But wait, the romantic tension is everywhere! Sawyer and Ana Lucia sleep together in season two. And then in season three, we meet Sawyer’s soulmate, Juliet. They’ll go on to time travel and fall in love in later seasons.

This love triangle was definitely used in marketing for a while, as there are several Entertainment Weekly covers throughout the years with Evangeline Lilly and Matthew Fox on them, and other couple configurations were featured sometimes too. And while the Jack/Kate/Sawyer shipping never reached Twilight Team Edward and Team Jacob levels of fandom, I would rank it pretty high up there in the history of television love triangles. And somehow, there’s still a somewhat active fanfiction writing community. Let’s go, girls!

Moving on to some other couples, I think early in season one there was some potential set-up for a Sun/Michael connection, but the writers ultimately backed off. There’s still a lot of bad blood between Jin and Michael without that complication, and the two men end up becoming friends after they build the raft and leave together.

Charlie and Claire are also set up as a potential couple in season one, though they take a break in season two after Charlie’s drug use is revealed. He goes on a bit of bender and thinks Aaron, Claire’s son, is in danger. Charlie also gets weirdly jealous of Locke, who simply helps Claire keep the baby safe.

There’s also the weird step-sibling stuff going on with Boone and Shannon! In flashbacks, it’s revealed that they had a Cruel Intentions-esque relationship, and, on the island, Locke tries to force Boone to work through his protectiveness of Shannon. Eventually, he loosens up and Shannon and Sayid have a touching on-and-off-again romance. But Boone’s death, right as Shannon and Sayid reconcile, causes some emotional damage to her, understandably.

In season two, we also see the beginnings of Hurley and Libby’s feelings for each other, but that gets cut short before it can blossom. Their relationship is very sweet, and it’s one I wish we’d been able to spend more time developing. Pour one out for Libby, who didn’t deserve her season two ending!

But there’s one couple who is presented as the most solid: Rose and Bernard. Throughout season one, Rose believes that Bernard is alive without physical proof. And then we see him in season two! He’s with the tailies and eventually finds his way back to Rose. But not everything is as it seems, since in flashback, we discover that Rose and Bernard had been together only for a few years before the Oceanic flight. Rose was sick with cancer, and Bernard wanted to chase after a cure instead of enjoying the time she had left.

And that’s not to mention all the heartbreak in the flashbacks! There’s Sun, who had an affair with the man who taught her English, Jack cheating on his wife while she was also cheating on him, Sayid’s feelings for Nadia, Locke’s relationship with Penny, who wants to be prioritized above Locke’s anger at his father—the list goes on! This show loves three things: daddy issues, affairs, and break ups.

In later seasons, we’ll get to see Desmond and Penny’s relationship and the Faraday/Charlotte coupling. These are two that have stuck with me for a long time, and I can’t wait to revisit their relationships. And we’ll also see tragic endings for some of these couples!

You’ll notice that I haven’t mentioned any queer couples, and that’s because, well, there aren’t that many. There is, to my knowledge, a single gay couple appearing in a single episode in season four. Even for a show that started in 2004, this is a little embarrassing. This is the same year that The L Word premiered, for Pete’s sake!

Overall, there are a lot of entanglements on LOST, and the writers sure love throwing some affairs and secret kisses into the mix. In my initial watch, I wasn’t super invested in couples, but I remember thinking that Jack and Kate were better suited for each other. I didn’t really see the appeal of two con artists being together, but I will say that I get it more now as an adult. I’m interested to see how that love triangle holds up throughout the later seasons.

I’ll see you next month for a meditation on season two! We’ll talk about the show’s storytelling choices, new characters, and place in the television landscape. Don’t get gobbled up by the smoke monster or grabbed by the Others before then!