The Lie

The Lie aired on January 21, 2009, as the second hour of the fifth season’s premiere night. Jack Bender directed, and Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz wrote it, the fourteenth of their 21 episodes together.

Where things stand: the Island is skipping through time, and the Oceanic Six have been told they must go back. Since the fourth season, those six have been living with a cover story about what happened to them.

This is Hurley’s sixth episode as the main focus. He struggles with the Oceanic Six’s cover story and turns to an unlikely person for help, which is about as Hurley a setup as the show ever had. Kitsis and Horowitz later named their favourite moments from this hour in an interview with the official magazine. Watch it straight after Because You Left, the way it first aired.