I know there will be some among you who will not like this choice. Not because The Constant isn’t one of the greatest TV episodes of all-time – that’s undisputed fact at this point – but more the question of whether this counts as a Christmas episode. To me, it’s a no-brainer. Not only because the climactic phone call takes place on Christmas Eve for Penny (above), but because the tone of this space-and-time spanning quest fits perfectly with holiday watching.

Henry Ian Cusick’s Desmond Hume is pretty comfortably the best character on Lost for my money, and this is the episode where he gets to shine like never before. His lost love with Penny (Sonya Walger, above) makes for some of the most heart-wrenching moments of the show, and this is the ultimate culmination of his progression throughout the show. But equally, the supporting cast here do an absolutely great job here, with Sayid (Naveen Andrews) providing the perfect confused sidekick and Faraday (Jeremy Davies) nailing the expert role in the sequences at Oxford University that seem they inspired Christopher Nolan’s Inception in a non-insignificant way.

The cold open sets up the confusion of the episode perfectly, with Desmond’s consciousness flashing from the present to the past. Telling someone that the time travel episode of Lost in its fourth season is its very best would probably raise an eyebrow on paper, but the absolute elegance of the script is undeniable. That in tow with some of the best TV editing you can find makes for a perfect viewing experience. The transitions between time periods are done so effectively with those seamless match cuts that really aids the pacing of the episode.

But of course, for all its technical brilliance, Christmas is where the heart is. Why is this the greatest ever Christmas episode? Well, I suppose it comes down to some sort of It’s a Wonderful Life style Christmas miracle. For all the strife Desmond goes through in this episode, he comes to the realisation halfway through that he is closer than ever to re-connecting with his one true love. Again, very Christopher Nolan, the whole “the power of love can transcend space and time” thing. Without context, it’s perfect and fast-paced episode with a super sci-fi premise and a great emotional core, WITH context, it’s gotta be one of the most emotionally impacting episodes of TV I’ve ever seen.

Watching Desmond for 2 seasons or so trying with all his might to be reunited with his only love makes for endlessly gripping TV, and this moment is one you could describe as “pinch yourself”. For a show that has garnered such a bad reputation for not answering it’s great mysteries or following through on its plot points, this is an example that laughs in the face of that idea. Cusick and Walger’s performances are electric at the best of times, with some of the best chemistry seen in an on-screen relationship, but this episode is the highlight of each of their careers. The teary reunion which has sparked as many memes (AH LUV YOU PENNEH) as it has sob-fests on reaction channels is probably the best single scene in all of Lost. It’s a truly remarkable feat of television on every level and once I remembered the Christmas Eve setting for its final phone call, it was an easy choice at #1. After all, it’s not every episode that gets an entire theme dedicated to it in the score.

So there we have it, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and are not too disappointed by my only slightly Christmassy #1 pick, but that’s plenty enough Christmas for me. And if by any chance you’ve never seen The Constant, you NEED to, to the extent that watching the three and a bit seasons of Lost that precede it would be worth it just to reach this masterpiece.