TVSquad

On the last episode of Lost, we learned that the Island won't let people die. Well, some people. Michael, for instance. And we can assume the Oceanic Six--Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sun, Sayid, Aaron--experienced the same inability to die as Michael.

But a lot of people have died. Some of them are missed and some of them... not so much. And there will be a lot more deaths over the final two seasons of the series, which returns with a new episode tonight. It seemed like a good time to look back on some of the island's most notorious deaths. And the strange manners in which characters died:

Gun: Despite being a deserted island, there is a heck of a lot of gun violence. It seems that everyone has a gun. The characters that died from guns are: Ethan, Ana Lucia, Libby, Mrs. Klugh, polar bear, Danny, Tom, Shannon, numerous "Others".

Drowning (unnecessarily) in an underwater station: Charlie died at the end of last season when he sacrificed himself to save Desmond in the Looking Glass station. It wasn't necessary. Charlie was in a room filling up with water and he closed himself in to keep Desmond out (Penny was on the monitor). Why didn't he step out of the room and close the door behind him?

Underwater hand grenade: We can presume that Mikhail is finally dead. In the same episode where Charlie died, he held a hand grenade under water and it exploded (causing the leak that killed Charlie). But we thought that Mikhail was dead a few episodes before that when he appeared to have a brain hemorrhage after crossing an electric fence.

Black smoke monster: So far, it appears that black smoke monster has killed at least two characters. During the series premiere, the pilot is lifted up out of the cockpit and devoured by what is presumably the black smoke monster (it just seemed like a T-Rex at the time). And, during season two, Eko was killed when he was pursuing the ghost of his brother, Yemi, through the jungle. His last words to Locke were, "You're next."

Buried alive: Probably the most satisfying deaths on the island so far had to be those of Nikki and Paolo. These characters were added last season because the writers needed to fill some episodes with nothing-ness (I don't know why they were added to the show). One whole episode was given to Nikki and Paolo, who are very bad people in search of some diamonds they brought along on the plane. They end up in the jungle, getting bitten by spiders that paralyze them and slow their heart rates and breathing. The other survivors think they're dead and promptly bury them... alive.

Beaten: We didn't see it happen, but during the first season, Ethan beats survivor Steve (or was it Scott?) to death. Ethan was the Losties' first encounter with The Others. Steve was apparently on to him. All we know is that Ethan cracked his skull and "broke every bone in his body". Locke's biological father, con man Anthony Cooper, is beaten to death by Sawyer in The Black Rock (not the episode, but the ship). Locke can't bring himself to kill him, but Sawyer can do it because he's the man Sawyer has been looking for his entire life.

Staked: Goodwin pretended to be a plane crash survivor--one of the tailies. But, Ana Lucia was on to him. She figured out he was one of The Others. She pushed him onto a stake, where his body was left to be viewed later by Juliet and Jin.

Blown to bits: Dr. Leslie Arzt was a character created just to die in a spectacular manner. He really only appears in one episode and then is in flashbacks in a few other episodes. He's a ninth grade science teacher who gets to go on a mission with Jack, Kate and Hurley after complaining that he never gets to do anything exciting. As he's lecturing the Losties about proper handling of dynamite, it explodes in his hand and he's blown to bits. His death can best be remembered by Hurley's line after the explosion: "You've got Arzt on you."

Knife in the back: Locke really, really wants to stay on the Island. So when Naomi parachuted down at the end of last season, he threw a knife in her back to prevent her from calling her boat for rescue. Jack called anyway while Naomi crawled off and died.

Caught in a time loop: This season, George Minkowski was caught in a time loop on the rescue ship. We saw Desmond go through it, but he found his constant: Penny. And therefore he was able to get his brain out of a time loop. If he hadn't, he'd have suffered a brain aneurysm or whatever it was that fried George Minkowski's brain and killed him.

Plane crash: Can't forget the plane crash! It's what got everyone here in the first place. Many people died right away. Some died soon after on the beach--like the guy sucked into the engine and the U.S. Marshal who was traveling with Kate. A plane crash of sorts also killed Boone.