Season One of "Lost" was certainly excellent. I don't even think anyone can argue that this is as perfect as an introductory season can possibly be. What others may see as stretched out narrative I see as exceptional development of and writing for the characters. "Exodus: Part 2" is a beautiful summary of what makes "Lost" great and what makes the characters great, and the culmination of this is the landmark 'man of science, man of faith' conversation between Jack and Locke.
"Exodus: Part 2" is technically perfect. Outstanding cinematography, beautiful direction by Jack Bender, some great shots, it's just beautiful to look at. The script by Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse is completely professional in terms of their understanding of what elements to use and how to do so, but it never feels forced. Damon Lindelof recently said that his favorite experience of writing for the show was this episode as well as season four's "The Constant", and you can feel how passionate they are about this script.
What immediately stands out about "Exodus: Part 2" as you view it with knowledge of later events in the series is that the writers were clearly planting seeds for the future. There's stuff in here that wasn't paid off for quite a while, and also the introduction of some key aspects of the series. Smokey famously makes his first appearance and it's a great scene in which he does so. There is a surprisingly large amount of filler here, but it's really very well-done filler. Arzt makes his final appearance, getting a surprising amount of screen time that is well-used and certainly very fun.
The action is mainly packed into the last 20 minutes, which are absolutely spectacular, and the final scene of season one, as the camera goes down the hatch looking up at Jack and Locke while Giacchino's Herrmann-esquire score plays... THUD- LOST. What a brilliant ending to a brilliant episode.
10/10