A man in a suit lying in the jungle. His face is scratched up pretty badly and there's a chance he's at least mildly intoxicated. There's a dog nearby. There's a shoe hanging from a chute of bamboo. After shaking off his confusion, the man, Jack Shephard, makes a break for it, running full speed through the tropical forest. Finally, he reaches the beach and sees... nothing. It's just a beach. But, as the camera pans to the left, we hear faint screams, which begin growing increasingly louder. Jack makes his way across the beach through a mass of metallic wreckage. This is the site of a terrible plane crash. Chaos. Pandemonium. And Jack is right in the middle of it all.
Earlier this week, I was invited to be a part of a "LOST" panel at the third annual Salt Lake Comic Con event next month. There's not time at this point for me to re-watch the entire series from start to finish like I did last winter, but I think I'll have enough time to zip through around 50 of the show's best and most important episodes. I think I'll call them the "Greatest Hits."
Tonight I sat down with my boxed set of "LOST: Season 1" and booted up, in the opinion of many, one of the greatest two hours of television in the past decade and a half: the series' two-part pilot.
As I've discussed in previous blogs, "LOST" has, over time, become one of the most controversial and polarizing programs in the history of television, but, despite its flaws, I truly believe it to be one of the most groundbreaking, iconic and greatest shows of all time. After watching the pilot for the third time, I figured I'd put my thoughts in writing, explaining what made that series premiere such a spectacle to behold.
The first eight minutes of the episode are like a shot of pure adrenaline, with Jack running across the beach like a madman. In the series' very first scene, the young Dr. Shephard establishes himself as a man of action, a leader and, in some aspects, a savior of the people. He rushes to the aid of a man trapped below the plane's landing gear before subsequently saving a woman we'd come to know as Rose with CPR, aiding a pregnant woman named Claire as she experiences contractions and also protecting Claire and the lovable loser, Hugo "Hurley" Reyes, from falling debris. Jack's popularity would see its fair share of rises and falls throughout the series, but Jack is certainly the show's main protagonist - and he proves why in the pilot.
In the midst of the chaos, we also get quick glimpses of several other soon-to-be main characters: Charlie Pace looks darn near oblivious as he stumbles dangerously close to one of the plane's propellers, Jin Kwon shouts for his wife in his foreign tongue and troubled father Michael Dawson shouts "WAAAAALT!!" for the first time. We see superficial Shannon Rutherford screaming in agony while a bald man named John Locke scrambles about the beach, helping Jack pry the aforementioned man out from under the landing gear. Shannon's brother Boone attempts to help Jack revive Rose and Hurley watches over Claire while Jack is off saving other passengers. There's a lot going on in these first eight minutes, especially if you've watched the show a few times and know what to look for.
Later, we meet Kate Austen. She's adventurous, yet scared. Independent, yet clingy. She stitches up Jack while he tells her of a time when he infamously botched a surgery before learning to master his fears.
If smoking a cigarette the first time you're featured on screen doesn't make you a rebel, I don't know what does. That's the case of James "Sawyer" Ford, who looks like the Island's version of James Dean with his greased-back hair. Sawyer establishes his reputation as a loner and a bully by fighting (and racially profiling) a resourceful Arab passenger named Sayid Jarrah, who he accuses of being a terrorist, and picking on other survivors like Hurely, who he at one point called "Ardo."
Charlie comes off as a man starved for attention, constantly asking if anyone on the Island recognizes him from his one-hit wonder band, Drive Shaft ("You All Everybody"!!) We later learn that Charlie is addicted to drugs and was attempting to take a hit of heroin as the plane hit turbulence. Desperate to fit in, Charlie joins several excursions in the pilot episode, helping Jack and Kate search for the plane's cockpit and later helping Sayid and others search for a radio signal.
The existence of an unseen and incredibly powerful monster that lives in the forest spooks the survivors. Jack, Kate and Charlie have a close encounter with the beast as they finally track down the front half of the plane. They have no idea what it is, but it's strong and it's loud and it mutilated the pilot, leaving him as a bloody heap hanging up in the trees. Charlie sums up the thoughts of practically every viewer when he asks, in horror, "What the h*** just happened??"
Other mysteries abound, as well, such as the presence of a polar bear - yes, the polar bear - in the middle of the jungle, which Sawyer shoots dead. But how would Sawyer shoot it dead without a gun? What was a gun doing on the plane in the first place? Turns out, there was an air marshal on the plane, escorting a prisoner. Sayid accuses Sawyer of being the prisoner, but it turns out that it was sweet little Kate that had been arrested! So what did she do? We may never know because the marshal is bleeding to death on the beach. Geez. And what's up with these random rainstorms? It seems that the Island has quite bipolar weather - but that doesn't seem to bother John Locke!
Locke is kind of an interesting dude. He doesn't talk a whole lot, but he seems to be rather good-natured and well-versed in world history. One of the series' most iconic and symbolic conversations takes place when Locke talks to a young boy named Walt about backgammon. "Backgammon is the oldest game in the world," Locke explains. "Two players, two sides. One is light, one is dark." (Oh, the ramifications that conversation would have, come Season 6!) Also, Locke tells Walt that he has a secret, but he doesn't divulge it quite yet. (Just wait for the first Locke-centric episode, "Walkabout"...)Hurley becomes an instant fan favorite with his unique blend of kindness, honesty, innocence and humor. Hurley's highlights include his misspelling of "bodies" ("B-O-D-Y-S"), his informal vocabulary (most notably, his frequent use of terms like "dude") and his low tolerance for blood. Everybody loves "Hugo."
Other major characters with minor roles in the pilot episode include Jin and Sun Kwon, a married couple whose fragile, semi-abusive relationship is on full display for their newfound companions to see; and Boone and Shannon, who are eager to help the other survivors, but have trouble toning down their volatile sibling rivalry.
The final plot line in the episode revolves around Sayid and his group of explorers, who scale a nearby mountain to attempt to get a signal on a radio transceiver that Jack and Kate found in the cockpit. They finally hear some static, but Sayid realizes that they can't get a signal because something else is already being broadcast. It's French. It's been repeating in a loop for 16 years and five months. And it's saying, "Please help me. Please come get me. I'm alone now. I'm on the Island alone. Please, someone, come. The others... they're dead. It killed them. It killed them all." The survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 are beginning to realize that they might be in some serious trouble. If this French woman has been stranded on the Island for 16 years with no apparent rescue, how on earth will they ever get back home?
Then the episode ends as Charlie utters the immortal words, "Guys... Where are we?" LOST. Boom.
The "LOST" pilot is great for a lot of different reasons, but here are my favorite three aspects of the episode:
- The mystery: So much weird stuff going on in this episode! The crash, the monster, the drugs, the comic book, the bear, the fugitive, the French distress signal. Oh man. So many different storylines to follow and so many questions to be answered! (Or to remain unanswered, depending on who you ask...) I can only imagine what it would have been like to watch Season 1 live (I didn't - I caught up while my family was in the middle of Season 3). What would it have been like to watch this thing live, one episode per week, from the very beginning? I'm sure the suspense would have been unbearable.
- The flashbacks: Arguably the most classic aspect of "LOST" is the series' episodic use of flashback storytelling. In the pilot, we see flashbacks for Jack, Charlie and Kate, which allow us to learn more about the characters, themselves, as well as the crash. We see Jack being slipped a drink from the stewardess, we learn about Charlie's addiction to heroin and find out that Kate was the handcuffed fugitive. We also see get a taste of the connections between characters by seeing that Jack was seated next to Rose (and a few seats away from Locke), and that he was bumped into by Charlie as the musician made his way to the lavatory to do drugs. The flashbacks and connections would only grow to become an integral part of the series, becoming more intricate and crazy throughout the seasons. I love me some flashbacks.
- The characters: "LOST" introduces so many different characters right off the bat that there is always something going on. When you're not focusing on Jack, the hero, or learning more about Kate, the fugitive, there's always Sawyer, the rebel, and Hurley, the goofball, and Sayid, the resourceful soldier, and Charlie, the addict - not to mention the weird dynamics between Michael/Walt, Jin/Sun and Boone/Shannon. And what is up with that dude, Locke? So mysterious! The pilot episode introduces a ton of different characters, each with their own unique personalities, problems and back stories. As the series progresses, the characters get even more interesting and complex, but the pilot gives viewers enough to whet their collective whistle and leave them wanting to learn more. Little did we know, after one episode, that we had just been introduced to some of the most interesting, lovable, despicable and tragic characters of our generation.
Well, I've gone and done it yet again. I've started "LOST" over for the third time. (This time, I even have my mom's permission - and she hated the series finale more than anyone I know!) I'm setting out to watch at least 50 of the 121 episodes, which will be a tough task to accomplish while attempting to maintain a full-time job and a social life, but I think I should be able to get it done. I've got to bring my A-game to this panel and I fully intend on doing so.
In case you're interested, here is my list of what I decided were the best episodes of the series - and the most important ones for me to review one more time before the convention - listed in chronological order:
- Pilot
- Walkabout
- Confidence Man
- Numbers
- Do No Harm (switched for "I Do")
- Exodus
- Man of Science, Man of Faith
- Orientation
- The Other 48 Days
- One of Them (switched for "The Hunting Party")
- Maternity Leave (switched for "The Long Con")
- Lockdown
- ?
- Two for the Road (switched for "Enter 77")
- Three Minutes
- Live Together, Die Alone
- A Tale of Two Cities
- Tricia Tanaka is Dead
- The Man from Tallahassee
- The Man Behind the Curtain
- Greatest Hits
- Through the Looking Glass (Pt 1-2)
- The Beginning of the End
- Confirmed Dead
- The Constant
- Meet Kevin Johnson
- The Shape of Things to Come
- Cabin Fever
- There’s No Place like Home
- Because You Left
- The Lie
- Jughead
- The Little Prince
- The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham
- LaFleur
- Namaste
- Whatever Happened, Happened
- Dead is Dead
- Some Like it Hoth
- The Variable
- The Incident
- LAX
- Lighthouse
- Dr. Linus
- Ab Aeterno
- Happily Ever After
- The Candidate
- Across the Sea
- What They Died For
- The End
What do you think? Why do you love the "LOST" series premiere? What are your favorite episodes? Do you agree with my list or am I leaving something out? Do you have a favorite "LOST" moment? Or are you still ticked off about the finale? Sound off in the comments below. I'd love to hear what you have to say.
Until my next "LOST" blog,
Namaste... and good luck.
