LOST: Season 1 round-up

I just finished my quick-binge of Season 1 of "LOST." I'd like to write a blog at the end of each season to put my overall thoughts on paper, so to speak, and also to write about any interesting theories or analysis that I might have come up with as I watched. While I have several blog topics in mind, I think that some of them would best be saved for later on in the series, so I'll keep the ideas handy and hopefully publish them later.

For this first blog, I figured I'd offer up a handful of things I found interesting in the first season:

It wasn't "Freckles":

The first nickname that Sawyer calls Kate is "sweetheart," which he calls her in the second hour of the Pilot episode.

I shot the sheriff:

In the episode "Tabula Rasa," the Survivors are having a hard time deciding what to do with the U.S. Marshal, who is dying on the beach. I thought these reactions taught us a little bit more about the character of each of these Survivors:

• Kate (who is the fugitive that the Marshal had arrested) asks, "Is he going to die? Will it hurt?"
• Jack tries to save the Marshal's life on several occasions.
• Shannon mutters, "I wish he would just die already."
• Sayid is skeptical about whether Jack can save his life.
• Sawyer constantly encourages someone to shoot him.
• Sawyer ultimately shoots the Marshal, but the wound is not fatal and Jack has to finish the job.

A familiar sound:

In the episode "Walkabout," we see John Locke working at his office job. After repeatedly being reprimanded by his jerk boss, Randy, Locke returns his focus to his work. He turns to his 10-key machine and punches a few keys - and the machine makes the same sound as the Hatch computer that we'll eventually be introduced to in Season 2. HOLY CRAP.

Dive, dive!:

In the beginning of the episode "Whatever the Case May Be," Kate and Sawyer find dead bodies in a lake, along with the briefcase that fell and knocked out the U.S. Marshal. Kate dives to retrieve the briefcase. The next scene begins with other Survivors jumping into the water to retrieve luggage that is being dragged away into the ocean. Season 1 is full of stark juxtapositions like that.

Hope she brought sunscreen:

In "Whatever the Case May Be," Boone, as if speaking for the audience, calls Shannon worthless. She looks terribly offended by her brother's harsh words. Unsurprisingly, the next time we see Shannon, she is sunbathing on the beach.

At least she learned something:

Speaking of Shannon, she sucks at French. (Her words, not mine.) But, of all the things she could possibly remember from grade-school French class, she has the words to Bobby Darin's "Beyond the Sea" memorized. That's solid.

The Dog Whisperer:

On the Island, Locke makes a dog whistle to help find Walt's dog, Vincent (who is constantly getting lost, by the way). In "Deus Ex Machina," we see pre-Island Locke taking a "Lost Dog" flyer off of his windshield as he leaves work.

By any other name:

Rose is such a sweetheart. Her husband is missing and presumably dead, yet she is always so kind, patient, level-headed and understanding. Also, where was Rose during the two-part finale?? No screen time at all!

Cartographer extraordinaire:

In the episode "Deus Ex Machina," Locke appears to be using a compass to find the beechcraft that he saw crash into the mountains, despite the fact that Sayid and Jack have previously indicated that compasses do not work on the Island.

Mystery solved!:

I've occasionally wondered how the Survivors stay looking so good on the Island. Well, in "Born to Run," we see Claire giving Charlie a haircut, and in "Deus Ex Machina," we see Jack shaving with a manual razor.

Chicken or lasagna?:

Fun fact: The last scene to be shot for the Pilot was ultimately cut. It featured Hurley offering uncooked airline meals to Locke, who did not respond.

They're not suffering anymore:

And now, for my favorite little bit of useless information from Season 1, as discovered in the episode "Outlaws":

Sawyer meets Christian Shephard while drinking at a bar in Sydney. Christian says they are in Hell and that some people were made to suffer - which is why "the Red Sox will never win the World Series."

• "LOST" premiered on 09/22/04.
• The Red Sox won the World Series on 10/27/04.
• This episode aired on 02/16/05.
• Jack later watches a video of the final out of the game. In Island Time, Jack saw the footage on Day 69 - 11/29/04.

***

There you have it! We all learned something new today, I think. My quick-binge of Season 2 is now underway. You can follow along with my episode calendar here.

Until next time,

Namaste... and good luck.