Episode #2 (S1E02): Pilot Part 2

It is clear after watching Pilot Part 2 that the first two episodes of Lost should really be viewed as one episode. While Pilot Part 1 focused on Jack and the island, Pilot Part 2 is an episode about how different characters respond to adversity. While the level of action was lower in this episode, the slower pace allows the audience to get to know a number of the characters at a deeper level.

In the first episode, Shannon refused to eat because she expected a quick rescue. Early in this episode, we see Shannon sunbathing among the wreckage from the flight, leading the audience to believe Shannon thinks a rescue is coming soon. However, she later has a breakdown with her brother Boone on the beach. By the end of the episode, she is clearly beginning to lose hope for a rescue as she translates the french distress signal to the rest of the group.

Sawyer irrationally blames Sayid for the plane crash, which leads to a fight between the two powerful men. Sawyer makes a number of incorrect accusations toward Sayid throughout the episode. However, his accusations seem half-hearted, and he doesn't seem to put up much of a fight when Sayid fights back verbally. It seems like being able to place some blame elsewhere, even if it is irrational, helps Sawyer deal with his current situation.

Jin and Sun attempt to provide for the group, collecting fish and attempting to feed Claire and Hurley. Despite being unable to speak English, the couple seems intent on contributing to the group.

Locke continues to remain isolated, although he does successfully communicate with another human being by explaining backgammon to Walt. The explanation of light and dark in backgammon could be some foreshadowing. Maybe its just because he has totally kept to himself at this point, but it seems like Locke could create some problems for the rest of the group in the future.

This episode advances the plot from the previous episode. While the group has the transceiver, it doesn't work. Sayid, a former communications officer for the Iraqi National Guard, fixes the transceiver but cannot find a signal on the beach. A team including Kate, Sayid, Sawyer, Boone, Shannon, and Charlie ascends a mountain on the island attempting to find a signal. On this trip, the group encounters noises from a creature similar to those heard in the first episode. Most of the group runs, but Sawyer pulls a gun taken from a US Marshal on the flight and shoots and kills the creature. The creature ends up being a polar bear, which is clearly not what killed the pilot in the first episode. The group questions where they are, as polar bears are not indigenous to tropical islands. The group eventually gets high enough to find a signal, but can't send out a distress signal because someone is already broadcasting. It is a distress signal from a woman started 16 years ago. The group concludes that the woman was never rescued. The pilot ends with the all important question for the show: Where is the island?

A lot of interesting character tidbits were revealed as well:

• Kate was on the flight as a prisoner, accompanied by a US Marshal who now has shrapnel in his chest.
• Charlie has a drug problem. This explains his skittish behavior in the first episode. When he went into the airplane bathroom, he was retrieving the drugs he had been using when the plane started to crash.
• Claire feels a kick from her baby after eating a piece of fish from Jin. This came after Claire had stated that she hadn't felt a kick since landing on the island.
• Hurley seems like a nice guy, but he clearly isn't the smartest guy on the island. In part one, he misspelled bodies "B-O-D-Y-S." In this episode, he fails to deduce that Sayid is an Iraqi when he says that he fought in the Gulf War.

Overall, the pilot did a great job setting up the series. I expected the series to start slowly, raising new questions gradually as time progressed. I was wrong. Two key questions that will probably linger for the entire show have already been raised:

• Where is the island?
• What is the mysterious creature?

Additionally, many characters have been introduced. While only Jack and Kate have had much screen time, enough has been shown of the others to give the audience some viewpoint on each character. With character introductions out of the way, I expect the plot of the show to progress quickly in the next episodes.

Episode #1 (S1E01): Pilot Part 1

What a great start to the series. Pilot Part 1 blew away all expectations I had for Lost. The episode did an excellent job of building suspense and establishing many main characters while beginning to create the mystery of the island.

With fast-paced action and explosions, the opening scene feels like a high-budget action film. Due largely to high production value, the atmosphere on the beach feels realistic. In addition to providing great suspense, the scene also succeeds in establishing Jack as a strong character capable of helping his fellow survivors as he rushes from person to person on the beach.

After the frantic scene on the beach, the pace of the show settles down and a number of characters are introduced in only a few minutes. With just a few images, the audience is able to grasp a basic idea of the personality of each character and their potential role in the show. This is critical, as a number of these important characters have little screen time in this part of the pilot.

Sawyer is only present briefly in this episode, but it is clear he is a loner from the images in this scene.

Locke is immediately shown to be separate from the rest of the survivors. Among all the turmoil on the beach, Locke is shown quietly looking out on the ocean.

After getting directions from Jack to take care of the pregnant Claire during the frantic beach scene, Hurley is shown gathering food from the plane wreckage for dinner. Immediately, Hurley is established as a good caretaker and a loyal follower to Jack.

The show also establishes Sayid as a strong leader. Immediately, he is focused on mobilizing the survivors and organizing on the beach.

After these brief introductions, the episode slows and the focus of the show turns to establishing the mystery of the island.

Jack, Kate, and Charlie go on an expedition to find the cockpit and the transceiver. After finding the cockpit, they discover that one of the pilots has survived. He informs the group that the plane radio went out midway through the trip. The plane went far off course before crashing on the island. Rescue is not imminent, as the rescue mission would be looking in the wrong part of the ocean.

Suddenly, the group hears sounds from a mysterious creature again, after hearing them the previous night on the beach. The pilot is ripped from the cockpit. Jack, Kate, and Charlie run from the creature. The group gets separated when Charlie stumbles in some brush, but eventually the creature disappears and the group reunites. Above them, the pilot is dead and left up in the trees.

Even after just 40 minutes, a number of mysteries about the island. While we know little about the island and the creature, we do get some insight into a number of the characters on the island.

Jack is the main focus of the pilot. By the end of the episode, it is clear that Jack's main purpose is to help the other survivors. Much of the conflict in the first scene comes from the fact that Jack can't seem to act fast enough to save everybody. He helps a man from underneath a piece of wreckage, assigns Hurley to help Claire get to safety, and revives Rose before saving Hurley and Claire from a falling plane wing, all in the span of just a few minutes. Jack seems to save everyone except this guy:

Later, during the first flashback to the crash, Jack instantly comforts Rose when her husband is in the bathroom. When the group is running away from the creature, Jack goes back to help Charlie when he gets caught in the brush. This episode clearly establishes Jack as a strong caretaker and as a potential leader on the island.

As mentioned above, Locke is clearly shown as separate from the group. He is shown a number of times in the episode sitting by himself on the beach. Locke only makes one attempt to communicate with the other survivors, and it was an epic fail:

At the time, Kate was taking shoes off a dead man and appeared to be unamused and creeped out from Locke's apparent joke.

When it starts to rain, everyone but Locke scrambles to find cover, either under plane wreckage or in the forest. But Locke embraces the rain, imitating Andy Dufresne in the Shawshank Redemption:

In this moment, Locke seems to be more contemplative than the other survivors. While others seem to be wrapped up in early life on the island, Locke seems to appreciate the miracle of surviving the plane crash. By embracing the rain, he seems to be giving thanks for the second chance at life the survivors have been given.

Charlie is also a prominent figure in this episode, but it is tough to know what to make of him. There is clearly something skittish about Charlie. On the plane, he mysteriously goes in the bathroom of the plane and doesn't answer Kate when she asks what he was doing. At the end of the episode, he gets separated from Jack and doesn't have a clear explanation as to what happened.

Charlie also provided a not so subtle reminder of one of the show's main themes: fate. As I wrote in the intro, I find the idea of fate very interesting. It is exciting to see that it will be a prevalent theme on the show from the very start.

Before I began watching the episode, I wasn't sure how I would respond to the show. I thought that there was a chance I would be bored by the show and would fail to make it through 120 episodes. Those doubts are much weaker now. After watching the first 40 minutes of the show, I am very enthusiastic about continuing to watch.

Starting the Journey

I have finally decided to take on Lost. I stayed away from the show purposefully, after watching a few of the season one episodes years ago. I predicted (rightly) that this show would take a huge amount of effort to follow. I figured I would save myself some time and energy and spend my leisure time watching other critically heralded shows like The Sopranos and The Wire.

But now I am back, largely because of what I have read about the series finale. While I tried my best to avoid spoilers, I wanted to find out what Lost was about thematically. The consensus was that Lost is a show about a number of complex themes, including faith, fate, and free will. Reading about the prevalence of these themes in the show pushed me over the edge in my decision to follow Lost. These themes have formed the basis for a number of my favorite works of art. While it seems that a number of people were disappointed in the conclusion of the series, I am confident that the payoff at the end will be enough for me. While I will be investing a ton of time in the series, at least I know that the show will be about topics that interest me.

Getting through a show of this magnitude will be challenging. I plan on watching two episodes per day through season one before slowing to an episode per day through the following five seasons. This should allow me to finish the show in mid-September, although I may need to slow down towards the end of the show when law school begins. I plan on updating the blog with my thoughts on each episode regularly.