LOST DISCOVERIES
LOST:
PILOT, PART 1
Created by: J.J.
Abrams and Damon Lindelof
Story by: J.J.
Abrams
Air date:
Wednesday, September 22, 2004
2 Is Company; 48 Is
Quite A Crowd
By
Vlad
A Soulful Spike Society Review
A Note to the Reader:
Unfortunately this review will be somewhat incomplete (and perhaps unfairly negative) because we are presented less than a whole show. The network airing it (ABC), in its infinite wisdom, chose to split what was reportedly the most expensive television series pilot ever shot, one that had hopes of achieving theatrical stature and production qualities, into two segments, to be aired a week apart from one another. This was done to facilitate a guaranteed ratings draw for a reality show season premiere (The Bachelor) in its two-hour slot. What this plan did probably created great ratings for the night, but quite possibly hurt Lost in the long run. In reality, a fair review of this episode will only be able to be accomplished when the whole episode has been shown, but I will endeavor to do my best with what I have.
~Vlad
Welcome To Paradise
A familiar setting: a craft beaches itself on a tropical
island. The lush Garden of Eden setting
plays host to an incongruent feeling of despair, isolation and loneliness.
Typically, as with Robinson Caruso or Castaway, it’s a solitary
person plunged into a fantastical situation and how that person, using primitive
resources, manages to survive, and maybe even learns about himself. Now, lets examine Lost.
We open with a man, somewhat disheveled, wearing a navy
business suit, lying in a bed of vegetation, a few fresh scrapes on his
face. This is obviously not a normal
situation. A dog wanders by, pausing to
stare at him, and then meanders off. As
the man sits up, we see that he is somewhat lost, unsure of himself. With some panic, he rises to his feet and
shambles at a run through the jungle we can now see he is in. He explodes onto a serene beach, aqua waves
rolling up onto a pristine sand. But, as he turns, we are introduced to why he
is here: the still smoking remains of a jet liner crash. And, he is not alone. Scads of people, all
distraught amidst the smoking and still deadly wreckage, wander about hurt,
confused and afraid. It is here we are
introduced to our cast of thousands.
Okay, I exaggerate, but it is vast. Welcome to (anything but Paradise)
Lost.
Let’s talk about the large cast I mentioned above. Well, the premiere’s first hour spent a lot
of time establishing these many new faces.
A show that is going to be about people, and how they cooperate, fight,
and survive together, really needs to set up the situation. Lost did a
mediocre job at the introductions and the action of the episode (aside from the
very intense opening 15 minutes and some shaking and screaming in the last 5)
apparently (and hopefully) lies in the second hour. What we are left with is a lot of exposition and some confusing
scenarios: Glimpses of an “obviously
important” person smoking a cigarette and looking pensive, or a person smiling
incongruent to the situation with an orange peel covering his teeth. An Asian couple that apparently speaks no
English huddled together with no more than a handful of subtitled lines of
dialogue passed between them telling us that they are leery of their fellow
castaways. We are left wondering…
Who Are These People?
Several characters are introduced to us. First there is Jack. Jack is the man that woke up in the jungle
and then rushed to the beach. He
immediately starts helping every one, getting people out of dangerous
situations, treating the injured, and being a real leader. So much so, that you
expect him to rip off his shirt and exhibit a big red “S”. Eventually he does rip off that shirt, all
alone, and you find out that he has a big black “5,” tattooed, not on his chest,
but his left shoulder. Something about
it looks vaguely military. It is at
this point you realize…is this man a doctor?
Or what? Perhaps he was a
military surgeon.
It is about this time that we meet Kate. She wanders up to the secluded Jack and he
persuades her to stitch up a nasty gash to his back. We don’t know who Kate
is. We know she sewed her own drapes,
that she lives in an apartment and that she has no medical knowledge. We do find out in this scene, and later on,
that she is plucky, intelligent, and, from the googly eyes she makes at Jack,
rather interested in him. No doubt about it later on, she likes what she sees
and is interested in staking her claim.
During Jack’s frantic rescue of everyone that was aboard the
crashed aircraft and immediately after, that night at the bonfire, we meet
several other seemingly integral characters:
- A
lifeguard who seems dazed and not brilliant but, to his credit, he is
trying to save lives and be involved.
- The
lifeguard’s girlfriend who is completely in denial about her situation and
expects to be saved at any moment. The only way this woman could have been
bitchier is if they had cast Shannon Dougherty in the role.
- The
obligatory sweet pregnant gal who tells Jack she is 8 months along, looks
like she is perhaps 12 months along, and is going into labor. Strangely enough, this labor disappears
without comment for the rest of the episode.
- Sayid,
a Middle-Eastern man who speaks English without a heavy accent, that
apparently has a good head on his shoulders and is also seeking to help
others.
- A very
large, rotund young man with long curly hair. He follows Jack’s orders and maintains vigilance over the
pregnant woman. He, too, seems to
have it together and is doing his best to help others.
- Charley. Charley, we find out later along, is a
bassist for a defunct, famous rock group named Driveshaft. Charley looked a bit dazed during the
aftermath of the crash, but when Jack announces he and Kate are going to
search for the rest of the plane and hopefully a communication device, he
quickly volunteers to go with them. His fascination with the jet’s
bathroom is troubling, not only to me, but also to Kate
- A
black man and his son, who appears to be approximately 9-10 years old.
Both are seen helping others but they also tend to stay a bit reclusive.
At some point, the son asks the father about a missing person or animal.
- The
cigarette smoking man. Who is this
guy? Straw textured hair, stubbly
face, we don’t see him do anything but light and smoke his cigarette and
look pensively about the wreckage and the other survivors.
- The
Asian couple (Korean, I believe.)
Evidently unable to speak English and unable to communicate with
the rest of the passengers, they cling to each other, the man obviously
being very protective of his wife or sister.
- The
smiling orange man. When Kate has
to remove the boots from one of the dead, she catches this man watching
her somberly. She is obviously hesitant, somewhat reverent about removing
the dead man’s apparel. Just as it
appears this man is following her mood, he suddenly smiles at her, an
orange peel covering his teeth. It is a rather eerie moment. Later, when a
very sudden storm breaks over the survivors, as the others all rush for
cover, this man sits in the wetness, arms raised, apparently relishing the
driving rain.
Whew! Got all
that? Oh, wait, the fourteen I listed
above are only the ones who are introduced to us. There are plenty of others wandering about. Later on, we find
from Jack, as he tells the Pilot, there are 48 confirmed survivors.
Unfortunately, immediately after this, the Pilot dies and we are left wondering
if Jack included the newly found Pilot among the 48 he enumerated.
So, What The Heck Happened?
We discover precious little about what actually occurred
that resulted in this calamity. Much of
what we find out is via a flashback from Jack and then, later, his discussion
with The Pilot, immediately before he dies.
During the flashback, we see Jack having a couple drinks,
being kind to a nearby nervous passenger (who he later resuscitates on the
beach, saving her life), and clutch his seat in terror as the plane is sucked
into what appears to be horrible turbulence.
Immediately before the crash we catch a quick glance at Charley as he
runs past Jack on his way to the bathroom.
He was possibly being chased by the jet’s crew, but the situation
quickly turns to the crash and we learn no more.
During the talk with the rescued, but doomed, Pilot, we find
out that plane had radio problems 6 hours away from it’s take off point, and
had turned around to head to Fiji. He
says the plane is a thousand miles off course and that any search parties will
be looking in the wrong place. I
believe the plane was headed from Australia to the United States, but this is
never made clear in the first half.
So, Where Does This Leave Our Survivors?
In a bad, bad way.
Not only are they wrecked on an unknown island, a thousand miles from
any search party, they apparently are not alone. And, I don’t mean the
intriguing collared Labrador roaming about the jungle, watching our castaways.
During the first night, as the people congregate on the beach, there is a loud
crashing in the interior of the island.
Large distant trees are seen shaking about. Whatever is moving around is obviously huge. Then, the
next day, while Kate, Jack, and Charley are off searching for the transmitter
in the rest of the plane, a strange and sudden rainstorm just appears
and the noisy crashing about on the island’s interior commences again.
In the driving rainstorm, Jack and his search party do find
the nose of the aircraft, wedged upright in an awkward angle between some
trees. Miraculously, the pilot is still alive.
After he imparts the information about the wreck to Jack and Kate, the
crashing that was heard earlier near the beach is now right outside the
cockpit. Something very huge casts its
shadow across the jet’s nose and heavy footsteps shake the entire wreck. The Pilot, in an incredibly stupid move,
clambers out a window for what I can only assume was a better look at whatever
was causing the commotion. Kate and
Jack huddle in fear, while Charley just seems to be looking for a place to hang
on. The Pilot, who’s only intelligent
maneuver is to lay the transmitter down for the other survivors, is plucked the
rest of the way out the window, large splurts of blood spraying the same. The
jet’s nose is then batted the rest of the way to the ground and Jack and
company hightail it for safety. While
they never see this huge creature that is pursuing them, we know it is very
close. Eventually, however, they manage to escape and the episode ends with
them discovering the twisted and torn corpse of The Pilot in a tree, some
twenty or thirty feet off the ground. For our premiere of Lost… not only
is the pilot split in two, but also, The Pilot is now dead.
What Worked?
- The
first twenty minutes were intense.
- Considering
the huge size of the cast, we managed to meet and, at least, get a general
feel for quite a few of the survivors.
- The
setting looks lush; the beach looks gorgeous.
- The
special effects of the crash, the wreckage and, I am assuming, somewhat,
the setting are extremely well done.
- The
acting ranged from rather good to at least serviceable.
- The
cast, while most are pretty or striking, has a considerable number of
normal or even less than physically attractive folk among them. I like this sort of realism.
What Didn’t?
· For me, the quick-cut, jittery handheld camera work was very off-putting and distracting and let’s hope it goes the way of the split screen gimmick of 24 some years ago. While the tight zooms in almost all of the character interaction shots lent to a certain feeling of intimacy, the over-caffeinated cameramen need to start drinking some Sanka. Abrams crew could learn a thing or two about using handheld cameras from the shooting crew of Firefly, who did the same thing much, much better but for much less money.
- Too
many questions raised but left unanswered. In fact, not a single question raised (aside from a few names
and a possible reason for the crash from The Pilot) was answered or even
partially explained. I sincerely
hope that this is a result of the pilot episode being rudely cut into two
halves. From the previews of the
second half, it does appear that more is coming.
- The
dialogue was somewhat blah. Except
for a good exchange between Jack and Kate while she is stitching him up
and another scene between Charley and Kate, where he tells her about his
band, nothing was memorable.
- Does
it make sense for evidently the only doctor in this terrible wreck,
with people hurt and needing tending, to be the one to go traipsing into
the jungle looking for a radio, when they know something large and scary
is knocking about in there? Is this a rhetorical question?
The Missing
Jack – Matthew Fox
Jack knows an awful lot. Not only is he a surgeon, he is a take-charge guy with a big tattoo, had flying lessons and knows what a transmitter looks like. Hmmmm…
Kate – Evangeline Lilly
Kate’s tough but not used to drastic situations. She obviously is attracted to Jack and just about refuses to let him out of her sight.
Charlie – Dominic Monaghan
A bassist for the group Driveshaft, he has a terrific affinity for bathrooms…or at least one in particular. While the little coward is personable, I wouldn’t trust him further than I could throw him.
Hurley – Jorge Garcia
Very helpful, cheerful guy. His mention about needing to remove the bodies in the aircraft on day two was a good one. Very sweet to the pregnant gal.
Claire – Emilie de Ravin
She’s 8 months pregnant going on 12 months. What happened to those labor pains anyway? Also, she sounds Australian. Assuming that the plane was leaving Australia, where was she headed at this stage of her pregnancy?
Boone – Ian Somerhalder
and
Shannon – Maggie Grace
The lifeguard seems ditsy but good-natured and may end up
amounting to being a hero. On the other
hand, I think I figured out his reason for ditsy-ness…heavy sedatives
necessitated by his choice in girlfriends.
She is the ultimate in useless baggage.
Sayid – Naveen Andrews
Seems like he is intelligent and sensible. Willing to listen
to good directions, he is the kind of guy you want to have around.
Michael – Harold Perineau
and
Walt – Malcom David Kelley
Quiet. While they seem to stay together, there is a perceptible distance between the father and son. And, where is mom?
Sawyer – Josh Holloway
He smokes. He looks intense. Who IS this guy?
Locke – Terry O’Quinn
He eats oranges. He sits in the rain. He is just plain
weird. Who is THIS guy?
Jin – Daniel Dae Kim
and
Sun – Yunjin Kim
Why are these people so timid and standoffish from the
others? True, there is a language
barrier, but thus far, I have yet to see anyone treat anyone else poorly (save
for the lifeguard’s girlfriend.)
The Pilot – Greg Grunberg
RIP, you stupid idiot
The Dog
My guess, when all is said
and done, and the rescue teams finally show up, he will probably be the only
one left to greet them.
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