First to Last is a biweekly column where the pilot episode and series finale of a TV show are examined. But there’s a catch—the author has never seen a single episode of the show before viewing these two episodes! This week’s show: Lost.
I remember Lost being a big deal when it came out. I never bothered to watch it because at the time I was 16 and had just discovered punk rock and pot, but I understood it to be a show with a lot of mysteries and cliffhangers. Later on I remember hearing that the finale was disappointing, and that as a whole the show raised many more questions than it ever answered. Let’s see if, perhaps, the series finale is able to answer the questions posed by the premier episode.
The opening shot of 2004’s “Pilot” is of a man in a suit waking up in the middle of a forest. He begins making his way out, and the camera focuses on a pair of white shoes hanging from a tree. I assume they will be important at some point. The man, who we will come to know as Jack, finally arrives at an ocean. Based on his facial expression, he is likely thinking “oh, fuck.” There is wreckage from a plane, and several other people, who are all clearly thinking “oh, fuck.” Jack begins helping people who are hurt and/or trapped under plane parts. We are shown a pregnant woman who picked, just, the worst time to be having contractions. But before we even get a chance to worry about that, an engine blows up, and we cut to commercial. Oh, fuck.
Moments into the show and I’m already screaming “WHAT’S GONNA HAPPEN?!”
By this point it is clear that Jack is the protagonist of the show, mostly because he was the first person we saw and this is network TV. We meet a few other characters as well. One of them is Boone, who says that he is a lifeguard. Moments later Jack reveals that he is a doctor, so I assume these two will spend some time as rivals. Charlie, seemingly meant to be the heel of the show, is a jackass who thinks he’s a bad ass. When he is first shown, he is smoking a cigarette, which is enough to let the audience watching at home know that they should be thinking “Look out, we got a bad ass over here!” We are repeatedly shown an interesting bald man who is contemplatively sitting on the shore, staring into the ocean: John Locke. I think he is going to be important. He is shown lecturing a boy on the forces of white and black. I think he’s talking about good versus evil, but the child he’s speaking with happens to be black, so maybe he’s just an old racist?
There’s also a Korean couple and a black father and his previously mentioned son, none of whom do much of importance considering how much screen time they are given in the episode. It seems like ABC was going out of their way to show that they had a racially diverse cast.
Anyway, as the stranded explore the island, some discover a radio transmission, which they deduce has been playing on a loop for 16 years. It seems interesting, but then there’s also mysterious creatures running around, emitting blood curdling shrieks and stealing people, so that’s a bit more pertinent. Also at one point a polar bear attacks the group, and while I’m sure polar bear attacks are scary, the mystery creatures seem more concerning.
All in all, the first episode was really cool. There is an appropriate amount of twists and turns, it raised a few questions (as the first episode of any show should) and I’m genuinely curious about what happens next.
Okay, so, here are all of the questions posed by Lost’s premier:
Where are they?
What are those creatures? (They were attacked by a polar bear, but I still think there’s something more monstrous.)