Episode Title: "Pilot"
Writers: Jeffrey Lieber, J. J. Abrams & Damon Lindelof
Director: J. J. Abrams
Story:
Dr. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox) opens his eyes and finds himself in the middle of a jungle. He quickly discovers that he and several others have survived a horrific plane crash on a tropical island. In the intimidate aftermath of the crash, Jack uses CPR to revive Rose Nadler (L. Scott Caldwell), helps a pregnant woman named Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin) and frees a man trapped under the wreckage. Later, when tending to his own injuries, he enlists the help of fellow survivor, Kate Austen (Evangeline Lilly).
On their first night on the island, the survivors are frightened by otherworldly noises coming from the jungle as an unseen monster knocks down trees. The following day, Jack, Kate and Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan) set out to locate the cockpit of the plane. Upon finding the pilot, Jack and Kate learn that the plane was 1,000 miles off course before crashing. The pilot is killed by the still unseen monster, but the trio manage to escape with the plane's transceiver.
Meanwhile, back at the beach, Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) — the ten year-old son of Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau) — discovers a pair of handcuffs, leading Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) to accuse each other of being a prisoner on the flight. The confrontation is broken up by Jack and Kate, who ask for Sayid's help in repairing the transceiver.
While trying to get a signal for the transceiver, Kate, Sayid, Sawyer, Charlie and two other survivors attempt to climb a nearby mountain. However, they are soon attacked by a polar bear, which is subsequently killed by Sawyer with a handgun. When questioned about how he got the weapon, Sawyer claims that he stole it from a dead Air Marshal. Back at the beach, Jack treats the injured (but not yet dead) Air Marshal, who wakes up and demands to know where Kate — his prisoner — is.
On the mountain top, the group of survivors are shocked to discover another signal blocking their own — a distress call that has been unanswered for 16 years.
Breakdown:
Now that the final episode of "Lost" has aired, it's interesting to look back at the first episode for signs that the creators knew where they were leading us.
For example, we now know the significance of where Jack initially landed on the island. And we know he will ultimately return there to meet his fate.
But from the very opening moments, Jack was positioned to be the main character throughout the series. We've come to take Matthew Fox for granted as Jack, but he's very good in the role, especially here. Henceforth, he shall be known as "the most successful dude from 'Party of Five.'"
The direction of this episode was also top notch, courtesy of J. J. Abrams. Despite being a co-creator of the series, this was the only episode of "Lost" that Abrams ever directed — but it's easily one of the best of the series. The budget for this episode was supposedly around $12 million — which is extremely high as far as TV goes — but even six years later it holds up well even against most feature films. The first scenes at the beach in the aftermath of the crash are particularly impressive.
One of the masterstrokes that the creators of "Lost" put in this episode was the introduction of the "monster" (or "Smokey," as fans like to call him). From our current perspective, we know that Smokey goes on to become the main villain of the series. But the monster is much more terrifying here when we can't see anything. Our collective imagination fills in the gap. The only aspects of the monster used here are several trees crashing to the ground and the strange sounds it makes as it thrashes through the jungle.
It's also interesting to note that the first episode also seems to place Jack, Kate and Charlie as the three main characters. They each get more screentime than the rest of the cast and they also appear in the first three flashbacks within the series. While Jack and Kate remain important all the way through to the end of the series, Charlie turned out to not be as important as originally thought. By comparison, Sawyer, Sayid and John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) barely have anything to do in this episode.
While Locke only has one scene in this episode in which he speaks, his conversation with Walt on the beach about Backgammon has turned out to be a metaphor for the entire series. Locke explained that Backgammon is the "oldest game in the world" and dealt with light and dark forces on opposing sides under a set of specific rules. Locke's spiritual connection to the island is also hinted at by his silent euphoria in the rain while the other survivors seek shelter.
There is also a moment that hints at Sawyer's depth of character. When Sawyer reads the letter — that we later learn he wrote to the conman who caused the death of his parents — the anguish on his face is unmistakable.
The characters on "Lost" also changed drastically over the course of the series, particularly Jin (Daniel Dae Kim) and Sun Kwon (Yunjin Kim). The strain in their relationship is apparent from the get-go, as is Sun's quiet defiance of Jin by unbuttoning her shirt, another image that we saw repeated throughout the series. At the time, I thought that Michael (Harold Perrineau) and Sun would have an affair at some point, given their interaction here.
It was also kind of surprising to see Kate and Shannon (Maggie Grace) wearing bikinis kind of randomly during the episode. This is something that "Lost" used to do more often in the first season, but seemed to have gone away from in subsequent seasons as the show became more reliant on the mythology of the series. I do remember one of the original advertisements of "Lost" on ABC kept re-airing the shot of Evangeline Lilly's Kate in her underwear/bikini with the slogan "what if you went on vacation... but couldn't leave?"
Looking back, that was probably a really effective campaign. The ratings for "Lost" were never higher than in the first two seasons.
One of the first fan theories about the nature of "Lost" was that the survivors had actually died in the crash and that the island itself was purgatory. While we now know that wasn't the case, you have to wonder if those theories ultimately led to some of the creative choices seen in the final season.
Still, this is a remarkably well-made episode of a series that will be remembered as one of the best sci-fi shows on television.
Crave Online Rating: 9.5 out of 10
