Monster ate the Pilot (reprise)
Episode 1x2: Pilot pt. 2
Directed by: JJ Abrams
Written by: JJ Abrams, Damon Lindeloff, and Jeffrey Lieber
Airdate: 9-29-04
Summary: Plane crash survivors deal with being on a weirdo island. And there's a polar bear.
Centric: Kate/Charlie
Review:
Something that I never really noticed until today, while the first episode is mostly action and an introduction to Jack as the main character, the second half the pilot sets up the plot of the series and does a pretty good job of setting up everyone else. It's definitely more character driven, which Lost always strived to be, and is a nice balance to the first half. I'm still under the belief that this two-parter, which was originally meant to be one but ended up being broken up over two weeks, has got to be one of the best television pilots in history. It's pacing, cinematography, plot, and characterization is absolutely excellent. I'm not sure I can say enough praise about this opening--it's movie like in quality and very grabbing, which is great for television. No matter where Lost meandered afterwards, it still started with a bang.
I have to give the writers a lot of credit for having a cast so big. Almost all shows, and Lost does have this happen to it to a degree, get bogged down with a heavy cast. Looking back, I'm still surprised that they did have a great deal of balance early on.
While the main plot is essentially a group going to see if the transceiver works, it's really about these people trying to cope with the trauma they just experienced--
So, let's start with Jack. It's going to be a while before Jack really lets it sink it what's going on and what happened. He's still very much in leader/survivor/doctor mode. It's interesting he doesn't get a lot of screen time, since he is the main character of the entire show, but I think it's great that the writers decide to have him step back so that the other characters don't seemed stifled by his presence. His main concern in this episode is saving the Marshall--whom we'll learn more about in the next episode, so I'll let that be for now. But really, all he does in this episode is his doctor thing--which may be one of the few times we don't see him trying to take control of everything.
Alright, so people who did not go on the hike-
Well, there's Hurley, who is quickly making his place as the comic relief. I've always loved Hurley, even from the beginning. He is the true everyday man of the story. He is the audience, something that would come in handy to the writers later.
There's Sun and Jin, who demonstrate that they have marital issues. I've always had a love/hate relationship with these two. I love the fact that Lost went out on a limb and showed characters of different races/nationalities, and even went to go so far as making them speak only in Korean. That was always a joy to watch. I'm not sure if they ever had any real purpose, though, except being true b-characters. Anyway, this early on, Jin is kinda a jerk and Sun is repressed. It is a nice touch, though, to add to the complexity of the characters, that Jin is the only one that's being practical and fishing for everyone who's crashed.
Claire still hasn't done much but at least her baby is fine and it's a cute scene when she feels her baby kick and has a bewildered Jin touch her stomach.
Michael starts his infamous Walt calling this early on. Yeah, yeah, there's definitely a father/son issue thing going on here, but knowing where it goes, I find it one of the more annoying aspects of the show at this early stage, right above Boone and Shannon.
And then there's Locke, who just sits and takes it in. Really, his character doesn't change that much, while everyone else's character evolves around him. He plays backgammon with Walt and gives us our first light vs. dark reference. Now, do I think that the writers figured out this early about Jacob and Smokey and the good vs. evil of the story? No, I'm not naive. I think the only thing they knew was that the ultimate story would revolve around light vs. dark--and this was a way to set it up.
Alright, so meanwhile, there's a group going through the jungle to get a signal for the transceiver. I'm not convinced that it takes that many people to go on such a hike, but it's nice character development. Kate and Charlie I'll get to in their flashbacks. Boone and Shannon still have no redeeming qualities and I'm not surprised that they were the first ones killed off because there was never any depth to their characters. They were annoying spoiled brats, whom once dealt with what petty issues they had, really had no more purpose on the island. Anyway, it was nice, though, to let Shannon be the one to figure out the French transmission.
Sayid and Sawyer are both layered and complex characters, which ultimately make them more interesting. First of all, I love that there's an Arab character. It's nice to see one, especially since this came out not long after 9/11, portrayed as a hero. Sawyer is a southern jackass. I used to hate Sawyer back in the day. I love the character now and so I can appreciate his growth in the earlier seasons, but man I hated him back then. Anyway, they both still have a lot of mystery to them, which was appealing, unlike Boone and Shannon, whom you pretty much guess all you need to know about them in the first five minutes of meeting them.
There are two scenes this episode that have always stuck out to me. The first one being the polar bear sequence. Not only is it funny, it's a complete WTF?? moment that Lost was often good at. The mystery of the polar bear was one of the things that intrigued me to the series.
The other scene is the last one, where they get the creepy French transmission. It was a scene that set up that Lost wasn't just going to be about a bunch of survivors--there would be a deep mystery involved. I have to admit, when I first saw that scene, it gave me chills--literally, it freaked me out. But I was also hooked. After the first episode, I figured I'd give it a few episodes decide if I really wanted to continue, but man, that last scene really made me hold on.
Flashbacks:
Alright, as usual, the flashbacks help define the characters. Charlie has a FB first, and basically shows how he's so drug addicted, that even when the plane is crashing, he still needs his fix. This, of course, makes the character seem much more pathetic, but the hobbit is charming enough that there's sympathy to be felt. It's a bit of a cliche, the drug addicted rock star, and I'm glad they cast Dom in the role because if they had stuck to their plan, the rock star being an aging, washed out star, then I don't think it would have worked all that well.
The other flashback belongs to Kate and establishes that she is some sort of criminal. I remember being intrigued by the idea of a criminal on the loose, set up by the handcuffs, though in hindsight, I find it slightly hard to believe that Kate is all that dangerous---even if she did blow up her dad. Anyway, we don't learn much about her, which elevates her character to mysterious as well. Unfortunately, as time goes on, the more we learn about Kate, the less interesting she becomes.
The Little Things:
*I enjoy the quiet moment of Sayid and Hurley bonding over their dislike of Sawyer. We don't get to see much of them together in this show
*It's weird, in the beginning, I wonder if there was going to be some weird love triangle between Jack-Sayid-Kate. It's definitely there in the first few episodes. What else is quite apparent is the chemistry between Josh Holloway and Evangeline Lilly, which I don't think was ever scripted. I'm not a shipper by any means, but it definitely jumped out on screen and I'm sure it took the writers by surprise.
*It's interesting to me that Kate feels that she needs to tell Jack before she does anything. It's kinda metaphor for how their relationship will be.
*Walt finds a Spanish comic book. It doesn't mean anything, but there's a nice bit of continuity with it later.
*I love that Hurley says 'dude' all the time.
*There's a moment early on where Kate is cleaning herself. While it's an obvious excuse to get Lilly into her underwear, I think it is interesting that Sun comes to talk to her. It's a nice contrast of how repressed Sun is at the time, having to stay all buttoned up.
*If the whole transmission is in French, why are the iteration numbers in English?
*Charlie's last line, 'guys where are we', has been the single most overused line in the course of the show. Every promo anywhere, used to describe Lost, has used that line.
*I should really add that the music score and the on location shooting just adds to the awesome atmosphere of the show, not specifically in this episode but in all episodes.
Favorite Quotes:
SHANNON: My brother. Boone. God's friggin' gift to humanity.
BOONE: That can't be a polar bear.
SAYID and KATE: [at the same time] It's a polar bear.
SHANNON: Yeah, but... Polar bears don't usually live in the jungle.
CHARLIE: Spot on.
SAYID: No, polar bears don't live near this far south.
BOONE: This one does.
SAWYER: Did. It did.
KATE: [to Sawyer] Where did that come from?
SAWYER: Probably Bear Village. How the hell do I know?
KATE: Not the bear. The gun.
Unanswered Questions:
You know, a lot of people ask about the polar bear and it's purpose. I think it's quite spelled out as to why the polar bear is there. The real question is, why are they still there? I mean, polar bears don't live to be THAT old, and it's been a good, what, thirty years since Dharma did their experiments. So did The Others breed them and keep them alive? I wouldn't put it past Ben. I don't really care to know or not know the answer to this one, though.
Grade: A It's a nice balance to the first half of the pilot. The characters are defined a little more and some downright creepy moments make this episode stand out. Truly a masterpiece.
Trivia:
*JJ Abrams won an Emmy for the pilot.
*Characters created after pilot script was written--Jin, Sun, Hurley. Jack, Kate, and Charlie's characters were changed.
Lostpedia 1x2
Directed by: JJ Abrams
Written by: JJ Abrams, Damon Lindeloff, and Jeffrey Lieber
Airdate: 9-29-04
Summary: Plane crash survivors deal with being on a weirdo island. And there's a polar bear.
Centric: Kate/Charlie
Review:
Something that I never really noticed until today, while the first episode is mostly action and an introduction to Jack as the main character, the second half the pilot sets up the plot of the series and does a pretty good job of setting up everyone else. It's definitely more character driven, which Lost always strived to be, and is a nice balance to the first half. I'm still under the belief that this two-parter, which was originally meant to be one but ended up being broken up over two weeks, has got to be one of the best television pilots in history. It's pacing, cinematography, plot, and characterization is absolutely excellent. I'm not sure I can say enough praise about this opening--it's movie like in quality and very grabbing, which is great for television. No matter where Lost meandered afterwards, it still started with a bang.
I have to give the writers a lot of credit for having a cast so big. Almost all shows, and Lost does have this happen to it to a degree, get bogged down with a heavy cast. Looking back, I'm still surprised that they did have a great deal of balance early on.
While the main plot is essentially a group going to see if the transceiver works, it's really about these people trying to cope with the trauma they just experienced--
So, let's start with Jack. It's going to be a while before Jack really lets it sink it what's going on and what happened. He's still very much in leader/survivor/doctor mode. It's interesting he doesn't get a lot of screen time, since he is the main character of the entire show, but I think it's great that the writers decide to have him step back so that the other characters don't seemed stifled by his presence. His main concern in this episode is saving the Marshall--whom we'll learn more about in the next episode, so I'll let that be for now. But really, all he does in this episode is his doctor thing--which may be one of the few times we don't see him trying to take control of everything.
Alright, so people who did not go on the hike-
Well, there's Hurley, who is quickly making his place as the comic relief. I've always loved Hurley, even from the beginning. He is the true everyday man of the story. He is the audience, something that would come in handy to the writers later.
There's Sun and Jin, who demonstrate that they have marital issues. I've always had a love/hate relationship with these two. I love the fact that Lost went out on a limb and showed characters of different races/nationalities, and even went to go so far as making them speak only in Korean. That was always a joy to watch. I'm not sure if they ever had any real purpose, though, except being true b-characters. Anyway, this early on, Jin is kinda a jerk and Sun is repressed. It is a nice touch, though, to add to the complexity of the characters, that Jin is the only one that's being practical and fishing for everyone who's crashed.
Claire still hasn't done much but at least her baby is fine and it's a cute scene when she feels her baby kick and has a bewildered Jin touch her stomach.
Michael starts his infamous Walt calling this early on. Yeah, yeah, there's definitely a father/son issue thing going on here, but knowing where it goes, I find it one of the more annoying aspects of the show at this early stage, right above Boone and Shannon.
And then there's Locke, who just sits and takes it in. Really, his character doesn't change that much, while everyone else's character evolves around him. He plays backgammon with Walt and gives us our first light vs. dark reference. Now, do I think that the writers figured out this early about Jacob and Smokey and the good vs. evil of the story? No, I'm not naive. I think the only thing they knew was that the ultimate story would revolve around light vs. dark--and this was a way to set it up.
Alright, so meanwhile, there's a group going through the jungle to get a signal for the transceiver. I'm not convinced that it takes that many people to go on such a hike, but it's nice character development. Kate and Charlie I'll get to in their flashbacks. Boone and Shannon still have no redeeming qualities and I'm not surprised that they were the first ones killed off because there was never any depth to their characters. They were annoying spoiled brats, whom once dealt with what petty issues they had, really had no more purpose on the island. Anyway, it was nice, though, to let Shannon be the one to figure out the French transmission.
Sayid and Sawyer are both layered and complex characters, which ultimately make them more interesting. First of all, I love that there's an Arab character. It's nice to see one, especially since this came out not long after 9/11, portrayed as a hero. Sawyer is a southern jackass. I used to hate Sawyer back in the day. I love the character now and so I can appreciate his growth in the earlier seasons, but man I hated him back then. Anyway, they both still have a lot of mystery to them, which was appealing, unlike Boone and Shannon, whom you pretty much guess all you need to know about them in the first five minutes of meeting them.
There are two scenes this episode that have always stuck out to me. The first one being the polar bear sequence. Not only is it funny, it's a complete WTF?? moment that Lost was often good at. The mystery of the polar bear was one of the things that intrigued me to the series.
The other scene is the last one, where they get the creepy French transmission. It was a scene that set up that Lost wasn't just going to be about a bunch of survivors--there would be a deep mystery involved. I have to admit, when I first saw that scene, it gave me chills--literally, it freaked me out. But I was also hooked. After the first episode, I figured I'd give it a few episodes decide if I really wanted to continue, but man, that last scene really made me hold on.
Flashbacks:
Alright, as usual, the flashbacks help define the characters. Charlie has a FB first, and basically shows how he's so drug addicted, that even when the plane is crashing, he still needs his fix. This, of course, makes the character seem much more pathetic, but the hobbit is charming enough that there's sympathy to be felt. It's a bit of a cliche, the drug addicted rock star, and I'm glad they cast Dom in the role because if they had stuck to their plan, the rock star being an aging, washed out star, then I don't think it would have worked all that well.
The other flashback belongs to Kate and establishes that she is some sort of criminal. I remember being intrigued by the idea of a criminal on the loose, set up by the handcuffs, though in hindsight, I find it slightly hard to believe that Kate is all that dangerous---even if she did blow up her dad. Anyway, we don't learn much about her, which elevates her character to mysterious as well. Unfortunately, as time goes on, the more we learn about Kate, the less interesting she becomes.
The Little Things:
*I enjoy the quiet moment of Sayid and Hurley bonding over their dislike of Sawyer. We don't get to see much of them together in this show
*It's weird, in the beginning, I wonder if there was going to be some weird love triangle between Jack-Sayid-Kate. It's definitely there in the first few episodes. What else is quite apparent is the chemistry between Josh Holloway and Evangeline Lilly, which I don't think was ever scripted. I'm not a shipper by any means, but it definitely jumped out on screen and I'm sure it took the writers by surprise.
*It's interesting to me that Kate feels that she needs to tell Jack before she does anything. It's kinda metaphor for how their relationship will be.
*Walt finds a Spanish comic book. It doesn't mean anything, but there's a nice bit of continuity with it later.
*I love that Hurley says 'dude' all the time.
*There's a moment early on where Kate is cleaning herself. While it's an obvious excuse to get Lilly into her underwear, I think it is interesting that Sun comes to talk to her. It's a nice contrast of how repressed Sun is at the time, having to stay all buttoned up.
*If the whole transmission is in French, why are the iteration numbers in English?
*Charlie's last line, 'guys where are we', has been the single most overused line in the course of the show. Every promo anywhere, used to describe Lost, has used that line.
*I should really add that the music score and the on location shooting just adds to the awesome atmosphere of the show, not specifically in this episode but in all episodes.
Favorite Quotes:
SHANNON: My brother. Boone. God's friggin' gift to humanity.
BOONE: That can't be a polar bear.
SAYID and KATE: [at the same time] It's a polar bear.
SHANNON: Yeah, but... Polar bears don't usually live in the jungle.
CHARLIE: Spot on.
SAYID: No, polar bears don't live near this far south.
BOONE: This one does.
SAWYER: Did. It did.
KATE: [to Sawyer] Where did that come from?
SAWYER: Probably Bear Village. How the hell do I know?
KATE: Not the bear. The gun.
Unanswered Questions:
You know, a lot of people ask about the polar bear and it's purpose. I think it's quite spelled out as to why the polar bear is there. The real question is, why are they still there? I mean, polar bears don't live to be THAT old, and it's been a good, what, thirty years since Dharma did their experiments. So did The Others breed them and keep them alive? I wouldn't put it past Ben. I don't really care to know or not know the answer to this one, though.
Grade: A It's a nice balance to the first half of the pilot. The characters are defined a little more and some downright creepy moments make this episode stand out. Truly a masterpiece.
Trivia:
*JJ Abrams won an Emmy for the pilot.
*Characters created after pilot script was written--Jin, Sun, Hurley. Jack, Kate, and Charlie's characters were changed.
Lostpedia 1x2
Labels: lost
posted by spaceorphan @ 10:57 AM
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