Hello, hello, my name is John Duran, and this is my debut column on InsidePulse. I look forward to reviewing many episodes of Lost, as this is the show that’s going to help me between these barren months where my other favorite shows, such as 24, The Dead Zone, and another J.J. Abrams creation in Alias are in-between seasons. It’s a pleasure to be recapping this for you, the reader, and hopefully you, the reader, are having a pleasure watching the show.
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Lost: Episode 1, Part 1
No opening credits, just one word: “LOST”.
A man opens his eyes and his pupils immediately contract. He’s staring up into the sky, which is currently blocked from view by a dense growth of tropical trees. The man (Matthew Fox, Party of Five) is lying on the ground, as he snaps his head over to the left to follow a noise, only to see a dog trot towards him. The dog does not stay long, however, and takes off running. He struggles to his feet, gasping with pain as he looks at the wound that is causing his pain. An inspection of his pocket reveals a convenient airline-sized bottle of alcohol. Seeing the many trees around him, he begins to take off through the thicket, passing by a single shoe hanging by its string without a second glance…and arriving on a beach. It should be noted that the man has very similar scars on either side of his face.
It’s not long before female screams are heard in the distance, and the man scuttles over, passing a roaring jet engine. He passes people on every side of him, most of them wailing and kneeling near injured bodies. Another jet engine is running as he reaches a large amount of wreckage, disorienting him as he tries to find the source of all of the cries for help. The man finally focuses on one of the many cries and runs towards a man begging for help, stuck under a rather large piece of airline debris. He gathers help and together, the group is able to lift the piece enough to get the injured man out from under it, revealing his severely injured right leg. The man uses his tie to cut off the blood flow to the leg and tells his helpers to get the injured man away from the engine.
Then his attention is drawn to an obviously pregnant woman. He rushes over to her, and she explains in her Australian accent that she’s having contractions and that she’s eight months pregnant. While this is happening, one of the survivors gets a little bit too close to the jet engine, and despite warnings from the other surviving passengers, the survivor becomes jet engine food. The engine explodes, erupting in a ball of fire and sending chunks of the engine towards the remaining survivors. The man tells the expecting mother that she’s going to be okay, and calls the attention of a husky man, looking very disoriented and very confused. He seems reluctant, but the husky man takes on his assignment of getting the woman away from the fumes. As the man runs off again, the husky one calls out, “Hey! What’s your name?”
“Jack,” and without asking what the husky man’s name is, Jack is off to tend to another survivor. This time, he tells a young man that he’s doing CPR incorrectly, and then proceeds to do it the Jack way, instead of the licensed lifeguard way. The young man suggests that they try the “stick the pen in the throat” trick, and Jack then sarcastically tells him to go find a pen. Well, it’s true. A very big plane just crashed, what are the odds of finding a pen? The young man doesn’t catch the sarcasm, however, and quickly goes off to ask around for a pen. No pen is necessary, however, as Jack saves the day again and the woman begins to breathe again.
A part of the wreck is beginning to fall off, however, and believe it or not, the husky man and the pregnant Aussie are right in the path of the fall. Jack is the Greatest American Hero, however, and he hurries them out of harm’s way as the part falls and there’s an even bigger explosion, that takes out another jet engine. A big piece of flaming wreckage JUST misses another survivor, as he calmly looks around without saying a word and then moves on. Jack reminds the husky man to stay with her, but this guy is fat–“I’m not going anywhere.”
Only seven minutes in, and Jack has managed to save four people. While he looks for more people to save, we finally get some credits. The young man returns with a fistful of pens, but he’s far too late. Instead of being a sarcastic bastard, Jack thanks him for the pens. He then starts rummaging through strewn luggage, and comes up with a sewing kit. He then takes a stroll to another part of the beach, away from the hellacious scene he just left and onto something…peaceful? Anyway, Jack removes his jacket as we get to see his own little gash. He removes the rest of his clothing and tries to reach his wound, but no sewing kit will get close to that. Fortunately, a very striking lady steps into the frame, and Jack calls for her attention and asks if she’s ever used a needle. Jack explains his dilemma: He’s a doctor, but he just can’t reach it. The lady isn’t so sure she can accomplish this job, but Jack instills some confidence in her, and she goes for it. Dr. Jack instructs her to use some of the alcohol from his airline-sized bottle on her hands, and she asks if he has a color preference for the type of string. Surely Dr. Jack would’ve slapped a bitch if he wasn’t wounded for a question that stupid, but he simply asks for the standard black, and uses the rest of the alcohol on his wound.
We cut to a stubble-covered man lighting up a cigarette, surveying the wreckage as the sun begins to go down. The pregnant woman stands near the waves, looking down at her belly which is insanely huge in proportion to her skinny body. The husky man gathers the surviving airline meals, and one of the men who helped pull the man out from under the debris sits on the beach. A Middle Eastern man puts wood onto one of the bonfires, and then enlists the help of Charlie (Dominic Monaghan, Lord of the Rings) to help with the fire, and Charlie tells Sayid that he’s on it.
While the woman sews up Dr. Jack’s back, she asks how he can manage to not be scared. Dr. Jack goes off on a rant, which is best described in summary: If you’re ever afraid, let the fear in. But only for five seconds.
Meanwhile, Charlie writes Fate onto his fingers by the fire with Sayid, and a young girl (seen earlier screaming among the carnage) paints her toenails. The licensed lifeguard comes up to her and offers her a candy bar, but the young girl disgustedly refuses. The young man suggests that she eats because they might be here for awhile, but the toenail girl must not know the name of the TV show and holds on to the hope that they’ll be found. “I’ll eat on the rescue boat,” she insists. Right.
The husky man comes up to the pregnant woman, checking in on her and giving her a meal. She says that she’s fine, but the husky man leaves an extra meal for the baby before he leaves. Bad move, man.
Night falls, and as Augustus from Oz lays with his son, a Korean couple speaks in subtitles. The man is stern with the woman, telling her that she may not leave his sight. Dr. Jack inspects another one of the wounded, this one unconscious with a healthy piece of plane sticking out of his side. Dr. Jack’s sewing machine wants to know if he’ll be alright, because he was sitting next to her. Dr. Jack gives no answer, of course. Back at the fire, he tries to act out the plane crash with a leaf-plane. Dr. Jack blacked out, but she saw the whole thing as the plane hit an air pocket and went down, down, down into a, as the late Johnny Cash would say, burning ring of fire. They agree to look for the cockpit together, which is back in the jungle where Dr. Jack woke up. The woman introduces herself as Kate, and then there’s a rumble in the jungle. This gets the attention of the survivors, as trees start falling down in the jungle.
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…and now, we’re on a plane. Flashback, as a scar-free Dr. Jack cons the flight attendant into giving him a couple of those airline-sized bottles of vodka. Jack goes to stand up, but Charlie blows past him, along with a batallion of flight attendants–perhaps Charlie’s been hitting the vodka a little bit too hard. The plane hits a speed bump as Jack sits back down and fastens his seatbelt, puts his head between his knees and–well, not yet. The woman that will later be resuscitated by Dr. Jack shares that she’s a bad flier, and that her husband is likely pissing on himself in the bathroom as the plane hits more turbulence. Dr. Jack vows to stay by this woman’s side until the husband returns. He isn’t even able to finish his sentence to reassure the woman that everything will be alright when everything goes to hell. The oxygen masks fall and the crash is imminent.
On the beach, day 2. A group of people stand around speculating who the monster is; fortunately James Hetfield wasn’t there to insert his opinion that it is “some kind of monster.” Dr. Jack and Kate agree to head out to find the cockpit, but before doing so, Kate makes sure to STEAL A DEAD WOMAN’S SHOES for the big hike. If the shoe fits… anyhow, the man who stared out into space on the beach gives her a smile full of orange peel, before chowing down on a piece that was so big that he shouldn’t have probably put it in his mouth in the first place.
The husky man suggests that they do something with the bodies, but tries to mask the word so as to not influence Augustus’ little one. Unfortunately, he spells bodies wrong (“B-O-D-Y-S”) and the kid corrects his spelling. The young girl insists that the bodies will be taken care of when “they” get here. Dr. Jack informs the group that they’re going to find the cockpit, and Charlie joins the gang. Dr. Jack leads the way through a valley on the way to the cockpit, as Kate realizes that she’s walking with rock royalty, as Charlie is the bass player for Driveshaft. Dr. Jack interrupts this conversation between the bass player and the Driveshaft fan, being a dick about it and forcing them to press on. The dog is watching them as they trudge along.
Rain arrives all of a sudden, and the survivors take cover under various chunks of the wreckage. The Korean couple has no vacancy, however. As the storm rages on, the monster lives and is knocking down more trees.
Dr. Jack, Kate, and Charlie arrive at the front of the plane, surrounded by more greenage. Dr. Jack keeps things moving, and continues on with his walking stick.
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…and now, we’re still at the front end of the plane. Dr. Jack and the band begin to climb up the front end of the plane, which landed at such a tilt that the cockpit is at the summit of a rather tall climb. The three carry on, however, as Charlie slips but is able to grab the leg of a dead first-class passenger to save himself. The cockpit door is locked because the terrorists hate our freedom, so Dr. Jack gets resourceful and uses an old trick from the J.J. Abrams playbook: “When in doubt, use fire extinguisher.” Dr. Jack whacks at the door handle about ten times, and finally gets it to open…as a very dead co-pilot falls out from behind the door. Irony is this co-pilot being saved by the dead man’s leg, too. Dr. Jack makes sure that his seamstress is okay, but doesn’t bother to check on Charlie, who was almost blindsided by the plummeting co-pilot.
Dr. Jack and Kate reach the cockpit, and begin rummaging around for the transceiver. Kate leans all the way over on the pilot, and then he awakens with a gasp. Dr. Jack talks with the pilot, telling him that it’s been sixteen hours since the crash and that nobody has come. The pilot then says that their radio went out six hours into the flight, and they tried to turn towards Fiji for an emergency landing, but they sure screwed that one up. By the time they crashed, they were a good 1000 miles away from…you know…the intended course. Fantastic. The rescue crews that will surely bring lots of non-chocolate goodness to any survivors are looking for crash survivor love in all the wrong places. Dr. Jack and Kate look dismayed, but the pilot, who’s been unconscious for the past sixteen hours is able to keep things going by reminding them that they’re looking for the transceiver. It’s found with ease, but it isn’t working. Kate looks for Charlie as he pops out of the bathroom. Kate has no time for interrogation, however, because this monster lives! The monster rumbles around the outside of the plane, and the pilot leaves the window for a closer look. The pilot — who plays Agent Weiss on J.J. Abrams’ Alias — meets his doom, however, as the monster yanks him out of the plane and splatters his fresh Soylent Green juice on the window. It’s people, you know. The monster then proceeds to rock the plane so hard that it knocks the plane down to a flat angle. Dr. Jack scrambles for the transceiver and grabs it as they escape. They run through the jungle, but Charlie takes a trip and Kate will see him next fall as Dr. Jack is the only one who turns back to help the Driveshaft bass player.
Kate ends up alone, and with fear in her eyes and trees surrounding her, she starts to count to five. Hey, that rant was worth something after all.
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…and now, Kate has already counted to 300. Yeah, she let the fear in for five seconds, and yet she stays still, holding on to the bamboo as if she is imprisoned in it. Kate hears noises as Charlie sneaks up behind her and scares her into mounting Charlie and pushing him into the mud. How’s that for a reaction? Charlie doesn’t know where Dr. Jack is, they got separated after Dr. Jack saved the day. The rain suddenly stops and Kate decides to go back for Dr. Jack, and Charlie reluctantly follows, obviously looking for another bathroom break after being straddled by Kate.
Kate and Charlie come upon pilot wings in the mud, and they see an odd shape in the puddle. Charlie asks what it is, and Dr. Jack emerges from who-cares-where and explains that it’s the pilot. Yes, this is part one. Guffaw guffaw guffaw. Charlie keeps Dr. Jack and Kate from making love under the dead pilot by asking how something like the dead pilot happens.
The final shot leaves us with what the dead pilot looks like, seemingly gnawed on but not ingested by the monster. Perhaps the monster is the toenail girl and she thought the pilot was chocolate.
End show! Roll credits! Part 2 is imminent!
Parting Thoughts:
This was a great pilot episode, and an episode that would get anyone hooked on this show. The premise is interesting, the monster is intriguing, and the characters are just awesome. A good portion of the cast are not very well known names, but they should be recognized for their great work here. This is a breath of fresh air for me, as I’m suffering from withdrawl as 24, Alias, and the Dead Zone are in-between seasons. Lost is already a new favorite show of mine; I can’t find a single fault in this episode, as it built nicely into the second part of the pilot episode. Let the speculation begin on all of the subplots. Thankfully, this show pulled in buku ratings, so J.J. Abrams won’t have to cry at night for this show hitting the bricks…yet. I recommend this to anyone who is tired of reality shows but still likes to see beautiful people on a beautiful island with a beautiful concept.
