The Great American LOST Re-Watch: 01. Pilot
“What are you spellin’ man, ‘bodies’?”
As much as there is so much to kind of marvel at in the pilot episode of Lost, and so much to think about with hindsight (what was going on with the tail section that day, in New Otherton that day, at the Hatch that day, even in Jacob’s little Statue House and Un-Locke in his cabin that day) that thing that stuck with me the most rewatching was stuff like Michael’s brilliant reading of the aforementioned line, and so many other great little character moments.
It’s easy to forget, for example, what a great presence Boone and Shannon were in the early days. Two hapless privilegites caught up in all these acts of heroism, their struggles in the early days make their eventual Total Murders quite tragic. Neither of them are really able to perform truly transcendent acts of heroism, but even in those early days, it never stopped them from trying. Sad, really.
Out of all the characters introduced, along with the pathos they’ll be wearing around their necks for the next five seasons (addiction, guilt, etc), I found Kate’s to be the most convincing. I’ve always been a sucker for her story. The idea of someone who’s spent their entire life running from something being trapped on an island where there’s nowhere to run to has always resonated with me for some reason. It’s never been as baldfaced a character arc as Sawyer’s obsession with the man who killed his parents, or Jack’s attempts to make his dad proud, or Charlie kicking Lik-M-Aid Heroin (seriously, you couldn’t just cut to outside the bathroom and edit in a snorting aound?). It’s the perfect thread to have going through a show where most of the characters spend all their time running through the jungle in circles (which, wow, now that I think about it, is pretty much what they’ve now been doing all along, time-wise. Even better!). It’s also great to watch, even if it wasn’t intentional (I’m not sure Evangeline Lilly knew when filming the Pilot that months later she’d be shooting the bank robbery episode where she deftly shoots her partner in crime), Kate’s spectacular stumbly fake-out when dismantling the gun. It shows how deeply concerned she was about giving off even a whiff of Fugitive and goes a long way for explaining a long line of character action, all the way from her Sun manipulation later this season to her deal with Miles three seasons after that.
Her exchange with Jack at the beach, about to stich him up, is still one of my favorites. (Even after that clunky-ass story from Jack about his surgery. Seriously. ’Angel hair pasta’? Ugh.)
Kate: If that’d been me, I would have run for the door.
Jack: No, I don’t think that’s true. You’re not running now.
But of course, the main reason to undertake this massive re-watch is to consider all the other crazy shit that’s happening on the island at the same time. One of the best things about Lost is that it’s production values (even with probably the most expensive Pilot of all time) have remained consistent through all of its seasons. This makes it easy to imagine Desmond flipping his shit in the Hatch at the same time Hurley is handing out Airplane food, or Juliet working on another batch of muffins as Sawyer and Sayid kick the shit out of each other.
What’s also really impressive, in hindsight, is how well they introduced the perfect amounts of strangeness and danger in this first episode. The polar bear, the monster, the distress call. It’s all completely bizarre and scary but never overwhelmingly so. It’s a challenge set out to the 48 survivors, not a death sentence. It’s also compulsively intriguing. Even knowing so many answers, watching it again you’re still deeply concerned for these plucky Lostaways, and free from so much wondering, you can appreciate so many more little moments (like Michael’s great line) that make up all the bigger ones.
(Oh and one last thing, forget the eventual monster-sized DVD collection, I want a 70 disc set of every piece of Michael Giacchino’s incredible score to the show. The fact that the theme from when the rain starts to when Jack, Kate, and Charlie arrive at the cockpit isn’t on disc somewhere is complete lunacy.)
The Great American LOST Re-Watch Calendars!
Industrious NeoGaffer SpeedingUpToStop has created these truly incredible Calendars to guide you through this exciting and incredible journey. The most recent versions are always at these links:
Thanks, Joe!
The Great American LOST Re-Watch Starts NOW
Now that the Season Finale has pretty much tied the entire series before together in a nice bow, I decided to fill the enormous gap of time between now and the (approximate) Season Six premier by watching every single episode of the show. Like thusly:
May 15: “Pilot”
May 19: “Tabula Rasa”
May 21: “Walkabout”
May 24: “White Rabbit”
May 26: “House Of The Rising Sun”
May 29:. “The Moth”
May 31: “Confidence Man”
June 3: “Solitary”
June 5: “Raised By Another”
June 8: “All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues”
June 10: “Whatever The Case May Be”
June 13: “Hearts And Minds”
June 15: “Special”
June 18: “Homecoming”
June 20: “Outlaws”
June 23: “…In Translation”
June 25: “Numbers”
June 28: “Deus Ex Machina”
June 30: “Do No Harm”
July 3: “The Greater Good”
July 5: “Born To Run”
July 8: “Exodus”
July 11: “Man Of Science, Man Of Faith”
July 14: “Adrift”
July 16: “Orientation”
July 19: “Everybody Hates Hugo”
July 21: “…And Found”
July 24: “Abandoned”
July 26: “The Other 48 Days”
July 29: “Collision”
July 31: “What Kate Did”
August 3: “The 23rd Psalm”
August 5: “The Hunting Party”
August 8: “Fire + Water”
August 10: “The Long Con”
August 13: “One Of Them”
August 15: “Maternity Leave”
August 18: “The Whole Truth”
August 20: “Lockdown”
August 23: “Dave”
August 25: “S.O.S.”
August 28: “Two For The Road”
August 30: “?”
September 2: “Three Minutes”
September 4: “Live Together, Die Alone”
September 8: “A Tale Of Two Cities”
September 10: “The Glass Ballerina”
September 13: “Further Instructions”
September 15: “Every Man For Himself”
September 18: “The Cost Of Living”
September 20: “I Do”
September 23: “Not In Portland”
September 25: “Flashes Before Your Eyes”
September 28: “Stranger In A Strange Land”
September 30: “Tricia Tanaka Is Dead”
October 3: “Enter 77″
October 5: “Par Avion”
October 8: “The Man From Tallahassee”
October 10: “Expose”
October 13: “Left Behind”
October 15: “One Of Us”
October 18: “Catch-22″
October 20: “D.O.C.”
October 23: “The Brig”
October 25: “The Man Behind The Curtain”
October 27: “Greatest Hits”
October 29: “Through The Looking Glass”
November 2: Missing Pieces
November 4: “The Beginning Of The End”
November 7: “Confirmed Dead”
November 9: “The Economist”
November 12: “Eggtown”
November 14: “The Constant”
November 17: “The Other Woman”
November 19: “Ji Yeon”
November 22: “Meet Kevin Johnson”
November 24: “The Shape Of Things To Come”
November 27: “Something Nice Back Home”
November 29: “Cabin Fever”
December 2: “There’s No Place Like Home”
December 5: “Because You Left”
December 8: “The Lie”
December 10: “Jughead”
December 13: “The Little Prince”
December 15: “This Place Is Death”
December 18: “316″
December 20: “The Life And Death of Jeremy Bentham”
December 24: “LaFleur”
December 26: “Namaste”
December 29: “He’s Our You”
December 31: “Whatever Happened, Happened”
January 3: “Dead Is Dead”
January 5: “Some Like It Hoth”
January 7: “The Variable”
January 9: “Follow The Leader”
January 12: “The Incident”
Hopefully I’ll do at least a small write up on each episode as I go. Either way, though, I hope you’ll join me.
-
Benjamin Birdie
Suddenly kind of aged, Benjamin lives in Queens with his cat. His Master's Degree in Creative Writing has helped him immensely with his primary responsibilities of drawing things.
He can be reached at benjaminbirdie (at) gmail (dot) com.
And do feel free to follow him on Twitter.
-
His Comics
Every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, this charming comic strip by myself and Kevin Church receives a sparkling new installment. A Comic Strip About A Comic Shop.