Lost: Season 1 Episode 2 "Pilot, Part 2" Review

"Guys, where are we?"

-Charlie Pace

The second part of the Pilot of Lost begins with Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) returning from their hike to the cockpit with the transceiver in hand.  They return to find Sayid (Naveen Andrews) and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) in a fist-fight after Sawyer accused Sayid of being a terrorist and crashing the plane.  Michael (Harold Perrineau) also reveals his son, Walt (Malcolm David Kelly), found a set of handcuffs in the jungle.

Kate recruits Sayid, who was a communications officer for the Iraqi Republican Guard, to fix the transceiver.  He does, but tells her he is unable to transmit a message unless they go up into the mountains.  Kate and Sayid set off, but are joined by Shannon (Maggie Grace), who wants to prove to her brother, Boone (Ian Somerhalder), that she isn't worthless.  Boone decides to join them as well, as does Charlie and Sawyer.

They climb the mountains, but are attacked by a polar bear, which Sawyer shoots and kills.  He tells them there was a U.S. Marshall on the plane and he took the Marshall's badge and gun.  Sayid accuses Sawyer of being the on who was in the handcuffs.  Before the argument can escalate, Kate steals the gun and dismantles it.  Later, Sayid tries the transceiver and picks up a signal.  They are unable to transmit because another signal is already transmitting.  Sayid picks it up and thanks to Shannon's understanding of French and Sayid's quick arithmetic, they learn a French woman made a transmission about being alone one the island because something killed everyone else and that the message has been playing for 16 years.

Back at the beach, Jack is working on saving the life of a man (Fredric Lane) with shrapnel in his chest.  Mid-surgery, the man wakes up and asks, "Where is she?"

In flashbacks, we learn Charlie was getting high on heroin in the bathroom when the plane crash and the whole reason he went on the expedition to the cockpit was to retrieve his drugs.  We also learn Kate was the prisoner of the U.S. Marshall, who is the man with the shrapnel in his chest.  He was knocked unconscious when the plane crashed and she saved his life by putting an oxygen mask around his mouth, after getting her handcuffs off of course.

What Works:

The transceiver mission gives us a few really fun moments.  Not only do we have the shocking revelation that there are polar bears on the island, but we get a gun thrown into the mix.  Sawyer's take down of the bear is one of the most badass things ever seen on this show and the whole sequence is extremely memorable.

We also get the fantastically directed sequence where the castaways are listening to the French transmission.  There is a ton going on in this scene with six different characters clashing and talking over one another, but it's still very clear with what is happening.  I love how the camera spins throughout almost the entire scene and it gives the episode a very memorable ending.  J. J. Abrams won an Emmy for directing this episode and he 100% deserved it.

We also get a few fun character moments, with my favorite being a scene between Sayid and Hurley (Jorge Garcia) bonding over their dislike of Sawyer.  It's sweet, but ends on an awkward note when Hurley learns Sayid fought against the United States in the Gulf War.

I also really like that Walt is reading a comic book with a polar bear in it only for a polar bear to show up on the island.  It's that kind of foreshadowing that makes Lost a fun show to watch again.

What Sucks:

My only real complaint with this episode is Shannon.  It's funny that she starts this episode suntanning, but she gets less funny quick.  She's pretty irritating and although she does prove her worth by translating the transmission, she does it in a very annoying way.

Platinum Polar Bear:

I want to start a new segment this time.  Every episode I'm going to give out an award for the most valuable castaway!  This will be called the Platinum Polar Bear and will go to whoever contributed to the goals of the survivors the most!  This will get more complicated as the show goes on, but for now it will be pretty straightforward.  

For Part 1 of the Pilot, the Platinum Polar Bear will go to Jack Shephard for saving the lives of Rose (L. Scott Caldwell), Claire, and Hurley, plus that guy trapped under the landing gear.  He also managed to get the transceiver out of the cockpit.

For Part 2, the Platinum Polar Bear will go to Sayid Jarrah for getting the transceiver operational, for preserving the battery long enough to actually be able to use it, and for doing the math to figure out how long the French transmission had been playing.

Jack: 1

Sayid: 1

Verdict:

Through not quite as good as Part 1, the second part of the Pilot delivered some awesome moments with the polar bear and the transmission, with some excellent direction, some nice character bears, and cool foreshadowing as well.  I don't love Shannon, but this episode has still got it going on in despite her best attempts.

 9/10: Great