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

"How does something like that happen?

-Charlie Pace

I recently finished watching all of Fargo and was trying to decide what to watch next and settled on re-watching my favorite show of all time...Lost.  While I was watching the pilot, I realized it was September 22nd, the 14th anniversary of the crash of Oceanic 815.  I took it as a sign, to not only re-watch my favorite show, but to write about every episode.  So, won't you join my on a journey...back to the island of mystery and mayhem?

The first episode of Lost introduces us to Dr. Jack Shephard (Matthew Fox), who wakes up in the middle of the jungle.  He wanders to the beach where he finds what's left of the plane he was on.  Jack immediately throws himself into helping the survivors, including the very pregnant Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin).  He also manages to save the life of Rose Henderson (L. Scott Caldwell).

Once the chaos of the initial crash settles, Jack tends to his own injuries and enlists Kate Austin (Evangeline Lilly) to help sew him up.  They bond and Kate helps Jack care for an unconscious and severely injured man who Kate was sitting next to on the plane.

The other survivors deal with their problems in various way.  Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) enlists former rock star, Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan), to help make a signal fire, while Hurley Reyes (Jorge Garcia) sorts their food supplies.  Everything is interrupted when the survivors hear strange noises coming from the jungle and see tress being knocked over.  They have no idea what it is, but it's clear some sort of monster lives on the island.

The next day, Jack, Kate, and Charlie venture out into the jungle to find the cockpit.  They are hoping to find a transceiver to help the search party find them.  They locate the cockpit and find the pilot, Seth Norris (Greg Grunberg) still alive.  He gives them the transceiver, but can't get it working.  He informs them that the plane's radio had stopped working mid-flight and they had turned back to land in Fiji when they crashed.  They were over 1,000 miles off course and nobody else knew that.  

The monster shows up outside the plane and when Seth sticks his head out to get a peek, the monster violently rips him out of the plane.  Jack grabs the transceiver and they run for it, but Kate gets separated from the others.  She overcomes her fear, goes back and manages to find both Charlie and Jack.  They then find the mangled body of the pilot up in a tree.

In flashbacks, we see the plane crash from Jack's perspective and we also see Jack was sitting across the aisle from Rose.  Her husband was in the bathroom and Jack promised to keep her company until he returned.

What Works:

I've watched way too much TV in my life, but I have to say that, without a doubt, Lost has the greatest pilot I have ever seen.  It does a great job of introducing us to the characters and establishing what kind of show this is going to be.

The opening sequence is really spectacular and feels more like a movie than a TV show.  It's a solid way of introducing our protagonist and it's great watching Jack run around the crash.  We get tons of exciting moments and fantastic explosions.  This shows drops us headfirst into the deep end and I love it.

The show slows down after that and gives us some time to catch our breath.  The scenes between Jack and Kate are really great and they have instant chemistry.  Matthew Fox gives a really powerful performance as he tells the story of a mistake he made during a surgery and how he got over his fear.

The introduction of the monster is excellent and establishes that this is not a normal island.  It's utterly terrifying and one of my favorite parts of the episode and the series.

The 3rd act with Jack, Kate, and Charlie going to the cockpit is simply excellent.  It really ramps up the tension as the rain falls and they climb through the cockpit.  The scene where the pilot tells Jack and Kate how screwed they are is great and the monster's attack on the pilot is one of the most horrifying things I have ever seen on TV.  It's a classic sequence and the best part of a fantastic episode.

"Pilot, Part 1" is pretty much the Jack and Kate show, with some Charlie as well, but we also get some nice characters moments for the rest of the cast.  We get John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) doing a Vito Corleone impression as he puts an orange peel in his mouth and smiles.  We get a funny moment with Hurley being unable to spell "bodies".  Shannon Rutherford (Maggie Grace) gets a pretty fantastic introduction as she paints her toenails.  She and Boone (Ian Somerhalder) get pretty insufferable later on, but their dynamic in this episode is funny.  Finally, as we learn in the second part of the pilot, Charlie is high the entire time he is wandering around the crash, which is amusing in hindsight.


What Sucks:

I got nothing for you.


Verdict:

"Pilot, Part 1" is straight up incredible television and remains the best pilot I have ever seen.  The action set-pieces are terrific, the monster is terrifying, we get a great introduction to our protagonist, and some nice, smaller, character moments as well.  I have no complaints about the first episode, which has certainly got it going on.

 10/10: Amazing