What a great image to end on - after they blow the Hatch, we see Jack and Locke looking down into the unknown. And what a cliff hanger - leaving fans to wonder for a whole summer...What's in the hatch?!?I originally had a really hard time getting into the first season of Lost. I Netflix'd disc one way back in Oct '05 and then didn't try disc 2 until Jan '06. Then I gave up and didn't watch more until the broadcast of episode 212 or so, when I quickly became hooked!
There were a lot of things I didn't like - from the start, Jack's frantic scampering about on the beach came off as comedic in a bad way - like a Looney Tunes reference gone awry. At the time, I felt like Locke's wheelchair reveal in episode 3 was cheesy, though I've always loved the character. Not so for Jin & Sun - Boring! I never liked their episodes, but I do have new compassion for S1 Jin, who's all gruff because he doesn't speak English, and he had to be a hitman to repay his wife's debts, while she was seeing someone else on the side.
In all, Season One has too much Jack and too much Kate. Looking back, Kate is just such a bitch, and if she weren't so selfish and manipulative she'd have just hooked up with Sawyer and left it at that. "Whatever the Case May Be" - a lame pun and lamer episode - features yet another one of Kate's selfish and insane plots. She's one of those dangerous, psycho girls who turns people against each other to get what she wants, and all she really wants is to get a rise out of people. Her exploits involving that toy plane, first featured here, have gotten multiple people shot and killed. Her whining and manipulating scene with Jack at the end of the episode really turned me off the character, and she doesn't get any better in the rest of the series, with her two-timing and backstabbing. Season One also featured endless stories of Jack grieving intensely in the ER and whining about his dad. I particularly disliked "Do No Harm", where Jack's behavior with Boone shows it isn't about the injured people he treats, it's about Jack proving something. It's always about Jack.
The good news is there's also some great TV, and particularly great character development - setting up many themes and character traits: Sayid's pain over the long lost love he was finally going to see in LA and his bitter, violent past in the military; Episode 108 "Confidence Man", revealing Sawyer's tortured past - driven to find the real Sawyer, even as he turned into the same sort of man he hates and hopes to kill, contrasted with the beginnings of his fragile relationship with Kate; John Locke's rebirth as a man of faith, stalking the Island with power and confidence; Charlie's struggle with fame, drugs and disappointment, until he finds strength by supporting Claire. Too many great things to write about. Everyone will have their favorites.
There was also some of the coolest "mysterious" stuff introduced - The Swan Hatch, of course; the Black Rock sailing ship in the middle of the Island, and the Nigerian Beechcraft plane; Locke's visions and the death of Boone, the same night as the birth of Aaron; Sayid's discovery of the Looking Glass station's cable on the beach; the kidnapping of Claire to the Staff station; the discovery of "Adam and Eve". Some questions have been answered, and some mysteries remain.
One huge moment was the appearance of the whispers, first in "Solitary" and then again in one of my favorite episodes of the season, "Outlaws" featuring Sawyer. On the Island, Sawyer hears the whispers saying, among other things, "It'll come back around". In his flashbacks, it's revealed what he was up to in Australia - he was looking for the real Sawyer, and was told his name is Frank Duckett. Before boarding Flight 815, Sawyer finds and kills Duckett, learning too late that he is not the real Sawyer. Frank's dying words are, "It'll come back around". This ties into a bigger theory about death and the Island that I have - including the return of many of the "dead" characters in Season 6. More to come on that, once I can get my head around it.
Also, Season One features the first appearance of my favorite Lost mystery - the Smoke Monster. From killing the Pilot to dragging Locke through the jungle, the Monster terrorizes the Losties throughout the season. For the first time, we see the small wisp of traveling smoke, and hear distinctly the mechanical sounds of the "security system". Clearly the thing emerges from vents in the ground, and relies on some kind of underground machinery. Also, when hit with dynamite, the Monster breaks apart briefly revealing what looks like a magnetic field.
Season 6 will finally reveal the secrets of the Whispers and the Monster, and maybe death and the afterlife on the Island too. There isn't much in Season One that gives clues about what may happen in Season 6, like "What happens after the Incident?" or "Who is Jacob?" but there is a ton of character building and relationship development. Right up to the end of Season 5, the core characters like Sawyer, Kate, Jack, Hurley, Sayid and Locke have shown remarkably consistent character and motivation. It was all evident in Season One, and it's a real testament to the writing on the show that it has remained so tight over 100 episodes, even if they did wander a little bit in the middle there.
Up next, my favorite, Season Two!
Read more!
