“Lost”: 10 Years Later

It was September 22nd 2004, a Wednesday night, when the world was first introduced to the plane crash on the beach.  ABC’s LOST from J.J. Abrams has become one of the most written about series of the modern television era.  It has garnered some of the highest critical acclaim for a network series ever recorded, and some of the most venomous reviews.  It seems like you either love or hate the series, and if neither of these reactions is accurate, you never watched it.

I decided to rewatch it because of this decade landmark.  This will be my fourth time through the six season saga, and every time I catch something new.  I’ll go forward with these reviews assuming my readers have seen the entirety of the series, but I will do my best not to outrightly SPOIL things in the beginning of each ‘review’ on the off chance you haven’t watched it.  I will say now, I am one of those viewers who did not like the ending, but I’ll get into that at the end of everything.

Some of the things you can expect from the first two episodes if you’ve never seen the series:

Basic introductions of the characters on a beach surrounded by flaming metal remains of their very large Oceanic Airlines plane.

Jack Sheppard (Matthew Fox) beginning his career of leading the masses on the Island without ever planning to.  Doctor training coming in handy.

I will forever love he one guy getting sucked into the stuttering engine.  It’s very reminiscent of the guy in Titanic who falls and hits the propellor.

Our first introduction to the menacing Smoke Monster.  Looking into the creature development for this cloud of electricity and sounds reveals the aural origin to be a NYC taxi cab receipt printer.  There is a line further in the series where Rose (L. Scott Caldwell) states she recognizes the sound, being from the Bronx.  There is even an article over on Popular Mechanics about the damn thing.

Kate (Evangeline Lilly) asks Charlie (Dominic Monaghan) if they’ve ever met before, and my heart clenches.

Sayid (Naveen Andrews) and Hurley (Jorge Garcia), “You’re ok, I like you.”

Evangeline Lilly’s eyebrows.

Other than Battlestar Galactica, one of the most impressive TV scores written in the modern age, because Michael Giacchino is awesome.

Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and his unnaturally dark 5 o’clock shadow compared to his otherwise golden hair.

John Locke (Terry O’Quinn), the most knowledgeable man in the world, has no lines until 22:53 in the second episode.  He is explaining to young Walt (Malcolm David Kelley) about his game, a version of Backgammon.  “Two sides, one is light, one is dark,” pretty much sums up the series.

Sun (Yunjin Kim) and Jin (Daniel Dae Kim).  Just…..Sun and Jin.  I can’t even write that without an emotional response.

Claire (Emilie de Ravin) and her adorable pregnancy belly, floundering around in the sand.

How goddamn annoying Shannon (Maggie Grace) and Boone (Ian Somerhalder) are.  Seriously.  I STILL don’t like them.

The polar bear.  Yeah, if you’ve never seen the series, there is a freaking polar bear in the second episode while our hiking team is out to try to get reception on the repaired transceiver salvaged from the broken cockpit of the plane.  Thank goodness Sayid knows his tech, I guess they really do fully train members if the Iraqi Republican Guard.

Finding “The Signal”, discovering the repeating French message that will be explained in later episodes.  (I still love crazy ol’ Rousseau.)

(I will more than likely be viewing the episodes in batches, anywhere from 2-6 episodes in a row, and depending on the importance of things in those 40-50 minutes, will lump reviews together.)

If I had watched the initial series when it aired, I don’t honestly know if from the first two episodes would I have continued.  Sure, there are many intriging things to get the mind going, and of course the actors, but it takes awhile to get completely sucked in.