The Pilot episode of Lost is so familiar, so iconic, it’s hard to look at it with new eyes. It’s a foundational hour, setting the board so to speak, and first hinting at just how fascinating and deeply mysterious all of Lost’s characters — including the island itself — would turn out to be.
| Written by J.J. Abrams & Damon Lindelof Directed by J.J. Abrams |
- A group of people have survived the crash of Oceanic Airlines flight 815, a trip that was supposed to carry them from Sydney to Los Angeles. The plane was shaken by violent turbulence before being torn into three pieces in mid-air. The center section and the cockpit crashed onto what appears to be a deserted island in the south Pacific. The status of the tail section is unknown.
- There are 48 survivors. Among the most prominent personalities are: Jack Shephard, a take-charge spinal surgeon; Kate Austen, a strong-willed single woman who becomes fast friends with Jack; Charlie Pace, a drug addict and former rock star; Claire Littleton, a pregnant Australian; Sawyer, a social malcontent; Hurley, a good-hearted “dude”; Boone Carlyle, a lifeguard; Boone’s sister Shannon Rutherford, a “pampered princess”; Sayid Jarrah, an Iraqi national and former member of the Republican Guard; Rose Henderson, a middle-aged woman whose husband was in the rear restroom of the plane and now she can’t find him on the island; Michael Dawson and his young son Walt Lloyd; Sun Kwon and her overbearing husband Jin Kwon, a Korean couple who do not speak English; and an oddball named John Locke.
- All of the Oceanic 815 survivors witnessed some kind of monster tearing through the jungle, during their first night on the island. They couldn’t see the monster itself, but they saw what it could do: it’s big and powerful enough to uproot trees and create a terrible cacaphony of frightening sounds.
- The cockpit of the plane crashed in a valley not far from where the center section crashed, as discovered by Jack, Kate, and Charlie. No one onboard survived, save the pilot, Seth Norris, who was viciously killed by the monster shortly after being revived by Jack and Kate.
- Jack and Kate were able to retrieve the plane’s transceiver from the cockpit of the plane, but it doesn’t seem to work.
- Charlie disappeared into the bathroom at the front of the plane for several minutes while Jack and Kate were talking to the pilot. He was coy when Kate later asked what he was doing.
- The monster returned while Jack, Kate, and Charlie were talking to Captain Norris, and attacked the front of the plane while they were inside it. The three of them ran into the jungle and managed to escape the unseen creature, but discovered Norris’ body high in a tree, torn nearly to shreds.
- There is no cellular phone reception on the island.
- On his first solo procedure, Jack operated on a 16-year-old girl. After 13 hours of surgery, he accidentally cut her dural sac, which could very quickly have left the patient paralyzed. To fight off his fear, he allowed the fear to consume him for five seconds, and no more. After the five seconds were up, he sewed up the patient, and she pulled through.
- Charlie Pace is the member of a band called Drive Shaft, a one hit wonder for a song called “You All Everybody,” which he claims is in the middle of a comeback.
- The island is prone to sudden, unnatural changes in weather, such as the “end-of-the-world type” rainstorm that seemed to come out of nowhere.
- According to Captain Norris, the plane’s radio went out six hours into the flight. They turned to attempt a landing in Fiji, but were over a thousand miles off course when the violent turbulence struck the plane and the aircraft went down. Anyone searching for them is now looking in the wrong place.
- Where are the survivors of Oceanic 815? Where is this island located, exactly?
- Why did the plane crash?
- What is the monster?
- The rain seemed to act as a portent of the monster’s arrival in the jungle. Is it connected to the monster, or is there another reason beyond the norm that it came up so suddenly?
- Why did the monster kill Captain Norris, and not the others?
- Did the tail of the plane crash on the island?
- What was Charlie doing in the bathroom that he didn’t want Jack and Kate to know about?
Answered in 1.02. - Where does the dog come from that’s seen repeatedly throughout the episode, most notably rousing Jack in the first scene?
Answered in 1.02. - Why is Jin so domineering over Sun?
Answered in 1.06 and 1.17. - Why is Locke so happy to be on stranded on this island when everyone else is desperate for rescue?
Answered in 1.04. - Who is the “Vincent” that Michael and Walt referred to?
Answered in 1.02.
Image credits: “Rewatching Lost” logo by Robin Parrish. Season 1 cast promotional image and Oceanic Airlines logo: American Broadcasting Company.
[...] Vincent is Walt’s dog. Question: Who is the “Vincent” that Michael and Walt referred to? 1.01 [...]
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Are those unanswered questions just for episode one or are you saying they are still unanswered?
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They’re unanswered as if this is the first time the episode is being viewed. Most of them will be answered as we watch more episodes, but several of the biggest ones all the way up through Season 5 remain unanswered. That’s kind of the whole point of this: weeding out the questions that still need answering in Season 6.
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[...] Jin may have a temper, but he loves his wife deeply, and feels highly protective of her. She fears him because he came home from work one night with blood on his hands, but loves him deeply as well. But this was a misunderstanding on her part. What she didn’t know is that that night, he didn’t take a life — he saved one. Jin is fundamentally a very good person, despite appearances. Question: Why is Jin so domineering over Sun? 1.01 [...]
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[...] For Locke, the island represents everything he’s been looking for his whole life. A sense of purpose, an adventure, a calling. And the island has somehow healed the paralysis that kept him confined to a wheel chair for four years. Question: Why is Locke so happy to be on stranded on this island when everyone else is desperate for rescue? 1.01 [...]
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