Stranded. (Lost (Season 1))

Member Name: The Duke

Product:	Lost (Season 1)
Date:	07/11/05 (279 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: High concept that proves intriguing. Some excellent characters.

Disadvantages: Irregular pacing of episodes. Getting some answers would be nice.

Flight 815 from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles, United States crash-lands on a seemingly deserted island. From the wreck of the plane, only the mid-section is left and out of it climbs 44 survivors. After getting over the initial shock of their situation, Dr Jack Sheppard tends to the injuries and they settle in for the night, awaiting rescue. When it gets dark, the survivors are surprised by what appear appears to be a large animal making its way through the jungle. It seems to be big enough, judging by the sounds it's making and its ability to uproot trees.

The next day, three of the survivors leave to try and find the cockpit in the hope of locating the radio. Discovering the nose of the plane, they find everyone dead, save the pilot. He tells them that they had gone off course during a storm, and are now probably 1,000 miles from where they're supposed to be. Before they can get any further information from the pilot, he's snatched from the cockpit by what appears be the same large animal from the night before.

The realisation sinks in that any rescue mission is probably looking in the wrong place forces the survivors to think about making plans for longer than a few days, but the island holds many more surprises…

Lost is no ordinary tale of survival on a desert island. Things are never what they seem. There is the large animal to consider. What is it? Will it attack the camp? Other questions are asked. Who are the mysterious 'Others' and what are their motives and plans? What is it about the island that has enabled John Locke to regain the use of his legs and walk again? Did anyone else survive the crash?

There are a large group of around fifteen or so main characters amongst the forty-four survivors. As you would expect, some are more interesting than others. Current favourites would be Sawyer and Hurley. Each episode adds more information on a particular character in the form of flashbacks and this gives information on each character's immediate actions leading up to getting on the plane, and also situations that ultimately led them to be in Australia to catch the doomed flight.

Sawyer's back tale is very interesting, as is Kate's, but I like a lot of the humour that's involved with Hurley. I think it would be safe to say that episode 18 ("Numbers") is by far my favourite of the series. A lot of the characters are interesting both on and off the island. Sawyer and Kate are prime examples, with excellent back-stories. Jack has a major role on the island, but his back-story thus far isn't great and he's not really the most interesting of characters despite his will-they-won't they relationship with Kate. Some do not really spark the imagination such as Jin and Sun Kwon, the Korean couple whose marriage is brought back to life on the island.

Season 1 of Lost spreads across twenty-five episodes with an added "flashback" episode that appears around episode 23-ish. As you might expect with such a high concept television programme, sometimes it can't maintain the high quality of its best episodes. Some episodes zip along at a fair pace while others don't advance the story at all, but instead build up one or two of the characters. This has lead to frustration on my part a few times, as I'm more interested in the island and what it's all about that a lot of the characters. That might be unfair, as at times it seems that the characters are not there by coincidence and that the back-stories will fit in with the mysteries of the island.

For the most part, the acting concerned is decent enough. You'll probably recognise some of the actors from other things. Dominic Monaghan was in Lord of the Rings, Matthew Fox was in Party of Five and for those who enjoy their teen/sci-fi crossovers, Emilie de Ravin was in Roswell. Some of the guest stars that appear will also be recognisable. Where the acting does seem to falter is usually with newcomer, Evangeline Lilly (Kate Austin). Her interplay and relationship with Mathew Fox seems really forced at times, and this can ruin some moments between them.

Lost reminds me of the early series of the X-Files. Lots of questions are asked and nothing initially appears to be as it seems and it's that mystery that's the main draw. The characters are unsure of themselves and there may be elements of the supernatural involved, but it's hard to say for certain. Sadly, according to some writers, it appears that there is no long-term plan with Lost. Unlike the X Files, which evolved as it went along and eventually lost its way around season five, I would say that Lost requires a master plan and pre-determined story arc that will cover the number of seasons that the "Lost" creators want to use to cover the story. J. Michael Straczynski showed how it was possible when he had his seven year plan for Babylon 5, and I think that Lost would benefit greatly from this kind of planning. Interviews with the writers do seem to indicate that this is not the case.

There's a fine line between asking questions about the island and providing answers, and during the first series, I think that the writers got it just about right for a first season (ask more than you answer, but not too much). In order to keep interest levels high from season two onwards, I think that some things from season one will have to be answered, even if different mysteries reveal themselves.

I think it's safe to say that I have really enjoyed the first season of "Lost". I'm not a huge watcher of television these days, but Lost really had me hooked. For those people who want to find all the clues, then each episode could stand up to repeated viewing at least once or twice. There have been enough mysteries and curveballs thrown by ther writers so far (Ethan Rom and The Black Rock being two examples) to suggest that there's much more to come from this programme.

Season 1 is currently running on Channel 4 and E4.
Season 2 has already got underway on ABC in America.

Summary: Survivors of flight 815 come to terms that the island that they crashed on is not all that it seems.