Rewatching LOST Pilot, Part 1 - RECAP
This is a very detailed recap, but mostly just factual. If you want to find out what I learned, my next post will be about what I learned and/or remembered after watching this episode. People who aren't interested in reading the whole recap may read the upcoming post.
Warning!: While I am currently recapping a LOST episode from season one, I reserve the right to mention anything from any future episodes through season four, episode 2. Read at your own risk if you aren't up to date in LOST mythos!
Pilot, Part 1 -- LOST Recap
The fuzzy capital letters "LOST" move in on us out of an otherwise black screen, coming in and out of focus with an eerie sound behind them. We will get used to seeing these letters. (I actually saw a negative review of LOST that complained that after all these seasons, the LOST people had still failed to "fix" the pixelated LOST title. They are missing the point--the fuzziness is intentional.)
We focus in on a closed eye, which opens abruptly, startled. Next, we see a forest canopy above the character. We cut back to the man the eye belongs to, spread out on the ground. He looks stunned and has a scratch on his cheek. This is the first time we see Jack Shepherd, although we didn't know that was who he was back when we first watched it. Jack hears something and looks to his left. What is coming at him? We hold our breath in anticipation, and out of the bamboo pads a golden retriever. It whines and goes running off. (This is Vincent, but again, we didn't know that.) Jack staggers to his feet and pulls a small bottle of booze out of his pocket, then replaces it. He starts running frantically through the trees, past a sneaker in a tree, and comes out on a beautiful beach. There are screams coming from around an outcropping of foliage. Jack comes out upon the carnage and wreckage of the fuselage after the plane crash. THIS is how the show of "LOST" begins. Pretty cool, huh?
Wait, it's not over. The crash site is chaos. I forgot how powerful this scene is. Jack is looking everywhere, trying to figure out where to start first. I try to recognize people in the background cacophony...that was Locke, I think, but he looks just like one in a number of extras. The next person I recognize is a close up on Charlie, hand up to his face. Shortly after, we see Jin shouting frantically...I don't see Sun, so I'm guessing he is calling for her. We see a brief glimpse of Michael running by looking for his son, shouting "Walt! Walt!" Some guy I don't recognize says "Stay away from the gas!" Behind him, Shannon stands screaming her head off.
Jack, and the audience, take a brief moment to notice the remnants of the plane are unstable and might fall on them. However, shortly after Jack notices someone trapped under the wreckage of the plane. "Help! Help! somebody help me!" Jack runs to the rescue, but he can't move the wreckage. He gestures and shouts at some random guys to give him a hand. You can barely see him, but one of them is John Locke. Jack pulls the man out, and the red blood of his leg is shocking. Jack pulls off his tie to tourniquet the wound, but he isn't even finished before he hears someone else screaming for help.
The new person in need of rescue? It's a very pregnant Claire. Jack tells Locke and the other random guy to move the first patient away from the engine, racing over to save Claire. Claire tells Jack she is having contractions and is nearly eight months pregnant. As he questions Claire, Jack notices Boone attempting to perform CPR on Rose.
Locke and friend move the random guy out of the way, but while they are doing so, someone else gets too close to the plane. Locke shouts at this guy and tries to wave him away, but it's too late. He gets sucked in and it explodes. Jack shields Claire from the blast while others duck and dodge. Jack tells Claire she will be fine, but she has to stay completely still. Jack looks over at Hurley, who is standing looking at the plane rather stunned. "Hey, you!" In retrospect, I think that stunned look on Hurley's face is him contemplating that his "curse" that caused this calamity to happen. Jack gives Hurley specific instructions for watching Claire and keeping track of her contractions. "Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Hurley says. Watching it this time, I think Hurley is worried about Claire. He thinks that giving him custody of a pregnant woman is probably the worst choice Jack could have made for her safety. Hurley asks Jack what his name is in case he needs to call for him, and Jack shouts it out. This is how we know who Jack is.
Jack runs over to tell Boone he is really botching the CPR job. Boone has been blowing air into Rose's stomach. Boone argues with Jack and tells him he is a lifeguard. Jack tells him he might want to consider giving that license back. Boone thinks that they should stick a pen in Rose's throat. Jack is thrilled with this idea, because it gives him a reason to get rid of the incompetent Boone. He encourages Boone to go find a pen. Boone charges of with purpose, asking everyone for a pen. This scene really encapsulates who Boone was in a nutshell--he meant well and he wanted to be a hero. However, he just didn't seem to ever have the hero material, for whatever reason.
It seems like Rose might be gone, but Jack fervently whispers "c'mon, c'mon, c'mon" and she gasps for air. Jack is really good about bringing people back to life. Then Jack notices that part of the wing is going to fall on Claire and Hurley. He races all the across the beach again, shouting at Hurley and Claire to move. Jack and Hurley rush Claire away from the plane. It falls and causes another explosion, knocking all three of them to the ground. A huge part falls behind Charlie, who looks bemused. Is Charlie high at this point? I can't remember.
After determining that both Claire and Hurley are okay, Jack orders Hurley to stay with Claire. "Dude," Hurley almost chuckles, "I'm not going anywhere." Soft music comes in as Jack stumbles through the wreckage. He comes closer to the plane. Boone races up to hand Jack a handful of pens. "I don't know which one would work best," he says. Jack kindly takes them and pronounces them "all good," thanking Boone. We get an extremely long close up of Boone, clueless but kind. We then follow Jack as he sorts through some luggage, pulling a sewing kit out of a bag.
Jack walks inland. He removes his coat, and it is that point that we discover by the large blood stain on his shirt that Jack is hurt as well. It makes his mad rescuing on the beach even more noble or crazy (or both). He saved at least four people out there by my count, not to mention others who he might have saved by giving them a purpose that got them to move away from the plane. He strips his shirt off and examines the wound, but it is in an awkward place along his back and side. Kate emerges at this point. If she was there earlier in the wreckage scenes, I didn't see her. She is cupping her wrists (thinking about recent handcuffs, perhaps?). Jack calls to her. Kate eyes him warily. He asks her if she can sew. She seems confused, but then finally tells him she made the drapes in her apartment. He shows her what he wants her help with, and Kate pales. She says with the drapes it was a sewing machine. Heh. How could we have known this proper, pretty lady who is nervous about sewing Jack up could have the past that she does?
Jack instructs her to wash her hands with some of the alchohol from the small airplane bottle, leaving some for his wound. She pulls out the thread. "Any color preference?" He laughs, then tells her standard black. It smarts.
We cut to Sawyer, who is pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. It's kind of weird to see now, because at this point, we really don't see anyone smoking on the island. The island provides heroin, but not nicotine. It has its odd quirks. But I digress. This is the first time we Sawyer--if he was in the background earlier, I didn't see him. Sawyer is contemplating the wreckage, looking very much like the Marlboro man. The sun is setting now. Claire stands at the edge of the shore, water lapping her feet. She touches her stomach, thinking about the baby that she was planning on giving away. Hurley gathers food. Locke sits looking out at the ocean. He has had a miracle happen to him today. Boone is walking around attempting to get cell phone reception. Sorry, hon, you see there is this hatch underwater that jams all communication off the island...oh, well, never mind, you can't hear me. Sayid comes into view with some firewood. It's strange that some of these characters that are so important to us are here only in small glimpses in the pilot.
Charlie is sitting on the ground near the fire, and Sayid calls to him, asking what his name is. Charlie and Sayid introduce themselves to each other. Sayid tells Charlie that they need help with the fire. It turns out that it is a signal fire, and Sayid is worried no one will see the fire if it isn't big. Sayid is a good leader. Rose sits nearby, kissing what looks to be a ring.
Meanwhile, Kate is still stitching up Jack, although threatening to throw up on him. Jack continues to encourage her. Kate wonders why he isn't scared. He tells her that fear is strange, and then tells her a story about his first spinal surgery of a young woman. Something terrible happened towards the end of the surgery. The terror was so real, but Jack says he made a choice. He said he let the fear take over for five seconds, counted, and then it was gone. Kate tells Jack she would have run for the door. Kate isn't telling lies. Off island, running was her main way of dealing with fear. Jack doesn't believe her. "You're not running now."
It's night now. Sayid and Charlie are sitting side by side. It's funny, I don't remember the two of them having this much interaction. Charlie is writing "FATE" on the tape on his left fingers. Sayid calmly says, "You think they would have come by now." Charlie asks, "Who?" Sayid replies, "Anyone."
Shannon is painting her toenails. Boone tenderly comes up to Shannon and offers her a candy bar, but she scoffs: "As if I'm gonna start eating chocolate." Boone tells Shannon they might be there for awhile. She continues to berate him, calling him an idiot and saying that they are coming. She refuses the proffered candy bar multiple times, telling Boone she will eat on the rescue boat. He gives up and starts to eat the darn candy bar himself. I remember there was a lot of speculation at this point when it was first airing about whether they were a couple or siblings. Little did we know...seriously, this whole revisiting recap could be all about the "little did we knows," but I won't get out of control.
Hurley comes up to Claire. "Hungry?"He gives her a food packet and checks to see if there has been any baby developments. There haven't, but Hurley ends up giving Claire two more packets of food. "Hang in there." I love Hurley.
We cut to Michael. "You sure you're warm enough?" His son, Walt, nods. We cut to Jin and Sun. Jin is lecturing Sun in Korean, telling her she must not leave his sight. "Don't worry about the others. We need to stay together," he tells her. She nods, looking in all aspects like the submissive wife, but there is something expressive in her eyes. These two are some of my favorite people on the island, and I'm sure I would not have guessed it when I first saw this scene (other than the gee-whiz wow factor of it illustrating that this show was going to follow people who might not speak English).
Kate stands over a seriously injured man, watching Jack do his work. She must have been following him around playing nurse to his doctor all evening. The man is the marshal who she was arrested by. Again, we don't know this yet. She asks Jack if he is going to live. Jack realizes something is off and asks if she knows the man. Kate answers, "He was sitting next to me." True, but not the whole truth.
We cut to Jack and Kate sitting by the fire. Jack has made this ridiculous model airplane out of a big leaf to illustrate his recollections of the crash. It's awesome. They were at 40,000 feet, then must have dropped to 20,000 feet. The turbulence was bad. Jack blacked out. Kate says she didn't...she saw the whole thing and knew that the tail was gone, but couldn't look back. Then the front end of the plane broke off. Jack points out that neither of those parts of the plane are on the beach. Jack wants to figure out which way they came in, in order to try to find the cockpit. He thinks they might find some equipment there to send a signal off of the island and help the rescue party find them. Apparently he took a couple flying lessons at some point. Kate says she saw some smoke in the valley, and if he is going for the cockpit, she's going with him. At this point, Jack realizes he has been hanging out with this hot woman all day who stitched up his flesh and he hasn't even introduced himself. Sheepishly, he tells her he doesn't know her name. They introduce themselves. I forgot how much chemistry the two of them had early on the season. It feels like we haven't seen a lot of that recently, maybe because they just haven't been in the same place much.
Then they hear a weird sound coming from further in the island and turn to look. Locke turns to look. Walt turns to look. Boone and Shannon jointly turn to look. Shannon asks, "What was that?" Sayid and Charlie get up to check it out. Charlie says, "That was weird, right?" Walt asks, "Is that Vincent?" Michael answers that it isn't. Rose is at the edge of the forest and Claire is behind her. A tree falls over in the distance. Claire turns and asks if anybody else saw that. Hurley did. All aforementioned characters gather to stare out at it. Sawyer, Jin, and Sun are in the background of the group. More trees are knocked over. "Terrific," mutters Charlie sarcastically, as the screen cuts to black.
We cut back to the first, and only, flashback of the Pilot, Part I. It is Jack's flashback. We are looking out an airplane window at a serene sky view. Jack's window overlooks the left wing. Cindy, the flight attendant, asks Jack how his drink is. He replies, unconvincingly, that it is good. Cindy says in a flirtatious voice that his reaction isn't very strong. Jack responds it isn't a strong drink. Cindy really likes him, so she sneaks him two small bottles of the hard stuff, telling him not to tell. Jack smiles and says, "This of course breaks some critical FAA regulations." Jack pockets one bottle, which we saw earlier that he will use it when Kate stitches him up. He pours the rest into the remains of his orange juice.
Jack gets up from his window seat...to go to the bathroom? Rose is sitting across the aisle from Jack. They had two empty chairs and the aisle between them. Charlie runs by and a number of flight attendants run after him. Jack can't get out. Rose comments he must have really had to go. Jack sits back down, a seat closer to Rose. The plane experiences turbulence, and Jack buckles his seatbelt. An announcement comes across the intercom announcing that the pilot has switched on the fasten seatbelts sign. Rose is very nervous. Jack assures her that this is normal. She agrees, saying that she just has never been a good flier. Looking over her shoulder towards the tail section of the plane, she comments, "My husband keeps reminding me that planes want to be in the air." Jack thinks he must be a very smart man. Rose snorts that he should tell him that when he gets back from the bathroom. Jack, always trying to fix everything, tells Rose he will keep her company until he gets back. The plane starts to go down and the oxygen masks pop out.
The flashback ends, and we focus in on Jack on the beach the next morning. A crowd of people behind him are discussing the incident of the night before. They have decided it doesn't sound like an animal. A woman, I think perhaps Rose, thinks it sounds familiar. She is from the Bronx. Charlie thinks it is monkeys. Hurley points out they technically don't even know if they are on an island. Kate comes up behind Jack and asks if he is ready. Jack tells Kate that she should show him where the smoke was, so he can get there himself. This is the first documented instance of Jack telling Kate not to come on an adventure in order to protect her. Oh, Jack. Kate insists she is coming. Jack tells her that she will need better shoes, and Kate goes and takes shoes off of a corpse. This morbid necessity reminds us of what just happened. She looks up and sees Locke watching her, a slash on the right side of his face. He smiles, an orange in his mouth making the smile into a strange grimace. Kate is very creeped out by him.
Many survivors have gathered into small circles on the beach. One circle contains Michael, Walt, Charlie, Shannon, Boone, and Sayid. Hurley comes from the fuselage to join them. They are apparently still talking about whatever it was from the night before. Michael says, "Whatever it was, it wasn't natural." Charlie wants sunblock, and Shannon has some that she offers him. Hurley says it was pretty grim in the fuselage, and he thinks they should perhaps do something about the bodies. Seeing Walt, instead of saying the key word, Hurley spells it. However, he spells it "b-o-d-y-s" to the puzzlement of the entire group. Michael asks, "What are you spelling, man, bodies?" Walt correctly spells the word. Abysmal spelling aside, I'm struck that this is the second case of self-initiated leadership we have seen Hurley make in the first part of the Pilot episode alone. Sayid concurs that it sounds like a good idea. Shannon thinks they shouldn't do anything, that the people who come for them will deal with it when they get there.
Jack shows up at the edge of the circle and informs the group of his plan to look for the transceiver to send a distress signal. Sayid and Boone nod agreeably to the plan. Charlie looks speculative when the cockpit is mentioned. Jack instructs Boone to keep an eye on the wounded. If the guy in the suit (aka the marshal, but again, they don't know that) wakes up, he needs to be kept calm and not remove the shrapnel. Boone asks about the guy with the hurt leg, and Jack says his leg stopped bleeding and Jack took the tourniquet off the night before. Boone tells Jack that he did a good job, but you can see he is kind of disappointed that Jack is the big hero and in charge. Charlie offers to come with Jack and help him, and Jack quickly tells him he doesn't need anymore help. Charlie says he doesn't want to stand still, so Jack reluctantly agrees for Charlie to come along.
Jack, Kate, and Charlie walk through across a meadow. Charlie seems familiar to Kate, but she can't place him. Charlie is thrilled, and after drawing it out for awhile, he reveals he is the bassist of the band "Drive Shaft" and did backing vocals. Kate is astonished. Her friend Beth loved "Drift Shaft." Charlie offers to call Beth and asks if she lives nearby. This is pretty much the funniest scene in this episode. Charlie's enthusiasm, Kate's incredulity and persistance on referring to "Drift Shaft" in the past tense, and Charlie singing the song all come together in a wonderful humorous scene. When Jack comes back to see what is going on, he has never heard of "Drift Shaft." Jack reminds them that they have to keep moving, with Charlie petulantly telling Kate that "Drive Shaft" is in the midst of a comeback. Vincent watches their progress from the bushes.
Meanwhile back on the beach, it thunders as Locke looks out on the waves. We cut back to Jack, Kate, and Charlie as it starts to rain heavily. "Hey guys, is this normal?" asks Charlie. "This kind of day turning into night, the-end-of-the-world type weather? Guys?" Back on the beach, survivors run for cover as Locke continues to sit out in the rain. Jin gestures a man away who wants to share his shelter with Sun. Sun looks unhappy. Hurley tells people they shouldn't go into the fuselage because of the bodies. Michael puts a comforting hand on Walt's shoulder. Locke throws his arms out, palms outspread to the sky as it continues to pour. Some more trees move in at the island. Claire states, "There it is again."
Our expedition of three comes upon the front of the plane in the rain. They stare at it for a moment, and then Jack nudges them to get started. There are dead bodies inside. Charlie suggests they get "the transceiver thing" and get out of there. The front of the plane is tilted, so they have to climb to get to the front. The door to the cockpit is locked, so Jack has to force it open. A body falls through, startling everyone. Jack makes sure Kate is okay. She is, but Charlie is annoyed that no one asked him if he was all right. He informs them,"Charlie's fine, by the way."
Jack tells Kate she doesn't have to come up into the cockpit, which is the second time Jack has recommended she stay behind. Kate tells him she is good, and she grabs his hand to be pulled into the front. Kate asks what a transceiver looks like, and Jack tells her it looks like a complicated walkie-talkie. Man, wait until they see the gizmos the Freighter Four have in season four. As they are looking for the transceiver, the pilot gasps to life, scaring both of them. Jack gives him water and goes into doctor mode. The pilot asks how many survived, and Jack says at least 48 did. Jack thinks he may have a concussion.
The pilot relates that six hours in, the radio went out and "no one could see us." He says that they turned back to land in Fiji, but by the time they hit turbulence, they were a thousand miles off course. He thinks that they are looking for them in the wrong place. He gets the transceiver, but it isn't working. At this point, Jack and Kate notice Charlie is missing. Kate goes looking from him, and Charlie bursts out of the bathroom. Kate asks what he was doing in there, and Charlie plays dumb. The monster sound returns, and the pilot wants to know what the heck it is. They hide, and when it quiets, go to look out. The pilot crawls out an open window only to be grabbed by it. Everyone is screaming. Blood splatters the window. Charlie wants to know what just happened.
The monster somehow moves the plane, causing it to fall over flat. Jack continues to be heroic and reaches for the transceiver. Kate and Charlie both try to convince him to leave the transceiver and get out of the plane. Jack manages to grab it, and they all exit quick, running through the pouring down rain in the jungle. Charlie falls in the mud and gets caught on a vine. Jack runs back and frees him from the vine. That's another person that Jack potentially saved from certain death. No wonder he gets tired. Kate stops alone, and then screams out Jack's name. She whimpers, and then counts to five.
Charlie comes up behind Kate, saying her name. They both scream, and fall in the mud with Kate on top of Charlie. Kate interrogates Charlie about where Jack is. Charlie has no idea and keeps repeating that he fell and Jack pulled him up. He says he was dead and then Jack pulled him up. It stops raining. Kate tells Charlie that they have to go back for him. Charlie protests that there is a certain gargantuan quality about this thing. Kate tells him not to come. Charlie thinks about it, but then follows her.
Charlie tells her he heard her shouting Jack's name, and reminds her of his name. Charlie had such a crush on Kate right after the crash. Kate ignores him. The two of them find a pin of wings on the ground. Looking up, they see the pilot. Jack comes out of the bushes. Jack didn't see...oh, let's just call it the monster, for lack of a better term...he didn't see the monster either, but it was right behind him as he dove into the bushes. Charlie wonders how something like that can happen. The pilot is in a tree, looking pretty mangled. An online friend of mine thinks that he looks chewed on and that this is proof that the writers don't know what the monster is. I think it's up in the air...he could have been just seriously bashed around. Maybe I just like trusting the writers have a plan.
It's the end of Pilot, Part 1! Next post I will sum up what I learned or remembered after rewatching this episode.