"Pilot: Part I"

Written by JJ Abrams and Damon Lindelof
Directed by JJ Abrams


In which dozens of survivors of a plane crash try to cope with the realization that they are stranded on a remote tropical island, along with something very, very big...

Status Report - Memorable Quotes - Final Analysis







Status Report
Having taken on the spy romance genre with “Alias”, JJ Abrams turned his attention to something slightly different. At first glance, “Lost” seems like a fairly typical network “high concept” series: think “Survivor” meets “Jurassic Park”. What makes this series different is the one thing that Abrams is best known for: strong character development and long-term plotting.

Much has been said about the setting of the series, and much of it has focused on the mysterious nature of the island itself. Abrams once referred to it as “the island that Rambaldi made”, referring to the Renaissance genius and prophet whose unusual work stands at the center of the “Alias” mythology. But when so much time and energy is spent talking up the mystery, the real meat of the story remains unspoiled. This is not so much about the island, but rather, about the people who have been forced to live together and survive.

When it comes to starting this show, one of the most highly anticipated series in recent memory, ABC seems to have been invaded by the same FOX network executives that screwed up the “Firefly” launch. The pilot was a full-length film, much like the “Firefly” pilot, meant to be aired in a two-hour block. The narrative pacing is clearly designed around the two-hour format. So of course, in their infinite wisdom, ABC chose to split the pilot in two parts, apparently to make room for a needlessly extended episode of “The Bachelor”.

Regardless, the pilot begins with serious tension and never quite loses it. This was the most expensive pilot ever produced (beating out “Firefly”, in yet another parallel), and it shows. The opening act is a thing of terrifying beauty: the screaming sound of a damaged jet turbine serving as the background for the chaotic initial realization following the plane crash. There are dozens of survivors, all experiencing some level of injury and trauma, and the apparent main character (Jack) gives the audience something to center on.

If there’s one thing that this episode does extremely well, it’s exposition. The writers use the situation to reveal aspects of the characters that would otherwise remain hidden. More importantly, the characters don’t offer information about themselves in some unnatural attempt to give the audience some sense of comfort. Just like a real plane crash, individuals are anonymous until some situation comes along to prompt people to talk about themselves.

Jack’s story, for instance, could have easily been told around a campfire, dropped into the episode without any consideration for how people would react in a serious mental and physical crisis. Instead, the writers have Jack reveal his medical background through his initial actions, risking himself to save lives and take charge of basic triage. Flashbacks to the events just before the crash reveal someone under a hell of a lot of stress. His story about the spinal surgery is something he tells to distract himself from the pain and fear; Matthew Fox does an incredible job of selling that scene. Note how his explanation for not giving to fear masks a deep terror, something that forces him to take action in an attempt to restore a sense of order.

Kate is something of an enigma. She’s clearly out of her element, but she has some serious resolve. In many ways, she has the same kind of personality that Jack has. She would rather take action and make a wrong move than be frightened into complete inaction. For all that Jack’s basic background is fleshed out, almost nothing is revealed about Kate herself. There’s little sense of who she is or what she has done in her life. Again, this is not a weakness in the writing, but a strength; in such circumstances, many people would keep personal details hidden away.

Rounding out the first characters to get major screen time is Charlie, played by the now-famous Dominic Monaghan. In a nice move, Charlie is someone with something resembling fame, giving Monaghan the chance to indirectly comment on his recent celebrity. Not only that, but it lets the writers play on viewer recognition; Monaghan seems instantly familiar, and so his character is equally recognizable to the others on the island. It’s very clever, and it also opens the door to possible intrigue.

Few of the other characters are given more than a momentary introduction. There’s the pregnant young woman played by Emilie de Ravin, better known as Tess from “Roswell”. Thankfully, she gets to use her real accent on this series. There’s the odd older man played by Terry O’ Quinn, who seems far too calm about the situation than he should. There’s the apparent bickering young siblings, comprised of a very unnerved young man and his very bitchy and possibly spoiled hot sister. There’s the possibly Korean couple (the husband is played by Daniel Dae Kim), neither of whom speak English. There’s the Arabic man, the fat man, the black father and young son, and a black woman who Jack brought back from the brink of death. And that’s just scratching the surface.

It’s notable that the cast is not purely American or white. There are characters who don’t even speak English, and characters with strong accents. It’s another layer of realism that Abrams intentionally inserted into the mix. The more different the various characters are, the more likely the chance of major conflict as resources and tempers wear thin. And of course, beyond the diversity of the cast, there is the unknown predator that seems to be rampaging through the jungle on a regular basis.

Rather than introduce all of the main cast in one exposition dump, the first hour focuses on Jack, Kate, and Charlie. Jack wants to find the transceiver that would be in the cockpit, and he’s willing to brave the jungle to do it. Kate has some idea where the front of the plane landing, and she insists on going, wanting to take some action to get rescued. Charlie’s motivations, however, are far less obvious.

Everything in Charlie’s background suggests a life of excess. He insists that his band is getting back together, but he’s not mourning the loss of any other band members; clearly, he was on his own for some reason. Before the plane tore itself apart, Charlie was running towards the front of the plane, chased by two other people. Once the front of the plane is found, Charlie doesn’t focus on the transceiver so much as something in the bathroom. The most obvious conclusion is that he hid something there when the plane hit turbulence, and he went back to retrieve it. Given his lifestyle, the obvious conclusion would be drugs.

Once at the cockpit, Jack and Kate learn from the injured but still breathing pilot (played by Abrams favorite Greg Grunberg) that the plane was experiencing some odd radio trouble just after takeoff, forcing the plane to turn around to land at the nearest available location. Thanks to that little problem, the plane was way off course; any rescue mission would be looking in the wrong place. Before the scene can lapse from something natural to something forced, the unknown creature in the jungle grabs the pilot and does something highly predatory. Jack, Kate, and Charlie are requisitely freaked out.

To many, the unknown creature instantly brings “Jurassic Park” or “King Kong” to mind. Indeed, something of that scale must be hanging out on the island, because it’s knocking around trees like they’re toothpicks. At the same time, dinosaurs or giant apes are more suited to the Sci-Fi Channel than something from Abrams. That’s not to say it’s impossible for that to be the explanation, but when it comes to Abrams, there’s a natural tendency to be skeptical of the obvious assumptions.

One major assumption would be that the plane crash was simply a matter of bad luck. There are already clues that suggest otherwise. The plane breaks apart into three sections, but those sections are still relatively intact when they hit the ground. That suggests that the plane didn’t break apart until it was close to the ground already, perhaps deliberately so. After all, the radio trouble that forced the plane off course could have been sabotage, something concocted to re-route the plane on a specific alternate course for a reason.

However, given the information that has already been provided in the first hour (and the previews at the end), it’s possible to form a quick and dirty initial theory about the island. One of the major hints is the character played by Terry O’Quinn. He’s far too calm about the whole situation, and he doesn’t even react to the idea of something large and terrifying running around in the jungle. One gets the immediate sense that he knows where they are and what the real situation is, and that’s not a good thing for everyone else.

Here’s the theory. The island is the location of a very secret laboratory where genetic engineering experiments are being conducted on the animal life. At some point, something went very wrong, and an automatic mayday was sent on a scrambled channel for assistance (as suggested in the preview for the next episode) before the signal could be turned off, everyone on the island was killed. The corporation/government agency responsible for the experiments needed to get someone on the island in a way that would never be traced. And of course, there would also have to be a readily available food source to distract the test subjects.

So there is a semi-controlled plane crash, all aimed to get at least some people onto that island along with at least one person that knows what to do about the experiment. In this scenario, Terry O’Quinn would be the expert, calmly evaluating the situation and letting others risk themselves in the process.

It’s just as likely, of course, that the mystery will never be completely resolved. The presence of some large and unknown predator could very well be a plot device, a way to increase the tensions that will very quickly begin to emerge. The survivors are going to rapidly choose sides and form alliances, all in the name of competing for resources and taking control of the situation. People’s secrets will begin to come out, and that information will be used against them by those who feel threatened by those with more capability.

Of course, there’s still the second half of the pilot to take into consideration. Since the first two episodes were really supposed to be a single introduction to the concept and characters, there are aspects of the series that may not yet be in place. One can only hope that the gradual pacing of the first two episodes is not interpreted as a mistake on the part of the writers or director; it is entirely the fault of ABC for failing to air the pilot in the proper manner.

There is one final concern. The pilot was enormously expensive, and it shows. The question is how much of that extra money went into aspects of the pilot that were unique to that material. In other words, was the budgeting overseen carefully enough, to ensure that the elements that would remain in place for the ongoing series would be covered by the normal budgetary resources? Or were there aspects of the pilot that were completed using the extra funds, but will have to be scaled back for the series proper? Abrams is usually very good at seeing to such things, and there is the fact that the location is the main expense, and that’s not going away.

Focusing on the characters will help maintain a scale of balance, directing attention from the special effects and big explosions towards something far more manageable. Staying in one location (large as it is) provides the benefit of relatively easy production choices. More time can be spent on the character moments and interactions, and that’s where the series will make or break itself. If the pilot is any indication, this series has more than enough potential to succeed.


Memorable Quotes
BOONE: “I'm a lifeguard, I'm licensed."
JACK: “Yeah, well, you seriously need to think on giving that license back.”
BOONE: “Maybe we should do one of those hole things? You know, stick a pen in the throat?”
JACK: “Yeah, good idea. You go get me a pen...”


Final Analysis
Overall, this is a strong introduction to the series, but it would have been much stronger if the entire pilot had been aired as a whole, rather than as two parts. Characters are already displaying a great deal of complexity, and the mystery of the island itself should add yet another layer of intrigue. The real question, of course, is whether or not the audience will be there to sustain the series long enough to overcome the stupidity of ABC scheduling.

Writing: 2/2
Acting: 2/2
Direction: 2/2
Style: 3/4

Final Rating: 9/10




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