Lost often gets flack for its ending, but the same can’t be said about its beginning.
True, there are moments from the series’s pilot that turned some away, but more often than not, this two-part episode garners praise. In a few cases, some will rank it among the top TV pilots of all time.
Those accolades, however, beg the question of why it was so successful. How did Lost take two hours of television and hook a nation for what would be the next six years?
Understanding the Context
In order to begin answering those questions, we need to go back to 2004 to understand the context.
Streaming had yet to take off and most people still adhered to “appointment viewing,” or gathering around the TV at a set time to watch any given show. Sure, there were ways to record TV shows such as through a VHS player or the emerging TiVo, but people still gathered at the original air times.
Furthermore, it was not common for TV shows to be serialized. There were some arcs that needed past viewing to understand, but oftentimes, that was not the norm.
The world was only three years removed from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and much of the media was still trying to find its footing.
Lastly, network TV still reigned supreme though cable TV was making in-roads with channels like HBO, MTV, and others. Among the network landscape, ABC was not considered a top-tier station.
Then Lost came along.
Disorienting from the Start
From the get-go, Lost found a way to hook its viewer. The first episode starts with a then-unnamed Jack Shephard opening his eyes and laying bloodied in a bamboo field.
It takes Jack a minute to recompose himself before running to the sound of screaming. He arrives at a seemingly peaceful beach only for the camera to pan and reveal a massive plane crash and panicking people.
The next few minutes ramp up the stress as Jack works with other survivors to save the injured and avoid further damage. It isn’t until about 10 minutes into the episode that Jack (and the audience) have a chance to catch their breath.
What made this opening bit so impactful was it disoriented the audience. You felt like you were alongside Jack as the world crumbled.
Furthermore, what made this so powerful was the show didn’t take time to tell you what happened. Sure, you knew a plane must have crashed and these were survivors, but throwing the viewer into this mess was a solid move.
It wasn’t like it started that way, however. The moments with Jack in the jungle are eerily calming. No chaos or turmoil, just the sounds of an island. This lulled the audience into some sense of security before blasting them with the harrowing images of the plane crash.
Keep in mind, this was only three years after 9/11. The images of burning wreckage and the sounds of a dying plane were really jarring in 2004 because the viewer had seen that in real life.
This added to the disorientation at the time even though it is a factor lost on today’s audience. Unlike in 2004, 9/11 is 23 years ago and there is a good chunk of the population that wasn’t alive when it happened. This is a factor that was particularly compelling to audiences 20 years ago.
A Monster of Mystery
Lost wasted no time building questions. By its end, the show was known for creating more questions than answers and that all started in the pilot.
Through the first half of the first episode, Lost presents itself as a standard survival show as the passengers figure out what to do next. Jack emerges as an unofficial leader and others start to find their place.
During a meeting on their first night, the passengers hear a loud mechanical roaring noise coming from the jungle. As they turn their attention there, they begin to see trees begin to fall over. As soon as it began, the roars died out and the trees became still.
This is the audience’s first mystical question that arises. Sure, the audience was questioning what happened to the flight and who are the passengers but this reveal leaves the survivors (and audience) speechless.
This mysterious monster reappears several times throughout the first part, eventually killing the plane’s pilot deep in the jungle. Jack and company have no idea what to make of this monster because they don’t know what it is.
Again, the audience is thrown into the deep end of mystery with this unseen thing that is already terrorizing the survivors.
One thing the show did excellently in the pilot was getting the audience to feel the same as the survivors. It started with the chaos on the beach and continued as the mysteries started rolling out.
And then, Lost starts to lull you back into security as the second part is full of optimism. The survivors have a radio that they can send a message to those looking for them. This was a welcome sight after the pilot revealed just before he died that they were 1,000 miles of course.
A group of survivors sets off for higher ground to get a signal but another curveball appears. Sawyer kills a polar bear and that pricks the audience’s intrigue again. In some cases, it turned viewers away.
That weird reveal was a great way to prepare audiences for the end sequence. The survivors reach higher elevation and turn on the radio. They pick up a broadcast from a French woman followed by a man’s voice counting how often the message has broadcasted.
After translations, the survivors learn the distress message is about how this French woman is all alone and that “it” killed her crew. One survivor does the math and reveals the roughly 30-second message has replayed constantly for the last 16 years.
Lost employs some masterful cinematography here as the camera whips around in a circle revealing each member of the hiking party questioning what all this could me. Slowly, you see the realization hit the survivors and a mixture of fear and defeat sets in.
This leads one survivor named Charlie to utter the last lines of the episode, “Guys, where are we?”
Not only does this line solidify the mysterious nature of the show, but it introduces a new character that has silently been there the entire time: the island.
The Beginning of a Long Character Study
At its core, Lost is a character study. Yes, the intrigue and mystery was a key part of the show’s DNA, but its characters always drove that.
It’s fitting that the pilot episodes introduce the island as a key character because throughout the show’s run, you’ll see it develop just as much as the survivors.
Charlie’s questioning of the island shows how the mystery and characters would blend into one plotline. Setting this up is vital to the success of the show, but throw the eyes of the first-time viewer, it was a necessary foundation block that kept them coming back.
It wasn’t only the island, however, that enjoyed this introduction. It was also the survivors themselves that leapt off the screens as important characters.
What made this so impressive is there were so many of them. Throughout the first two episodes, viewers got an overview of almost 15 characters. These introductions were not just a name, but rather some insight into who they were.
There were several other characters that got brief introductions, but Lost’s ability to balance all of those reveals was really impressive. It ensured the audience would feel at home and not be lost among the survivors. It also set up who should like and dislike.
With all of these introductions, it made the show relatable. Many of these people seemed to be everyday people like the viewer. This added to the sense of dread of this happening to the audience because we could see ourselves in these characters.
Would we be brave and lead like Jack? Would we be in denial like Shannon? Would we want to help but not know what to do like Boone? Would we be cutthroat like Sawyer? All of these questions swirled through the audience’s mind.
Of all of the introductions, viewers did get a deeper look at three in particular: Jack, Kate, and Charlie. It only centered on the events on the plane just prior to the crash but it was just enough to deepen the intrigue in a way that blended character and mystery.
It also introduced the famed flashback format and left you wondering who was next. This was another genius way to keep people coming back.
The End of the Beginning
Lost’s pilot episodes lived up to their hype. They effectively put the audience in the shows of the survivors, introduced mystery, created questions, and left viewers wanting to learn more about the survivors.
In short, the pilot episodes did exactly what they needed to do.
Part of that was because of who the audience was in 2004. That said, it’s genius in scriptwriting and presentation can hook viewers to this day.
Remember, the audience watched this show differently in the 2000s, meaning a lot of the questions took years to get their answers with some being left for the audience to interpret. Lost’s pilot was created with that in mind.
Watching the show in a binging format almost makes it a different show because you don’t have the time to piece it all together. Still, the pilot works in this format because is effectively sets up the intrigue of the plot and characters.
Lost was truly one of a kind and many have tried to match what made it work so well, especially during the early years. The shift in TV viewing and approach to storytelling makes it hard for a show to do exactly what Lost did.
This leaves the show in a category all its own and it all started with a memorable pilot.
Featured Image: ABC Network (via Empire)
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