Lost: The Complete First Season review

Like so many other people out there, I too, was a bit wary of Lost when it first came out. At the time that the first season premiered, I was working as well as attending school full-time, and as a result I didn’t have the time to be home to catch the show each night that it aired. Therefore, I only ever saw bits and pieces of a few of the initial episodes, and, rather unsurprisingly, I found myself to be completely lost (pun intended) as far as the plot and character development went. As the show progressed into additional seasons that I was continuously unable to sit down and watch, I eventually gave up any ability I would have had to understand the show, and declared Lost a bit too complex for my liking.

Years later, after meeting, falling in love with, and then marrying my now-husband, I was again exposed to the world of Lost, as he is something of a fan(atic) of the show. It took him several months to get me to agree to begin watching the series with him, beginning at season one, but eventually, I complied, and so began my love for the television show that has been declared “The #1 Best Show” by Newsweek.

While writing this review, I must take the time to step back and to think about what will be most helpful to those who wish to learn more about the show without having to read about all of the twists and turns which may lead to ruining the surprises within the show for them. Lost is an incredibly intricate series that cannot easily be explained nor have the plot summed up simply without giving away most of the key points that are incidentally huge spoilers. So, in this review, I strive to be the most helpful that I can be, without giving away anything of any incredible significance. I hope to enlighten readers as to who the characters are, what the general plot is, and to provide brief summaries of each of the episodes within the season. However, there are some episodes that are mostly about one thing that has build off of another, so for those who have not yet seen the season, I would recommend reconsidering before reading the episode summaries further down in this review.

So, what is Lost?

Lost is a gripping action/adventure/drama series from the mind of J.J. Abrams, the creator of the television series Alias. Essentially, the show is this; when flight Oceanic 815 crashes mid-flight onto a secluded island, the surviving forty-eight passengers are consequentially forced to band together in order to survive until they are able to leave the island. Each of these well-developed characters, complete strangers to one another at first, either come together as a group or else fall apart from the band of survivors as they all decide who they are now versus who they were in the “real world,” what their roles on the island will be, and how much of their actual pasts they choose to reveal to their fellow survivors.

The Who’s Who of Lost

Because the character development on the show is so fantastic, it is not easy to explain who and what each of the characters are, especially as I am now completely caught up on all of the seasons, sans the last, that follow it. Therefore, the descriptions that will follow this paragraph will be brief, and will only address the very basics of what we know about each character within the beginning of the pilot episode.

Naveen Andrews ... Sayid Jarrah is a former Iraqi military officer.
Matthew Fox ... Jack Shephard is a spinal surgon who is quickly deemed the leader of the survivors.
Jorge Garcia ... Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes is a friendly, awkward, fairly large man who mostly keeps to himself.
Josh Holloway ... James 'Sawyer' Ford is a manipulative southern pack-rat who is out to take care of himself and no one else.
Daniel Dae Kim ... Jin Kwon a Korean man who speaks no English whatsoever.
Yunjin Kim ... Sun Kwon the quiet, Korean wife of Jin Kwon.
Evangeline Lilly ... Kate Austen seems concerned and wants to help, but seems to be hiding from something.
Terry O'Quinn ... John Locke a mysterious man who seems to have a deep connection with the island and who does not seem eager to leave. Locke is the hunter for the survivors.
Emilie de Ravin ... Claire Littleton is a British girl who is incredibly pregnant.
Dominic Monaghan ... Charlie Pace is a British man who was in a band called Drive Shaft and who is currently a junkie.
Harold Perrineau ... Michael Dawson a single father who cares very much for the safety of his son.
Madison ... Vincent the Dog is Walt’s dog, a beautiful Golden Retriever.
Maggie Grace ... Shannon Rutherford is a whiney, prissy girl who irritates everyone.
Malcolm David Kelley ... Walt Lloyd is Michael’s son, and the owner of Vincent.
Ian Somerhalder ... Boone Carlyle is Shannon’s step-brother. He used to be a lifeguard.
L. Scott Caldwell ... Rose Nadler is an older woman who knows that her husband is still alive, even though he was in the now-missing tail-section of the plane.
Mira Furlan ... Danielle Rousseau is a crazy Frenchwoman who has been on the island for many, many years.
John Terry ... Christian Shephard is Jack’s dead father.

Keep in mind that if the characteristics of the characters here don’t seem interesting enough for the reader at this point, that each of the characters change throughout the season, as well as have secrets about themselves and their pasts that are revealed throughout the show, adding to the mystery.

So what did I think about Lost?

Well, I’d be crazy to say that I didn’t like it. While I did not find it to be as unpredictable as others claimed that it was, most of the plot developments were entirely unexpected, and even the ones that I was able to see coming were not completely unwelcome turns. The characters are all believable, even the ones that are lying through their teeth about who they are, and when the show flashes back to character’s lives before Oceanic flight 815 crashed, each one is a wonderfully revealing surprise that only makes the show more intriguing and the characters easier to relate to. The special effects are absolutely astonishing and realistic, especially the scenes that include the plane crash. There is an instrumental track that is not at all overbearing, and which is far more incidental than anything else.

I know that Lost might not be a show that everyone will be able to enjoy. Truly though, the best way to watch and to enjoy this show is to either rent or purchase the entire thing to watch in the comfort of one’s home, or else for one to clear one’s schedule one night a week in order to be able to keep up with the fast-paced changes that occur in each episode. However, for those who have the time to watch Lost correctly, as well as the ability to understand the deeper meanings within the show, this series is definitely a must-have!

Pros: Smart dialogue, character development, special effects, and more!

Cons: None!

The Bottom Line:
Lost; The Complete First Season is one of the best series that one could possibly own!

/ [Nioniel]

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