There has been so much said about Lost for the past month that I’m not sure I could write a great enough review. Regardless, I am going through all five seasons before the final season starts in February. Like I said, it is one of the ten things I am looking forward to for the new year. Over the next few weeks I will be going through each season and writing about what my favorite moments were and what questions I wouldn’t mind being answered or discussed in the final season. Basically a glorified DVD review.
Season One is such a different beast from the other seasons. In fact you could say that about every one. They are exactly like what Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof have said. Like Harry Potter they are familiar with the same characters but each season tells a different story.
Well going back to watch the first season after watching season five was almost like watching a different show. The show in general moves a lot slower. It is a lot more character centric and we only get a little bit of information then what we know about now. If people are still asking for answers they need to go back to the first season just to see how far we have come.
The only big mysteries this season were the hatch, The Polar Bear, The Monster, and that Walt has power. We also were told about the Others but only saw a bit of them at the end of the season. Well the hatch and the polar bear are old news and we actually know quite a bit about Ole Smokey. We don’t know how he judges people or how exactly he works or where he came from but it isn’t a mysterious as the first season makes it. I’d love it if they could finally answer why Walt was so special and what powers he had. I’m not sure that would be answered but we need a conclusion to that. I also wouldn’t mind knowing what Locke saw when he first saw the monster (if it was the smoke monster at all) way back in Walkabout.
One of the best things about re-watching this season is knowing where the characters end up and the same themes that run through the show. Locke begins looking for his destiny, Jack cannot not lead despite how hard he tries, Sawyer is our reluctant hero, and Kate of course has a hard time staying in one place. Those themes still echo in season five or at least are a variation of them. It is easier seeing the smaller story arcs like Charlie, Boone, and Shannon. It is to bad some of them were cut short or what could have been done with them if they were given a chance to go after their respective end times. I’m hoping for their returns as well at least for some closure.
If you ever have to introduce someone to this show it needs to be the first season. It starts of slow but it is still invigorating. You cannot wait to see what happens next despite the scope not being as big as it is now. They give you a great full picture of the characters and lets you care about them so that when the story gets more complicated you already know so much about Locke, Jack, and Hurley among the others.
This season is the introduction to the show and by going back and watching it, it really just feels like the first chapter to something much more complicated. It has a much different feel to it but it is the mot accessible out of all the seasons and does an amazing job setting up the groundwork and even hinting at themes and events in the future. Hearing Rousseau’s story is more interesting now that we have seen her story. Seeing the themes of dark and light in the backgammon game and how they represent good and evil makes the first scene of the finale also interesting. I know that the writers must have made some things up as they have gone along but the main story and the framework for the whole series is here.
This season also has some of the most classic and best episodes. The pilot alone set a new standard for what is expected in a pilot. I’m not sure if it is the most or ever was the most expensive but it definitely still holds up over five years later. Walkabout is a turning point for the series and where I knew that this show was going to be special. Other great episodes include Numbers, Deus Ex Machina, and Do No Harm. Finally of course the amazing finale Exodus. Everything was amazing about the finale from Arzt blowing up, to opening the hatch, and the shocking kidnapping of Walt from the others on the raft.
Season One appears as just a story about a group of plane crash victims on a deserted island, however there is so much more to it then that. Once you learn that Locke was in a wheel chair and that there is a hatch on the island you start wondering what is really going on and it only works because of the great character work. Season one of Lost is a classic season of television and what all modern science fiction if not television series should strive to be.
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