One of the functions of a pilot episode is to establish the characters for us. Lost only holds to this convention loosely. We do get to see all of our main characters in action, but we don't get to hear everyone's name. Early character traits are drawn out, but so much of what drives these people has yet to be shown. For such a large ensemble cast, I think the producers did a pretty good job of introducing us to everyone.
We already know that Jack is a hero, Charlie is a junkie coward, Kate is a felon, Hurley is comic relief, Mr. Redneck is a tortured soul, Sayid is officer material, Shannon is snotty and privileged, Boone is willing but not able, Walt's father doesn't know his son Walt, and the bald guy has a secret, Jin can fish and dominates his wife.
We actually do hear Mr. Redneck's name during the hike up the mountain, briefly spoken by Kate. His name isn't as important as what we learn about him in this episode. This guy seems to be asking for trouble. While Jack is saving the lives of the survivors and Sayid builds a rescue fire, Mr. Redneck is stealing a gun and a badge off of a US Marshal. He picks fights, calls people names, and yet his actions help save the group - if he didn't take that gun, that polar bear would have made dead meat out of him and likely a few others.
Of course, this begs the question, what the hell is a polar bear doing on a tropical island in the South Pacific? How is it still alive, and apparently healthy? We'd be tempted to believe that this is what scared our survivors on the beach the first night. That would make more sense than something stupid like dinosaurs. But I don't see how a polar bear could have ripped the pilot from the cockpit and left his bloody corpse hanging up in a tree.
By the way, this episode gives us some wonderful foreshadowing. First we see Walt discovering the pair of handcuffs. We find out soon after that there was an officer of the law on the plane, and eventually it's revealed who was actually wearing the handcuffs. It's a great surprise, but we might have figured it out ourselves from the scene in the first episode where we see Kate rubbing her wrists. The second flash of foreshadowing comes when we see Walt reading the Spanish comic book. The first page we see, briefly, features a polar bear. I really like all of these nice little beats; they keep me focused on paying attention.
The flashbacks this time are of Charlie and Kate, and we discover that not all of our main characters are angels. Some people have something to hide on this island. We discover why Charlie was hiding in the bathroom near the cockpit. He wasn't getting sick, as he told Kate. He was retrieving his stash of heroin. Charlie's behavior in the first episode is much clearer now that we know his motivation - he likes to smear heroin in his mouth. It's not the most effective way of doing heroin, but it gets the job done. Charlie says that he is a coward. Kate disagrees.
What's neat about Charlie's flashback is how it intertwines with Jack's. We're seeing basically the same time period as before, but this time it's from Charlie's perspective. Charlie was the one that bumped Jack as he was getting up. Charlie was the one that the flight attendants were chasing down the aisle.
We learn that Kate is really good at keeping her mouth shut, and is more than willing to let Sayid and Mr. Redneck fight about who was the Marshal's prisoner. For a prisoner, she can't be all that bad. We see in her flashback that she helped the unconscious Marshal with his oxygen supply, all while the tail section was ripped from the main body of the airplane. She's willing to help Jack and Sayid however she can. She's willing to overcome her fear.
Kate isn't the only one to keep her mouth shut. Jack makes it quite clear that he has no intention of sharing what really happened to the pilot. I guess he's not the sort to disclose information that could set off a panic. Yet, he knows what can happen. He's concerned that Kate is going to go off on a mountain hike. He says, "All right. If you see or hear anything... anything... run." But he's shaking his head "no" the entire time.
One of the more enigmatic characters is the bald fellow. We first see Mr. Baldy in the opening scene, helping Jack to get a man out from under some airplane wreckage. Mr. Baldy, though, is not like the other survivors. For one thing, he's the only person who seems to be genuinely smiling through this whole affair. In the previous episode, when it first starts raining on the beach, everyone runs for cover. Everyone except this guy. He just sits out there and practically welcomes the deluge! Why is this guy so happy?
We finally get to hear Mr. Baldy speak when Walt approaches him on the beach. Unlike Walt's father, Mr. Baldy speaks to Walt without condescension, as if he were a normal person. Mr. Baldy, while not authoritarian, quickly establishes himself as authoritative - he sure does know a lot about Backgammon. He also introduces another theme that runs through the series, the theme of light and dark. It kind of touches on what we're learning about these survivors: Some are light, and some are dark. That this scene occurs between a white man and a black boy makes it all the more delicious. His final comment to Walt creeped me out, though: "Walt, do you want to know a secret?" Let's move on.
Thankfully, we get more than a snigglet of what's going on at the end of the episode. It's a great set up, this final scene. It starts back on the beach, when Shannon decides to join Sayid and Kate on their trek up the mountain. Shannon has her own personal agenda; she wants to prove to Boone that she's not useless dead weight. Boone goes with the notion of protecting his sister. Charlie goes because he's clearly infatuated with the hot blonde, while Mr. Redneck seems more intent on keeping an eye on his new Iraqi buddy.
Eventually they make their way up the mountain far enough to pick up a signal on their transceiver. Sayid fiddles with it a bit, and they pick up a transmission. Elation! But it's in French. Does anyone speak French? In an unlikely twist, it turns out that Shannon isn't so useless after all. She happens to speak French! But she's quite unsure of herself, and it's only with prodding that she's forced to believe in her own abilities and gives a rough translation of what the Frenchwoman says.
The news first elevates and then deflates the survivors. They discover to their horror that someone else has been stranded here. Sayid does some calculations, and determines that it was over 16 years ago. 16 years without apparent rescue. Worse, the people she was with are all dead.
Chilling!
Rank:none
Score:258 Posts:65
Registered:12/06/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
(Date Posted:06/05/2007 23:54:19)
This is the episode where we get our first good reference to the Hero's Journey. Sawyer calls Jack a "hero" in this eppy for the first time. Coupled witht the fact that one of the characters is named "Boone", I'd say this is good enough to introduce the Heroic Journey model, as elucidated by Joseph Cambell:
1 Departure (or Separation)
1.1 The Call to Adventure
1.2 Refusal of the Call
1.3 Supernatural Aid
1.4 The Crossing of the First Threshold
1.5 Rebirth
2 Initiation
2.1 The Road of Trials
2.2 Marriage
2.3 Woman as Temptress
2.4 Atonement with the Father
2.5 Apotheosis
2.6 The Ultimate Boon
3 Return
3.1 Refusal of the Return
3.2 The Magic Flight
3.3 Rescue from Without
3.4 The Crossing of the Return Threshold
3.5 Master of Two Worlds
3.6 Freedom to Live
Another, alternative structure, from Chris Vogler:
1. Ordinary World - Limited Awareness
2. Call to Adventure - Increased Awareness
3. Refusal of the Call - Reluctance to Change
4. Meeting the Mentor - Overcoming Reluctance
5. Crossing the First Threshold - Committing to Change
6. Tests, Allies, Enemies - Experimenting with First Change
7. Approach the Innermost Cave - Preparing for Big Change
8. Supreme Ordeal - Attempting Big Change
9. Reward - Consequence of the Attempt
10. Road Back - Rededication to Change
11. Resurrection - Final Attempt at Big Change
12. Return with the Elixir - Final Mastery of the Problem
We know now that Jack's reluctance and aid come a few episodes later, in White Rabbit. It's a long series, and it wouldn't do for Jack to make it all the way through the gauntlet all at once. All we know about Jack's journey at this point is that he's heard the Call.
<< digression >>
Charlie goes through the second Heroic Journey in Greatest Hits/Looking Glass.
His Call comes from the plan hatched by Sayid to infiltrate the LG station and Des's vision.
His Reluctance is symbolized by needing to finish his Greatest Hits list first.
His Mentor is Desmond, who leads him across the water to the station.
His Crossing is "leap of faith" into the water. Water is Faith for Charlie.
His Tests, etc. come during his interrogation. Des is Ally, Mikhail is Shadow.
Inner Cave is the jamming equipment room. Musicians like to jam, of course.
Ordeal is Good Vibrations plus Mikhail's grenade (which is Fire+Water, of course.)
Reward is Penny's message, which he gives to Des, and then Dies.
Des is now the hero who faces the Road, Resurrection and Return. Unless Charlie comes back to life.
Rank:none
Score:258 Posts:65
Registered:12/06/2005
Time spent: 0 hours
(Date Posted:06/10/2007 21:43:11)
Mirroring - Pilot 2
This episode gives us plenty of mirroring, especially of the "inverting" variety.
Early, we get a flashback of Charlie in the plane. He's jonesing and runs to the bathroom for a fix. He gets his smack on, and we see his bliss in the mirror of the bathroom. Then he looks in the mirror, rubs his head, and drops his stash in the loo. He looks pensive, makes a decision, and reaches to pull the lever to flush his junk away! And just then, the plane hits such awful turbulence that he flies in the air, unable to pull the lever. This mirrors Charlie's second trip to the loo (and the first trip we've seen) where he seeks to retrieve his drugs instead of losing them..
Boone, the man who screws up, is called "god's friggin' gift to humanity" by Shannon. This is an inversion of what we've seen of Boone.
The first scene with Sun, she buttons up her blouse in front of Jin and Michael. In the second scene with Sun, she sees Kate bathing in the ocean - and Kate is wearing the same colors as Sun. Sun has a beige top, Kate has beige bra; Sun has a forehead scrape on the left, Kate's is on the right; Kate's long hair up, Sun's short hair down. Later, when Jin leaves with the sushi, Sun unbuttons her blouse. Some interesting mirroring of Sun and Kate, and Sun inverts our initial reading of her by expressing defiance.
Kate asks for help in fixing the transceiver, and Sayid answers this "call" about a phone not working.
Hurley asks for people to have some respect, and is promptly called "Lardo".
Hurley calls Saywer a "chain"-smoking "jack"ass - referencing the cuffs and Jack, and setting Sawyer in an opposite light.
Hurley's expectation of Sayid's service is inverted - Sayid fought with the Iraqi's not against them.
Jack tells Kate to run as they discuss the hike, opposite of his comment in the first episode that she isn't running.
Hurley, the fat guy, refuses the food offered by Jin. This inverts our expectations of fat people.
We see that Michael doesn't know that Walt doesn't know Spanish, showing us that he doesn't know much about his son. This inverts our expectations of fathers.
Charlie goes off to do his drugs. In the first next scene, Jack asks Hurley to look for drugs - antibiotics. The next scene returns to Charlie, looking quite high from doing drugs. "Drugs" are shown having both positive and negative aspects.
Shannon looks at a dead guy, crying, and recognizes that he "saved" their lives by making them change their seats. Boone heartlessly says she's worthless, they yell at each other, she decides to go on hike, he says "no". This twins Kate telling Jack she's going on a hike, and his negative reaction. Shannon's actually experiencing empathy, inverting her stereotype of selfishness. Boone is being mean, mirroring Shannon's heartless comments about him in the first episode, another inversion. Boone says he's wasting time making fun of her, after accusing her of doing nothing. These two are fun.
Shannon: I'd like to come with you.
Boone: She's not going, she doesn't know, this is what she does.
Shannon: The hell I'm not. You don't know what the hell I do.
Boone: She makes really bad decisions that upset her family, which at the moment is me.
Shannon: Shut up, and stop trying to be charming.
Boone is "Prince Charming" - not.
We see all kinds of different motivations for the mountain hike. Kate and Sayid twin each other - they're both interested in finding the source. Shannon goes to prove something to Boone, Boone goes to look after his sister, Charlie goes to look *at* her. Sawyer, who's sitting alone in a half-circle, joins the group, inverting our expectation of him as a "loner". He goes to keep an eye on the Iraqi and Kate.
(The "away team" is twice size of first a-team, and we have twice as many flashbacks as in the Pilot.)
Jack tells Michael that Vincent is alive, inverting Michael's expectation that the dog is dead.
The Backgammon scene: The board is mirror-twinned - the black and white are reversed from left to right. The players of the game are mirror-twinned with respect to the board and the movement thereon. Locke holds up the black piece to his right eye and the light piece to his left eye, inverting the symbolism of "the eye" from the first episode. The conversation is between a white adult and a black child. Locke is authoritative versus Michael's authoritarianism. Walt inverts our expectations, saying he lives with his Mom in Australia, and inverts again by saying she's now dead. He doesn't with Locke's prognosis of having a "bad month", another inversion.
Locke shares a secret. He is not named yet.
Claire's inversion: She gets fish from Jin and then looks like she's going to get sick. But that's not it; her baby moves, and inversion from her earlier comment that the baby hadn't moved since the crash. She now knows the baby is male; at the beginning of the episode, she didn't know the baby's sex.
Sawyer shoots a POLAR bear (polarity!) which inverts our expectation of polar bears living in arctic instead of tropical climates.
Hurley is helping Jack with the Marshal, and Jack is afraid the Marshal is going to wake up. Hurley passes out over the Marshal instead.
Kate confronts Sawyer about gun, who tells the story of finding it on the Marshal. Sayid accuses sawyer of being 'the prisoner', a reversal of sawyer's accusations against Sayid on the beach earlier that day. Kate steals gun and splits it in half.
Sawyer I know your type.
Kate I'm not so sure.
Sawyer Yeah, I've been with girls like you.
Kate No girl's exactly like me.
Kate declares that she's no twin, while Sawyer "knowing" Kate echoes Boone's "knowing" Shannon.
Kate's flashback twins Charlie's and Jack's - they all begin with an interaction with the stewardess. Kate wants nothing more to drink, like Charlie; the Marshal wants his coffee "black". The reveal of Kate in cuffs inverts our expectations of her, which is inverted yet again when she helps the unconscious Marshal with his oxygen mask.
We've gotten twice as many flashbacks, and of "dark" characters instead of a "light" one.
On the mountain, they check the radio and discover they can't tranmit because something else transmitting. Then they hear the French transmission, and Shannon inverts her uselessness by knowing French, while Boone inverts himself by insisting that Shannon does know her stuff. The "high" of hearing the transmission is inverted to a "low" when they realize that "rescue" has been inverted to an unheard distress call - unheard until now.
