Lost S01E01 "Pilot, Part 1" - TV Tropes (2024)

Lost S01E01 "Pilot, Part 1" »

Recap

Season 1, Episode 1:

Lost S01E01 "Pilot, Part 1" - TV Tropes (1)

Jack Shephard wakes up from the worst flight of his life.

Written by J. J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof (story & teleplay) & Jeffrey Lieber (story).

Directed by J.J. Abrams.

"Six hours in, our radio went out; no one could see us. We turned back to land in Fiji. By the time we hit turbulence, we were a thousand miles off course. They're looking for us in the wrong place."

Captain Seth Norris

Jack Shephard wakes up in the jungle, dazed and confused. He runs out of the jungle, onto a beach, where we see the remains of a plane crash and absolute panic among the survivors. He quickly runs around helping as many people as he can, saving the heavily pregnant Claire Littleton from a falling plane wing and resuscitating the unconscious Rose Nadler. Another survivor, Boone Carlyle, tries and fails to help him out. After the chaos has died down, we meet a few more of the survivors. Sawyer smokes a cigarette and wanders around with an angry look on his face. John Locke looks out to sea contemplatively. Sayid Jarrah leads a mission to build a signal fire. Charlie Pace looks completely spaced out. Hurley offers Claire some food. Rose kisses her wedding ring, with tears in her eyes. Jack goes to be alone to fix a gash he suffered on his back, and meets Kate Austen. He asks her for assistance with sewing up his wound and she obliges. He explains that he is a surgeon. Everyone prepares for their first night on the Island. Michael Dawson asks his son, Walt, if he needs any more blankets. Boone gets into an argument with his sister, Shannon, who is childishly refusing to eat until they are rescued. Jin Soo-Kwon tells his wife, Sun, to stay by his side and that they must only look out for each other. They are Korean, and do not speak English. Jack treats an unconscious man with some shrapnel lodged in his abdomen, while Kate watches on, concerned, telling him they were sitting next to each other on the flight. A loud roaring is heard, and trees are crushed in the jungle.

In a flashback, Jack promises to keep Rose, who is sitting next to him on the plane, company until her husband comes back from the bathroom.

The next morning, Jack, Kate and Charlie set out on a mission to the cockpit to find the transceiver so they can send a distress signal. Kate recognises Charlie as a former member of a famous rock band named Drive Shaft. They find the cockpit, and the barely alive pilot tells them that they were already way off course before they crashed, and that the rescue parties are looking for them in the wrong place. The mysterious noise returns and snatches the pilot. Jack, Kate and Charlie discover his mutilated body hanging from a tree.

  • After-Action Patch-Up: Kate sews up Jack's back after he's finished running around saving everyone in sight.
  • Blatant Lies: Charlie's claim that Drive Shaft are "in the middle of a comeback."
  • The Cameo: Greg Grunberg, frequent collaborator of J. J. Abrams, appears as the pilot before getting quickly killed off.
  • Cell Phones Are Useless: Boone is seen trying to use his cell phone, but can't get a signal. Justified as they are on a remote island that obviously doesn't have a cell tower.
  • Censorship by Spelling: A failed attempt of this. Hurley spells out B-O-D-Y-S in order to not disturb Walt but Walt corrects him, saying it's actually B-O-D-I-E-S.
  • Children Are Innocent: Upon hearing the Monster, Walt's response is to ask if the loud, distinctly unnatural sounds are his dog.
  • Clean Pretty Reliable: Jack gives Rose CPR for about thirty seconds before she starts coughing and is absolutely fine.
  • Curiosity Killed the Cast: The surviving pilot peeks out of the open front window to get a better look at the creature lurking around. Of course his curiosity pays off and he gets pulled out and killed.
  • Dead Star Walking: Character actor and JJ Abrams regular Greg Grunberg appears as the pilot and is set up as though he's going to be a major character, just before he is killed by the Monster.
  • Double-Meaning Title: While the title obviously refers to the episode's status as the series pilot, it could also be a reference to the pilot of the plane, who becomes the first victim of the Monster.
  • Dramatic Slip: Charlie slips over a twine and falls when they are running from the Monster. Jack goes back to help him up.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness: The small snippet of "You All Everybody" that Charlie sings in this episode sounds very different to the way the song is sung in later episodes.
  • Establishing Character Moment:
    • Jack's first appearance shows him running around the chaotic beach after the crash, helping as many people as possible, showcasing his medical expertise and his Chronic Hero Syndrome.
    • Boone is seen trying to give the unconscious Rose CPR, only to have Jack call him out on using the wrong technique and send him on a Snipe Hunt to get him out of the way, establishing him as a guy who tries to be a hero but always screws up.
    • Michael is first seen calling out for his son.
    • Shannon angrily refuses Boone's offer of a chocolate bar because she doesn't want to eat before they get rescued, establishing her as a bitchy complainer who has a strained relationship with her brother.
    • Hurley shows off his Nice Guy credentials by bringing the pregnant Claire some food on the first night and giving her an extra meal.
    • Jin tells Sun that she mustn't leave his sight and that the two should ignore the other survivors and only worry about each other, establishing him as possessive and stand-offish, but still a man who cares deeply for his wife.
    • Sawyer is first seen putting a cigarette in his mouth and smoking as he surveys the crash site, establishing him as a rugged individual but also calculating.
    • Sayid is introduced building a signal fire, showing that he is the survivors' best chance at making contact with the outside world.
  • Establishing Series Moment: For the first twenty minutes, the series looks like it's going to be a dramatic take on Gilligan's Island, with a focus on survival on a deserted island while trying to get rescued. Then the survivors hear a loud, mechanical-like roar from the jungle which proceeds to uproot trees, making them and the audience aware that this is not any ordinary island.
  • Eye Open: The first shot is a close-up on Jack opening his eyes.
  • Flashback: The very first one of the series shows Jack on the flight moments before the plane hit turbulence and crashed.
  • Foreshadowing: When Kate first appears, she's rubbing her wrists.
  • Help, I'm Stuck!: One of the surviving passengers is stuck under debris and cries out for help.
  • Imperiled in Pregnancy: Claire is eight months pregnant when Oceanic 815 crashes. She experiences contractions during the aftermath of the crash but Jack correctly works out that they're probably false labor brought on by the stress of what just happened. Once things calm down her contractions stop.
  • Inciting Incident: The plane crash. While future episodes will delve into the mountains and mountains of backstory on the characters and the setting, the arrival of Oceanic 815 kicks off the story of Lost proper.
  • Nothing Is Scarier: The Monster, in its first appearance, rustles and crashes through the trees unseen while the survivors look on, terrified. Later on, we never see it when it kills the pilot or chases Jack, Kate and Charlie, but we see the results of what it did to the pilot, and they are not pretty.
  • Peek-a-Boo Corpse: The dead co-pilot falls out of the cockpit when Jack opens the door.
  • Pilot: The two-parter quickly and effectively introduces the characters along with establishing the mystery.
  • Redemption in the Rain: While everyone else rushes for cover when it starts raining, Locke just sits there and lets it wash over him with a big smile on his face.
  • Sacrificial Lamb: The pilot appears in one scene before he's killed in a very gruesome way just to establish how dangerous The Monster is and that Anyone Can Die. Originally, Jack himself was supposed to fill this role before producers convinced the writers not to go through with it.
  • Shout-Out: When Kate takes some shoes off a corpse, Locke tries to cheer her up by putting an orange peel in his mouth and smiling.
  • Snipe Hunt: Jack sends Boone away to get a pen while he's giving Rose CPR, ostensibly for a tracheotomy but really just to get him out of the way.
  • The Stoic: Locke spends most of the episode looking contemplatively out to sea while everybody else is panicking about the crash or looking for ways to get rescued.
  • Stuff Blowing Up: The turbine and other parts of the aircraft explode at some point for effect.
  • Third Wheel: Charlie for Jack and Kate while they're on the cockpit mission, despite the fact that the latter two are not even dating.

    Jack: You okay?

    Kate: Yeah, you?

    Jack: Yeah.

    [beat]

    Charlie: I'm fine. Charlie's fine, by the way.

  • Turbine Blender: One of the passengers is sucked into the turbine which then explodes. He might have lived if Locke hadn't shouted for him to get away from the engine, distracting him.
  • We Have to Get the Bullet Out!: Averted. One of the survivors has a piece of shrapnel lodged in his abdomen, which Jack specifically tells Boone not to let him take out, as it will make the bleeding worse.
  • When It Rains, It Pours: The rain comes out of nowhere and goes the same way.
  • You Are Better than You Think You Are: After Jack tells Kate the story of how he recovered from making a mistake in his first solo surgery.

    Kate: If that had been me, I think I'd have run for the door.

    Jack: No, I don't think that's true. You're not running now.

Lost S01E01 "Pilot, Part 1" - TV Tropes (2024)
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