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Lost (2004 TV series)

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This article is about the drama series. There is also an article about the reality series, Lost (reality TV series). For other uses, see Lost (disambiguation).
Lost
File:Lost-season2.jpg
Created byJ.J. Abrams
Damon Lindelof
Jeffrey Lieber
StarringSee Cast and characters below
Country of originUSA
No. of episodes34 (plus two specials) (as of November 30, 2005)
Production
Running timeapprox. 42 minutes
(per episode)
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseSeptember 22, 2004 –
present

Lost is an American drama/adventure television series set in the aftermath of a plane crash on a mysterious tropical island in the South Pacific.

Template:Spoiler

Overview

The series was developed exclusively by ABC: former studio executive Lloyd Braun pitched an idea about a plane crashing on a remote island to series creator J.J. Abrams in January 2004, after most of the new series for the 2004 fall season had already been selected and begun production. Under significant time pressure from the start, Abrams collaborated with Damon Lindelof to create the show’s unique style and characters, occasionally even creating characters to fit an actor they wished to cast. From this difficult beginning, which included the filming of the most expensive pilot in television history, came one of the biggest critical and commercial successes of the 2004 television season, and Lost, along with fellow freshman series Desperate Housewives, helped reverse the fortunes of the underperforming ABC. In September 2005, Lost won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series; Abrams was awarded an additional Emmy, for his work as director of the pilot.

The series uniquely tracks two major, interconnected themes: first, the struggles of the forty-eight survivors of the crash as they cope with living together on the strange island, and second, the lives of the fourteen main characters before the crash, retold through flashbacks, thereby greatly expanding the more prosaic role of the typical television "backstory"[1]. In most episodes, the primary focus of the action is on a specific character and includes flashbacks from that character's point of view, thus providing insight to the viewer about the character's secrets and motivations. In the first season, the flashbacks also showed why each character was on the doomed plane. The exceptions to this character-based structure are the pilot and season one finale episodes, in which flashbacks from several characters are featured and depiction of action on the island takes a much more general approach, and the season 2 episode "The Other 48 Days," which is the first episode of the show to feature no flashbacks of any kind.

The show is produced by Bad Robot Production and Touchstone Television; the music is composed by Michael Giacchino.

Season synopses

Season 1: 2004-2005

Main article: Episodes of Lost (Season 1)

A plane crash strands the surviving passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 on a seemingly deserted tropical island, forcing the group of strangers to work together to stay alive. However, their survival may also ultimately depend on unraveling the mysteries of the island, including the contents of a hatch buried in the ground, the origins of an enormous creature that roams the jungle, and the motives of the unknown "Others" who may also inhabit the island.

Season 2: 2005-2006

Main article: Episodes of Lost (Season 2)

Season two began airing September 21, 2005. Several new characters appear in the new season, including Ana-Lucia Cortez (who previously appeared in the Season 1 finale), Libby, and the mysterious Mr. Eko. This season begins 44 days after the crash and also introduces The Dharma Initiative and its benefactor, The Hanso Foundation, which may be responsible for some or all of the strange occurrences on the island.

Story elements

There are several recurring story elements on Lost, which drive central plot points and the development of the survivors as they try to live on the island.

Black and white

The colors black and white, which traditionally reflect good or positive forces versus evil or negative forces, have been featured a number of times, particularly in regard to John Locke. In "Pilot", Locke shows Walt a black and a white backgammon piece and says, "two players, two sides, one is light, one is dark." In "House of the Rising Sun", Jack finds a pouch on a pair of mummified corpses, nicknamed "Adam and Eve" by the survivors, containing one white stone and one black stone, which he then hides from Locke. In the opening sequence of "Raised by Another", Claire has a nightmare in which Locke has one black eyeball and one white eyeball, and the cards he uses for playing are black-and-white. The black-and-white logo of The Dharma Initiative appears on various surfaces in the hatch compound; the same symbol appears on the labels of all the food in a storage room, and on the tail of a shark that circles Michael and Sawyer. The frames of Sawyer's glasses are fused from two separate pairs; one of the frames is white and the other is black. The polar bear seen in "Pilot (part two)" was white, and the horse seen in "What Kate Did" was black. In the final scene of Collision, Jack and Ana Lucia are facing each other with Jack wearing a white shirt and Ana Lucia wearing a black shirt.

Parents

Most of the major characters have fathers who are or were either absent, reluctant, or destructive. Thus far, the father issues of Locke, Jack, Sawyer, Walt, and Kate have been the most well explored, with Locke in particular being the victim of a wretched betrayal in "Deus Ex Machina". These characters are not alone, however: Aaron was abandoned by his father (Claire's boyfriend Thomas), Claire's past with her father has been alluded to, Shannon's father is dead, Hurley's father is absent (although he does talk about "Fishing with his old man" in Walkabout), and Sun's father is a particularly destructive force. In contrast to this prevalence of father issues, the only main character whose father seems to have been a positive force is Jin's. In this instance it was Jin's shame at his father's poverty that led him to tell Sun and others that his father was dead. Additionally, though previously absent, Michael is working diligently at being a good father to Walt. Up until now, there has been little to no mention of the fathers of (the late) Boone, Sayid, or Charlie.

In season 2 it is revealed that Shannon was at odds with her stepmother over the money left behind by her father. Ana Lucia, the first new cast member of the season, is portrayed as being in conflict with her mother, who works in the LAPD and whose professional seniority provides a situation comparable to Jack and his father. In the flashbacks, Ana Lucia was pregnant when shot, and losing her future child influences her actions on the island. Kate's initial crime is shown to be that murder of her biological father upon learning that he was her actual father. As well, it is Kate's mother who subsequently informs the police that she was the one who killed Wayne, her father.

Numbers

The number sequence 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 is a recurring and significant story element. This string of numbers was broadcast from the island's radio transmitter, and it was this message that drew Rousseau's expedition to the island. Although she later changed the message after the deaths of her team, the numbers had also been heard by others, eventually making their way to Hurley, who used them to win the lottery. However, after his win, a series of misfortunes began to happen to those around Hurley, leading him to believe the numbers are cursed. His search for answers led him to Australia and, through the crash, to the island itself, where he ultimately discovers the numbers engraved on the hatch. Inside the bunker, the same numbers appear on the occupant's medicine bottles, and make up a code that must be entered into the computer. Even the number of the crashed flight (Oceanic 815) is a fragment of the ubiquitous sequence. The sum of these six numbers, 108, also becomes significant. This number appears on a mural inside the hatch, and the code must be entered into the computer every 108 minutes. These numbers also frequently appear individually throughout the lives of the survivors, both before and after the crash, such as in the season finale of Season 1, when Hurley is running through the Sydney airport, he passes a girls' sports team whose jerseys sport the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42.

Redemption

Many of the characters are in one way or another finding redemption and second chances as a result of being on the island. Locke is the first character to do so, when he discovers that he has mysteriously regained use of his legs and brings back food to the survivors; after this, Locke begins to lead many of the other characters towards their own personal redemption: he gathers water for the other survivors, a move which helps encourage Jack to become the de facto leader of the group; he helps Charlie kick his heroin habit; he encourages Sawyer to face his past misdeeds involving an incident that transpired before Sawyer left Australia; he helps Boone let go of his relationship with Shannon; he finds Walt's lost dog and allows Michael to take credit, and then later helps Michael bond with/save Walt when Walt is attacked by a polar bear; and his philosophizing to Shannon encourages her to pursue a relationship with Sayid.

This can also refer to the title, giving it a double meaning of people being 'lost' or 'adrift' in life, but finding themselves and getting a chance to make things right on the island.

In the season 1 finale, once the raft sets sail, Sawyer is overheard singing a surprising tune: Bob Marley's "Redemption Song." His raftmate Michael is amazed that this good ol' boy from Tennessee is familar with Roots Reggae.

In episode 9 of season 2, Kate finally gets to lay her past demons to rest as they take the form of a Black Horse. Similar to how Sawyer's took the form of a Boar back in season 1.

Divisions

Inhabitants on the island are constantly at odds with each other. Usually these conflicts come to closure after time has elapsed. In the first season, there is disagreement whether to move inland to the caves or to remain on the beach. In the second season, the fuselage survivors and those from the tail section clash when they first encounter each other. Throughout the series, an overarching conflict that drives the plots is that between the survivors of Flight 815 and the mysterious Others who have apparently been living there for quite some time.

Philosophy

John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, for whom the characters John Locke and Danielle Rousseau are named, were both famous social contract philosophers who dealt with the relationship between nature and civilization. Locke believed that, in the state of nature, all men had equal right to punish transgressors; to ensure fair judgment for all, governments were formed to better administrate the laws. He also believed all men were born with a "blank slate" (tabula rasa), which was also the name of the third episode of Lost. Rousseau, on the other hand, argued that man was born weak and ignorant, but virtuous nonetheless. Only after man develops society does he become wicked. Additionally, Boone shares his surname, Carlyle, with philosopher Thomas Carlyle.

Jack Shephard and John Locke each have different views on ways of living; placed in context, they can be compared to different opinions of Existentialism. While Jack Shephard is a man of science and a firm believer of that everything that happens on the island happens for a logical reason, John Locke believes the island is controlled by religious forces and that everyone is being tested by nature.

The Dharma Initiative logos resemble the Taoist symbol known as the Bagua, and also the borders have associations with the trigrams of the Chinese philosophy I-Ching.

Fan speculation

Lost's mythology is as complex as that of other shows of a similar nature, such as The X-Files, Twin Peaks, and Babylon 5. This complexity, and the unresolved questions it spawns, have led to rampant speculation and theorizing among fans, mainly concerning the nature of the island, the origins of the "security system" and the Others, the meaning of the numbers and the reasons for both the crash and the survival of some passengers. Several theories have been discredited by the show's creative team, including:

  • the survivors are dead and/or in Purgatory.
  • the survivors are in a time warp.
  • spaceships or aliens influence the events on the island.
  • everything seen is a fictional reality taking place in one or more of the survivors' minds.

Cast and characters

Main article: Characters of Lost

Syndication

Lost is syndicated worldwide. For a list of broadcasters and first airdates, see Airdates of Lost.

Since October 12 2005, episodes of Lost have been available for download from Apple's US iTunes store.

DVD Releases

Region 1

DVD Name Release Date
The Complete First Season 6 September 2005

Region 2

DVD Name Release Date
Season 1 Part 1 31 October 2005
Season 1 Part 2 16 January 2006

Lost in other media

In addition to the television series, the characters and setting of Lost have appeared in the following official tie-ins:

  • A diary by a survivor was incorporated into the official ABC web site for the show.
  • The book, Lost: Endangered Species by Cathy Hapka was released in 2005. Another novelization, Lost: Secret Identity, also by Hapka, is scheduled for release in early 2006.
  • In early 2006, Verizon Wireless will distribute the Lost Video Diaries to its subscribers. Each video diary will run several minutes and cover events not seen in the television episodes.

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Lost.


Official tie-in sites
Production related sites
Network sites
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