Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

This show earned 12 Emmy nominations, it was simply that good! This season recently aired on ABC and was said to be the best drama on prime time. I was skeptical but found that this was the best show that I’ve seen all year, maybe longer.

After finding out what the story is about…a crashed plane with survivors on a deserted island you may think that is a modern day Gilligan’s Island but it’s much more. The story is primarily a drama but also plays out well in other areas too which makes this a very believable and exciting show.

Synopsis
This is a story about a very diverse group of people of that survive an airplane crash and land on a deserted island 1,000 miles off course. The group finds it difficult to come together in unity because they are so divided in their ways. Some begin to live like the island is their new home and others continue sitting and waiting on the beach for a rescue team to arrive.

As you can imagine, there are plenty of challenges presented immediately on the island. We see some injured people being cared for; we see many dangers that lurk in the island such as the animals and the environment. We have to get through satisfying the basic needs of food and shelter before we can move on to more complex situations.

There is plenty of danger among the passengers as well. There are looters, criminals, strong tempers, guns, knives, drugs, and more to up the uncertainty of human survival. Just like real life the castaways have to figure out who to trust and who to watch out for. It’s really every man for himself on this show and no one ends up being as innocent as they present themselves.

As the movie progresses bigger issues arise. The untrusting castaways don’t pull together and communication problems arise. The drama ripens as the passengers get to know each other. Some friendships build and some friendships end. The drama is packed with a surprising action factor because they are savages now, there’s no such thing as law and order.

Characters
Here is a list of characters as they are presented initially. They will be developed in detail and we will see what happened to these individual previously before they get on the plane so we come to know why each person has the personality that they have.

Jack (played by Matthew Fox) is the doctor on board. He is a surgeon and seems to know how to handle all kinds of complicated medical problems. He is a good looking man and seems to give off a good vive to others. Others have nominated him to be the leader though he would rather not be in charge. Others seem to think more of him than he thinks of himself at times. He tends to see the best in people even though he probably shouldn’t. Jack has unfinished business with his father and looks to the island for closure that is needed to move on.

Kate (played by Evangeline Lilly) was a criminal in the past life but is so likeable. Will we find out what she did? She had a hefty reward for her head and was being escorted on the plane by a marshal who swears that she is a monster. The new island mates give her slack. Jack and Kate bond right away. Kate is the only person that Sawyer wants to get close to and teases her a lot. Other castaways are suspicious of her but are able to accept her due to her sincere behavior.

Charlie (played by Dominic Monaghan) is a former bass player for the rock band Driveshaft. He struggles with overcoming his drug use on the island and originally feels useless but eventually finds his place on the island with John L. and Jack’s help. A special affection grows between him and someone else on the island.

Hurley (played by Jorge Garcia) Hurley is my favorite character. He’s always working and pitching in. He’s not a comedian but he always makes me laugh. He starts every sentence with Dude and always pointing out the obvious. Most of the best ideas come from Hurley.

Shannon (played by Maggie Grace) is the spoiled brat. We assume she has money but it’s obvious that it’s not her own. She’s got asthma so what’s she going to do on a deserted island without her medicine which is gone the first week? She carries on with some of the guys on the island.

Boone (played by Ian Somerhalder) is the brother to Shannon. They bicker a lot but he always takes care of her. He pals up with Locke to help with a very special mission.

Walt (played by Malcom David Kelley) Walt is a 10-year-old boy who just lost his mother. He is stuck on this island with a man called his father which he doesn’t know. He has his trusty companion with him. He copes really well considering the circumstances. He becomes friends with another adult male which concerns his dad. His dad may be trying to do the right thing but Walt takes offense to it.

Savid (played by Naveen Andrews) Savid is an Iraqi that served in the Iraqi military. He knows a lot about radio communication and detaining people. He steps up to the plate often but sometimes crosses the line physically. He knows his way around the jungle and knows what do when danger arises.

Michael (played by Harold Perrineau). Michael, an ex-construction worker, was on the plane because he had just picked up his young son which was living with Michael’s ex-girlfriend which recently passed away. Without contact in the past, the two don’t know each other well and are slow to bond with each other.

Sawyer (played by Josh Holloway) is the good-looking villain that looks like he should be really useful to the group but no one likes him because he is without a heart. He tries to sabotage the group many times. He hordes items that he finds and is often blamed for things that he didn’t do.

Locke (played by Terry O’Quinn) is the oldest of the bunch but the most likely to survive because he really knows his way around a jungle. A passion for hunting gives him the edge and bringing a box full of knives on this trip ensures the group will be able to defend themselves and eat. It will also come in handy for keeping order among the ranks. Locke is a very patient man and seems to enjoy being lost the most.

Jin (played by Daniel Dae Kim) is a man who is married to Sun. Jin wasn’t a well to do man originally but working for Sun’s dad changed him in many ways. Jin gained money and corruption. Jin is his own man and refuses to interact with the rest of the group. Jin only speaks Korean so doesn’t understand a word. He could care less about the others and would prefer not to deal with anyone.

Sun (played by Yunjin Kim) is the daughter to a very powerful rich unscrupulous man. She knows English but continues to act like she only speaks Korean. She tries to get her husband to communicate more with the castaways. She feels that they should be bonding with others but her husband refuses.

Claire (played by Emilie de Ravin) Claire is the unmarried young pregnant lady who is 8 or 9 months pregnant. She’s a very easy going girl who can’t do much for the castaways considering her condition but does volunteer when she can. She’s not a whiner and doesn’t ask anything of anyone yet most try to avoid her. She thinks others ignore her because she will soon be a burden of responsibility with the time bomb she is carrying.

The Others
The others are referred to those that are living on the island that we have not met. The castaways presume that they will be looked at as an intruder by the “the others” and prefer to avoid meeting.

Fillers
There were 46 people that originally landed on this island but the ones listed above are the only characters that are really developed. There’s always next season.

My Thoughts
I am very hard to please when it comes to dramas. Very few dramas keep my interest because I normally find the characters predictable and boring. I am just shocked that I was so fascinated with this.

The opening of the show was fabulous and quickly grabbed my interest. How can a traumatic moment like a plane crash be boring? Of course it’s not handed to us at the opening of the show. Bits and pieces of information are rationed out so the inquisitive viewer keeps watching. The show truly does a very good job of revealing information about the characters, the setting and the past just a little at a time to keep the viewer guessing and interesed all the way through the show.

The island has its own mystery. No one from civilization knows where to look for the airplane. The survivors anticipate that the plane went down 1,000 miles off course. They soon realize that the last plane that crashed on the island was never rescued. They also discover there are wild animals on the island which can be a danger to them.

The viewer gets an opportunity to consider if the island is enchanted and exactly what kind of animals are on the island. A lot of things that shouldn’t be possible seem to happen on the island and seem to defeat scientific explanation such as the way the aircraft landed with so many unharmed. Some people on the island believe they are on the island because of fate while others believe it’s purely chance. Isolated incidences are revealed and eventually even the castaways start talking about it. Nothing is simple to answer or explain. The characters say if you want it bad enough the island will give it to you.

Most shows are predictable and you know a character’s personality well enough to know what they’re going to do next and how they will act when presented with a situation but we have an island full of unpredictable individuals. The viewer may attribute it to the fact that they just had a traumatic experience or the situation they are in which changes them. One minute a character looks like a hero, the next minute they look like the enemy. Sometimes it looks like a character is trying to sabotage the rescue but who would want to do that and why?

The crash happened so we start to see how the individuals reacted to each other and started to get to know them. One by one we started seeing flashes from their past. We saw what decisions were made in their life that put them on this particular flight. It would be so easy for the viewer to say, yea, how convenient for the writer to put a hunter and doctor on the plane. I know I thought it was too convenient, ridiculously convenient. But then the viewer gets more insight to see that these people had reasons why they were on this particular flight and not just any flight. We see why the characters are on this particular plane and I began to wonder if that was supposed to mean something. Perhaps that was another clue about the movie because the characters as different as they are seem to have unusual things in common.

I absolutely love how the characters unfold for us because it gives the viewer an opportunity to formulate ideas. The longer I watched the more ideas I formulated about where the story was going. But I was wrong. I found this show very suspenseful and unique.

The final episode is more like the beginning of the next season. Instead of having answers I had more questions. Too many questions to sleep. I am anxiously waiting for season two which starts on ABC September 21, 2005. The synopsis for season two sounds really exciting with some new developments and should prove to be just as exciting as season one. There’s no way that I could possibly wait until the DVD comes out, I'll have to watch it on TV.

Buying/Renting/Replay Value
We were really interested in the first few episodes that we saw on TV and really wanted to watch this series on TV on a regular basis but we just weren’t able to coordinate the show time with our schedule. I was thrilled to find that the whole series was coming out on DVD in September so waited anxiously for it and it was sure worth the wait! I’m so glad I got to watch these episodes back-to-back because the show is so suspenseful that I could hardly wait to see the next episode. I think watching it on DVD also helps keep the story together because there’s a really thick plot.

The full season is 24 episodes and is placed on 7 DVD’s with about 17 hours worth of material. The retail price for this season is $60 but I’ve seen it for $35-$40. The last time I checked this was number 1 for DVD sales on Amazon.

Awesome movie worth the price plus I think it has replay value. I watched a couple of the episodes more than once and noticed things that I didn’t either register or realize the first time. Being able to sit and enjoy without commercials and interruptions also help so I would still recommend this for anyone who has already seen the season on TV.

Since this was made for TV there are some black burps where commercials go. They are very quick so don’t become a problem but also lets you know when it would be a good time to take a break if needed. The season is very long and although most seasons have an occasional boring episode I thought every one of these episodes were fabulous. There wasn’t any filler at all in the show.

The Episodes
There are 24 episodes in the first season.

DVD 1: Pilot, Tabula Rasa, Walkabout
DVD 2: White Rabbit, House of the Rising Sun, The Moth, Confidence Man
DVD 3: Solitary, Raised by Another, All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues, Whatever the Case May Be
DVD 4: Hearts and Minds, Special, Homecoming, Outlaws
DVD 5: In Translation, Numbers, Deus Ex Machina, Do No Harm
DVD 6: The Greater Good, Born to Run, Exodus part 1, Exodus part 2
DVD 7: Special feature disk. Departure, Tales from the Island, Lost Revealed.



Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older