Warning: I do a lot of explaining of characters and who they are, so if you don’t want to know anything beforehand, be wary of this review, as it covers a lot.

I have a very strong tendency to resist all fads. Facebook.com. Designer jeans. Dying one’s hair platinum blonde. If I’m already doing something and it happens to become a fad, then that’s different. When Lost came on the air a few years back, everyone went nuts over it. Sure, if I hear something is good I’m inclined to check it out. But when I hear, “Omigod! You have to watch it! Nothing makes sense! It’s so weird!” That’s not a good way to get me interested.

Nevertheless, my sister thought Lost was all that and a bag of chips and insisted I watch it. Well, I agreed for two reasons. 1.) I figured I’d indulge her to get her to relax about it and 2.) I like Dominic Monaghan. He’s adorable. So over Christmas, when we went to Arkansas to see our grandparents and basically had nothing to do all day, she brought seasons 1 and 2 along for the ride.

The complete first season of Lost consists of 6 discs that contain all 24 episodes, each disc offering 4 episodes as well as options for captions, other languages, etc. as most DVDs do these days. There is also a 7th disc that contains bonus features any Lost junkie can indulge in. We’ll get to those near the end of the review.

The Story
When Oceanic Flight 815 from Australia to Los Angeles crashes on a remote island, there are 48 survivors of the crash. At first it seems like any typical stranded on an island scheme – but that’s just a ruse. You see, there’s something no one knows about the island. In fact, there are a lot of things no one knows about the island. Something huge and frightening crashes around in the jungle, knocking over trees. Mysterious transceiver signals that have been playing for over a decade. Why so many of them have survived with minor scratches and bruises. What links them all together besides their flight on the plane. The story takes a focus on fourteen of these people, and how they all have to work together if they hope to get off the island – alive.

Lost is an iceberg, and this is only the tip of that iceberg. Each episode introduces you to a new character, giving you insights into their personality as well as flashbacks into their past. The going is a little slow, but life is intriguing, so I can’t say you’ll be bored. Each character has secrets they carry, things they need to let go of, and obstacles they need to overcome. A doctor. A convict. A heroine junkie. A millionaire. A strange version of sibling rivalry. A miracle. The difficulties of having children. The barriers of language and culture. Everything you could possibly get is thrown into a hodgepodge group of people stuck on a beach. And that’s almost nothing compared to the strange things on the island. Monsters. Cords disappearing into the ocean. The others. *cue creepy music* (frankly I think it should be “The Others”)

Music, Setting, Effects
Speaking of the music, that’s one thing I really have to give the series credit for. The music is very well done. Ultimately creepy in every place it needs to be. Others it’s sweet or sad. But it’s always exactly what it needs to be to the perfect degree. I made a point to find out who did the music - Michael Giacchino – in order to give him his due credit. I am, after all, a soundtrack junkie. Cheers Mike.

The setting is actually all done in Hawaii, so everyone really is running around in a jungle and sandy beach. It’s much better when things are shot on location because it adds so much to the realism of the show/movie. The set for the plane crash was very good as well. Frighteningly realistic. The noise of the engine still trying to go sends shivers down my spine. Ugh. I hate flying, so this gave me the willies.

Special effects are so-so. Sometimes they’re good, such as the poor guy sucked into the engine intake. Ew. Other times they seem a little lame. Be it computer generated images or mechanics or puppeteers, I’m just not impressed. Maybe the series just needs a little more budgeting (and I’m sure they got it after season 1). I didn’t mind much of anything up until the wild boar started showing up. The boars were just never any good. Just not believable as real (that excludes the actual real one used in a certain episode). I can give it a little leeway though, because I watch Stargate SG-1 and their effects in the beginning were kind of not-so-hot as well. Lost is off the hook until seasons 2.

Otherwise, makeup and costuming are all very good. Boone is scary looking with all that blood (and rightly so), everyone always looks semi-appropriate for their position. Except Shannon’s hair is always fine and dandy and she’s always got makeup on and never looks dirty at all. Look, I’ve been out camping before, showers and brush and soap in tow, and trust me, unless you have some electrical outlets to help straighten your hair or blow dry it to a perfect sheen, it’s not going to look that good. Reality issues aside, not bad.

Characters
The characters themselves are all very interesting. They are well developed, as the series is sort of a mix between both character study and plotline, and you grow attached to them and their issues. At the beginning it can be hard to keep straight who is who and I know sometimes people want to check up on things beforehand, so I’ve decided to offer you a list of the following people the series focuses on, as well as the actors that play them and a bit of their info:

Jack (Matthew Fox, We Are Marshall) – A doctor with a lot on his plate. A lot.
Kate (Evangeline Lilly, Kingdom Hospital) – A pretty girl with a secretive past – probably more secretive than anyone wants to know.
Charlie (Dominic Monaghan, Lord of the Rings) – Heroine junkie and flash in the pan rock star. Totally cute (I’m a sucker for English guys) and always wants to help even if he can’t.
Sawyer (Josh Holloway, several various episodes in different television series) – Sneaky con-man who always has a sharp one-liner to sting anyone who asks for it – or doesn’t. Maybe they can get his heart in the right place...
Locke (Terry O’Quinn, a long list of credits for both movies and television; Alias) – You’d never guess where he came from or how he ended up on the plane, but lucky for everyone else he did.
Michael (Harold Perrineau, The Matrix Revolutions) – A dad who’s only desire is to keep his kid safe.
Walt (Malcolm David Kelley, random small spots; Antwone Fisher) – A kid who’s only desire is to find his dog and has a tendency to disobey his dad.
Sayid (Naveen Andrews, The English Patient) – An ex-Iraqi torture expert gone to the good side of life.
Jin (Daniel Dae Kim, plenty of TV; Crash) – Keeps himself estranged from the others with his wife – easy to do since he doesn’t speak English.
Sun (Yunjin Kim, a lot of things most of us aren’t going to be familiar with; Iron Palm) – Remains with her husband despite their rockiness and the secret she never wants him to know.
Hurley (Jorge Garcia, Deck the Halls) – A large guy who has some surprises of his own. He’s still a lot of fun and the only one saying “Dude” on the island.
Boone (Ian Somerhalder, Pulse) – Has issues with his sister.
Shannon (Maggie Grace, boy a lot of these people have been in CSI; The Fog) – Has issues with her brother.
Claire (Emilie De Ravin, The Hills Have Eyes) – Pregnant and a plane crash survivor. Someone give this girl a medal.

The characters themselves, while most of them do have certain things about them that annoy me; Claire’s inability to accept anyone’s help (that’s just stupid), Kate’s dumb issue with a case she gave up to Sawyer and then decided she wanted back (why did you give it up in the first place if you want it that bad, duh?), Shannon’s near-uselessness, and Sayid being this great guy with that sort of past (don’t buy it). Despite these things, I do like most of the characters. My favorites are Charlie, Locke and Sawyer. The actors and actresses all pull off who they are to a T. The thing is you never know who is going to disappear, die, or otherwise freak out. These people are the main reason one can get sucked into Lost.

The Plot and Reality
Now, my biggest tug-o-war in my head is the deal with the writers. Are they making this nonsense up as they go? Or have they planned it all out from start to finish and just add details as necessary? There is “The Genesis of Lost” on the 7th DVD, so I absolutely had to watch that and find out. From that I’m fairly certain they know everything from start to near finish and add details as necessary. I have to let that go in order to appreciate Lost, because even though I’m still not hooked on the series like so many others (as in it’s the best thing since sliced bread), I can appreciate the innovation to what would normally be a bland storyline and the detail involved to connect the characters, among other things. Creativity: A. The show is effectively creepy by the way – I announced this after the second episode.

The reality is a little different. If you’ve ever watched a single show of Survivor, know anything about wilderness survival, or are familiar with airline policies at all, there are plenty of questions you’d have to ask. Locke and his knives. The ax everyone uses. How is it these items were on the plane? Fire – everyone and their grandma makes fire like it’s a piece of cake. I know there are some matches, but other times I doubt people are carrying any, and if they are, they’re not the waterproof kind so they wouldn’t work after the person is drenched in a deluge. I won’t bring up the question of Hurley’s weight because I know they “solved” that later on, but I think that’s one of those details added to the big picture. However, even if it takes Hurley a long time to show weight loss – it wouldn’t for all the other characters. They’d be lean and mean – yet they’re not. I’m not biting. I’ll suspend my disbelief only so far.

Of course, we still don’t know where these people are. Theories abound on the internet – take your pick. My sister’s theory is that they’re in purgatory. I hope to all that is good and green that isn’t the case. If it were, that would be the cheapest, most lame cop out ever, not to mention horribly unfulfilling and completely cliché. It would make Lost the biggest letdown since…well I can’t think of anything to compare it to. It would just be a big letdown. But we’re still only in the first season, so you’ll be busy putting puzzle pieces together and having a good time when you start getting larger chunks of it here and there.

The 7th DVD and Bonus Materials
Each DVD, episodes aside, contains a few various bonus materials. The majority of these are commentaries for select episodes. So if you’re into commentaries, by all means enjoy.

The final DVD contains some interesting matierals. How Lost came into existence, extra flashbacks (not impressive – there were only two), the making of “The Pilot” episode (freaky episode I might add), various audio commentaries, interviews, audition tapes (weird seeing Dominic Monaghan read lines for Sawyer), deleted scenes, and of course, bloopers. I haven’t looked at everything, as the majority of bonus features on any DVD never really interest me. It was cool seeing the audition tapes (Josh Holloway had Sawyer in the bag I tell you), and the story of how the show was conceived answered questions for me. And naturally, I can’t go anywhere without looking at the bloopers. A lot of people falling down in the jungle…

A decent extra disc. Sometimes they’re not worth bothering with, but this one has some nice tidbits on it.

All That and a Bag of Chips?
Everyone now wants to know – since I liked the music, characters, am intrigued by the plot, did I change my mind about Lost?

No. It’s good, I give it that hands down, but I’m not sucked in. If I never saw anything beyond this season I honestly couldn’t care. I’m not easily sucked into this series, mostly because I know it’s going to take a lot of seasons to get any answers and I just don’t have the patience for that. My curiosity isn’t that piqued. This coming from the girl who starts everything she finishes. I have the second season sitting right here, and yes, I am going to watch it, but I’m not going to block out time every night to see the subsequent season on TV, nor am I going to go out and buy these like my sis. Now that’s not to say that you won’t get into it. A lot of people have, so hey, you very well could too. Just because I’m not all psycho over it doesn’t mean it’s bad or that it’s not interesting. Even I find myself caught up in the moment of the episode and character trials. By all means, do what you feel you want to do.

One thing though. No matter how far I was to get in the series, Dominic Monaghan is one of my main motivations for watching this, hence if Charlie were to die, I would stop watching it right then and there.

NT

P.S. My sister says Josh Holloway would make a great Gambit – and I totally agree.

Note on the Recommendation: If a friend were to ask me about it, yes, I would say it was good. However, no, I would not actively go out and urge people to watch it.

Finally watched it! Lost - The Complete Second Season

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD