Mario’s Movie Musings (Anniversary Edition): LOST
“Guys, where are we?”
The big question asked by Dominic Monaghan’s Charlie during the second episode, one that would hover over the entire series.
It’s been 15 years since we as viewers crash landed on the island with Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley, Charlie, Claire, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Michael, Walt, Boone, Shannon and Locke. I’m sure many of us have gone back (see what I did there?) since then to rewatch those gripping seasons. I know I have.
LOST was a unique experience that some, myself included, mocked at first: “Oh, it’s just a dramatic Gilligan’s Island?” But it was so much more, especially after the fourth episode “Walkabout”. Once viewers reached that episode, they were hooked. And if you were like me, where you were a season or two behind, the binge was on.
LOST was the story of a group of survivors who crash-landed on an island filled with mystery and intrigue. Polar bears? Smoke monsters? Strange voices? Radio transmissions? The hatch? There were many questions that needed answers after the first episode. The first and second season, especially for me, were a binge marathon in order to catch up to the second season finale, just so I could go to a watch party a friend from college was having.
LOST incorporated flashbacks into it’s narrative to give us a look at all the character before they came to the island, much like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel before it showed the past of the vampire characters. In many cases, it made the main characters more realistic, especially in the case of Sawyer, Jack, Charlie, Michael (YES MICHAEL), and Locke (speaking of the fourth episode). It helped you get to know the characters in an almost Stephen King novel like way. The flashbacks for most characters were detailed, intricate, and in most cases, made viewers a bigger fan of certain characters. Characters like Kate, Sawyer, Sayid, Sun and Jin were helped immensely by these flashbacks.
And let’s not forget to mention the interactions of the survivors with one another. The chemistry between most of the cast was off the charts, especially between Jack and Locke with their debates over science versus faith, and between many of the characters with Sun and Jin despite the Korean language barrier.
And with the protagonists, come the antagonists, in this case the Others. The people that were already on the island, and did nothing but cause grief for the plane crash survivors. Among them was Michael Emerson’s Ben Linus, whose introduction to the show was such a kick in the pants to the story that he ended up becoming one of my favorite characters. His storyline really helped solidify that the characters themselves were more important than their mysterious surroundings (“You guys got any milk?”), and his chemistry and comedic timing with the survivors, especially Jack, Locke, and Hurley, was something else.
Fifteen years later, and the memories this show created, as well as the loud yelling from my friends and I when watching, come back to the forefront whenever there’s a mention of it. Whether you loved the ending or hated it, the journey to get there was a wild ride, and in the process, gave us memorable characters and moments that live on forever.