Well, we've made it through season 1, and it was a lot of fun to see not only how consistent some of the characters have been right from the beginning, but in some cases, how the writers were trying to figure out some of the characters and how different they've become as a result.
Jack was holier-than-thou pretty much from the beginning, but he had some very heroic moments: his efforts in saving everyone that first day were amazing, as was the way he took care of Boone and took control of that entire situation, even if he had a nervous breakdown the next day. He swings from being controlling with Kate (even condescending as if he's her parent) to aligning himself with her, asking her if she has his back in the finale.
Locke has developed from the unknown quantity in the beginning who had the miracle happen to him, who had "400 knives," who was hunting for boar, and who was an active member of the group to the one who found the hatch and became so obsessed with opening it he detached himself from the group. His actions led to the death of Boone. He's gone from seeing the eye of the island and thinking it's beautiful to looking into the mouth of terror in the finale and almost being dragged to his death. He saved Jack from falling over a cliff at the beginning of the season, and Jack saved him from being pulled into the hole at the end.
Kate has been one of the most consistent characters right from the start. At once tough and vulnerable, she has her Achilles heel in Tom's plane, but has a soft spot for others -- Claire, Sun, Jack, Sawyer -- and her tenderness often gets in the way of her judgment. I really loved this character in season 1.
Jin moved from angry Asian man, and Sun his subservient wife, to a lovely couple that had their own complex issues. But we know those issues will only become MORE complex in the next few seasons.
Sawyer showed signs of the hero he would eventually become -- jumping in the water after the rudder; pulling the gun on the Others; handing over all of his liquor bottles the moment Kate asked for them for Boone, etc. For the most part, Sawyer still played the part of the selfish ass, but his development just in season 1 is huge.
Hurley has been a fun guy right from the start, and we haven't yet begun to delve into his much deeper pain. That will happen in season 2. But I loved him right from the beginning, and he's another character who's remained pretty constant.
Chah-lie was a lovable mutt in season 1, but then he tells off Rousseau, calling her pathetic in the finale, and from that moment on he'll take on a cruel streak. He's won the trust of both Claire and Locke, and he'll lose that completely in season 2.
Claire was a happy hippie chick, and I read a few posts in the past year or so from fans asking what happened to her. I know what happened: motherhood. It's stressful, and when you don't have the luxury of disposable diapers or formula and there isn't a single other mother on that island who can help you, it made the poor girl feel lost and alone. Watch her in the next two seasons as she becomes stressed and worried about Aaron all the time. Not only that, but the poor thing lost her memory, and everything she knows in season 4 is what she'd pieced together in the previous 4 seasons... in season 5 she's just gone, but she'll be back next year.
The island was mysterious right from the get-go, with a monster at the beginning of the season that was dangerous to some, beautiful to others. There was one other person living on the island -- Rousseau -- but when Ethan invades their midst, they realize they're not alone on this island. In the season finale, the appearance of Tom and the rest of the Others on the boat signals that not only are there other people on the island, but they have an agenda, and it's not a nice one.
And then there's that hatch...
So what did you think of season 1? What were your favourite revelations you'd forgotten about? Were there storylines that you'd forgotten? What was the thing that resonated with you the most now that you've seen season 5?
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I think season 1 is still my favorite season because to me, Lost is a show about characters. Why people are who they are, how they grow and change, and how they seek redemption. Don't get me wrong, I love the mystery of the island, and the time travel craziness, and the burgeoning Jacob story. But the reason I care about all that is because of the characters who inhabit it. I want to know what happens to them.
I think the thing that resonates with me most after season 5 is what if the characters had a chance to redo some of the moments we saw in season 1 flashbacks. We've seen how time has become flexible, and it's open-ended as to what will happen in season 6. What if Locke doesn't give his father his kidney? What if Kate doesn't get Tom killed? What if Jack doesn't marry Sarah? What if Sawyer doesn't kill the wrong man?
How would they change their lives if they had the opportunity, and how much would that change the characters we have come to know and love?
Brilliant recap Nikki, I agree with almost everything you said--it resonates perfectly with the feelings I had ending Season One this time through.
And I agree with you completely Amy, and that is the single most important reason that I love Lost: the characters. I recently started watching Heroes, interesting show, it's got plenty of twists and turns and mysteries like Lost does, maybe more--but somehow it doesn't even feel the tiniest bit like Lost and when I sat down and thought about it, it was because the characters hadn't captured me. Lost is the best show I've ever seen because of that difference.
The biggest thing that's hit during this rewatch though, fo me, is the complexity of it all hidden in a much simpler plotline during that first season--all the complication is still there and we know it is because we've seen through four more seasons than these first-time Losties and we can pick out all the places that overlap with later seasons and see the big picture of it all, but at the same time--it's all so much simpler as a basic story during that first season. It was so...refreshing and a little bit sad to see these characters who we've come to love and care for worrying about what too eat or who stole the water bottles, or even "The Others" which remain threatening for two more seasons--you just want to wish their problems could stay so simple and separate from what's really going on.
It was especially sad for me to end this season with the idea of "Exodus"--the hope that they all had for Michael's raft and how they were all still so innocent in a way...untarnished still by smoke monsters (mostly) and time-travel and death beyond Boone(one major death in an entire season is like a joke considering the rest of the seasons). To think that there's SO much pain left ahead of them, it really only gets worse exponentially from here on out. I don't know...it makes me feel sad. As Michael and the gang float away on the raft it's like "goodbye happy island life, here we come chaos!"
But I loved, loved, LOVED seeing the beginnings again. How they all meet is just so...poignant. Watching Kate sew up Jack, seeing Hurley passing out food trays, seeing Sawyer brooding over the letter he keeps in his pocket, wondering for the first time what makes these characters tick...ah, nostalgia. :)
I also reaffirmed and slightly changed around some of the characters that I enjoy the most. I definitely reaffirmed that I love Kate, Sawyer and Jin. But Jack, who I've always felt deeply sorry for wasn't able to win me over with pity quite as much this time as he did the first time. I still root for him--he really deserves to get over his baggage too, and like Kate, I've "got his back" and I hope he redeems himself to himself because he deserves that for once in his life...but I just don't enjoy his character like I did the first time around. :/
I also realized how much I appreciate Ben--I can't wait to hear his dry, sarcastic lies again!
And I have a better understanding of Locke now, watching this again. I remember that watching Lost for the first time, I really liked Locke in the beginning--he was good, he helped people, and then I went into a confused state towards the end of season one when he became creepy and started lying...and then I felt angry and betrayed by him in Season Two and by the time season three came around I was hoping every step he took would land him on one of Rousseau's death traps. The same thing happened this time around, I really liked him in the beginning and then slowly felt that slipping. But I guess I understand him a little better now seeing the full cycle of his evolution.
I am so dang excited about season two--season one's under the belt. So here we go!
I had forgotten how much I disliked Jin and how wimpy I thought Sun was. Now, I really love them - they have been the biggest turnabout in my affections. Sun is stone cold serious (way badder than Jin) and I really love their relationship now. Jack, what can be said about Jack? He is...damaged but refuses to acknowledge it. I think that is what irks me most. It is hard to help someone who refuses help; that is how I feel about Jack. I actually like him best when he drunken - bearded - crying (must be Wednesday!) Jack.
Hurley I love - his expressions are priceless - he makes Lost "real"...even though he has a one of the more fanciful pasts.
I really took a shine to Kate from the get-go. Sawyer, not so much. Sayiddddd - I would follow that man around like a vacuum cleaner if I was there.
Cha-lie and Claire - hearts and love - but - it could never work on the outside. It is bittersweet but they kinda had to be "on island" to exist together.
Locke, I was wierded out by him in the beginning but by season 3 he was my favorite.
GOD I LOVE THIS SHOW! I kinda like this purgatory we are in right now too. I am so excited for the next season but the idea of it being over is really more than I want to think about. It is like "The BEST Christmas EVER is coming! Yay! But...it is the LAST ONE EVER! Boo!"
@Katey - I know! I miss Ben too! I love him..."I'm a Pisces." Ha, one of the best lines ever! Isn't it amazing to think they hadn't even really thought of Ben in season 1? The writers absolutely amaze me. I was kind of becoming a doubting Thomas in late season 2 early 3 (I started watching Lost on TV during season 3 and immediately began watching 1 and 2 on DVD "Honey, three episodes a night? Really?" was a common complaint in my house.)- I thought they had no direction, were making it up as they went along and had no idea how it was going to end. It is so fun now to rewatch and see things happen in season 1 that do pertain to season 5.
For me too season 1 is my favorite, not that the later seasons have been disappointments. Like Katie said, there was an innocence in season 1, where everything was about survival. Sure they had their conflicts but they tried to pull together to survive. They still had their hopes for rescue, former enemies forged friendships (think Michael/Jin for example), the island was still a big unexplored mystery.
My first impressions of the characters didn't change much at the end of the first season. I liked watching most of them develop. I still hated Sawyer (and still do, the rewatch has reaffirmed that LOL), and found Shannon annoying, but by the end of the season I appreciated Jin more and more (now he's one of my favorites). Charlie hadn't started acting strangely yet, and Michael didn't betray and murder his friends yet.
As for the finale, I totally expected that Walt was kidnapped by pirates (the kind that sell people into slavery) and didn't even conceive of the idea of the Others doing it. And the opening of the hatch didn't frustrate me as much as it did many fans because it did seem a logical place for a season-ending cliffhanger.
Season one was great, but in hindsight, left a lot of unanswered questions that we still don't know the answers to.
Knowing now what we do about Rousseau, I'm amazed that the Others let her live. The rest of her entire party is dead, and so for 16 years she's this loose cannon living nearby with dynamite and batteries and guns (and, oddly, an electrical torture device). Do the Others, living blissfully in their little piece of suburbia, not worry at all about her? They've stolen her baby, after all; you'd think they'd be concerned that she might go (more) nuts one day and just arrive out of the blue, guns blazing, to take everyone out and get her kid back.
And another thing - why do the Others creep around wearing disguises? Before the plane crashed, there wasn't anyone else around they needed to "fool" and there seems no logical reason to make the Losties think they're some kind of primitive backwoods types. What purpose does that serve? Would they have been perceived as any less frightening or serious if they had shown up clean-shaven, wearing Dockers and polo shirts, while killing random Losties and kidnapping children?
Oh, and...we STILL don't know what the heck John saw when Smokey attacked him the first time, which made him euphoric - or the second, which terrified him. Now that he's dead, will we ever find out?
Looking back on Season 1 with this great hindsight we now have, I remember my first-ever time going through it: watching the pilot in my friend's basement, skeptical and impatient (they had forced me to view at least two episodes with them). I was waiting for TV trash, and I was determined to hate it...and then Oceanic Flight 815 crashed on the Island, and it took my #^&%ing breath away.
Season 1 is beautiful, a masterpiece of intricately woven and extremely well-thought out storytelling, with what I think is the best and most intense acting on television, PERIOD. It's addicting as all hell from the get go and never lets up until that smash to black after the descent into the freshly-opened Hatch in Exodus, Part 2. Season 1 made me laugh, it made me cry (actually, weep uncontrollably would be a more appropriate phrase), it did everything a good show should.
I am a huge fan of Heroes, Smallville, The Sopranos, Firefly...but no show, no matter how superbly done, can even come CLOSE to making an impact like the one Lost has made on me.
Even though the screen was devoid of Desmond, Ben, Richard, the Hatch, the freighter Folk, and all of the other Lost staples that we've come to love in our current time, I never for a second wished for the pace to move along quicker so we could "get to the time-travel" or such and such.
This season was as captivating now as it was during those first viewings in my friend's basement (and that day we ended up watching five episodes, not two, at MY request). It'll always hold a special place in my heart because it was THE first.
It's like a relationship. If you're married to someone, you love them and you enjoy each and every new moment you spend with that person. But you will never EVER forget the moment you first met.
Season 1 was the starting line, the first movement of a much grander symphony. It delighted the eyes with its stunning visuals and bewitched the mind with its intriguing mysteries. It was, in conclusion, spec-friggin-tacular.
And you know the best part?
It's only season ONE.
Bring on the next wave!
P.S.- Watch the deleted scene where Hurley offers food to locke after the crash. His attempt at conversation, "Hey, we both got plaid shirts on!" is hilarious!
Okay I'll have to hope to get my comments right since I've already watched this week's S2 episodes to stay ahead. I'm going away on Friday for a week...and since I'm getting on a boat to Bermuda from Boston, I'm heading right into Hurricane Bill. So hopefully I'll be back! LOL!
Anyway, I also loved the pacing. Perhaps it's because I was just enjoying taking it all in. For me, I've had some changes in heart in some respects about certain people. The first one is Jack. I've always liked him, felt for his tragedies, etc. But now I'm having trouble getting around him constantly bossing people around. And it's only getting worse in the beginning of S2 with the button.
I love Jin and Sun even more now. And Charlie...so sad. I think overall I've just enjoyed getting to know "our friends" again. I'll have more to say on this week's ep's since there are some great flashbacks coming up that have solidified these feelings for me.
There is something about season 1, and to some extent season 2, that is more interesting, more exciting, and just BETTER than anything that comes after. To me, it is all about mystery.
I think it's a fact of human nature that mystery is more exciting than resolution. And in fact, the questions raised at the beginning are more compelling than any answers could be later on.
That's what makes re-watching Lost bittersweet for me -- remembering that feeling of almost infinite possibility watching it the first time, compared to knowing that a lot of the answers are inevitably disappointing. Or not really addressed at all, in the case of Walt and his specialness.
But I do love it! Someone mentioned it would be great if we could re-experience things for the first time. Lost would be on my list if I could!
I didn't like Sawyer at first, but now his arc is the most satisfying to me of all the characters. It reminds me of Carver's arc in The Wire, which was probably my favorite individual character story in that show as well.
One of the things I love most about Lost is how every season has a different feel to all the others. It really helps the show keep fresh, and you're never quite sure what will happen next.
Season 1 is all about the characters; their interactions with each other, and how they came to be on the flight. It's a very slow season, once you get past the intense opening sequence, and that really helps in getting under the skin of these characters. It helps us care for them when the bad things start to happen; even Boone & Shannon...
However, it is apparent that (at least at this stage) there is no plan that's being worked to; that things are being made up as they go along, in the hope that it will work out in the end. There's the tale that The Hatch was in the original pilot script, but taken out and only put in when they had thought of what was to be inside it. Also, I still can't really square how Ethan behaves here with what we later learn about him, and the Others. It doesn't quite gel to my mind. Unless, of course, there is some plot point to be explained about him.
Furthermore, by the end of the season the show could still go in any direction. We know nothing, really, about the Others. We've not even heard the names "Dharma" or "Widmore". So many places it could have gone.
Therefore, it's a testament to the brilliance of the show's creative team that they've managed to weave the story they have. They deserve all the kudos they can get.
My opinions of characters has changed over time, as well; initially, I couldn't stand Sawyer. But rewatching these episodes, I'm rooting for the guy all the time.
The end of Season 1, though, was one of the very few times they've been predictable with a cliffhanger. I recall, from seeing it the first time, saying that the season would end with them opening the hatch, and just before we see what's down it, the episode would end. And it did... rather less predictable, and rather more chilling, was Walt being kidnapped. Even now that sequence sends a chill down my spine.
Anyhow... Season 2 next, and that's my favourite. The whole Swan mystery. Mr Eko (how I miss him). "Henry Gale". The emergence of Dharma. The things Michael does... I can't wait to see them again.
I love Lost for the characters as well. I think season 1 is great for couple reasons: first, it has the best twist endings. Second, the main story moves along faster than later seasons because there's a focused, central storyline happening in one location as opposed to later when the writers have to keep up with many separate stories at different locations.
So. Who has "Make your own kind of music" stuck in your head?
This rewatch has been great for bringing home one of the key themes of Lost - don't judge a book by its cover. Its fascinating to pick a character and try and see the story through their eyes, knowing what we now know about there pasts. Considering how little the cast were told about their roles at the time, its amazing so see the depth in the characterization and a seemingly inconsequential look when looked at from a new perspective can mean something entirely different.
With the emergence of The Others in Season 2 it will be interesting to see the story unfold from there view point.
It's a good point about the hatch, and how it could have gone in other directions. I remember when I first saw the hatch--I thought that the entire island was a giant machine, and the hatch was the entry-way inside. Hey, that's a good idea for a show...
This is actually my second rewatch - sometime during Season 3, a friend gave me all of Seasons 1 & 2 in digital format and I began rewatching while I was traveling for business. I was blown away by how much richer and more insightful the experience was, factoring in all that we had learned about the characters since the beginning and relating the mysteries that consumed us in Season 3 to the ones we were first exposed to in the earlier episodes.
Two main thoughts in reflecting upon this new rewatch in light of all that has gone on since the last time I saw these episodes:
1) As enjoyable as this season was, as magnificent as the pilot episodes were and as interesting as it was to getting to know the main body of characters, it still feels a bit like LOST-lite to me. There is just no way in bloody hell that this show reached it's significant potential until it had introduced two of its most fascinating characters, Desmond and especially the brilliant Benry. The story of the Others as a whole so deepened the LOST experience for me that, without them, the show is less than it would become.
2) Given the revelations of the Season 5 finale, the most interesting aspect of this rewatch has been the re-examination of Locke. From the moment he opens his eyes on the beach and raises up on his elbows to peer down at his feet, right down to the look on his face as he gazes intently down into the shaft of the Hatch - this rewatch is All About Locke for me. Clearly, he was the most intensely affected by the Island of all the survivors. Quickly, he finds himself in tune with its mysterious rhythms. Hunting boar, tracking through the jungle, anticipating the rain .... Locke is listening to the Island, and it is speaking to him. His twin experiences with Smokey are the yin and yang of this connection: first he is rapturous with wonder, next he is paralyzed with fear. As we learn from his flashbacks, he has always been vulnerable to manipulation ... and it is impossible to view this season without wondering how much of what we see is under the influence of The Man in Black.
"Follow me", Locke says to Boone as he turns and strides into the jungle at night. Follow him he does ... and so do we. We are still. The Season 6 poster from Comic-Con tells the tale best: all of our favorite characters are there, some whom we haven't seen for several seasons ...
... but, you should pardon the pun, Locke is dead center, back turned to us, head turned as he gazes intently towards something we cannot see. At least, not yet.
We have to remember how visually striking LOST was when it first aired. Its competition was tried and tested, or novel and quirky. Relying on a in media res beginning had everyone talking the next day. Rewatching I realize I can never recapture the surprise thrill of the initial minutes, but the quality of the story-telling has compensated me for the loss.
Here are 3 points concerning the worth of Season 1:
(1) What amazes me having spent this rewatch time is how the show progresses from a Survivor/Lord of the Flies scenario into a possible Dr. Who/Solaris conclusion for Season 6. At one point Juliet deflects a question about what is going on by pointing out they wouldn't believe it if they were told; when the audience began viewing LOST, who would have believed in the "reality" of Season 5. In a sense each viewer had to go through his own Room 23, indocrinating him/her into the possibilities of timelines, supernatural science, and conspiracy theories. (If there is a character whose story arc represents the audience overcoming intrenched disbelief, that has to be Jack; I think of Jack as the unrepentant viewer who keeps saying "I don't buy that for a minute" or "No way that would happen").
(2) But it all began in Season 1 with the bellow of a single smoke monster hidden somewhere on the island. Admit it, when the smoke monster made its appearance in Exodus, weren't you thrilled? I was! I felt like I got a huge payoff for believing in the show. It was even cooler than when Jack saw Christian on the island; Christian's appearance resembled more what I would expect in a Stephen King novel. My first impressions of the hatch was thrilling, then it began to wear somewhat; in Season 1 all we got was the top of the thing (it was a little boring as a novum). What made up for the hatch was Terry O'Quinn's monologue about Michaelangelo, the flshback of Anthony Cooper, and Boone's hallucination (I thought it was real the first time I saw it). The quality of the acting is a hallmark of the show, and will pay in the long run as rewatches can take place again and again (keep pushing that button).
(3) @Humanbean: you said it in your point (1), the show had not yet reached its potential to amaze until Season 2. The introduction of Desmond Hume and later Ben Linus really set the stage for "otherness" as a concept on the show. First a man locked in a box; a man whose very existence is governed by a clock counting down to some hypothesised armmagedon if he doesn't push a button on an outdated computer. Read whatever you want into that metaphor: ratrace, the futility of work, the human condition. Second there is a man whom we are told to distrust, but who appears powerless, frightened, and frail from his wound. In time, we see how powerless he really is, and how powerless those who have him locked away really are. In these two men we will explore the difference of "otherness", in a way Season 1 had not fully done. Season 1, the notion of otherness had been hinted at in the dialogue (how often did someone use the word "other" or the phrase "the others" to refer to members of the survivors).
In the final scene of Exodus, Locke and Jack are seen peering down the shaft of the Swan station. What a visual metaphor for the audience peering into the tv box, the finale of the Season complete, and awaiting the new Season. Like Jack and Locke, we've been given a few clues to dimly light what appears a dark passage ahead of us, but its no spotlight like what Desmond will shine up at Locke. Locke estimates the shaft is 40 or 50 feet as an analogy of how many Season the viewer can anticipate. But the ladder is broken, so the climb down (not quite a Rabbit Hole) will be treacherous.
So one we go into Season 2. Namaste, dude.
I came so late to the wonder that was Lost and at first watched it simply as any other show. Enjoyable, and definitely addictive, but not obsessive.
Nikki changed all that for me. Haha :)
This is also the second rewatch for me, since my sister and I talked my parents into watching it in the middle of last season. In a lot of ways I almost felt like that was my first real time watching it. Really paying attention to the details and the characters.
This rewatch has been even better and I can't sit down to watch an episode without my laptop at hand, because I just HAVE to take notes - maybe it's the English major in me, maybe it's my OCD :P But I love taking note of my favorite moments (and there are soooo many).
I think the moment that stands out in my mind the most about this rewatch is the discovery of Ethan as the "Other" and how very excited that made me. Up until that point they were just survivors of a crash dealing with some admittedly weird stuff.
Ethan made it, oh my goodness, there's other people out there and they're organized enough to infiltrate the Losties and Why? And how? and I want to know more!
I loved season 1, but I am so ready for season 2, 3, 4, 5, and please get here already 6 :)
Oh, and I'm very proud of the fact that I've added two converts to our ranks.
One is a friend that I lent the DVDs too. When he found out Season 5 doesn't come out on DVD until December he cried, "Then I'm going to rewatch from the beginning!" Oh, yes, you are a true Lost fan now.
The other is a coworker who is a huge TV addict, but had never seen an episode. I hassled him about this and he has a good friend who is Lost obsessed. Finally he saw an episode from the middle of season 1 and said, all right fine. It took him a couple episodes but he is now hooked.
Out of curiousity I asked him what hooked him. He said a lot of things did, the characters and Locke, but the one episode moment he pointed to was discovering about Sawyer's letter (which I found quite interesting).
Maybe I should write a paper about what scene caught and hooked people for good on Lost..... If you've got a new one, I'll throw up a post on my blog and you can leave a message there. I would find it quite fascinating :)
Interesting to go back and watch John Locke through season 1 in light of later seasons and the Man in Black.
Something that amazes me is what a great job the crew does in making John Locke look like such a wimp in the real world, while looking so much tougher on the island. Obviously giving him a varying amounts of hair in flashbacks is part of it, but there has to be more to their work than that.
He just looks like a totally different person and even a different actor on the island, and this is probably a credit to Terry Quinn’s acting ability and the Lost crew who put so much attention in to the details of these characters.
Well said, Fred!
It was really after this point that the show also began to echo more and darker material - the whole notion of impending doom and of being observed and toyed with by powerful forces beyond the understanding of our Losties. The fact that the Others could come to seem scarier and more dangerous than an anthropomorphic column of smoke is amazing.
By the time we finally got a glimpse of New Otherton, it was stunning how this group differed from the image we had held of them: dirty, ragged, savage. This leads ultimately to one of my favorite lines, "Guess this means I'm out of the book club, huh?"
Fab recap, stunning season. I re-watched this season practically for the first time. The re-watch has shown me more than ever how bad my memory is!! I think the first time thru I was just trying to get to the next show to see what would happen without really trying to absorb and feel and look below the surface. The writers and actors are so good at giving us such diverse characters, all with strong, distinct personalities and it is such a joy to see the relationships develop and to know why they are the way they are. I've had dozens of 'ah ha, now I understand' moments. I do feel like I'm keeping a terrible secret from them all, that you don't know it yet but this is as good as it gets!
What I can't understand is why I've always found Hurley and Charlie annoying and a little pathetic. I didn't really find them particularly funny or meaningful. What was I smoking? I have done a total 180 and now think they are the funniest, biggest-hearted of all the characters, and Hurley is going to be of major importance in the end, somehow! I am a proud Hurley-lover. Wonder if he's into older women! Ha!
Loving every minute of this re-watch. Bring on season two!
SonshineMusic: That moment with Ethan really got me too.The amazing cinematic look, especially the rain soaked walk to the cockpit in The Pilot, had me hooked from the off, but the Ethan twist really raised the bar which Lost has continued to meet and often surpass.
I'm with Humanebean; I love season one, but it really does feel like the setup act of the greater narrative of Lost. The introduction of Desmond and Benry in season two, and the subsequent "opening" of the island (as well as the development of the "otherness" theme so eloquently detailed by Fred) is really when we begin to see, if not the end of the story, the story itself, for the first time.
(I think this might be why, whenever I try to determine which season to be my favorite, I always flirt with the notion of declaring season two my favorite, despite the fact that it had a handful of episodes that suffered from poor scheduling-but we'll get to that in due course.)
That said, I'm still amazed, as Nikki mentioned, at how fully developed so many characters were from the get-go; while all of them have grown in the course of the show, very few of them take any of the wildly out-of-character sudden turns that is often associated with a show being developed as it goes along.
And the Pilot episode might just be the best pilot episode of any show, ever.
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