Introduction to Lost

Sometime during the summer of 2004, I started hearing information about a new series which was to premiere on television that fall. The series was to be called Lost and would be about a group of survivors of an airplane crash on an island in the Pacific. The show would follow their struggle to survive and their slow realization that everything on this particular island was not what it seemed.

I thought the premise sounded interesting; sort of The Lord of the Flies meets The X Files. The show was created by J. J. Abrams, creator of Alias, so it seemed certain that there would be an interesting take on the concept if nothing else.

When the show finally aired, it quickly became obvious that that short description was not totally correct. Yes, the survivors have crashed on an island and there is a creature of some kind in the jungle. But, that is not the focus of the show. In fact, the creature and the other mysteries of the island are rarely mentioned; being secondary plot points at best.

The actual focus of the show is the characters and their interactions. Here are 48 people, most of whom have never met and who, under normal circumstances, would probably never interact with each other. Now, by necessity, they are forced to work together. The result is some of the more intriguing character dynamics ever seen on television.

What makes this more interesting is how much we learn of the characters motivations. This is done through what has become Lost's trademark; the flashback. A large part of each episode is a flashback to some event in the life of one of the characters. Through this, we not only learn the personality of each character, we also learn why they have the personalities they do.

For example, Jack is a surgeon who is driven to do the "right thing". In most shows, that would be all the characterization ever given. But, in Lost, we learn why Jack is a driven surgeon. Do this for everyone and suddenly all of the characters seem to have real motivations and real reasons for what they do. And, we can see how their experiences on the island and interactions with the other characters begin to change them.

Yes, there are mysteries on the island. But they exist in the background. The true focus of the show is its characters. It is the combination of the two that makes Lost one of the best shows on television today.

Oceanic Airlines flight 815 is en-route from Sydney to Los Angeles when it encounters unexpected, extremely severe turbulence. So severe that the plane itself breaks up into three or more pieces; the tail section falling away while the aircraft was still at altitude.

Miraculously, 48 passengers in the center section of the aircraft somehow manage to survive a crash landing onto the beach of a seemingly uninhabited Pacific island. Sorting themselves out from the wreckage, they wait for the expected rescue.

During the first evening on the island, something very large moves through the jungle near the beach. No one can tell what it is, though it sounds partially animal and partially mechanical. They see trees being shoved aside as the thing passes but no one sees the thing itself.

The next day, several passengers search for and find the front section of the aircraft. There, they find a single survivor; one of the pilots. He tells them that their radios all failed several hours into the flight and that they had turned off-course to head for Fiji. They had been on their new heading for an hour when the turbulence hit which means that they were over 1,000 miles off-course when they crashed; any searchers are looking for them in the wrong place.

The thing from the night before appears and kills the pilot, though none of the others get a good look at it. They return to the beach with a transceiver; an emergency radio. Unfortunately, they are unable to get a signal of any kind on the transceiver and its batteries are very low.

Thinking that they may be able to get a signal from a higher elevation, several survivors climb one of the mountains on the island. Along the way they are attacked by another island creature; a polar bear. Everyone wonders what a polar bear is doing on a tropical island.

At a higher altitude they try the transceiver again. This time they get a signal; a repeating message in French followed by a count of the number of times the message has repeated. They are able to translate the message as a distress call from a woman who says that she is all alone because "he" (or "it") has killed all of the others. From the repeat count, they are able to determine that the distress signal has been broadcasting, unanswered, for over 16 years.

Lost has a very large, ensemble cast. There were 48 survivors of the original crash, of which fourteen are major character. In addition, it soon becomes apparent that the survivors are not alone on the island. Keeping track of everyone is difficult but here are the major and often encountered minor characters on the show.

The Survivors

• Boone Carlisle (Ian Somerhalder) - Stepbrother to Shannon, Boone runs a division of his mother's wedding empire business back home. He claims to be a licensed lifeguard but failed to give CPR correctly to Rose (Jack took over and saved her) and nearly drowned himself when he attempted to rescue Joanna (Jack had to rescue him). He seems to be somewhat resentful of Jack's leadership role among the survivors. His sister describes him as "a liberal".
• Charlie Pace (Dominic Monaghan) - Founding member of and former bass player for the band Driveshaft, Charlie had traveled to Australia to meet his brother in an attempt to reunite the band. His attempt failed. Charlie seems to have once been a devout Catholic but he had fallen to the temptations of life as a rock star and became addicted to heroin. He was able to give up the drug habit with the help of Locke.
• Claire Littleton (Emilie de Ravin) - The only Australian on a flight from Australia (among the major characters anyway), Claire was eight months pregnant at the time of the crash. She was on her way to Los Angeles to give up the child for adoption.
• Hugo "Hurley" Reyes (Jorge Garcia) - A large, heavy-set man, Hurley is jovial, easy-going and gets along with almost everyone. Hurley is a nickname but he won't explain where it came from. Hurley was responsible for the creation of the golf course.
• Jack Shepherd (Matthew Fox) - An accomplished neurosurgeon, Jack was returning home from Sydney where his father had died, apparently after drinking himself to death over what he felt was a betrayal by Jack. One of the de facto leaders of the group, Jack seems to feel that the safety of the group is more important than any of the individuals and he is more than willing to enforce that point of view on anyone who disagrees. Jack has some interest in Kate but is slowly learning that he cannot trust her.
• Jin Soo-Kwon (Daniel Dae Kim) - The husband of Sun, little is known of Jin. He was a waiter who agreed to work for Sun's father in exchange for being allowed to marry her. The "work" appears to have involved becoming some sort of enforcer or hit man but what he actually did is unknown. He appears to be very controlling of Sun but does appear to be in love with her. He spends most of his time providing the survivors with fish. He has a great deal of animosity towards Michael.
  Jin does not speak English; just Korean. When he and Sun are speaking between themselves they are subtitled but when speaking to others they are not.
• John Locke (Terry O'Quinn) - A riddle wrapped in a mystery shrouded by enigma, only questions surround Locke. He is an expert woodsman, hunter and survivalist and he helps keep the survivors fed by hunting the wild boar on the island. But, before the flight, he was a collections supervisor at a box company who played wargames at lunch and who's closest confidant was a woman who appeared to be a worker on a phone-sex line. He was also confined to a wheelchair, a handicap which has vanished since the crash.
  Locke is the only survivor who has seen the "thing" in the jungle and survived. Somehow this experience seems to have given him an uncanny insight into the island and the other survivors.
• Kate (Evangeline Lilly) - One of the most secretive characters on an island full of characters with secrets, surprisingly little is known about Kate. She was accused of an unknown crime and was being taken back to the US by the Marshal when the plane crashed. She has not denied her past but she has not revealed it either. She has shown an interest in Jack, Sawyer and Sayid though how much of this is genuine and how much is manipulation cannot be determined.
• Michael Dawson (Harold Perrineau) - A former construction worker and artist, Michael had traveled to Australia to pick up his son Walt, who he had not seen for years. He wants to be a father to Walt but really has no idea as to what he should be doing. He is angry at Locke because of his influence over Walt. He is also the only survivor to know of Sun's knowledge of English.
• "Sawyer" (Josh Holloway) - Alternately easy-going and belligerent, "Saywer" (which is not his real name) is a con artist and can at best be called an opportunist. He has scavenged as much has he can from the wreck and exchanges items from his stash for favors from the other survivors. At one point it was thought that he had some medicine needed by another survivor.
• Sayid (Naveen Andrews) - From Iraq, Sayid is a soldier; a former member of the Republican Guard. An electronics expert, he also has training in intelligence and interrogation. He has led most of the attempts to determine where the survivors have crashed and to locate the source of the distress signal.
• Shannon Rutherford (Maggie Grace) - Shannon appears to spend most of her time working on her tan, to the annoyance of her step-brother, Boone. Shannon is the only known survivor with knowledge of French, which allowed her to translate the distress message.
• Sun Soo-Kwon (Yunjin Kim) - The wife of Jin, Sun had planned to leave him in the Sydney airport. She made a last-minute decision to remain with him, resulting in her being stranded on the island. As part of her preparations to leave her husband she learned English, meaning that she knows what the others are saying around her. She has kept her knowledge secret, especially from Jin. Only Michael has learned her secret.
  Sun has knowledge of the medicinal properties of various plants and has helped Jack with the medical care of the survivors.
• Walter "Walt" Lloyd (Malcolm David Kelly) - Michael's son, Walt never knew his father growing up. His mother had taken him away when he was very young and he grew up with her and his step-father Brian. Only after his mother's recent death did Michael gain custody of Walt. He still does not get along very well with Michael and has formed a closer bond with Locke.
  There are indications that Walt has some mysterious "power" that has been enhanced by the island. When Walt is around, things happen.
• Vincent - Walt's dog; a yellow lab.
  
• Joanna - Little is known about Joanna. She was a scuba diver who had to cancel her trip because of an ear infection and was returning home when the plane crashed. She was caught in a riptide and drowned off the coast of Lostaway beach a few days after the crash. Many have wondered how a trained diver managed to get trapped by a current.
• Lance - Lance has never been seen though Hurley confused him with Ethan at one point. He is described as being skinny and wearing glasses.
• "The Marshal" - The Marshal, who's real name was never revealed, was returning Kate to the US after capturing her in Australia. Though Kate attempted to help him during the moments before the crash by putting on his oxygen mask, he was severely injured by a piece of shrapnel during the crash itself and his injuries were beyond what Jack could heal with the limited resources on hand. Sawyer attempted a mercy killing on him but failed, forcing Jack to finish the job. Jack buried him on the island, the only victim of the crash who was not burned in the fuselage.
• Rose - One of the more detailed secondary characters, Rose was sitting next to Jack just before the crash. Her husband had gone to the lavatory in the rear section of the plane when it broke apart. Despite this, she insists that he is still alive.
• Scott - One of the survivors who occasionally helps the main characters. He is often confused with Steve.
• Steve - One of the survivors who occasionally helps the main characters. He is often confused with Scott.
• Sullivan - He came to Jack for treatment for a rash. Jack says is simply hives but Sullivan feels it is some terrible, island plague.

The Others

• Danielle Rousseau (Mira Furlan) - A former member of a scientific expedition, Danielle is the person responsible for the distress message which has been playing for so long. She has been alone on the island for years and it appears that her mind is partially gone.
• Ethan Rom (William Mapother) - Little is known about Ethan's origin, goals or background. What is known is that he is an expert hunter and woodsman and that he has an obsession with Claire. He is not one of the survivors of the crash; he was not on the plane. Where he came from is unknown.