Back to the Beginning: Revisiting Season 1 of Lost

Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, the primary writers of Lost, have stated that if there is one Season viewers should rewatch in preparation for the Series Finale, it’s the first season.  So being a good little Lost fan, I did just that.  I haven’t seen Season 1 since it was first aired 5 years ago, so the re-viewing experience was actually very beneficial because it reminded me of a lot that I had forgotten.  I was also struck by how perfect so many of the episodes of this show are.  The writers really know how to creatively and brilliantly tell a story.  Here are some thoughts and questions from Season one that might come into play for this final Season.

Possible connections to this upcoming season:

• I was surprised at how creepy John Locke was.  I didn’t remember that.  From the start, he always had an eerie connection with the Island and repeatedly would tell Boone that the Island told him things.   Sayid said to Locke that while he didn’t trust him, he was their best chance of surviving on the island.  I have a feeling we’ll be seeing the same kind of Locke (or actually not-Locke) in this season.
• The season started of with a catastrophic incident from which people had to recover.  Much of the season was spent with the characters exploring the Island and getting to know each other.  Will we be seeing something similar this season?
• (Slight Spoiler)  It has been well publicized that many lost alumni from Season 1 will be returning this season including: Boone, Charlie, Michael and Claire.
• Watching season 1 over again, I was reminded of how similar Jack and Locke are.  They are both leaders, and they both have a kind of savior complex where they want to help everyone and literally save lives.  For Jack it is more of a physical thing—save people from injuries, provide basic necessities; for Locke it’s mental—he helps Charlie with his drug addiction, helps Boone stop obsessing over his sister, helps Clare feel more accepted.  This season will probably mirror that again:  Jack and Locke being two leaders who are trying to save everyone, but coming at it from very different angles.
• Many of the episode openings featured eyes opening.
• Destiny vs. Choice/Free Will and Logic vs. Faith – the two major themes started in the first season that have run throughout every season of this show.  Will the writers pick a side?
• The major storytelling device was showing the main characters back stories.  We were able to see their lives before the Island and what brought them to where they were.  Now I've read Lindelof and Cuse say that the storytelling device this season will be something completely different, but will it have some kind of connection to telling a character's backstory.  Maybe what would have happened if the plane didn't crash?

Questions that haven’t been resolved from Season 1.

Here are questions that I feel need to be answered or else Lindelof and Cuse are going to be leaving us with some serious plot holes.  In order of importance…

1.  What is Aaron’s significance to the story?  Claire went to that psychic who insisted, in a very unnerving way, that her baby must be raised by her and no one else.  He goes through drastic measures continually calling her and finally buying her the plane tickets for Oceanic 815 demanding that if she’s going to put her baby up for adoption, she has to take that flight.  It's implied that he knew that plane would crash.  There’s also another little bit of a supernatural element involved—when she was previously about the sign the baby away for adoption, none of the pens will work.  While she’s on the island she has a dream in which Locke, with one completely white eye and one completely black is playing cards and tells Clare, “He was your responsibility but you gave him away Clare.  Everyone pays the price now.”  Now we know this has actually happened in a way—Kate has been raising Clare’s baby.  So why was this a bad thing?  And what kind of life or death circumstances are surrounding Aaron not being raised by Clare?  Why is he so important?

2.  Why does Walt have special powers?  Walt was able to make things magically happen in Season 1.  Locke tells Michael that his son is special.  He made a bird crash into a window, he was always able to roll the numbers he wanted with dice, he was able to envision himself throwing a knife and then was able to do it.  He has some kind of premonition and demands Locke, "Don't open that thing.  Just don't open it!" referring to the Hatch.  And then the Others stole Walt.  And from then on we never really learned much more about him.  The writers have said bringing Malcolm David Kelley back would be awkward because he’s 17 and looks it, and his character is only supposed to be 14.  Good excuse...but they have some explaining to do even if he actually isn’t on the show.

3.  Why were the numbers originally being transmitted from the Island and who was transmitting them?  They have shown up on the Hatch, Desmond had to punch them in to stop the Island from imploding (that’s actually Season 2), Danielle Rosseau and crew heard them being transmitted from the radio tower (which was what brought them to the island) and a man named Lennie from the mental hospital Hurley was at also heard them being transmitted when he was on naval duty in the Pacific in 1988 (same year Rosseau heard them).  I don’t care as much about what they mean, but who started transmitting them and why? 

4.  What is Christian Shepherd’s connection with the Island?  He showed up very briefly Season 1.  Jack was chasing after him in the jungle in an episode entitled "White Rabbit" (interesting point, he was wearing his suit with white tennis shoes.  In Season 5, Jack says he was wearing those shoes b/c he didn’t have time to find his father a nice pair before the flight.  That nice pair is what ends up on Locke’s body.).  We see Christian Shepherd appear several more times throughout the seasons.  It seems a little more clear after watching Season 5 why he’s there—it seems like the other guy with Jacob in the season finale or maybe the smoke monster takes on people’s bodies to be a kind of voice for the island. (I think…)  But is it only certain people with a connection with the Island?  If so, what is Christian’s?  This whole issue needs to be clarified.

5.  Who or what is the smoke Monster?  Again like the last question, this one has started to be answered, but not enough to satisfy me.  The smoke Monster killed the pilot of the plane in Season 1.  It then confronts Locke, but doesn’t kill him.  Locke says of the experience, “I looked into the eye of the island and what I saw was beautiful.”  The monster does seem to have some connection to Locke because Locke works with it to give Boone a hallucination.  Danielle Rosseau later calls it a security device for the Island.  We’ve seen as the seasons have progressed that it has killed Mr. Eko and a few other minor characters, it takes on Alex’s form at the temple and comes out of the drains of the temple.  But what is it?  And was it always there or did someone create it?

Minor questions that I don’t really mind if we don’t get an answer to but that still haven’t been resolved:

1.  Who are the two dead bodies in the caves (named “Adam and Eve”)?  One was carrying a small drawstring bag with a white and black stone.

2.  What are the whisperings?

3.  Is the Island really a kind of sentient being?

Some very prophetic quotes from the first season (mostly from John and Jack):

“Two players.  Two sides.  One is light.  One is dark.” –John Locke

“It doesn’t matter who we were, what we did before the crash.  Three days ago, we all died.  We should all be able to start over.” – Jack Shepherd

“What if everything that happened here, happened for a reason?” – John Locke

"Live together. Die alone." -- Jack Shepherd

“This island might give you what you’re looking for but you have to give the island something.” – John Locke

“You’ll find me in the next life, if not in this one.” – Nadia (written on the back of Sayid’s photo of her)

“If there’s one person I would put my absolute faith in to save us all, it would be John Locke.” – Charlie

“There’s a fine line between denial and faith.  It’s much better on my side.” – John Locke

“Instead of taking responsibility for things, [my father] put it on fate.” – Jack Shepherd

“It’ll come back around.” – the Man Sawyer killed

“You make your own luck Mr. Reyes.  Don’t blame it on the damn numbers—You’re looking for an excuse that doesn’t exist.” – Mrs. Toomy (wife of one of the 1^st guys who heard the numbers)

“Don’t tell me what I can’t do.” –John Locke and Jack Shepherd at various points

"There's always a choice." -- Sayid 

Only a few more days!! Look for another Lost post by the end of the Weekend!