Amy Rewatch Recap of Episode 1.01 “Pilot”

WELCOME to LOST REWATCH!

My name is Amy, and I’ll be one of your friendly neighborhood Snappy Recappers from LOSTblog.com!   Each week during rewatch, I’ll post an “Amy style” recap of every episode of LOST with observations and brief analyses.  Make sure to check out weekly recaps from Erin, too!

PLEASE NOTE:  If you are watching LOST for the FIRST time, and you want to AVOID SPOILERS for future season/shows, this is NOT the recap for you. I’ll be making all kinds of connections from all six seasons as I see them.

If you truly want to watch from the beginning spoiler free, but still want to read recaps/analysis online, I highly recommend you head over to Karen’s LOST Notebook. Karen took notes and wrote up recaps on every episode as it aired.  If you follow her notes by episode in order, you’ll be as spoiler free as you can get.

Recap of Episode 1.01 – “The Pilot”

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Begin Episode 1.01

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A closed right eye. ZOOM  noise. The eye jerks wide open. The pupil quickly shrinks. The eye is GREEN with patches of brown.

POV Bamboo: long branches of bamboo. Leaves swirl and tremble high above. The sky is white. Weirdness alert: check out the noises. These are the very first weirdo bird calls we’ll hear throughout the show.  [FYI: When you SLOW these bird calls down, they say “HELP US!” Here they say “HELP US, JACK!” – no kidding.]

Close up of a man [We know it’s Jack, but we didn’t the first time, see, so that’s what I’m rolling with here to make the point.] We slowly rise above him.

Weirdness alert: If you listen to J.J. Abrams’ DVD commentary on the pilot, he specifically mentions that Kevin White, visual effects supervisor, was responsible for Jack’s eye AND the shifting patches of shadows and light.  Look carefully, those “random” shadows and bright patches of light were ALL added post production.

The man catches his breath. His eyes stare at nothing above him. He appears to mumble to himself as we rise. He blinks (finally!). Weirdness alert: Remember the discussion we just had about how these shadows are ALL added digitally? Watch the shadow that covers Jack right before he jerks.  That is ON PURPOSE.  Also watch his left hand. We’ll see him make this particular move over and over again in the first few episodes. NOTE: Jack’s suit and tie here are BLUE.

A shadow overtakes him. He jerks and gasps, whipping his hand down by his side.  His hand does the “piano fingers” thing again (I can’t think of a good word for it).  His head whips left.  He stares (eyes green).  POV bamboo.  The man blinks several times.  A golden lab walks out of the bamboo. It half way kneels. Weirdness alert: Jack’s face is odd here.  The lab whines and runs off, stepping on the man’s face as it goes by (I HATE when my dog does that!).

The man drags himself via bamboo to his feet. The back of his jacket is torn up.  He groans. He checks something under the left side of his jacket. He leans back on two (amazingly strong) stalks of bamboo. He pats his right pocket. He searches it and comes up with: a teeny bottle of vodka (like the ones you used to sneaky hide in your purse and smuggle into clubs back in college).  Note: Red cap! He stares at the bottle. His hand trembles. He keeps staring.  He does the forehead hand thing (I need a good name for that too. Maybe the Jack hand-to-head move? Yeah, let’s stick with that!). He replaces the vodka and jerks alert. He takes off running.

He forces his way through thick bamboo as he runs. He exits the bamboo and enters a forest.  He darts by A WHITE sneaker hanging by one shoelace in a tree.  He bursts through the leaves.  NOTE: His suit is now BLACK.

Weirdness alert. This entire little sequence where Jack finds the crash is TOTALLY hinky.  When Jack enters the beach, he should be able to see/hear the crash site. It should be right in front of him. However, he turns right. A long (beautiful) stretch of empty, QUIET beach.  We hear Shannon’s (faint) screams as we pan back to Jack. He walks around shrubbery, RIGHT BACK TO WHERE HE BURST onto the scene.  That’s when he sees the crash site. Interesting, right?

The man is shocked. He STILL looks like he’s mumbling to himself! He shields his face from the burning wreckage. He stumbles into what looks like a plan crash site. NOTE: Jack’s shirt is half untucked. We’ll see his dreess shirt oddly untucked until Season 6.  Freaked out, dirty peeps scamper around him. A few huddle together with their hands over their ears.  Speaking of  ears: check out how Jack puts his finger to his right ear. We saw ZOEY do the same move in Season 6.  Looks  a lot like when CIA/secret/sneaky/spy people listen to a teeny earpiece for communication with “Alpha Base,” or whoever’s in the van.

The man spins in place. Peeps run by. A large turbine engine revs up and down (it is LOUD!). Weirdness alert: Watch how Jack notes SPECIFIC peeps.  He sees Charlie by the engine.  Weirdness alert: watch how Jack’s movements match Charlie’s perfectly! Editing love! Jack spots Jin hollering in Korean (for Sun).  Michael runs by calling for Walt. Shannon stands front and center screaming her head off.  Jack looks up.

One of Amy’s fav shots: Jack stands center staring at the plane’s wing jutting into the air while peeps scamper around him and Shannon screams nearby.

A cry for help. The turbine engine. Charlie behind it. A man on the ground calls to Jack for help.

Jack scrambles to the man’s aid. He waves over nearby peeps (John LOCKE is one of them). Together they lift debris off the man while Jack pulls him free.  He examines the man’s leg. He pulls off his tie and tourniquets the leg.

Fun fact: notice how up to this point we have seen NO blood on anyone.  The only red we see in this entire sequence are the scratches on our losties’ faces and the blood on this man’s leg.  J.J.  Abrams [aka - God]  notes in his (DVD) commentary how carefully the colors were chosen for this shot.  They wanted the audience to pay attention to Jack, not to the “blood bath.” That’s why, ON PURPOSE, they eliminated all red from the screen and only put major blood on one random guy that we never see again.  Cool, right?

[Remember, we don’t know ANYONE’S name yet.]

• Claire: AHHHHHH!
• Jack:  How many months pregnant are you?
• Claire:  AHHHHHH!

Jack spots Boone CPRing Rose.

John Locke and Helper Buddy #2 carry Bum Leg Man away.  A man wanders in front of the engine. John calls and waves to him. The man STOPS and says “WHAT DID YOU SAY?” Whoop! He is SUCKED into the engine! Kaboom! The whole thing blows sky high. Jack covers Claire with his body. Boone ducks.

• Jack:  Listen to me. You’re gonna be okay. Do you understand me? But you have to stay absolutely still.
• Claire:  AHHHHHHHH!

Jack notes Boone working on Rose. He calls to someone offscreen. Hurley turns to him.

• Jack: Hey you!
• Hurley: Huh?
• Jack: Stay with blondie. In fact, move her over that way. If you see anything gross happening, call out for me.
• Hurley:  Oh, you gotta be kidding me. [Best first line from any character on the show!]

Jack jets off.

• Hurley:  Hey! What’s your name?

Jack turns back.

• Jack:  I’m super sexy Dr. Shephard, but you can call me JACK! [FYI: Amy LOOOOOOOVES Jack!]

Jack replaces Boone and CPR’s Rose.

• Jack: Stop! You suck at CPR!
• Boone: I’m a lifeguard. I’m licensed. [HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]
• Jack:  Remind me not to drown in your pool.
• Boone:  Maybe we could do the pen in the neck thing.
• Jack:  Good idea. How ‘bout you go get me a pen. Beat it!

Boone scrambles off. Jack resuscitates Rose.  He notices the wing in the air is about to fall, and wouldn’t you know it – it’s about to fall on Hurley and Claire! Jack jets across the crash site (third time) hollering for them to move.  Hurley sees the wing. He and Jack hustle Claire to safety.

The wing falls and explodes big time [and that explosion was – digital post production! Apparently the original explosion on set was a pitiful “poof” with no pizzaz.  Excellent reproduction, don’t you think?]. Jack, Claire and Hurley bite the sand. A huge chunk of burning debris barely misses Charlie.  He double takes it. He crosses himself (his heart, actually).

• Jack:  Stay with her.
• Hurley: Dude, I’m not going anywhere. [FIRST DUDE!]

Jack runs off.

Jack wanders in slo-mo through the fire, smoke and scampering peeps (he nearly falls over).  A section of seats cants in the air. A lifeless arm dangles from above.  Jack sees it and gets upset. He rubs his head. He stares at — US! Boone arrives with a handful of pens.

• Boone: I didn’t know what color you wanted.
• Jack: These are fine, thanks.

Jack takes a second look (at whatever he was staring at before, and NO it’s not the hand. For that he’d have to look UP), and leaves. Boone looks at whatever Jack was looking at.

Jack searches a suitcase. He pulls out a sewing kit.  He runs away to a secluded section of beach. He removes his jacket (uh-oh. Amy’s getting her hopes up!). NOTE: I’ve always loved the fact that, for some reason, Jack carefully hangs his jacket on the nearest tree, but drops both shirts to the sand.  VERY Weirdness alert: Take a look at the HOLES in the BACK of the jacket.  There are NO matching holes or blood on the shirt.  Here’s something interesting: those holes are pretty close to matching Mock Locke’s Kate inflicted shotgun wound. Hm.

A large patch of blood under his right arm on his back. His shirt is sliced. He removes his shirt. He painfully pulls off his undershirt/t-shirt. [WOOT! That man is so frickin’ HOT! I missed Season 1 Jack SO MUCH! Dang. He looks better with chest hair.]

Jack drops to his knees [always a good thing!].  He examines the wound. It is just out of his reach. NOTE: He does the piano hand thing again. He looks down the beach. He blinks at the trees just before Kate wanders out of them (What a coincidence, huh? – NOT).  She’s rubbing her wrist.

• Jack: Excuse me –

Kate looks at him.

• Jack: Did you ever use a needle?
• Kate: Depends what you mean by ‘use,’ hotboy.
• Jack: Did you ever patch a pair of jeans?  [Um, who patches jeans anymore? Nobody I know, like EVER in my life! I don’t even patch my tires!]
• Kate: Oh, uh, in that case no. I made the curtains in my apartment, but I used a sewing machine. [WTF is Kate talking about here? Looking back, WHEN did this alleged curtain making take place? Kate used a sewing machine? Hm.]
• Jack: That’ll do.
• Kate:  What’s this about?

Jack shows her his wound.

• Kate: EW!
• Jack:  Look, I’m a doctor, but –
• Kate:  Double EW! No way!
• Jack:  Please. If you wouldn’t mind.
• Kate: (rolls eyes) <mutters> Four minutes post crash and hotboy’s already sparkin’ the puppy eyes.  (to Jack) Okay, yeah. I guess.
• Jack: Thank you.
• Kate:  Yeah, yeah – the longer you stay naked, the happier Amy will be [It’s true!]. Let’s get this over with.

He hands her the teeny bottle of vodka.

Jack: It’s for your hands. Save me some — uh, for the wound.

• Kate: Waist of perfectly good vodka if you ask me.

Kate opens the sewing kit.

• Kate: Any color preference?
• Jack: (laughs) Standard black.
• Kate: Hello! Deserted island! If you’ve got standards, time to put ‘em back in your pocket, k?

Jack pours the rest on his wound.

• Jack: Ahhh! SonuvaBITCH that hurts!
• Kate: Figures. No matter how hot they are, all men are babies.

A sullen, shell-shocked Sawyer lights a cigarette [NOTE: we’ll see this lighter again – in one of KATE’S flash backs.]. Sawyer puffs. He looks at the wreckage. He stares into the distance (into the island, just like Jack and Boone did). WATCH CAREFULLY: He is still; then he sighs and NODS. He heads for the beach. He flicks the half-smoked cigarette away.

The beginning of a GORGEOUS sunset.  Claire stands with her feet in the water. She rubs her belly. Hurley prepares to hand out airline meals [HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!].  John sits alone in the sand. He stares out at the ocean [Not BEHIND the beach like everyone else].

Boone tries his cell:  WEE-Woo-WEE-Woo noise. Sayid stokes a pretty darn big fire. He spots Charlie.

• Sayid: Hey you! Help with the fire!
• Charlie: Sure thing, bud.
• Sayid: My name is not Bud. It’s Sayid.
• Charlie: My name is not You. It’s Charlie.
• Sayid: Whatever.

Rose cries and kisses the ring on her necklace.

Kate sews on Jack [Who is still NEKKID! I LOVE Season 1!]. He winces.

• Kate: This is gross.
• Jack: You’re doing fine.
• Kate: You’re not afraid at all. What are you? Some kind of freak?
• Jack: No, actually. I’m a doctor.
• Kate: You said that.
• Jack: I’m a surgeon doctor –
• Kate: Ah. So your lack of fear, it’s one of those arrogant God things?
• Jack:  No! I’ve been afraid before! My first solo surgery, I gooned it up at the end. Ripped the dural sac, that’s—
• Kate: I know what a dural sac is.
• Jack: Okay, well, I was pretty darn scared then, that’s for sure.
• Kate: So? What happened?
• Jack: I counted to five, and everything was fine. No worries.
• Kate: Counted to five? That’s not cool.
• Jack: No! It was cool! Everything was cool!
• Kate: Stop talking and be still before I sew your arm to your back!

Weirdness alert: This is one of the few memories Jack has prior to any Flashbacks. We’ll see this memory again in “The Incident,” except this time, Christian will calm Jack down by telling him to count to five.

MORE Weirdness:  If you block the right side of Jack’s face (your left), you’ll notice that the left side (your right) is totally different.  Not only is it different, it has the same features we see on island Jack’s face in Season 6. AND when Jacob turns over Scooby Doo Cave to Jack – check out Jack’s face after he drinks from the cup.  BOTH sides of his face MATCH (finally), and they look exactly like the LEFT side of Jack’s face in this scene [done with lighting effects and digital post production!]. This is a HUGE clue as to what’s going on on LOST!! If you’re having trouble “seeing it,” just check out Jack’s left eyebrow. That’s the most obvious difference.

Night on the beach. A starry sky. NOTE: see the twinkle-twinkle? This sky is, of course, CGI [computer generated image], but look at the repeat patterns in the stars.

Small groups of peeps huddle around camp fires big and small. The plane wreckage glows in the background.

A hand with taped fingers with “FATE” written across them in black marker.  CHECK IT: I only mention this because we’ll see it a few more times, but check out the BLACK on Charlie’s nails (his right hand).  That instantaneously reminded me of Blade Runner. Weird right? Sayid and Charlie glow orange in the firelight.

• Sayid: You think they would’ve come by now.
• Charlie:  Who?
• Sayid: Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter bunny – anyone!

A girl paints her toenails (can you SEE the denial?). Lifeguard/pen boy sits next to her. He offers her a candy bar.

• Shannon: As if I’m gonna start eating chocolate.
• Boone: Shannon, we might be here for a while.
• Shannon: The plane had a black box, idiot. They know exactly where we are. They’re coming. I’ll eat on the rescue boat.

Boone take a big bite of the candy. Shannon scowls.

• Boone: You know, lack of chocolate might be part of your problem.

Claire rubs her belly. Hurley sits next to her. He hands her an airline meal.

• Hurley: Hungry?
• Claire: Yeah.
• Hurley: Any more – baby stuff?
• Claire:  No. I’m okay.
• Hurley:  Hang in there.
• Claire: Yeah, you too.

Hurley leaves. He back tracks and gives her a second meal.

Walt stares into the fire. Michael tucks a blanket around him.

• Michael:  Sure you’re warm enough?

Walt nods.

Sun and Jin huddle together. They speak in Korean [subtitled].

• Jin: You must not leave my sight. You must follow me wherever I go. Do you understand?

Sun nods.

• Jin: Don’t worry about the others. We need to stay together.

Sun nods again. DEFINITELY something Not Cool going on with Sun. She looks frightened and furious at the same time.

[Did anyone else start crying when they remembered Jin and Sun’s scene on the sub? Remember how they HAD to stay together? ]

Kate watches Jack tend to an unconscious man.  A huge piece of metal protrudes from the man’s belly.

• Kate: Do you think he’s gonna live?
• Jack: Do you know him?
• Kate: He was sitting next to me.

A fire crackles and sparks against the starry sky. A plane fashioned out of leaves.

• Jack: We musta been at 40K feet. Hit an air pocket. Dropped, maybe, 200 feet. The turbulence was –  I blacked out.
• Kate: What a stud you are, Mr. I Blacked Out! Actually, you were lucky.  First the tail was gone. Then the front end of the plane broke off.  It sucked.
• Jack:  Well, it’s not here on the beach. Neither is the tail. We need to figure out which way we came in. If we find the cockpit, maybe we’ll find the transceiver. Then we can send out a signal. Help the rescue party find us.
• Kate: How do you know all that?
• Jack: Took a couple flying lessons. Wasn’t for me. [HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!]
• Kate: I saw some smoke. [HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!]  Just through the valley.

Jack stares into the distance.

• Kate: If you’re thinking about going for the cockpit, I’m going with you.
• Jack: Um, I know yer hot-n-all, but I don’t know your name.
• Kate:  I’m Kate.
• Jack:  Jack. [HOWEVER, if you follow the UNDERSHOW (where you read lips), he just said JACOB. No kidding!]

They flirty smile with each other.

A LOUD metallic, gurgling, snuffling noise of something BIG and Unfriendly. They all look. Jack and Kate trade looks and get up.

• Walt: Is that Vincent?
• Michael: No. That’s not Vincent.

Rose looks on as a clump of trees on her left “disappear” like they are snatched out of the air.

HOOT, clicks, cranking and more noises.  They all gather together and stare into the dark on their right.

Ticka-ticka-ticka noise! More hoots. They look left in unison.  More noises. They look right. Clumps of trees are sucked into the night. A puff of air.  Charlie, Jack and Kate stare together as the noises fade.

• Charlie:  Terrific.

MAJOR Weirdness alert: Notice that there are TWO noises from TWO opposite sides of our losties.  ALSO notice that the FIRST flash (back) takes place JUST after [Smokey] announces his presence with authority.  Further, notice that it doesn’t show up until after dark and only manifests in the jungle.

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ORIENTATION: FLASHES

Welcome to our very first lostie flash.  This flash begins what is commonly known as a “flashback.” Please take careful note of Amy’s take on the flashes as follows:  They are NOT the past. They are NOT memories. They are daydream-type deals that LOOK like the past. We are ASSUME they are memories, and that we are watching has already happened to our losties.  Watch yourself! It’s a TRICK!

Think of LOST as a coin on a table with heads as the island and tails as the flash. From now on, in any given scene of the show, we can see either see heads OR tails on the table, but they are BOTH STILL part of the same coin! If I flip a coin and keep track, I’ll end up with a chronological list that looks like this: H, H, T, T, H, T, H, etc. If I flip tails, that doesn’t mean it happened yesterday. It happened NEXT, after I flipped heads! THAT’S how our losties are experiencing their time in this world: first on the island, then the flash, then the island IN the sequence that we SEE scenes on the show.  In a nutshell, THE ORDER IN WHICH WE SEE EVENTS HAPPEN ON LOST AS PRESENTED ON THE SHOW IS THE MOST IMPORTANT “TIMELINE.”  Do yourself a favor. From now until Season 3, do everything you can to AVOID extrapolating a “prior to landing on the island” timeline for our losties.  If you do that, you are actually shuffling events out of order.

[Don’t panic.]

You’ll get tons of arguments from all sides, but we’re using the hindsight is 20/20 principal for our LOST rewatch here. All will be explained as we go along, but roll with this one principle:  These flashes are DIRECTLY related to conditions on the island.

Now we know how they got started (and where our assumption of “memories” begins). We’ve just seen Jack and Kate recount their memory of the crash.  Then we hear “Smokey” (and pal) for the very first time. What happens next? The FIRST flash “back” we see is Jack’s story VERBATIM [We’ll see Kate’s pretty soon.]. This flash is a test run, and it incorporates the VODKA bottle, Jack, Rose’s ring kissing, and a glimpse of Charlie and John.

The thing that will confuse you from the start is how well/unwell our losties remember their flashbacks after they happen (after WE see them on the show).  As we go through rewatch, expect me to point out the myriad of ways Team LOST tricks you into believing our losties landed on the island with all these “memories,” and we are “learning” more about their “past” (before they hit the island) as the show continues forward.  Interpreting the show that way will totally screw you up by Season 4 and you’ll hate Season 6.  [Jacob says: Their past doesn’t matter. That’s because, for the most part, it’s been erased!]  Trust me!

Excluding Jack and Kate’s plane flashes, let’s make a careful note of WHEN and in what circumstances our losties remember the contents of their flashes.  [HINT: it’s usually ONLY in context of an item or another person’s flashback.] We’re about to see Charlie do it with the heroin.  One last thing: there is actually a really, really good reason why Kate and Jack and Desmond are able to remember things before we see them in their flashes, but we’ll get to that later!

Watch how carefully this flash fills in the blanks of and TOTALLY distracts us from what we’ve seen already.

On with the show!

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OCEANIC FLT 815

Puffy clouds, a blue sky and an airplane wing as seen from an airplane window.  Jack stares out the window. CHECK IT! Did you see the white “flashes” as the “clouds” went by? Very cool.

• Cindy: So how’s the drink?
• Jack:  Pfft.

Cindy sneaky hands him two teen vodka bottles.

• Jack: Nuthin’ I like better than a cute flight attendent who breaks the rules!

Cindy winks and leaves.

Jack PUTS A BOTTLE into his POCKET (blank number 1 filled: where did the bottle “come from?”). He pours the other into what’s left of his previous drink: vodka and OJ (I guess Jack still thinks he’s in college! UGH!). He gulps down the entire thing.  FASTEN SEATBELT DING.  We see Rose reading a magazine as Jack stands to leave. Charlie bumps Jack as he rushes by. He’s quickly followed by Cindy and a flight attendent droog.  Jack sits back down.

• Rose: Hmph.

Jack sits. BIG bump of turbulence.  Jack buckles in. FASTEN SEATBELT DING – again?

• Announcement: Ladies and gents, seatbelts might be a good idea right now.
• Jack: It’s normal.
• Rose: Says you. My husband says planes want to be in the air.
• Jack:  He sounds like a very smart man.
• Rose: You think? I told him that was the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. He’d better hustle back from the bathroom, huh. [Blank #2: Where is Rose's husband?]
• Jack: I’ll keep you company until he gets back. Don’t worry. It’s gonna be over –

Turbulence bangs a loose passenger into the ceiling.  The high pitched whine of a plane falling out of the air (like a missile!). Jack glances at Rose. Oxygen masks fall from the ceiling. Jack dons his. He keeps his eyes on Rose (wearing hers with her eyes closed).  Weirdness alert: if you listen carefully, you can hear GROANING and CLICKING that sounds a LOT like the noises our losties heard when the trees started disappearing. That BEEP BEEP BEEPing noise, what is it and why would the passengers be hearing it? Cuz to me it sounds a lot like a heart monitor right before it flatlines:  beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep, and that’s really weird.

Note that Jack’s flash ENDS exactly when he tells Kate he blacked out,  BUT his eyes are WIDE OPEN.

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CRASH SITE

The ocean. Amy’s second most favorite shot of the pilot:  Jack’s face slides from left to right across the screen.  WATCH: This will be the LAST time we see Jack’s face head on until Season 6. No kidding!  If you can, pause this shot in a few different places and cover each side of Jack’s face in turn.  Can you see it?

Losties mill in the background.  [DAMN! Jack is hot! Wow.]  We hear chatter about the freakshow the night before.

• Rose: That sound that it made. I keep thinking there was something really familiar about it.
• Shannon: Really? Where are you from?
• Rose: The Bronx. [All NOISES recycled from NEW YORK somehow]

Kate walks up behind Jack.

• Kate:  You ready?
• Jack:  Kate —
• Kate: Don’t bother. I’m coming with you.
• Jack: (sexy smile!) Then you’re gonna need better shoes.

Kate pulls shoes off a dead body. She and Locke stare at each other. He smiles with an orange in his mouth (VERY EFFED UP!).

• Kate:  That is very effed up.

Michael, Walt, Sayid, Boon and Shannon in a circle. Hurley joins them.

• Michael: Whatever it was, it wasn’t natural. [That would make it MECHANICAL. Right, my lovely LOST readers?]
• Hurley:  Lots of bodies all over the place. Think we should –?
• Shannon: No! They’ll deal with it when they get here.

Jack joins them.

• Jack: We’re off to find the cockpit. (to Boone) Try not to kill any of the wounded before I get back.

Charlie remembers something and smiles.

• Charlie:  I’ll come with. I want to help.
• Jack: I don’t need any help.
• Charlie:  I don’t really feel like standing still, so.
• Jack:  Fine.

[And so Jack and Kate’s FIRST chance of being alone in private zippapears. Thanks Chuck!]

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VALLEY

Jack, complete with walking stick, leads the Transceiver Trio.  Kate follows Jack. Charlie pulls up the rear.

• Kate:  (to Charlie)  You look familiar –
• Charlie: (shows her the ring) I’m in Driveshaft. You know, the band?
• Kate:  Um – maybe.
• Charlie: (sings) You all everybody! You all everybody!
• Jack:  We should keep moving.
• Charlie: You all everybody!
• Jack: We should keep moving in silence.
• Charlie:  Ah.

WATCH THIS SEQUENCE CAREFULLY:

SUPER SUPREME WEIRDNESS:  POV of  Transceiver Trio walking by. It’s Vincent (the yellow lab from the first scene. He’s sneaky watching from the bushes.

CUT TO:  At the crash site, John sits alone on the beach staring at the sea.  Sound of THUNDER (but NO lightening).

BACK TO : Transceiver Trio in the tall grass.  Instantaneous torrential downpour.

• Charlie:  Guys, is this day turning into night, end of the world-type weather normal? Guys?

CUT TO: John, head bowed, as the rain beings.  Losties scamper around him. He’s sitting center stage of the crash (NOT alone on the beach).  Peeps scramble for cover.  Jin with Sun huddled under debris.  He yells (in Korean), sending a shelter seeker away.  Boone and Shannon head for the plane cabin.

• Hurley: I’m telling you, you don’t want to go in there! There’s too many bodies!

John with his head bowed. He lifts his face to the sky and smiles as the rain pours down on him.  He spreads his arms wide. THEN:  More THUNDER-LIKE noises. Smokey activity in the trees.  Claire spots it.  Rose sees it too.

• Claire: There it is again.
• Rose: Oh my God.

CUT TO:  Our Transceiver Trio arrive. WATCH how they PAUSE. LISTEN to the squeaky noises before they continue.  As they pass through the trees, we see the cockpit (plus most of first class). It rests against a tree at a wicked angle, nose in the air.  Our Trio take it in.

• Jack: Well – let’s do this.

A freaked Kate follows Jack. Charlie stares.

They enter at the base.  The cabin is a mess with bodies still strapped in their seats.  They climb up the aisle. Weirdness alert: Kate makes some weird faces and I hear very odd creaking noises that don’t belong. Charlie nearly falls. He grabs on to a leg and pulls himself up.

Jack at the cockpit door. It’s locked (duh!).  He pulls down a small fire extinguisher and bangs the doorknob.  Weirdness alert: Jack is yelling “Come on! Come on!” This is what he was saying when he CPR’d Rose.  This is ALSO what JULIET says when SHE smacks the bomb!!

The door pops open. Kate squeals/Jack hollers as a pilot’s corpse falls out of the door.

• Jack: (to Kate) Hey. You okay?
• Kate: Yeah, you?
• Charlie:  Charlie’s fine, by the way.
• Jack: (to Kate) You don’t have to come up here.
• Kate:  No, I’m good. [Does anyone understand what Kate’s deal is here? I’d be like, go forth and transceive, hotboy!]

Jack helps Kate into the cockpit.  They look around. A pilot’s body is strapped into his seat.

• Kate: So what’s this stupid thing look like?
• Jack:  A complicated walkie-talkie.  [HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! Get it? On LOST, KATE is the complicated walkie-talkie.]

They look around. Kate searches near the pilot’s body. It comes alive with a gasp, scaring the crap outta both of them.  The pilot coughs. Jack checks him out and gives him water.

• Pilot: How many survived?
• Jack: At least forty-eight [notice he doesn’t say EXACTLY 48. There could be more he doesn’t/we don’t know about yet.]. How do you feel?
• Pilot: Not great. Dizzy, too.
• Jack: It’s probably a concussion.
• Pilot: How long? Has anybody come? [Any BODY, get it?]
• Jack: It’s been sixteen hours, and no. Not yet.
• Pilot:  Damn. That’s not good.  Six hours in, our radio went out. No one could see us. We turned back to land in Fiji [Cuz that’s the LOGICAL thing to do —NOT!]. By the time we hit turbulance, we were a thousand miles off course. They’re looking for us in the wrong place.
• Kate: Nice.
• Jack: Where’s the transceiver?
• Pilot: Over there.

Weirdness alert: Watch how the pilot grabs Kate’s hand as she passes it over (then watch her face change just after). Remember Jacob’s touch in “The Incident?” Turns out touch, just like the touch we see here, has been important throughout the entire show.

• Jack: Where’s Charlie?

Kate looks for him in the cabin. The pilot presses a few buttons.

• Pilot: It’s not working.

Kate calls Charlie. He tumbles out of the bathroom.

• Kate: What’re you doing in the bathroom?
• Charlie:  (smiles) What?

A familiar WHOOOOOOT with a THUNDER-LIKE sound, squeaking and clancking.

• Pilot: What the hell was that?
• Jack: Kate.

Louder squeaking (sounds like a squeaky door, doesn’t it?) and clanking noises. Jack reaches for Kate and holds her protectively in front of him. She’s terrified.

• Kate: It’s right outside.
• Pilot: What’s right outside?
• Jack:  Shhhhhhhutup, you moron!

Jack tucks Kate against the wall. Loud crashing. Ticka Ticka noises. A shadow passes over Kate and across the window [According to DVD commentary, that shadow was added post production.]. Grumbling noises.  Jack darts to the window. He wipes it with his hand and tries to see what’s outside. The pilot lurches to his feet. Kate takes his place and peers out the foggy window.

Like a complete MORON, the pilot sticks half his bod out a broken window. He does put the transceiver down first, so it’s not a total loss.  Charlie joins them in the cockpit. A moment goes by.

Suddenly, the pilot is jerked from his feet. He screams and struggles with whatever’s got hold of him. His feet kick helplessly in the air. Kate screams. They all freak. The pilot’s body slips out the window followed by a loud BANG – blood splats on the window behind Kate.

Silence as they all freak out.

• Charlie:  What the hell just happened?!

Kate’s mouth gapes open. They all trade terrified looks. A loud creaking. The fuselage shakes and rattles.  Jack strains to grab the transceiver on the seat.  He’s almost got it. The fuselage falls to the jungle floor, knocking them around.

• Kate: Jack come on!
• Charlie:  Just leave it!

But Jack doesn’t leave it (because leaving it is not Jack’s style!). He grabs it. He tucks it into his pocket as they run away, with Kate in the lead (naturally – girlfriend is born to run!).

Mud slops around and on to them as they flee.  Charlie goes down. The sound of the “monster” is on top of him. He cries for help. Jack stops. He checks on Kate. She’s bookin’ it. He turns back. He untangles Charlie’s foot from whatever plant life’s got him.

• Jack: Come on! Run!

Kate scrambles into the shelter of a banyan tree. She clings to the branches like bars.  She’s trembling. She screams for Jack and starts crying. Weirdness alert:  Undershow watchers: check out all that unnecessary lip trembling and flapping.  A loud crash of “THUNDER.” She looks up into the tangled branches high over her head.  She takes a deep breath. She counts to a terrified five.

Kate in the tree.  Screechy weirdo noises. She jerks around and scans the jungle behind her. Weirdness alert: She gapes her mouth and shakes her head.  POV a specific spot in the jungle. She turns and screams as Charlie crashes into her. She pushes him to the ground and hovers over him.  Weirdness alert:  WATCH CAREFULLY. Look at Kate’s face as she questions Charlie. She looks like a corpse!  Watch how it changes before our eyes (and regains color) when the rain stops, and she looks up.  Creepy.

• Kate:  Where’s the hell’s Jack?!
• Charlie:  I don’t know!
• Kate:  Did you see him?!
• Charlie: Yeah, he pulled me up.
• Kate: Where is he?!
• Charlie: I don’t know!
• Kate: How can you not know?!
• Charlie:  We got separated. I fell down. He came back for me! That thing –
• Kate: Did you see it?
• Charlie: No. But it was right there. We were dead – I was. Then Jack came back and he pulled me up. I don’t know where he is!

The rain stops as suddenly as it started.  Kate looks up. [Seriously. Watch how her face changes.] POV the highest branches of the banyan tree.

• Kate:  We have to go back for him.
• Charlie:  Go back? There? Kate, there’s a certain gargantuan quality to this thing –
• Kate: Then don’t come.

Charlie stares overhead.

• Charlie: [Damn!] Kate!

He gets up.  Charlie tails Kate through a clearing.  WATCH CAREFULLY.  See that mist floating around? Well, I actually live in Hawai’i (where most of LOST was filmed), and there’s no such mist like that here.  The only thing close are the clouds in the highest mountains, and nobody can get up there!  EVERYTIME you see this floaty, weird mist IT HAS BEEN ADDED.

A loud ‘bird cry.’ Charlie looks back. He pulls his hood off and keeps looking back as he follows Kate over a log.

They enter the green. NOT ONE LEAF IS MOVING <— this is VERY unusual.

• Charlie: I heard you shout. I heard you shout Jack.  I’m Charlie, by the way.

Kate sees something on the ground. She picks it up. It’s the pilot’s wings. An odd shape reflected in the puddle from above.  She looks up.

• Charlie:  What is –
• Jack: It’s the pilot.

A very muddy Jack walks out of the jungle.  Kate smacks him. Several times.

• Kate: Don’t you EVER scare me like that again!!
• Jack:  Ow!
• Kate: (a few more smacks) I mean it, Jack!
• Jack: Ow! Okay! Okay! I won’t!
• Kate: You better not!

Jack grins.

• Kate: Did you see it?
• Jack: It was right behind me, but I dove into the bushes.
• Kate:  I’m sure you dove into the bushes like a manly man and not a complete wuss!
• Jack:  Why yes I did.
• Charlie: (points up) Guys. How does something like that happen?

They all look up. Above them, the battered, bloody carcass of the pilot hangs lifeless, caught in the branches of the tree.

• Kate:  That can’t be good.

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End Episode 1.01

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Ah,  yes. This is where it all begins!  How do you feel?  Hopefully, you’ve been able to make some connections to Season 6 already.  I know I have!

NEXT: Episode 1.02 “Pilot, Part 2”

Check out: Staying LOST after LOST – Recaps by Erin HERE

Amy’s SEASON 1 Recap Menu HERE — Amy’s Recap/Theory MENU HERE