Lost (TV pilot + assorted season one episodes)


release year: 2004+
genre: TV mystery/suspense/drama
viewing setting: home DVD, 12/17/06

synopsis: A commercial jetliner crashes on a remote island, there's very little hope of rescue, and the survivors must contend with unknown, mysterious dangers that lurk on the island.

impressions: I'd never watched any of this, but I borrowed the entire first season from a friend and watched nine episodes in one day (and finished the entire first season in a five-week period.) This is good stuff, at least at this relatively early point in the series. It's a mix of drama and mystery/horror; there's definitely something big and dangerous roaming the island, but there are many other things going on. I think I'll need to get through the first two seasons, in their entirely, before I can make a better judgement. So far, so good.

something this movie has that no other movie has: A jetliner breaking into three sections in the air, and all three crashing yet containing survivors.

acting: This is an ensemble cast with too many characters to fully detail here. Highlights: Matthew Fox is the doctor who becomes a reluctant leader, Evangeline Lilly is a capable woman with a dark past, Dominic Monaghan is a former rock star with some issues, Naveen Andrews is a former Iraqi soldier, Josh Holloway is a con man, Terry O'Quinn is a mysterious older man, Harold Perrineau is a construction worker with a young son, Jorge Garcia is a really big guy, Emilie de Ravin is a very pregnant woman, Maggie Grace is a foolish young woman who conftributes nothing, Daniel Dae Kim and Yunjin Kim are a Korean couple who keep to themselves.

final word: Take Gilligan's Island, subtract the humor, add a healthy dose of The Twilight Zone, modernize the whole thing, and this is what you get. I'm not here to do an in-depth review of the series; there are entire sites for that. I'm here to tell you that this is TV worth watching, but that you need to do it right (i.e. watch it in sequence, from the beginning.) This is not a show to be seen out of order, or by stupid people.

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