Overview

When Lost first premiered, I watched about three episodes. It was okay, I thought the beasts were some sort of horror premise, and then about EP03, the shallow relationship of Michael with his son, and his apparent jealousy of Locke, was just ridiculous and stupid. I didn’t care, and I couldn’t figure out why anyone else did, so I stopped watching. I recently decided to give it a go because of its historical success, more to see how they maintained interest than with much expectation to enjoy it. It wasn’t until about episode 9 or 10 that I started to enjoy watching the aftermath of the crash, learning to live on an island, scavenging the luggage, the competition over how best to lead the group, and the flashbacks that got them there. Given the focus on about 15 of the cast, it’s often hard to believe there were supposedly 48 survivors.

Episodes That I Liked

My favourite episode of the season was the finale, with Locke confronting the beast and seeing it in all its glory, and the rafters trying to get away from the island (E25). I rated another twelve episodes as 4/5, with a large gap after EPs 01 (crashing) & 02 (trying to phone home) all the way to EP 09 (and meeting another island inhabitant, Danielle Rousseau). After that, there are all the “let’s give this character a backstory” episodes for Claire and the baby (E10); Ethan being creepy (E11); Boone and his too-close relationship with his sister Shannon (E13); Michael being a father (E14); Sun and Jin’s language barrier (E17); Locke and Boone (E19); Boone’s exit and Locke sees a light (E20); Shannon’s desire for vengeance (E21); and more of the story of explosives for the hatch (E24) and rafters.

Episodes That Were Watchable

I rated eleven episodes as only 3/5, and it’s mostly because while there were some good parts in just about every one of them, they were individually quite inconsistent. It was interesting seeing the survivors realize that a quick rescue isn’t coming so they need to clean up the bodies (E04); the dangers of water (E05); disagreement on sleeping on the beach or in a cave (E06); cave collapses (E07); Sawyer’s a terrible human being, we all agree (E08); a locked case (E12); Claire’s return from the Others (E15); the backstory on Kate and Sawyer (E16); the explanation of the magical numbers (E18); sabotage within the camp (E22); and the first “panic” that the Others are coming (E23), even if they’re not.

Episodes That I Didn’t Like

I mentioned above that when I first watched the show, I gave up after Episode 03, it was shallow and superficial, and a cross between a potential horror film with barely seen monsters or a soap opera. Michael being jealous of Locke’s relationship with Walt was the soap opera extreme and I bailed. It’s the worst episode of the season.

List of Episodes from Season 1

The Bottom Line

Slow middle episodes take a while to grab hold of you