Lost (TV series)

Categories: 2000s TV shows in the United States | Emmy Award winners | Lost

This article is about the drama series; for the reality series, see Lost (reality TV series).
Lost
Image:Lost poster 2005.jpg
Format Drama
Run time approx. 42 minutes
(per episode)
Creator J.J. Abrams
Damon Lindelof
Jeffrey Lieber
Starring See Cast and characters below
Country USA
Network ABC
Original run September 22, 2004 – present
No. of episodes 30 (plus two specials)

Lost is an American drama/adventure television series set in the aftermath of a plane crash on a mysterious tropical island somewhere in the South Pacific.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Contents

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Overview

The series was developed exclusively by ABC: former studio executive Lloyd Braun pitched an idea about a plane crashing on a remote island to series creator J.J. Abrams in January 2004, after most of the new series for the 2004 fall season had already been selected and begun production. Under significant time pressure from the start, Abrams collaborated with Damon Lindelof to create the show’s unique style and characters, occasionally even creating characters to fit an actor they wished to cast. From this difficult beginning, which included the filming of the most expensive pilot in television history, came one of the biggest critical and commercial successes of the 2004 television season, and Lost, along with fellow freshman series Desperate Housewives, helped reverse the fortunes of the underperforming ABC. In September 2005, Lost won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series.

The series uniquely tracks two major, interconnected themes: first, the struggles of the forty-eight survivors of the crash as they cope with living together on the strange island, and second, the lives of the fourteen main characters before the crash, retold through flashbacks, thereby greatly expanding the more prosaic role of the typical television "backstory"[1]. In most episodes, the primary focus of the action is on a specific character and includes flashbacks from that character's point of view, providing insight to the viewer about the character's secrets and motivations. In the first season, the flashbacks also showed why each character was on the doomed plane. The exceptions to this character-based structure are the pilot and season one finale episodes, in which flashbacks from several characters are featured and depiction of action on the island takes a much more general approach.

The show is produced by Bad Robot Production and Touchstone Television. The music is composed by Michael Giacchino.

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Season synopses

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Season 1: 2004-2005

Main article: Episodes of Lost (Season 1)

A plane crash strands the surviving passengers of Oceanic Flight 815 on a seemingly deserted tropical island, forcing the group of strangers to work together to stay alive. However, their survival may also ultimately depend on unraveling the mysteries of the island, including the contents of a hatch buried in the ground, the origins of an enormous creature that roams the jungle, and the motives of the unknown "others" who may also inhabit the island.

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Season 2: 2005-2006

Main article: Episodes of Lost (Season 2)

Season two began airing September 21, 2005. Several new characters have appeared (and will appear) in the new season, including Ana-Lucia Cortez, who previously appeared in the Season 1 finale. This season begins 44 days after the crash and also introduces The Dharma Initiative and its benefactor, The Hanso Foundation, which may be responsible for some or all of the strange occurrences on the island.

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Story elements

There are several recurring story elements on Lost, which drive central plot points and the development of the survivors as they try to live on the island.

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Black and White

The colors black and white, which traditionally reflect good or positive forces versus evil or negative forces, have been featured a number of times, particularly in regards to John Locke. In "Pilot", Locke shows Walt a black and a white backgammon piece and says, "two players, two sides, one is light, one is dark." In "House of the Rising Sun", Jack finds a pouch on a pair of mummified corpses, nicknamed "Adam and Eve" by the survivors, containing one white stone and one black stone, which he then hides from Locke. In the opening sequence of "Raised by Another", Claire has a nightmare in which Locke has one black eyeball and one white eyeball. The black-and-white logo of The Dharma Initiative appears on various surfaces in the hatch compound; the same symbol appears on the labels of all the food in a storage room, and on the tail of a shark that circles Michael and Sawyer.

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Fathers

Most of the major characters have fathers who are or were either absent, reluctant, or destructive. Thus far, the father issues of Locke, Jack, Sawyer and Walt have been the most well explored, with Locke in particular being the victim of a wretched betrayal in "Deus Ex Machina". These characters are not alone, however: Aaron was abandoned by his father (Claire's boyfriend Thomas), Claire's past with her father has been alluded to, Kate's father is possibly dead, Shannon's father is dead, Hurley's father is absent, and Sun's father is a particularly destructive force. In contrast to this prevalence of father issues, the only main character whose father seems to have been a positive force is Jin's. In this instance it was Jin's shame at his father's poverty that led him to tell Sun and others that his father was dead. Additionally, though previously absent, Michael is working diligently at being a good father to Walt. Up until now, there has been little to no mention of the fathers of Boone, Sayid or Charlie.

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The numbers

The number sequence 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42 is a recurring and significant story element. This string of numbers was broadcast from the island's radio transmitter, and it was this message that drew Rousseau's expedition to the island. Although she later changed the message after the deaths of her team, the numbers had also been heard by others, eventually making their way to Hurley, who used them to win the lottery. However, after his win, a series of misfortunes began to happen to those around Hurley, leading him to believe the numbers are cursed. His search for answers led him to Australia and, through the crash, to the island itself, where he ultimately discovers the numbers engraved on the hatch. Inside the bunker, the sum of these six numbers, 108, also becomes significant. The numbers appear as the code for the computer inside the hatch, as well as their sum being what the timer counts down from. Significantly, these numbers frequently appear individually throughout the lives of the survivors, both before and after the crash.

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Redemption

Many of the characters are in one way or another finding redemption and second chances as a result of being on the island. Locke is the first character to do so, when he discovers that he has mystically regained use of his legs and brings back food to the survivors; after this, Locke begins to lead many of the other characters towards their own personal redemption: He gathers water for the other survivors, a move which helps encourage Jack to become the de facto leader of the group; he helps Charlie kick his heroin habit; he encourages Sawyer to face his past misdeeds involving an incident that transpired before Sawyer left Australia; he helps Boone let go of his relationship with Shannon; he finds Walt's lost dog and allows Michael to take credit, and then later helps Michael bond with/save Walt when Walt is attacked by polar bears; and his philosophizing to Shannon encourages her to pursue a relationship with Sayid.

This can also refer to the title, giving it a double meaning of people being 'lost' or 'adrift' in life, but finding themselves and getting a chance to make things right on the island.

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Philosophy

John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, for whom the characters John Locke and Danielle Rousseau are named, were both famous social contract philosophers who dealt with the relationship between nature and civilization. Locke believed that all men were born with a "clean slate" (tabula rasa), which was also the name of the third episode.

The Dharma Initiative logos resemble the Taoist symbol known as the Bagua.

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Cast and characters

Main article: Characters of Lost
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Syndication

Lost is syndicated worldwide. For a list of broadcasters and first airdates, see Airdates of Lost.

Since October 12 2005, episodes of Lost have been available for download from Apple's iTunes store.

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See also

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External links

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Official tie-in sites
Production related sites
Network sites
Lost
Episodes: Season 1 | Season 2 | Airdates
Characters
Major: Ana-Lucia | Boone | Charlie | Claire
Hurley | Jack | Jin | Kate | Libby | Locke | Michael
Mr. Eko | Sawyer | Sayid | Shannon | Sun | Walt

Minor: Secondary | Flashback

Organizations
Oceanic Airlines | The Dharma Initiative | The Hanso Foundation
de:Lost (Serie)

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