1.1 (Pilot, part 1)

Jack awakens, bleeding, in the middle of a jungle, and runs in a semi-panic to the beach. There he views the chaos of a plane crash. He is stranded on an island, along with 48 other airline passengers. People are in various stages of shock, panic, and death, while the roar of the still whirring engine fills the air.

We learn a little about the personalities of various survivors. Boone and Shannon, brother and sister, snipe at each other. Locke sits in the rain, like someone born again, and appears unaffected by the crash. Claire worries about her baby. Hurley distributes food. Jin stakes out a sheltered place for he and Sun, and tells her she must stick by him and ignore the needs of the others.

Jack attends to the most needy, organizing others to help where he can. It is obvious by now that he is a doctor.

When he has taken care of the immediate emergencies, he moves away from the group to treat the gash on his back. He enlists Kate to sew up his back gash, then goes back to helping other injured survivors.

That evening, everyone sees the trees rustle and hear sounds that are unrecognizable but have come from something big. The next day, Jack and Kate head across the island to find the cockpit and tranceiver, with Charlie tagging along. They discover the pilot, still alive, but not for long, as he is attacked and killed by something big (which again they do not see).

Comments

Light, fast-moving, and compelling, the plot points are good, although the prose does not seem especially memorable.

The focus here is on the strength of Jack and the obvious chemistry between he and Kate. Evangeline Lilly does a wonderful job of emoting a range of feelings with her face and eyes. She also goes back and forth between hysteria and calm resolve and somehow make it believable.

Nits

Jack moves away from the group and removes his shirt. He seems to be planning to treat his gash, yet because of its location, he cannot do it himself. Fortunately, Kate just happens to stumble upon him at that moment, and she sews him up. Why would be move away from the group, however? It was just dumb luck that someone came along and found him.

Memorable Moments

• Jack dashing from patient to patient as the plane whirrs and burns in the background
• The pilot getting snatched from the plane

Quotable Quotes

Kate: (as she is about to stitch up Jack's wound) Any color preference?
Jack: Nah, standard black.

Shannon: (as Boone offers candy) As if I'm gonna start eating chocolate.
Boone: Shannon, we may 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!