1x1, Pilot Part 1

There has been a lot of controversy lately in the Internet community about spoilers, so I'll begin this post with a note: I will be discussing the end of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series in great detail in this entry, and most likely throughout this entire process. The producers of Lost are obviously big fans of King's work, and he has returned the affection. He has also entrusted the film adaptation of his beloved Dark Tower series to J.J. Abrams, if it is ever to be made at all.

While it is not possible to adequately condense seven verbose tomes into a few sentences, the basic outline of the story is this: in a world hazily parallel to our own, a gunslinger named Roland Deschain sets off on a quest to find the Dark Tower, a structure that is the nexus of all time and space. Roland's journey leads him through multiple parallel worlds, as he attempts to reach the Tower and stop the forces of evil that wish to see it fall. By the end, Roland has defeated his enemies and saved the Tower, but has allowed himself to become obsessed with his personal gratification of finding the Tower. His selfish pursuit is symbolized by the loss of the Horn of Eld, which he was meant to carry as he approached the Tower; instead, he carelessly left it behind at a battle years before. When Roland finally climbs to the top of the Tower, he finds neither answers or salvation; instead, he discovers that he has made this journey many times before, and will make it many times again, until he stands true. Roland is then hurdled backwards in time and space and finds himself back where he started at the beginning of the series, lost and disoriented, with no memory of what just happened to him. The knowledge of his ultimate fate now gone from him, Roland resumes his never-ending quest for the Dark Tower.

Think now about how Lost begins. We open on the now-trademark close-up of an eye. It is Jack, lost and disoriented. He has no memory of what has just happened to him (stating later that after the plane hit turbulence, he blacked out). This memory loss and disorientation is similar to what the gunslinger Roland experiences at the end (and beginning) of The Dark Tower series. The situation also calls to mind how Ben awakens in the Sahara Desert after moving the island. It seems unlikely that Jack has teleported from anywhere (since we know that he was on the plane), but I think it is likely that there more going on here than we know.

The question of how Jack ended up in the middle of the jungle relatively unhurt (indeed, how many of the castaways survived such a violent crash unhurt) has still never been clarified (in the same way that we still don't really know what happened to Desmond, Locke, and Mr. Eko when the Hatch imploded). Was it the island's healing powers? Mikhail has certainly shown that a person can take a beating on the island and survive. Or is it possible that something even crazier is happening? That perhaps Jack didn't survive the plane crash? I know the "They're All Dead" theory has been denied by the producers and elicits howls of derision from fans, but what if they're not all dead? What if just some of them? Claire has changed the rules of what death means on the island. She almost certainly died in the mercenary attack on New Otherton, but she was still very much a physical presence with Sawyer and Miles until she decided to take up residence with her dead father in Jacob's cabin.

Also, let's not forget the final mobisode "So It Begins", where we see the dead Christian Shepherd summoning Vincent to go and wake up Jack, because he "has work to do." Could it be that Christian is having Vincent awaken Jack not just from unconsciousness, but from death? It is possible, but for now, it is impossible to know.

When Jack awakens and stands up, he pulls a single-serving bottle of alcohol from his pocket. The manner in which he stares at it calls to mind again Roland awakening at the end of The Dark Tower, as he grasps the Horn of Eld at his belt, which has now been magically returned to him. The presence of the Horn offers the promise that Roland may one day be able to complete his quest nobly, and break his endless cycle of damnation.

What does the alcohol bottle offer to Jack? In this case, not salvation. The groundwork is laid for Jack's eventual slide into alcoholism, just like his father. Indeed, Jack's behavior on the plane in the pilot is very similar to how he behaves on the plane in the Season 3 finale, where is now a full-blown alcoholic. The tone of the two scenes is very different: in the pilot, Jack charms the flight attendant into serving him more alcohol (Cindy, who would later show up amongst the Tail Section survivors and then the Others). In the Season 3 finale, Jack is bullying and demanding.

Other traits of Jack are already present. He stubbornly insists on doing things without help (he at first refuses to allow Kate or Charlie to accompany him to the cockpit, claiming that he does not need any help). Indeed, many of the characters take shape in the pilot: Hurley as a lovable portly helper, Shannon as a stuck-up princess, Charlie as a drug addict, and Sayid as methodical and logical. Kate's character is even partially revealed in an off-handed comment made to her by Jack. When Jack tells her the story of his first surgery, she says she would have run out the door. Jack responds, "You're not running now." Kate has spent her whole life running, but the island has offered her a chance to stop that chase.

The Monster makes its first audible appearance, sounding similar to what we're used to if not quite the same (almost undoubtedly nothing more than an evolution of the sound design). One curious note: Rose describes the Monster as sounding very familiar, and that she is from the Bronx. The producers have admitted that one of the sound effects of the Monster is the sound of a receipt printer from a New York City taxi cab, however, they have also said that this is just a sound source and has nothing to do with the mythology of the Monster. Is Rose's "familiar" comment just an acknowledgement of this sound source, or is it familiar to her for another reason?

The dialogue in the pilot frequently has this double resonance. When Kate recognizes Charlie, she asks him, "Have we ever met anywhere?" Charlie responds, "No, that would be unlikely." That would be unlikely, but as we will see over the coming seasons, many of the people on the island have run into each other in their previous lives. Later in the show, when describing the Monster attack on himself and Jack, Charlie says, "We were dead. I mean, I was." This is surely nothing more than frightened dialogue, but it offers unintentional subtextual support that the survivors are actually all dead.

One final note before I conclude this long-winded entry: rumors have been circulating about the presence of a cylindrical black object next to Jack when he wakes up in the jungle. Here is a screencap of it:

You can view the original here.

Some are claiming that this is Ben's telescoping baton. While I find it unlikely that the producers would plan something like that so far in advance, I do like the possibility it offers. What if Jack is somehow teleported from the future along with the baton to act as hero to the Oceanic survivors? Since Matthew Fox has revealed that he is the only actor who knows the ending of Lost, it seems clear that the ending must center on his character. While I doubt the baton will have anything to do with it, I suspect the end of the series could have us returning to the beginning, with the audience finally gaining understanding how Jack ended up in that jungle and what his destiny is on the island.