Pilot, Part 1 by Sam

This damn show. Even if I'm disappointed with the final fifteen minutes of the series, the first fifteen SECONDS of the opening episode are enough to put that all right. I'm sucked back in all over again and I barely care that I know how it ends. There's so much to wonder about still.

I really hope that we're able to upload our podcasts because I think B and I did a bang up job. Also, her thoughts on Shannon's incessant screaming need to be shared with the world.

Like Bridgette, I didn't have any major OHMYGODOFCOURSE! moments watching this episode post-finale, but it was certainly different. I remember the curiosity of the first few episodes where you don't know that Kate was the one with the cuffs or that Charlie was snorting the bad stuff in the cockpit. Establishing those things immediately might've been too much considering how much chaos is set up in the first episode, but I like that they started laying the ground work. A plane full of people crashing on an island...it's cool that they didn't just let that be the driver of the story. These people are going to have issues before they rack up all the island-miseries.

Even in its most obvious moments, there's something really classy about the way that we're introduced to everyone in the pilot. We see a twitchy Charlie. A sweet Hurley who gives pregnant little Claire the extra dinner. Lame ass screaming Shannon who paints her toenails. Well-meaning Boone who brings those damn pens about three hours too late. Force-of-nature Jack who takes charge and can single out every cry for help in the middle of exploding engines and general turmoil. Suck-it-up-and-do-the-damn-thing Kate, who stitches up Jack in one of the most over-referenced scenes in Lost.

And Locke. He was my main man before my beloved Desmond came around. I was immediately interested in Locke. Physically, he looks a lot like my dad. Wrinkles around the eyes, sweet smile, bald as all hell. But past that...what a badass!, smiling at Kate like that when she's stealing a dead man's shoes. That's BOLD! I want to be that person. It's awesome to see that scene again, knowing his history, knowing that he really wasn't that person until he got to the island. Way to take charge of a new chapter in life.

Essentially, re-watching the pilot made me realize just how innocent and pure everything seems upon first glance. Who knew Sayid was a torturer who'd end up working for his nemesis Ben, die, get zombiefied by the smoke and explode himself in a sub? The hell kind of show is this?

Awesome, that's what. Bring on the next episode!