Secrets, Mysteries, and Lies (Discovering Lost)
By David Hontiveros

An eye opens. A pupil contracts. A suited man, scratches on his face, awakens in a bamboo grove.

Thus do the mysteries of Lost begin.

Co-created by J.J. Abrams, creator of Felicity and Alias, Lost is the story of 48 survivors of a crashed airliner, who find themselves stranded on an island of menace and enigma. It’s been glibly described as “Survivor meets The X-Files,” and on the one hand, that’s an acceptable enough description, but on the other hand, is terribly reductionist; Lost is a show that could, potentially, be far more than either. Already, it’s been nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Dramatic Series, and took the second spot on Time’s Ten Best of 2004’s TV selection.

One of the best aspects of Lost is the manner in which it’s structured. Past the two-part Pilot, each episode does two things, and it does them well. First, each episode advances plot; second, it spotlights a particular character (or pair of related characters), showing us through flashbacks, who these people were before the crash, and the set of circumstances that led to their being on the ill-fated flight.

Excellent story structure is then wedded to sharp, astute writing (by a team of writers, many of whom have a Minor in Sociology) and one of the best ensemble casts working on television today. Though the show’s leads could conceivably be identified as Matthew Fox (Party of Five) and Evangeline Lilly (Kingdom Hospital), there are approximately 14 major characters, whose personal stories weave in and out of the bizarre events on the island as the episodes progress.

One of the beauties of Lost is that the mysteries aren’t limited to the island goings-on, but extend to these individual’s pasts, to the secrets of who they were before the crash afforded them a chance to start again, a theme central to episode 3, “Tabula Rasa.” These are people who suddenly find themselves in an extreme situation where society needs to be rebuilt, a situation where sometimes, the old rules just don’t apply, where the old allegiances no longer have any bearing.

This is, then, the Survivor aspect of the show. (And, if it’s one thing I can thank Survivor for—which has long overstayed its welcome—it’s for whatever sort of role it may have played in the development of Lost.) The group dynamics, the in-fighting, the cliques, the friendships, rivalries, and enmities—which is, I imagine, where the Sociology Minors come in handy.

What’s more, these are complex characters, who ultimately belie the façade we readily see: Jack, the responsible doctor and reluctant leader; Kate, the self-assured, capable heroine; Sawyer, the redneck scoundrel anti-hero (Josh Holloway)—they, and the 11 other main characters of Lost, prove, sooner or later, to be far more than what they seem, which is, of course, the way it is in real life. And it’s in that divide, at some point between who we really are, and who others think we are, that we can find the best true self we can be.

This complexity of character is achieved with the solid union of script and performance found in Lost. And though the most familiar face here will probably be that of Dominic Monaghan (Merry, from Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy) as Charlie, member of the one-hit wonder Driveshaft, the other ensemble players are nonetheless extremely talented and skilled in their craft.

Reportedly, Yoon-jim Kim, who plays Sun, originally auditioned for the part of Kate, and though she wasn’t right for the role, Abrams and company were so impressed by her, that the character of Sun was written into Lost, expressly for her. (Also, the role of Charlie was originally a 40-plus year old has-been rocker, but because of the impression Monaghan left on Abrams, was re-written to better fit the young actor.)

That tangible reality of these characters’ humanities is then off-set most effectively by the weirdness of the island, the X-Files part of the equation. Clearly though, Lost is a far more ambitious undertaking than The X-Files. Whereas The X-Files was episodic in nature, with its string of mythology episodes running through it, Lost is one continuous story, Season One chronicling the first 40 days on the island. Its mysteries are connected to the island, and they steadily build, week in, week out. Ultimately, the pay-off is going to have to be huge, given the high stakes of the set-up. Lost cannot afford to fizzle the way The X-Files did towards its end, not the way it’s building itself up.

Luckily, J.J. Abrams seems to be on a roll. With the modest success of Felicity, and the monster hit of Alias under his belt, he’s gone on to help create a brilliant melding of strangeness and humanity in Lost, a show that is quickly gaining popularity and a loyal following, a show about mystery and reality, and the mercurial point where both converge, a place where we get the chance to see the best (and worst) in ourselves, as individuals, and a collective race.