I’m guessing if you’re reading this then you’ve already seen Lost but just in case not this is written after having watched the first four seasons of Lost so there’s a possibility of spoilers for later episodes. You have been warned.
Remember how I mentioned in my first recap that I never noticed the eye open thing until JJ Abrams mentioned it? Well I was blind because it is the most obvious thing in the world.
Note: I am so sorry that this is so extremely late. For once it was not my shitty scheduling skills which delayed this but my own stupidity. This was actually written a few days after Tabula Rasa but apparently I never clicked publish. It has been living as a draft ever since and not as a fully fledged post as I had though. I’m very sorry for the delay but finally here it is. I hope it was worth the unintended wait.
So last episode did not stand up to memories but boy did this one. So good viewing but possibly less funny recapping.
The episode opens with a shot of Locke coming to after the crash. Theg chaos is raging around him but he is lying perfectly still. Then he begins wiggling his toe. His shoe is nearby and he reaches for it before sitting up. He moves very slowly, seeming disorientated and confused. Which is understandable, he was just in a plane crash.
‘Remember that time you said you’d recap Lost and then you quit after two episodes, both of whic were the pilot.’
Hey remember how fuck you?!’ Seriously though there were a whole load of reasons I stopped recapping, moving country, shitty internet connection in said country, the worst writer’s block of my life, moving back to Ireland, life in general, having the ending spoiled for me and thinking there was no real point then. However today I was reading Lindsey Williams’ kickass Classic Who recap blog and it made me want to do this again and so here I am.
Before I jump into the recap I want to talk about this episode title. Tabula Rasa means blank slate in Latin and it seems to be the most used episode title ever. I know common phrases tend to be overused in the land of TV but before Criminal Minds I had never heard this phrase (I’ve heard it a tonne of times after obviously). Is it actually commonly used and I just never heard it or are TV writers just trying to jazz up their scripts? ‘Cause y’know Latin is so modern and current (says the girl with a Latin name).
So the episode opens with Shrapnel Cop telling Jack not to trust her, she’s dangerous but Continue reading
This episode is quite boring so the recap probably will be as well, sorry.
We rejoin Jack, Charlie and Kate on their way back to camp. They all seem in reasonably okay moods for people who saw some mystery creature kill a man. Jack is trying to get the transceiver to work but with no luck. Kate asks Charlie what he was doing in the bathroom and he tells her vomiting and how he’s worthless or something. She tells him that’s not true and she’s glad he came which is totally untrue because she spent the whole time mooning over Jack and ignoring Charlie completely.
And now it’s time for flashback number three, this time it’s Charlie’s story. He’s acting super agitated and twitchy so a flight attendant asks him if she can help. He says no but he’srude about it so she goes back to tell all the other flight attendants about him.
Maybe I’m being naive but it seems a bit of a jump for the attendant to be so suspicious of Charlie. Yes he’s being fidgety and doesn’t look so good and yes he was rude but some people are afraid of flying and some of those people are assholes. After talking to the other two the flight attendant starts to go back to Charlie, he sees her and decides the best course of action is to runaway because that doesn’t look suspicious at all.
So off he goes, the hostess in hot pursuit. We get to see him push past Jack again and once again there’s no screen cap of this. He also pushes past Shannon. There is a cap of this which is unintentionally hilarious.
So Charlie makes it to the first class toilets as the hostess has to stop to tell all passengers to return to their seats when the turbulence begins. Safely locked in the bathroom Charlie is not an asshole afraid of flying but, as all TV rockstars, a drug addict. He removes the drugs from the brilliant hiding place of his shoe. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to see Charlie pulling a baggy out of his ass but his shoe?! People have gotten caught with drugs in their stomachs and he gets on the plane with it in his shoe?!
The flight attendants have reached the door now and are asking Charlie to come out. He takes a quick hit and then throws the baggy into the toilet, ready to flush. He hesitates for a second and then, too fast for anyone to screen cap it would seem, he hits the roof, literally. He leaves the bathroom, flight attendants now gone and buckles himself into a nearby seat.
We return to he island to see Shannon sunbathing because she’s currently working the spoilt rich girl angle.
Her brother, Boone (I hope that’s a nickname) tells her she should get off her ass and help them search through cases. She says he’s wasting his time, that they’re going to get rescued soon. She then has a brief chat with Clare who confides she hasn’t felt the baby move since yesterday and Shannon does not react in any way shape or form.
Sun and Jin are out near the water doing…er something. Jin is collecting what I think is some sort of sea creature but may be coral. Michael approaches and asks Sun if they’ve seen Walt. Sun says…something (we’re not given subtitles) and then is yelled at by Jin for having the top button of her cardigan undone (this is clear because she does it up). Michael realises that their relationship is all kinds of unhealthy and continues looking for Walt. He finds Walt who, while looking for Vincent, his dog, has found some handcuffs. They make it back to the island just in time to find Sawyer and Sayid fighting.
Jack and Michael break it up, Michael tells Jack his son found handcuffs and Jack, understandably deals with the more pressing issue at hand. Sawyer accused Sayid of terrorism because he barely moved during the flight, the man beside him died and he got pulled out of the line before boarding. And also he’s a racist asshole. Jack lets everyone know they found the transceiver but it’s broken and asks can anyone fix it. Sayid says he can which of course goes down well with Sawyer.
Sayid goes to fix the transceiver and Hurley joins him and says he likes him and says Sawyer is an asshole. Then he finds out Sayid is ex-army and someone not noticing Sayid’s accent is definitely not American they have an uncomfortable conversation about the gulf war where it emerges Sayid is Iraqi.
We then get a shot of Kate bathing. I totally would complain about the gratuitous amount of time she takes to tie up here hair if it weren’t for Sun stumbling into the scene; cardigan buttoned up all the way. Kate stands there, her underwear a stark contrast, while she tries to understand what Sun is attempting to communicate. She must eventually understand because she nods ans Sun smiles but I have no idea what happens. I thought Sun was asking Kate to follow her but the next scene is of Kate in clean clothes talking to Sayid.
He’s got the radio working but they don’t have any signal and broadcasting blind will probably get them no where and drain the battery so he proposes the best thing to do is climb to higher ground. A lot higher ground.
I probably should have mentioned the guy with shrapnel in his chest in my last recap.
Well I’m mentioning him now.
Since rescue looks like it might take a while Jack has decided to try remove the shrapnel. Kate. who said last episode she had sat beside him, looks less than thrilled with this news. She then tells Jack she’s going on a hike. Jack freaks the fuck out (she hasn’t even mentioned that it involves climbing a cliff yet) but eventually comes round to it. He warns her though ‘If you see or hear anything, run.’ Oh how helpful. She was planning to stand stock still and do nothing.
Jin is finished collecting…whatever it was he was collecting. Sun goes to take some but he slaps her hand away and walks off with the tray. She looks after him and then undoes the top button.
Jin comes across Hurley and offers him some of the apparently edible thing he collected. Hurley, knowing Jin can’t speak English, realises he has to make it really clear he’s being a dick and laughs in Jin’s face at the offer of eating…whatever it is.
Walt is reading a comic which seems to be about some sort of psycho polar bear. Michael notices the comic is in Spanish and asks Walt if he can read Spanish. This is the writer’s oh so subtle way of letting us know Michael doesn’t know his son all that well. The second hint is him offering to get Walt a new dog whenever they get off the island.
Meanwhile Jack tells Hurley to gather up any prescription drugs he can find in bags while Charlie is off in the jungle doing drugs he probably weren’tt prescribed. Shannon is crying because she found the dead body of some guy she was apparently mean to. Boone calls her useless so she decided to go on the hike with Kate and Sayid. She asks a high Charlie if he’s going and he says he is. We see Sawyer reading a piece of paper and looking teary and then the next scene is Kate asking him why he decided to come.
We then get a scene of them climbing a cliff. Sayid and Boon help Shannon, Sawyer helps Kate and once again no-one gives a fuck about Charlie.
No wonder he’s a heroin addict.
Back at camp Jack tells Michael he saw Vincent in the jungle and he looked fine. Michael takes off to look for Vincent which means Walt is left playing backgammon with Locke. Now in a normal show this scene might seem a bit…er…inappropriate but these are people stranded on an island and the boy, whose dog is missing and mother is dead, never saw backgammon before. So Locke playing with him doesn’t seem so odd. Then he asks ‘Do you want to know a secret?’ and all kind of alarm bells go off.
Clare is writing in her journal when Jin offers her some food. She’s wary but unlike Hurley she has some fucking manners and tries it. The baby moves and she freaks out making Jin all kinds of uncomfortable. 
Kate and co. are on flatter ground and Sayid and Sawyer are fighting over whether to turn on the transceiver or not when some sort of animal begins rushing towards them. Afraid it’s the tree breaking thing everyone runs for cover. Except Sawyer who stands still for an inordinate amount of time before pulling out a gun and shooting the thing. Like I said last time, badass.
Everyone returns and they find out the thing was a bear. A polar bear. Weird to find on an island in the southern hemisphere but not big enough to break trees or cast shadows like the ones Charlie and Kate saw in the cockpit so not the monster.
Back at camp Jack is ready to attempt removing the shrapnel. He asks Hurley to hold the guy down in case he wakes up. Hurley says he’s not good with blood and Jack goes to find someone who isn’t squeamish in the slightest. Oh wait no he just tell Hurley not to look. This choice does not come back to bite him in the ass in any way.
Back to the others now and Kate asks where Sawyer got the gun. He says he took it off the body of an air Marshall. He knows he was a Marshall because he also took his badge. Kate disarms him. Sayid, while telling Kate how to take apart the gun, says Sawyer’s happening to find a Marshall was unlikely and he is the prisoner whose handcuffs Walt found. Sawyer at first denies it but then says maybe he is to end the argument. Kate gives the bullets to Sayid and the gun back to Sawyer. He grabs her arm and tells her he knows her type, he’s been with girls like her, she says she’s not the exact same or something equally as lame and then storms off. No-one seems to think maybe they should follow her, after all the jungle contains a fucking a polar bear and something even scarier. But no worries because now we have time for flashback numero tres.
And oh luck at that, Kate’s the prisoner and the cop transporting her is the guy Jack is currently pulling the shrapnel out of.
She says she has a favour to ask him but then turbulence hits and he’s knocked out by falling suitcase She couldn’t reach her oxygen mask restrained so she stole the keys from the marshall’s pocket and undid her handcuffs. She put a mask on herself and the marshall.
Sayid comes up to Kate just as she finishes remembering. He doesn’t bother asking how she is or even saying Sawyer’s a dick but instead says the have to move on. Jack, having moved Hurley, is trying to stop the bleeding. The Marshall wakes up and instead of asking where is he, what the fuck is going and who’s the passed out fat dude? asks ‘Where is she?’ Jack, not being privy to Kate’s flashback has no clue who he means.
The hikers reach an area high enough to get signal. Sayid tries to send out a mayday but receives feedback as there is a signal transmitting from somewhere else on the island. They pick up the transmission which is in French. It is on a loop and between each iteration there is a counter which says how many times it has been played. Sayid, based on the transmissions length begins calculating how long it has been transmitting. Shannon translates the message which is a woman asking for help. She says she is alone now, it killed all the others. After this cheery bit of news Sayid lets them know that the transmission has been on a loop for sixteen years and five months.
In other words, they’re fucked.
So way back in 2004 when I was twelve (dear God I feel old) a show called Lost was launched. And it was brilliant. There were people lost (duh) on an island that had weird tree breaking monsters and whispering in the bushes and other random shit. I watched that show for four years until I realised that making it up as they went along meant the writers had as much clue of what was going to happen next as I was and that ultimately lead to disappointment and general wtf-ness. So I stopped watching. When season six turned out to be the last season I wished I had known that before I stopped because two more seasons I could have endured (I had been under the impression there were going to be a lot more). Now, for some reason I’ve forgotten I’ve decided to watch those two seasons and find out how the show ended. But first I’m also going to watch the first fours seasons as well so I’m not too confused and also so I can remember why I originally liked this show. I’ m recapping it because recapping a tv show is something I’ve always wanted to try and it’ll hopefully keep me sane when the show gets ridiculous. No-one wants to listen to someone vent years after the show is over and I’ll need some outlet. So without further ado, my recap of the first episode.
The episode begins with an opening eye, something I remember Abrams or someone saying is a common thing in the show but which I never noticed till he pointed it out.
Oh look a guy in the jungle.
And…a dog… Little did we know, back in ’04 that this was going to be least ‘What the fuck?’ thing about the show.
So anyway Jack runs through the jungle, the bamboo and all that stuff and then he comes out onto the beach.
And what follows is what I still think it one of the best opening sequences or scenes or whatever you want to call it in TV ever. We see this beautiful beach with white sand and water which is almost too blue and it’s the stereotypical island paradise. And then the noise kicks in. Plane engines and screaming, so much screaming. And Jack turns around. 
I think his face says it all really.
So then Jack is running around helping people, saving lives, y’know, just generally being a superhero doctor. While he’s saving everyone’s lives we are introduced to roughly ten characters who, having already seen the first four seasons, I know will be major players for season one and in most cases beyond. It’s done so seamlessly and without taking you out of the action. Another reason I love the beach scene.
After having saved everyone’s lives Jack wanders off into the forest, takes off his top and reveals this beauty.
We’ve grasped at this point that Jack is a doctor (actually he might have said it, I can’t remember) but the wound is too far back for him to stitch himself. Luckily Kate’s wandering through the jungle and she made her own curtains this one time so she’s perfectly qualified to sew up a human with a travel sewing kit.
We get quick flick back to the beach and a shot of all the characters introduced amid the chaos of the beach scene…and Sawyer.
He wasn’t in the initial scene ’cause he’s a badass and was probably off somewhere looking for cigarettes or gelling his hair.
Then it’s nighttime and there’s some campfire chat about people coming to rescue them and a handy outline of what exactly happened the plane courtesy of Jack and Kate. We find out that only the midsection of the plane is on the beach. Kate saw smoke coming from…um…I forget but somewhere anyway so Jack says he’ll go look tomorrow. See if they can find the plane’s transceiver and call for help. Then we get the first appearance of the aforementioned tree breaking monster.
He breaks some trees and generally scares the shit out of everyone. I remember my brother saying the main problem with Lost was it’s easy to create mystery but not as easy to solve it. He’s perfectly right. There were damn good at creating mystery.
Then we are treated to our first ever flashback. Jack’s on the plane and he flirts a bit with the hostess and gets himself some extra alcohol.
He’s so lucky this happened, you never know when your plane is going to crash and you need some vodka to disinfect the massive wound in your side before having someone who once made drapes using a sewing machine stitch it up with a travel sewing kit. So Jack finishes his drink and gets up to go to the bathroom but is pushed out the way by Charlie.
No matter though, this manages to get a conversation started with Rose (who we saw Jack revive on the beach earlier in the episode but at this point hasn’t happened yet ’cause that’s how flashbacks work). She’s afraid of flying and in true TV fashion Jack assures her it will be all okay just before all hell breaks loose.
So then we’re back to present times and they’re still on the island and it’s morning and Jack’s ready to set out to find the transceiver. Kate wants to come with so he tells her to get better shoes because as well as a doctor he’s a hiking shoe specialist apparently. So then Kate steals a dead guys shoes while Locke watches and then smiles with orange in his mouth. I think this is meant to make Locke seem like a weirdo but I think it just comes off as Locke trying to lighten the mood and Kate being uptight.
So Jack tells them where he’s going and Charlie says he wants to come so all three set off into the jungle. Charlie tells them he was in a band, Kate doesn’t believe him and Jack doesn’t give a fuck. Then it rains and everyone back at camp runs for cover while Locke sits out in the rain enjoying himself and okay this time they succeeded in making him seem a bit weird. Charlie asks if it’s normal for it to get so dark all at once and start pouring and Kate and Jack ignore him because duh of course it is Charlie, it’s TV and rain makes it so much more dramatic.
So they find the front section of the plane and it’s at an angle which means they have to climb it so there’s plenty of opportunities for Jack to check on Kate and for Charlie to just be completely ignored. It’s obviously meant to show that there’s a budding romance between them but personally I think it just makes them both come off as assholes.
So they make it to the cockpit and holy shit the guy who will later be known as the cop from Heroes is the pilot.
Also he’s alive.
So he tells them that they’re 1000 miles off course which means no-one will find them unless they contact them with the transceiver which it it turns got broken during the crash. You think they’d make them extra sturdy since something like a crash would be when you actually need one.
So then Jack remembers that it wasn’t just him and Kate who came out here and sends Kate to look for Charlie who was in the bathroom. She asks him what he was doing in the bathroom of the wreck of a fucking plane to which he intelligently answers ‘What?’ But it’s okay ’cause the tree breaking monster resurfaces and it’s right outside the plane. So they all huddle in the cockpit hardly daring to breathe hoping it’ll pass by. But of course it fucking won’t ’cause this is TV and instead it drags the pilot out of windshield and sprays his blood all over the place.
So they get out of the plane (which handily fell when the monster attacked meaning that they could make a speedy get away) and Charlie falls and his foot gets stuck in te world strongest roots. Kate and Jack run on like the assholes they are till Charlie cries out and Jack goes back to help. Kate keeps running though because she seriously does not give a fuck about Charlie.
So then she gets to an area with some bamboo that nicely frames her face and calls out for Jack. When she gets no response she chokes out something which I honest to God could not make out despite listening twice. 
Then she sees something and she jumps on it but it’s only Charlie. She screams at him asking where Jack is and generally acts like it’s all Charlie’s fault they got split up even though five seconds ago she chose to run ahead on her own while Jack saved Charlie.
So then they walk on and it stops raining which is really handy ’cause now when Kate finds a badge from the pilot’s shirt something in the tree above is reflected in the puddle causing her and Charlie to look up.
Charlie asks what’s that which is fucking ridiculous ’cause we’ve only seen a reflection so far and it’s pretty clear to us what it is but it gives Jack and chance to come out from the trees behind them and announce it’s the pilot’s body as if he comes across the horrificly disfigured remains of pilots which were killed by some sort of gigantic monster everyday. Him and Kate proceed to look at each other starry-eyed while Charlie acts like a normal person and asks how the hell something like that happens.
And so ends the episode one…or the first part of the pilot, whatever you want to call it.
Originally it was meant to end with Charlie and Kate coming across the blood covered body in the tree but instead of Jack coming out of the trees behind them all smooth he was the body in the tree. Am I a bad person for wishing they had actually gone with that? I mean, I have nothing against Jack, he’s a great character but damn that would have been kick ass. Still if I’m going to wish the show had done other things I should probably wish it didn’t turn into a steaming pile of shit. Oh well. Installment two coming soon.
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