Season 1, Episode 1 — "Pilot, Part 1"

We begin with the now-classic, always-creepy "Lost" opening sequence in which the camera is zoomed in tight to capture the instant when a closed eye becomes an open one (it's Jack's eye, in this case), no doubt symbolic of the eye-opening experience on which we're about to embark, not only for the next hour but for years to come.

I have to admit, I was a late bloomer when it comes to my "Lost" fandom -- I picked it up sometime in the first season, when they ran a marathon on ABC Family, and I was hooked. In fact, I don't think I had seen the first episode in its entirety until this morning. Still, I was familiar enough with what happened, because so many of the scenes have been part of flashbacks over these first four seasons. So I didn't learn anything new from this excursion back to the beginning, but a few items of interest did jump out at me. Among them:

• It's interesting to see how some characters' personalities have changed during their time on the island. Most notably at this point, Sun was depicted in the initial episode as the submissive wife, speaking nary a word while Jin instructs her to stay by his side at all times. Oh, how she will change.
• I had forgotten just how bitchy Shannon was. The only consolation this time around is I know she'll be dead soon enough.
• It's wild to see Jack save Claire's life (and Aaron's, for that matter) in the opening minutes of the series, especially given what we now know about their half-sibling relationship.

Now, for the nitty-gritty. Let's recap the episode and review the key moments as they pertain to where we are now -- on the brink of the Season 4 finale -- and how we got here.

Season 1, Episode 1 rundown

• Beginning: Zoomed-in shot of an eye opening with a start, drift back to see a man lying in the middle of the jungle. The man, who we will soon learn is a doctor named Jack, wanders to the nearby beach, where all hell is breaking loose.
  
• Middle: We meet a whole bunch of people, including a nameless fat guy, a nameless redneck, a nameless bald dude, a woman named Kate, a kid named Boone, a nasty woman named Shannon, a nameless pregnant woman, a rockstar named Charlie, a nameless middle-aged black woman, a nameless Korean couple, a nameless youngish black man and his son Walt, a nameless pilot, and a nameless faceless scary monster.
• Highlights: The pilot informs Jack and Kate that he lost radio contact after six hours in the air, at which point no one could see the plane on radar, etc., and that the flight was 1,000 miles off-course by the time it hit turbulence. The Black Smoke Monster then grabs the pilot and kills him. Good times are had by all.
• End: "Guys, how does something like that happen?," Charlie says to Jack and Kate, while pointing at the ravaged, bloody body of the pilot that sits in the treetops. It goes without saying, this sets up the rest of the season/series quite nicely.