Lost (TV Series) Pilot: Part 2 (2004) User Reviews

"Walt, do you want to know a secret?"-John Locke

[TVGuy3 · 10/10 · 30 July 2010]

The secret is that LOST is only getting better! An excellent episode with lots of drama, action and an amazing ending.

The summary of this episode is that Sayid, Charlie, Kate and Shannon (I think that's everyone) go on a hike to get the transceiver better reception so they can be rescued. The plot twist in the last 10 minutes is something that I don't think anyone saw coming. It's just so well-executed that you think you're actually lost with these people.

The standout performance is probably Naveen Andrews who plays Sayid, this is the first episode he's heavily involved in and sometimes you even forget it's a performance. This episode has no laggy parts, it's full of action and a seriously awesome score. It definitely keeps your attention the whole way through and the episode only gets better as you keep watching it.

10/10

This series deserves to be somewhere between sopranos and breaking bad

[matiasbockerman · 10/10 · 19 November 2018]

So Many storylines and showrunners keep it together. Most actors were unknow before this, but still the actors do very professional work. This is suspenful, exciting and very well directed writted and acted. Therefore I think whole series rating to 8.4 is too low.

"Guys, where are we?"

[MaxBorg89 · 10/10 · 14 December 2008]

The first part of Lost's pilot was intriguing, suspenseful and exciting. The second part is just the same, only it adds more mystery, setting events in motion for episodes (and seasons) to come.

After witnessing the brutal death of Oceanic Flight 815's pilot (Abrams regular Greg Grunberg), Jack, Kate and Charlie return to the camp with the plane's transceiver. Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) fixes the device and decides to find a spot on the island whee he can pick up a radio signal. He's joined by Kate, Charlie, the unreliable Sawyer (Josh Holloway) and siblings Boone Carlyle (Ian Somerhalder) and Shannon Rutherford (Maggie Grace). Meanwhile, Jack makes sure everyone else on the beach is fine, most notably the highly pregnant Claire (Emilie de Ravin), and a weird bond takes shape between Walt Dawson (Malcolm David Kelley), a young boy who's on the island with his father Michael (Harold Perrineau), and John Locke (Terry O' Quinn), a man who has "dark secrets" written all over him.

Abrams and Lindelof move the story forward with no rush, devoting approximately the same amount of time to each character. As such, we get juicy revelations about some (a flashback reveals that Charlie has a heroin addiction) and clues concerning the real nature of others (a person named after a famous philosopher? Hmmm...). It will take a very long time before everything adds up, but like in The X-Files, only five minutes are necessary to realize it will be worth every single second of it.

Oh, and as far as cliffhangers go, Lost is on par with 24: "Guys, where are we?"

The Greatest Pilot Ever Made

[foleyjd · 10/10 · 25 November 2015]

On occasion we TV fans might find ourselves in a discussion about what is the greatest TV pilot ever. Someone might pose The Shield as an excellent answer, another might disagree and argue Breaking Bad or Six Feet Under's case, another might say it is certainly The Sopranos but then another will say Lost and everyone will agree with them.

Lost's two parter pilot is the quickest eighty minutes of TV you could ever hope to see. It is one of the finest achievements in the history of television (I might use this phrase at various points when describing some of Lost's greatest hours) and I think that when people talk about the magic of season one of Lost they are in fact talking about the magic of the pilot.

We open in the eye of Jack Shepard, just waking up after blacking out from a plane crash. Straight away it is an incredibly provocative opening as Jack stands up in the middle of the jungle in a suit and with a Labrador running about the place. Jack then runs out on to the beach and all of a sudden we descend into chaos.

There are people screaming, there are massive bits of plane about to fall over. It is just a crazy good opening set piece, as we follow Jack round as he attempts to save everyone. It is impossible not to be fully engrossed in Lost at this stage, even I in the knowledge that I'd be reviewing this episode was right there in the moment.

So let's take a step back and look at Lost as a whole. I'm a big defender of Lost and really love the show, through good and bad. It is certainly flawed, but the vast majority of these flaws I can excuse in the name of ambition.

Probably the most striking thing when coming back to the Lost pilot is just how different a show it and the first are to the later years. This is quite normal, with each season a TV show tends to get that bit removed from its initial premise but with Lost it is pretty extreme.

The premiere is certainly not lacking for mythology but at this point Lost, among other things, is very much a survival show. It is very much rooted in problems that would occur if such an event where to happen (monsters and polar bears aside.) Now I will defend and even love the show it became, but there is an undoubted charm to these earliest days and while I don't mean this as a criticism the later seasons don't really have that.

So what keeps Lost from being some weird quasi anthology series? Its the characters. The mysteries will go in and out of focus but the commitment to Lost as a character study piece would never change. From the first moment to the last Lost was always about its characters above all else. For first time viewers this will maybe become a little more apparent over the next few episodes but it is totally and utterly ingrained into Lost as a show, that week to week it functions as a character study.

The pilot can only give us very brief snippets of the survivors, we see Sawyer looking at a letter, we find out that Kate is a convict and we find out that Locke has a secret. At the same time really the Pilot does as much groundwork on the characters as it does on the mysteries like the Monster and the French message, allowing for the next few episodes to delve deeper into these individuals.

The first half predominantly focuses on Jack, delivering a hero you can route for in this age of the antihero. The second half gives you little bits of Kate and Charlie too, its tough to say that these characters are anything like as fleshed out as they would become, even in the near future, but the show-runners certainly have a good sense of all of the fifteen survivors that the show would be predominantly concerned with.

I mean the introduction to Jin is overly harsh and without giving too much away the Lost does somewhat struggle to reconcile the Jin we are given here with the Jin who is in the majority of the show, but otherwise it is pretty difficult to say anyone does anything out of character in this episode and that is pretty strange and amazing when considering it's a pilot.

Even amongst all the chaos, Lost takes out time for some little character moments, which was probably the thing Lost was best at. Even though we don't know her name yet, when Claire's baby starts kicking and she begins talking to it you develop and instant affinity with this person.

I must also mention those final moments, that simple question delivered by Charlie "Guys where are we?" Would certainly rank as one of the most compelling and engaging questions ever posed on a TV show.

As we go along I'll get into more detail about various themes as well, but for now it is also just worth noting how efficiently this opening hour introduces us to concepts like Good vs Evil and love etc, that would really drive the show alongside these characters.

All in all no matter what you thought of the ending the beginning of Lost is unquestionably brilliant.

(For more reviews go to donheisenberg.tumblr.com)

"Guys... Where are we?"

[ametaphysicalshark · 9 June 2008]

Although I'm not among those who consider "Pilot, Part 1" to be a superior episode of "Lost", despite it being excellent, I am a big fan of the second half of the pilot, with its brilliantly multi-layered writing for the on-island events as well as the Kate and Charlie flashbacks. The subtle introduction of further character traits works excellently here- particularly for Hurley, Sayid, and Charlie.

The superlative music from Michael Giacchino helps accentuate this remarkably emotional episode of "Lost", along with J.J. Abrams' excellent direction. The performances here are absolutely superb with Harold Perrineau's Michael Dawson and Terry O'Quinn's John Locke immediately standing out in the fine ensemble cast. The relatively poorly-developed characters of Boone and Shannon are minor annoyances in an otherwise fine episode, and I grew to like both of them eventually.

I've always loved the atmosphere created in "Pilot, Part 2". "Pilot, Part 1" was about the shock of landing on this mysterious island and meeting the monster for the first time. "Pilot, Part 2" introduces the sense of wonder and anticipation that plays into later seasons of "Lost" a lot as we uncover more of the island's mysteries. In this episode it is a simple message on a loop for 16 years. Yes, 16 years. That scene is followed by the line that to this day completely defines "Lost", when Charlie says "Guys... Where are we?". It's a brilliant line, so well-placed that if you weren't hooked by "Pilot, Part 1" you definitely would be now.

The best scene of the entire two parts of the pilot is the backgammon scene between Walt and Locke, which plays brilliantly on the 'black vs. white' theme with the backgammon pieces, and introduces key character traits for both of these characters.

"Pilot, Part 2" is the episode that hooked me on "Lost". It's a masterstroke of writing and production skill. Simply phenomenal.

10/10

The One With The Polar Bear...

[taylorkingston · 8/10 · 26 June 2015]

I really enjoy this episode. It's a great followup to Part 1, and it really continues to gain your interest.

In this episode, Jack, Kate and Charlie return to the group with the broken transceiver, where Sayid believes he can fix it. He says they need to find higher ground, so he, Kate, Charlie, Shannon and her brother, Boone, and Sawyer, all head up to try and find a signal. Whilst on the way, they are almost attacked and Sawyer saves everyone by shooting the bear with a gun he found. But the strange thing is, it wasn't just a bear, it was a polar bear. That night, after finally finding higher ground, they are able to get a signal, where they hear a French woman's message, saying they're all dead. It is discovered that the message has been playing over and over for sixteen years. Meanwhile, Jack and Hurley struggle to save the Marshall's life.

Best part of the episode: Tie between the polar bear attack and the group discovering the message.

Overall, I give this episode an 8 out of 10, which in my ratings book is: Awesome.

great pilots part 2: plane and transmission

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 24 May 2009]

This continues JJ Abrams' triumphant directorial job. We see here much more mystery open up, on all fronts: what happened to the pilot? What the hell is that monster? What's with the polar bear? Who is that French lady saying there's great danger and everyone's dead and that it's been going on for 16 years? What is this place? If this pilot didn't go on for the rest of the series, which is a moot point perhaps but one to raise, it would be such an insane, confounding but endlessly wonderful piece of fantasy-fiction that it would keep everyone wondering. The point in a lot of science fiction is to raise questions, and not always answer then definitely or even at all, and Lost does this on top of doing something that is great in fantasy and mystery lore which is opening up the space of genre to develop characters in a kind of satirical or 'statement' setting. Lost is never too blunt with the preachiness, but it does have its moments where one recognizes "yeah, this is a melting pot", and Abrams, Lindelof and team milk all of the potential elements of mystery, of social statements, and makes it all unique.

This is a great pilot. Check it out if you haven't, or check it out again if you're a 5th season die-hard burn-out on the show who is so wrapped up in the current conundrums that you may have forgotten how it started in the first place. Polar bear, monster screams, freaky radio transmissions, rinse, repeat. At the least, you'll get "You All Everybody" in your head for days on end.

Two near perfect pilot episodes

[TheFirst01 · 10/10 · 9 November 2019]

The score by Michael Giacchino is particularly amazing, all while upping the ante in drama, action, intrigue, entertainment from the first part of the pilot.

The second part of the series premiere

[WhenUPlayTheGameOfThrones · 10/10 · 4 December 2007]

This is really the episode where finally things kick off. The only "important" thing that happens in the episode before is when they hear the monster in the forest. This episode starts to pile questions on you, starts Kate's story, the French Woman's significance, Charlie's story, and finally the polar bears.

This episode revolves around Kate, Charlie, Shannon, Boone, Sayid, and Sawyer's trip to get the transceiver working. Jack, Kate, and Charlie head back to the beach and we discover that Charlie was retrieving drugs he lost in the toilet during the flight when he was in the bathroom in the previous episode. Walt finds handcuffs on the beach and shows Micheal. This leads Sawyer to believe that Sayid is an Iraqi terrorist. Sayid fixes the transceiver but it doesn't have much battery life. During this, it is revealed that Sayid was a communications officer with the Iraqi republican guard in the Gulf War. Sawyer decides to join the group that is going to try to retrieve a better signal by reaching higher ground on the island. Along the way, they are attacked by a polar bear which Sawyer shoots and kills and later explains that he got the gun off of a dead U.S. marshal. Kate takes the gun from Sawyer and it is revealed in a flashback that she was the marshal's prisoner.

Back at the beach, the marshal wakes up and is looking for Kate. Inland, the group reaches the top of a mountain and listens to a French transmission on the transceiver that's blocking access to them communicating to the outside. Shannon translates it: "I'm alone now, on the island alone. Please someone come. The others are dead. It killed them. It killed them all." The group gives each other meaningful looks before Charlie says "Guys, where are we?".

I absolutely love this episode. It was probably the episode that really got me interested. Granted, you have to wait for the French transmission to be explained for another nine episodes. The flashbacks in the first episode never really reveal anything too important or startling but when you see them with this episode, it all becomes clear. I love the little things this episode does to foreshadow episodes to come (Sawyer reading the letter). I love the realism of everyone blaming and suspecting the most obvious people to be the prisoner that was on the plane, its so realistic. The irony is also well done when Kate finally gets the gun. It's when of those "ARGH!" moments.

But on the downside, I hate how everyone seems to know and like Charlie's band. Granted, there is a deleted scene where Shannon says she hated them. But that really should have been shown in the episode. Also, Shannon could have totally translated the signal wrong, they just sort of believe everything she said. And I'll repeat again, the characters seem very calm after a plane crash.

My favorite part of the episode: Watching the plane crash from Kate's point of view. She was the only one that stayed awake through most of it.

"One is Black, One is White"; Multi-Layered Goodness

[Im_A_Complex_Guy · 9/10 · 9 June 2009]

If the "Pilot: Part 1" was an exercise in setting the atmosphere of suspense that "Lost" has long became known for, then the second installation is purely for the atmosphere of character and narrative. Greater then its predecessor, it mixes multi-layered storytelling with the correct blend of depth and shock. But more so then all of this, and perhaps the major point of notice, is how this episode elaborates on characters whom we have already seen at a glance. For example, Charlie and his drug addiction adds a certain amount of dramatic tug at a otherwise "comic relief" character. Kate's story builds up tension as to what her crime was, a sub-plot that acts as the main point of intrigue for a few episodes. And finally, we see some nice interaction. As if we have all these pairings of people and watch as they interact and dispute.

The above, however, is only one layer, one out of a couple. For this is the point where mystery is first introduced, not mystery about the characters, but the Island itself, who begins to look like it should be listed as a cast member. There is the ever present question of "where are we?", the notion that polar bears live on it, and that a French woman has a transmission repeating itself on a loop, as it had been for 16 years. That is a lot for 40 minutes to cover! But it never feels rushed or crammed, because that is the benefit of having forty some people survive the crash, it allows a lot of room for spreading and, in the future, lets new people get dragged in or killed off as needed.

Personally, for me, the most interesting part was this character Locke, and the backgammon game with Walt. This is a nice set up for future themes, and also makes me want to know more about the already mysterious Locke, who, at this point, seems to enjoy being on the Island.

It is also nice to see here that flashbacks will follow through the show and act as almost 1/3 the episode. The structure is great and gives us many brilliant moments, such as the crash from Kate's view, as well as the interesting "favor", we do not yet know of. We do find out that Kate is the fugitive though, so it appears that the cop and her have history, and this makes it really motivating to continue until we find out what exactly that is, since, while I can not say this now, as of this episode, I would say Kate is probably the most universally fascinating character yet.

Overall, greater then the first part, and less a spectacle of effects, but much more into character and mystery. It really is the first arrow that points in the right direction for where "Lost" is heading.

Best Scene- Backgammon game between Locke and Walt.

Best Performance- Evangeline Lilly

More pilot brilliance

[TheLittleSongbird · 10/10 · 24 November 2017]

When 'Lost' was in its prime, it was must-watch television. Remember first watching it, found it remarkably easy to get into, was hooked from the start and was on Season 3 by the end of one week. The general consensus is that the final season is a disappointment and cannot disagree.

There is the agreement that as far as pilot episodes go, that for 'Lost' is among the best of them. It couldn't be a more perfect beginning to a wonderful show and six seasons on it's still among the best episodes. The second part of the pilot is richer in characterisation and the character development than the first part, Charlie and Kate here are especially interesting (very nice twist on Kate), and establishes the featured characters very well, making them easy to root for and feeling every inch of their emotions rather than getting frustrated at them.

"Pilot Part 2" is excellently photographed, made with a lot of atmosphere and slickness and with no cheapness at all, while the setting is both beautiful and mysterious.

Even for so early on, the writing is smart and taut as well as provoking a lot of thought. The story is absorbing, with a lot of emotion, mystery and suspense, not with the same edge-of-your-seat tension of the first part but it has a tension in its own way. The ending will give chills up the spine and make one anxious to continue.

Acting throughout and across the board is very good indeed, Dominic Monaghan, Josh Holloway and Evangeline Lilly has the meatiest material and in particular stand out as a result.

In short, like what was said for the first part pilot episodes don't get much better than this. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Intriguing secrets, cult scenes, fascinating character connections and funny scenes

[igoatabase · 9/10 · 2 August 2009]

When part one was mostly about introducing Jack and all the characters revolving around him, part two focused more on Kate and Charlie. Secrets were revealed in the past episode and some of them are partially solved. Indeed a puzzle is not only made up by one piece. Moreover it seems other characters also have secrets. So when part one was scary at times the second uses more mystery elements. But fantasy ones are also covered and a scene in the jungle should really surprise you. In fact it's probably in most fans top 5 list. Let's also not forget the cult and ambivalent scene with John Locke and Walt. About Charlie his story is interesting and some people should be able to relate to him but I think the actor did a poor job. Kate has a complete different story even if they obviously have things in common. We learn more about her crash experience and her relationship with an other character. I specially enjoyed that she wasn't just all black or white. Moreover when the beach scene could have been cheesy the writers had the great idea of using Sun. Her tense and complex relationship with her husband Jin brings so much to the show. Sawyer and Sayid also have a few scenes. We soon understand that they're all connected. For example when two of them decide to go on a little adventure others soon follow. It was specially interesting to see Shannon reacting to Boon's comment, her brother. Last but not least the episode was also surprisingly funny and some scenes should make you laugh out loud.

Receiving a Transmission

[claudio_carvalho · 8/10 · 2 April 2006]

Jack, Kate and Charlie return to the group, but the transceiver is broken. Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) fixes the apparatus and organizes an expedition with Kate, Charlie, Shannon Rutherford (Maggie Grace) and her brother Boone Carlyle (Ian Somerhalder) and the dangerous James "Sawyer" Ford (Josh Holloway) to hike and climb a mountain to transmit a SOS. The group receives a sixteen years old distress call from a French woman in the island instead and kills a polar bear. They return to the survivor's base and decide to hide the information to preserve the hope of the group.

The conclusion of the pilot episode of "Lost" is great, with a better explanation of some characters, promising a good series. I personally am attracted by the intriguing character of Kate, and the leadership of Jack. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Pilot Part 2"

Note: On 18 March 2013, I saw this episode again.

Nothing gained

[ctomvelu-1 · 8/10 · 14 September 2008]

The second half of the pilot reveals that the transceiver is damaged. Once it is repaired, several survivors decide to get it to higher ground. The rest of this episode plays out somewhat like the first episode. The group tromps through the woods and not surprisingly runs afoul of an island monster. When they are finally able to use the transceiver, they are in for a very large shock. As the episode ends, we know a bit more about some of the characters and realize not everyone is who he or she appears to be. The episode holds onto its edge, although it is pretty clear the show is headed into Twilight Zone territory in future. Wait until you see what the monster turns out to be, for instance.

Pilot: Part 2 (#1.2)

[itsactuallyase · 10/10 · 27 January 2022]

Continuing right where Part 1 ends off, Jack, Kate and Charlie return to the group of survivors with a broken transceiver. Sayid Jarrah begins an expedition to transmit a SOS bringing along Kate, Charlie, Shannon Rutherford and her brother Boone Carlyle and the dangerous James "Sawyer" Ford. The group receives a sixteen years old distress call from a French woman which Shannon was able to translate into something about "Everyone being dead." They also end up finding a polar bear on the island which is odd. The group later returns to the other survivors and choose to hide the information from everyone else to protect them.

Although, I enjoyed the first part more, the second part was still very good. It gave us more character development to more of the survivors and the part about the French Woman's distress call was very tense. Very good episode.

Full throttle

[Analog_Devotee · 9/10 · 5 January 2021]

Part 2 of this legendary pilot keeps the breakneck pace of part 1 flowing while also heightening the intensity between characters.

A suspenseful episode that successfully continues the mythology story while giving us first insight into characters' complexity

[TheAmunRa · 10/10 · 10 March 2020]

(This review was written after already watching and rewatching the entire TV show)

After intense and plot-driven premiere episode, "Pilot part 2" takes the story to the next level, elevating tension between the characters and giving us first insight into their shady pasts. The characters' complex personalities and their past actions would eventually become a major (if not "the" major) theme for the show's evolving story.

On second day of the crash, characters' "masks" start to fall and the tension eventually elevates in the camp when bits of their pasts start to get revealed. The episode very quickly shakes things up by showing us audience in form of flashbacks that Charlie, the cheerful rock star from previous episode, is actually a drug addict, who ventured to the cockpit with sole intention to retrieve his stash of heroin. But while Charlie's revelation is known only to us audience, a pair of handcuffs discovered near the crash site at the beginning of this episode brought a lot of tension and distrust among the survivors themselves.

The two characters finding themselves in most unwanted spotlight regarding the handcuffs were an Iraqi former soldier Sayid (Naveen Andrews) and a guy named Sawyer (Josh Holloway), with suspicion raising in both cases likely because of national stereotypes in first case, and aggressive "redneck" behavior in second case, even more after they discovered a gun in his possession. The survivors' speculation turned out to be far from truth though as through another flashback, the person in handcuffs is revealed to be Kate and federal marshall escorting her being the heavily wounded man that Jack has been actively treating in this episode. Kate's fugitive status is not yet known to any character at the end of this episode but the revelation raises several questions and potential future plot points for her.

In the midst of all character revelations and tension, this episode manages to successfully capture the mystery element as well, revealing a presence of a polar bear on the island and more importantly a chilling French distress message originating somewhere from the Island that has been playing in a loop for over 16 years. If previous episode didn't make it clear enough that they won't be getting off-island anytime soon and that they're stranded in a very mysterious place, then this chapter definitely did. Charlie's closing line "Guys, where are we?" pretty much summarizes the question the audience must have been wondering about as a very chilling and mysterious story is about to unveil.

In my opinion, "Pilot part 2" is just as important and quality episode as its predecessor and marks the beginning of a crucial LOST theme, which is the characters themselves. We see first glimpses of their darker sides and how the protagonists may not be as "good" as we may have believed at first. Apart from that, the episode introduces more island mysteries that the audience would keep wondering and speculating about and expanding the show's mythology.

All in all, "Pilot part 2" is another very gripping piece of LOST which expands the show into new directions, provides insight into show's major themes and keeps the hype going for future episodes with its mystery elements. On my list, "Pilot part 2" gets 10/10 just like its predecessor, being my 16th favorite LOST episode overall.

I can't believe how good this show actually is

[kiiwwi · 24 June 2021]

The first time I watched lost I was about 8 and didn't understand most of the things that were happening and watching it again now is giving me so much deja vu and whole watching experience is 10 times more creepy... and I'm loving it.

The concluding part to the best opening ever...

[jacobpowers2003 · 8 October 2006]

Slight spoilers...

After the mysterious opening of 'Pilot - Part 1', I was eager to see if the second part would offer up as much promise as I hoped it would - it offered up much more than my expectations! I realised that the flashbacks were now a main part of the show, offering insights to each characters view - (we see the plane crashing through different characters eyes, and find out interesting factors of each character) - and I like the way each character links to somebody else. The acting was superb, with Matthew Fox emerging as the hero - Jack Shephard, whilst Kate Austen (the gorgeous Evangeline Lilly)is the obvious leading lady. Other actors providing brilliant support is Dominc Monaghan (the likable Charlie Pace), Josh Holloway (the tough guy, Sawyer), Ian Somerhalder (the bossy brother, Boone), and Maggie Grace (his bratty sister), not to mention Naveen Andrews (Sayid), or Jorge Garcia (Hurley). 'LOST' is a character-driven show, so without them, it would be nothing - but luckily, each actor provides each character with a level of mystery; they've all got secrets to hide, as the David LaChappelle directed promotional trailer pointed out. Also, 'LOST' throws up more twists and turns than a windy street - ending the episode on a truly disturbing climax, which is made to leave you pining for the next episode...

The tropical polar bear

[gedikreverdi · 8 November 2021]

The blond guy shot dead a polar bear when they're climbing up the mountain to receive signal. Kate is the prisoner! The man jack is trying to save is the guy with her and he regained his consciousness. They heard a transmission that's played over for over 16 years and the woman was all alone on the island and she said the others were all killed.