The Quadrangle

Issue date: 10/20/04 Section: Arts & Entertainment

The past few years, television has been a series of mediocre ideas just repeated and rehashed ad nauseam. Lost is a new show that is a refreshing break from the norm. While it does borrow basic ideas from recent Hollywood productions, at its core the show is very unique. Lost airs Wednesday nights at 8:00 PM (Eastern) on ABC. It was perhaps inspired by the reality show Survivor or Tom Hanks' well-made film, Cast Away. The premise of the show is that a commercial airplane, forced far off course, crash lands on a tropical island in the middle of nowhere. Now approximately seventy survivors must struggle to stay alive.

The cast of characters is composed of an eclectic group of individuals, each with their own secrets and mysterious pasts. These actors are virtual unknowns. The stories of each one have been slowly revealed in flashbacks, giving us insight into what the future on the island could hold for them. There are no particularly famous faces in the bunch, though perhaps the most recognizable is Matthew Fox, who had a leading role on the show Party of Five. He plays Jack, a doctor who immediately takes charge and starts performing basic and (necessarily) primitive triage on the crash survivors. Kate, played by newcomer Evangeline Lilly, could be considered the counterpart female lead to the role Jack plays on the show.

Although less recognizable than he should be, Dominic Monaghan plays Charlie, an amiable rock star suffering from both a drug addiction and a (now) finite stash. He looks completely different from his most famous role as the hobbit Merry in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Locke (Terry O'Quinn) was just recently revealed to be a pitiable and somewhat disgruntled office worker who sought to escape from his unsatisfying life. In some ways he actually seems to be relishing his current situation. What viewers also learn is that he was actually paralyzed, but by some miracle can now walk after the crash. Also, on the island are a just reunited father and son, a pregnant woman, a non-English speaking Korean couple, and an ex-member of the Iraqi Republican Guard.

Nothing is simply told to the audience. Facts about the flight or the stranded survivors are revealed through conversation and story events, leaving all of us just as bewildered as the characters themselves. We did not actually see the crash as the initial scene of the first episode, but it is visited in flashbacks from different characters' perspectives. This is part of the show's gradual reveal technique, keeping viewers hopeful that each coming episode will place an additional piece in the whole Lost puzzle.

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