“Lost” Season 1 (2004-05, ABC), episodes 1-11 – I was hooked on “Lost” (7 p.m. Wednesdays on ABC) from the get-go. The pilot came complete with a plane crash and a monster; if it had been a summer blockbuster, it’d be topping my year-end movie list. But “Lost” is a TV series, and the key to its longevity is, as with “Veronica Mars,” back stories.
That’s no doubt why creator J.J. Abrams (“Alias,” “Felicity”) had 48 characters survive the crash on an isolated island. Each hour thickens the plot and ends with a twist that redefines what we’ve been seeing. The best tales so far have been Locke’s (Terry O’Quinn), when we learned that the master boar hunter was confined to a wheelchair pre-crash, and Claire’s (Emilie de Ravin), when it was revealed that a psychic placed the pregnant woman on the doomed flight on purpose.
Trolling the Internet for “Lost” theories is almost as fun as watching the show. Is it all in one of the characters’ heads? Are they in some sort of alien zoo? Did everyone actually die in the crash? A-
– John Hansen, “Back to the water cooler,” Brainerd Dispatch, Dec. 9, 2004