"Lost" Orientation (2005)

User Rating:

8.9/10   

Director:

Jack Bender

Writers:

Jeffrey Lieber (creator) and
J.J. Abrams (creator) ...

TV Series:

"Lost" (2004)

Original Air Date:

5 October 2005 (Season 2, Episode 3)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | Fantasy | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

Plot:

Jack, Locke and Kate learn more secrets about the hatch. Meanwhile, after being beaten and taken captive, Sawyer, Michael and Jin wonder if their captors are fellow survivors or the dreaded "Others."

Plot Keywords:

Plane Crash | Flashback | Survival | South Pacific | Doctor

Cast

Naveen Andrews	...	Sayid Jarrah
Emilie de Ravin	...	Claire Littleton (credit only)
Matthew Fox	...	Jack Shephard
Jorge Garcia	...	Hugo 'Hurley' Reyes
Maggie Grace	...	Shannon Rutherford (credit only)
Josh Holloway	...	James 'Sawyer' Ford
Daniel Dae Kim	...	Jin Kwon
Yunjin Kim	...	Sun Kwon (credit only)
Evangeline Lilly	...	Kate Austen
Dominic Monaghan	...	Charlie Pace (credit only)
Terry O'Quinn	...	John Locke
Harold Perrineau	...	Michael Dawson
Michelle Rodriguez	...	Ana-Lucia Cortez
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje	...	Mr. Eko
Kevin Tighe	...	Anthony Cooper

Runtime:

43 min

Language:

English

Certification:

UK:15 | Portugal:M/12 | USA:TV-14 | Venezuela:PG-13 (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

O'ahu, Hawaii, USA

Company:

Bad Robot

Trivia:

The sum of 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42 is 108: the number of minutes on the timer in the hatch. 108 times 5 is 540, the number of days Dr. Candle indicates in the orientation film that a team will live in the Swan station.

Quotes:

John Locke: [screaming] What am I supposed to do?

Movie Connections:

References Star Wars (1977)

DHARMAmania!

Ah, "Orientation". One of my favorite episodes, the sort of thing that was missing from the first season in the sense that it gives us both some key character moments and dwells on the recurring theme of faith but still packs a wallop in the mythology department, giving fans much to buzz about (season one was great in different ways, but I can surely be forgiven for being more interested in DHARMA than the raft launch).

A lot of people hate the button, the hatch, and the general storyline there, but I have always had a soft spot for it. Perhaps it's just the brilliant design of the hatch and the iconic images it provided. To me it felt at the time that we were really getting into the meat of the show, and we certainly were. Regardless, this particular episode is very well-written, revisiting the 'man of science, man of faith' angle and introducing the DHARMA initiative. "Orientation" provides the first DHARMA orientation film, the first glimpse of the tailies, further insight into Locke's relationship with Helen, a quality examination of Locke's character and his motivations, and the iconic "Why do you find it so hard to believe?" question posed by Locke, and Jack's answer: "Why do you find it so easy?".

What more could anyone possibly want out of an episode? An exciting, thrilling, brilliantly-acted, superbly-directed, and well-written episode which is, to me at least, the real introduction to the show's overall mythology.

10/10