It’s overwritten, far too long for a typical one-hour pilot, the writing itself is dense, the whole thing reads like a novel. . . and yet, it’s absolutely gripping.
The pilot for Lost at first seems to defy everything you learned in TV Writing 101, but at the same time, gives the reader a clear expectation of where the show is going, who the major players will be, why this would not be the typical disaster story, and such a unique sense of tone and atmosphere, it’s no wonder Lost ended up becoming one of the greatest–if not the greatest–one-hour dramas of all time. All bookended by the first of many (many) cliffhangers, and a line that would sufficiently sum up the series as a whole: “Guys–where are we?”