Lost: Missing Pieces

Or: How to sell “cutting-room floor" scenes effectively. The first twelve views of the life of the islanders can be divided into thirds. The first is three minutes of boredom about nothing (1 - The Watch, 7 - Artz & Crafts, 8 - Buried Secrets, 12 - The Envelope). The episodes in this “second third" are more intriguing, but need to be longer to be able to go under deeper into the situation to hand (2 - The Adventures of Hurley and Frogurt, 5 - Operation: Sleeper, 6 - Room 23, 10 - Jack, Meet Ethan. Ethan? Jack.). And the “third third" is fascinating and excellent, in fact, if nothing else ( 3 - King of the Castle, 4 - The Deal, 9 - Tropical Depression, 11 - Jin Has a Temper: Tantrum on the Golf Course). But still you aren’t missing anything if you don’t see any of those moments. The only exception is the last, thirteenth episode, So It Begins which is fairly essential for the first season and also for the entire series. (2008-03-04)

Nothing special, but Lost Pieces has certainly fulfilled its purpose, or maybe it still will. The last episode was really the most satisfying. (2008-03-03)