Romain, 24 – Paris (France) :
A man wakes in a bamboo grove. A dogs comes by, then runs away. The man starts running and winds up on a beach where lies, in the middle of chaos, a wrecked plane. It only takes a few seconds for the man to start rescuing people around him. How did they survive? Why is the hero not on the beach like everyone else? I came to the conclusion that God has always been there, ever since the first episode. And in a few seconds, Lost became my passion.
Laurent, 35 – Paris (France) :
Desmond stands still in Penny’s bedroom. He prepares for his meeting with Charles Widmore, but stares at his radio-clock which displays the same number as the Swan countdown : 1:08. In the background, the microwave alarm has the same beeping sound as the alarm hatch. Instantly, everything becomes possible, a breach opens up, and Desmond becomes my all-time favorite LOST character – the one who undergoes everything with no explanation ever given to him. And for me, something I have encountered more or less violently since my childhood is brillantly displayed : that strange feeling of déjà vu, déjà entendu.
JB, 28 – Paris (France) :
This is one of the flashback scenes in Cabin Fever, the season 4, perfectly titled episode about Locke’s connexion with the Island at crucial moments of his life. Locke is a nerdy teenager, the butt of the joke of his whole high school. His science teacher finds him trapped in a… locker. He brings him in his office and proceeds to tell him about the summer camp of a Portland-based company called Mittelos Laboratories. Locke is less than thrilled. “I like boxing and fishing and cars. I like sports!“, he says. His teacher turns pale, marks a pause, and goes on with a 15-second speech that, to me, became one of the most powerful lines in Lost, ever : “I’m gonna tell you something – something I wish someone had told me at your age : you might not want to be that guy in the labs surrounded by test tubes and beakers… but that’s who you are, John. You can’t be the prom king. You can’t be the quarterback. You can’t be… a superhero.”
I don’t know the name of the actor who portrayed this teacher, but I can’t think of any other actor in Lost who has used such a short screen time so intensely. Plus the line completely captures one the key notion of Lost : being able to “let go” and accepting who you are. A monologue so great it almost eclipses the iconic Locke signature phrase that comes as a sharp reply from Young John : “Don’t tell me what I can’t do“.