Dice Made of Bones (LOST)
I decided to re-watch the original pilot of LOST now that the series has finally come to an end.
I love how clearly the entire backstory is covered, in the first episode, while Locke tells Walt about backgammon:
Locke: Backgammon is the oldest game in the world. Archaeologists found sets when they excavated the ruins of ancient Mesopotamia. Five thousand years old. That’s older than Jesus Christ.
Walt: Did they have dice and stuff?
Locke: [nods] But their dice weren’t made of plastic. Their dice were made of bones.
Walt: Cool.
Locke: Two players. Two sides. One is light. One is dark.
A game going back over 5,000 years with two players, one light and one dark, playing a game with the death and bones of mortals governing the outcome instead of plastic dice.
What I love about this show is how much the producers knew they wanted to have in it, and how masterfully they let the story unfold over its lifespan. I don’t know if there’s ever been any successful show that was this challenging, on this scale, on network television before.
