Questions Lost Refuses to Answer
By Dan Birlew | Posted April 6, 2010 in Television | 5 Comments »
Kate can't believe it either... we're not getting all the answers.
With only eight hours left in the final season of Lost, it may be time to start giving up hope of ever getting some answers to the questions raised by events in the show. And as you’ll see in this article, Lost raises a lot of questions. I begin to believe that what we’ll be left with in regard to some of these mysteries is a bunch of vague clues that will allow us to come to our own conclusions on these topics. Many of the clues regarding the show’s major mysteries are presented here as food for discussion.
Use the links at the bottom of each page to click through this gallery.
1. What is the Island?
That’s been the number one question all along, hasn’t it? But after Jacob’s wine bottle metaphor depicted in this season’s episode “Ab Aeterno,” I begin to seriously doubt we’re going to get a direct answer to this question. His metaphor may serve as the only “answer” we get. But repeated references to large electromagnetic pockets below the Island’s surface would seem to indicate how the Island can throw off navigation, heal non-lethal wounds, and make John Locke walk again. And if you’re so inclined to such large stretches of science, then you might be able to believe that the electromagnetic pockets also allow the Island to “move” from one location to another, such as the Canary Islands, Guam, and quite possibly the arctic. You can also believe that whomever turns the frozen donkey wheel gets transported to the exact same spot in the Tunisian desert. But what force, then, keeps that person from returning to the Island? You might also use the Island’s electromagnetism to explain how certain people can automatically time-travel and interact with people in history who… don’t time travel themselves. Yes, it all makes sense through the magic of electromagnetism. And that may encompass all the explanation the show will ever give us.
The source of the Island's powers remains one of the open questions on LOST.
Nice round-up, Dan…
My answers to some, but not all, and some are clearly tongue-in-cheek:
The island is the mothership that brought MIB and Jacob to earth. The EMF pockets are the remains of their propulsion system. The ship has been reclaimed by secondary succession, which happens incredibly rapidly in tropical climates. The rocky stuff? That’s because when it was jumping around on the surface of the earth, it got mixed up in some volcanic activity.
No pregnancies has something to do with needing anchors in the real world, as Faraday explained to Desmond. Even if someone isn’t actively time traveling, the experiment with the rocket that you cite indicates that the island exists out of time/space somehow (also why people have to be sedated to travel there by sub). I figure that the island isn’t really a place like a normal place. Life can’t begin in a nowhere place. You have to have had existed beyond the island before you got to the island, which explains how pre-conceived children (ha ha ha) can make it, but children conceived of on-island ugly-bumping won’t make it. They can’t start nowhere.
I think the horse was MIB, and its the reason Kate’s no longer a candidate. She lost her place on the wall because she was easily seduced by the horse (not that way), remembering it as a savior of sorts, instead of being instantly suspicious. Of course, this doesn’t explain why MIB now tried to get her to touch him, as she voluntarily touched the horse back when they first met.
I forgot about the food drops, and I like you’re explanation about Eloise and the time/space charting. I think Hanso Corp is really behind it all, and they’re hooked up with Widmore somehow (Hanso’s HQ is in Widmore’s office building, or vice versa).
I do want to see that annoying blond kid again, and fast. He makes me think of The Red Queen from the marginal Resident Evil movies. As the embodiment of the computer system, she knew the rules for escaping the Umbrella facility (at least this is what I recall.. I napped through the movie and watched the rest with one eye). If the island is a spaceship, the kid is a hologram like The Doctor on Star Trek Voyager. If the island is legit, then his being beats the hell out of me.
Thanks Jain! Some quick responses if you don’t mind:
The island is the mothership…: Totally awesomeness. I like your story even better than Lost.
No pregnancies…: D’oh!
Forgot all about the sub travel, that ties in nicely Jain. But I don’t think the Island was always the way it is now. After all, it used to have a 20 ft. tall statue of Taweret, goddess of fertility. I think to some extent the statue explains Jin’s ability to suddenly procreate when his sperm count was previously lower in the outside world. So that’s why the pregnancy thing is at such odds with the rest of the Island’s nature, and why it’s a question that must must MUST be answered!
…Hanso Corp…: I didn’t include Hanso because I don’t feel that it’s really an open question, but I have a theory that Widmore bought Hanso Corp after the purge and after he was banished from the Island. This comes from inconsistencies between the first Lost ARG and the date of the purge. According to the Hanso docs in the online game, Dharma went bankrupt in 1987. But the Purge/banishing didn’t happen until 1992. So I think when Charles got back to the world, he bought the Hanso Foundation so that he could inherit Dharma’s research and documents. That’s how Zoe got the map from 1977 signed by Jin. I don’t know if that’s a detail they’ll mention on the show, however.
…The Red Queen from Resident Evil movie…: Very good point. In fact, the Bleach Blond Boy is a LOT like Red Queen, now to a perceptibly disturbing degree.
I’ve never watched Lost, is it good?
Re: Taweret
Just because Jin was suddenly fertile doesn’t mean that he, or any of his predecessors actually succeeded in bringing live children into the world on the island. Often times, cultures erect statues of gods or hold ceremonies to win their favor when things are going in the direction opposite to that god’s power or influence. Dances and ceremonies dedicated to the rain gods don’t usually occur when the reservoirs are full and crops are healthy. Cultures pray to their gods when they need something the god can provide. If all babies conceived on the island die, one would think a 15 story statue of the fertility goddess is in order.
Another interesting tidbit, courtesy of wikipedia:
“When paired with another deity, she became the demon-wife of Apep, the original god of evil.”
Yikes. A dual nature? A lifegiver and demon-wife? You have to admit, there’s something supremely messed up about Jin’s situation– it sounds like something a fertility goddess gone dark would do.