Movieline Attempts to Tie Up Almost 100 of Lost's 'Loose Ends'
After the Lost finale aired, some people complained that there are still dozens of questions left unanswered -- but is that really true? Sure, there are still a few loose threads left hanging, but I'd argue that the bulk of the questions people have are either answerable or can be strongly guessed at based on the information the show has already given us.
To put my theory to the test, I decided to rebut a popular video compiled today by College Humor that lists nearly 100 outstanding questions that Lost has left us with. How many could I answer, and how many were legitimate loose ends? Let's find out.
Why did the monster kill the pilot?
Because he's an angry smoke monster who often kills people who come to the island, as long as they're not candidates.
What did Locke see when he first saw the smoke?
Smoke, I'm guessing?
What's with the polar bear in Walt's comic?
It...was a polar bear in Walt's comic. Would you like to know who published it, or...?
Where's Christian Shepherd's body if it's not in the casket?
On the island somewhere, presumably.
Why did the psychic say that Claire had to fly on Oceanic 815, and why did he insist that her son had to be raised by Claire?
It's open to interpretation. In one of Eko's flashbacks, the psychic seemed to be a bit of a fraud, but if you subscribe to what he's saying, it still makes some sense. It was Claire's destiny to be on that flight, as she was a Candidate (albeit one who was eventually crossed-out...maybe Jacob was more interested in her before she got pregnant). As for why Claire had to raise Aaron, look how many people tried to kidnap that baby! And look what happened to poor Claire when she had to go without Aaron. Her hair was terrible.
Why did the Others want Walt so badly?
The Others kidnapped children, since they were unable to reproduce. Walt was a child. Ergo, Walt was kidnapped.
Who sent Kate the letter telling her about her mother being treated for cancer in the hospital?
Some dude? I mean, do we really care?
How does Walt know about the hatch and why does he warn Locke not to open it?
Walt had some special psychic powers, so he learned about the hatch by picking it up from Locke. As for why he didn't want it opened...well, a lot of bad shit went down in that hatch. Like, Walt's dad shot some people and stuff. It wasn't all fun and Mama Cass records.
Why does the smoke monster make mechanical sounds?
Because it's cool.
How is Walt able to apparate before Shannon?
Special powers.
How did Walt communicate with Michael using the Swan computer?
Probably got on one of the Others' computers, checked his email, played a few rounds of Words with Friends, and still had a little time left over to tool around a bit.
What is the deal with Kate and that horse?
I mean, it's an island with polar bears and zoo animals. A black horse may hold special resonance for Kate, but can't it just be a black horse? We've seen people riding horses on the island before.
Why are supplies still being dropped on the island after the purge, and by who?
All right, we finally have our first really legitimate unanswered question. I wouldn't mind knowing the answer, either.
What triggered the lockdown, and why on earth would anyone trigger it so that during the lockdown, black lights would go on?
The food drop triggered the lockdown. As for black lights, who doesn't love those?
What happened to the original Henry Gale?
Ballooned to the island, then died. I mean, it could have been interesting to know more about him, but what more did we really need to know? He was a red herring for the Ben story.
What happened to the original timeline Libby in the mental hospital?
Unanswered question #2.
Who built the four-toed statue?
We can intuit that among the people who crashed on the island were Egyptians, just to go by their hieroglyphics and Tawaret statue-building. Did we actually need to see them in a flashback, peering over blueprints and sweating on ladders? I didn't, but your mileage may vary.
Why does only one specific bearing get you off the island?
Because it's a hidden, magical island, and it just does?
What are the hieroglyphics on the Swan countdown timer about?
An homage to the Egyptians who used to live on the island and tagged hieroglyphics all over the place?
Why did Tom feel the need to wear a fake beard?
To fool the Oceanic survivors into thinking that the Others were simply a primitive tribe of other castaways, not a technology-possessing race tapped into the mysticism of the island.
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Comments
Here is a very simple question: If everything that happened on the island was real, why/how did so much supernatural stuff happen there?
Supernatural stuff doesn't happen anywhere else in the world - and the characters sure seemed surprised by it all once they got to the island - so why does it happen there? I think this is a key problem people have...that no one explained why all the weird shizzat was happening at all.
I mean when Tom Hanks got stranded he never had to deal with polar bears. Volleyballs, yes. But polar bears, no.
Great, great list! But I'd add this one:
Why can Jacob leave the island but the smoke monster can’t?
Because Jacob made the rules.
It all happened for real... on a science fiction show. The distinction is that the island was a sci-fi reality, not a dream world or purgatory in the context of the show.
"It just does" and " So, do we really care? " are not real answers Kyle. This is not the View and you are not Joy Behar.
Remember when Daniel came to the island and did the experiment with the rocket? It took much longer for it to get from the freighter to the island than it should have, and the clocks were off.
I think that's what happened with the Dharma food pallets. They were dropped in the '70s, got caught in some funky space-time weirdness, and they showed up in 2004.
I can answer the DHARMA food drops... they were sent by Eloise, who was working in the still-functioning Lighthouse Station. She knew they'd need food, and is quite the interloper of the island's events.
the most important question for me is how come college humor stopped being funny 3 years ago yet still keep releasing shit like this? The questions were good, the answers were more along the lines of a 8 year old trying to be a smartass and failing.
Okay, so it is a sci-fi reality, but even in science fiction you have to explain why things happen. Especially after five years or whatever. They shouldn't just get a free pass for having all this crazy stuff happen because it is a sci-fi show. Good sci-fi has crazy stuff happen, and then explains why it is happening in a way that makes a commentary on our society. It doesn't just give you crazy stuff, and then when you ask why, respond, "Why? Cause it's sci-fi!"
Only one bearing gets you off the island because the Island is like a big fracking electromagnet and as such has its own magnetic field. To get off of the Island, you have to head directly "north" or "south" from the magnetic field to avoid getting trapped and brought back to the island (like happened to Desmond)
True, but even good sci-fi has supernatural and unexplained stuff all the time. In Abrams' Star Trek, are we really supposed to believe Kirk would somehow accidentally land on a primitive ice planet and be chased into the only cave where Spock just happened to be living? Where did the Alien first come from, and if it was just native to that (non-colonized) planet, why would it bleed acid that happened to burn through metal? In The Matrix, why would Neo, Trinity, and crew dress so differently than everyone else when they were trying to blend into the other people already in the Matrix?
I'm not saying Lost stacks up to these amazing works (although none of these had to arc over 6 years), but my point is that sometimes with sci-fi, like in life, you have to be okay with a lack of answers. If you just like the show, it's easier to go with it.
p.s. the polar bear was brought to the island by the Dharma folks, who had cages where they kept a lot of animals.
That makes so much sense! Great idea!
The only real unanswered question is: Why didn't everybody just tuck in to the heroin found on the small airplane? They were stuck on a deadly island with no hope of rescue. If there is ever a good excuse for getting addicted to heroin, it's being stuck on an island with an unlimited supply of heroin.
The more I soak in the finale, the more I like it. Just say no to midichlorians.
Maybe they did....and that explains why all the crazy stuff happened! It was all just heroin induced delusions the whole time! You know what? If that was the big reveal, that they had all become delusional, crazed junkies, that might have been more satisfying. Which tells you how much I liked the finale, I guess.
I agree with you about having to accept a certain amount of unexplained mystery in sci-fi, but I think there was just too much in Lost. In Star Trek, for example, you bought that Kirk went into that cave because there weren't a million other things that didn't make sense or weren't explained. If there were many, many questions like that one in Star Trek (as there were in Lost) it wouldn't have been as good, I think.
Fair enough. Lost had more than its share. I am willing to overlook most, however, because a) I fell for the characters, and b) Damon Lindelof is my sideways-reality boyfriend.
I'm satisfied with the ending - I mean, we all know JUST AS MUCH AS OUR LOSTIES DO
Nice theory, but did they never push the food request button and get food thereafter?
I thought perhaps Widmore or Eloise was responsible for it? Eloise was manning the lampost, so she may be the only one who could find the island. Or perhaps the Others? They certainly had a presence in the regular world (Richard recruiting Juliet), but why would they continue to use Dharma labeled products? Perhaps there is a Dharma station out there somewhere that never get the message about the purge or Ben tricked them into thinking Dharma was still going on?
The only thing "LOST" in this series were the writers. I swear they made it up as they went along. LOST is so bad it makes Gilligan's Island look good.
Stupid show. Jumped the shark in the first episode. How could it last so many seasons.
the problem isnt the small questions, but the big ones.
what was at stake really? people were always so cryptic about everything, you never knew who was good or bad, and if what they were telling was true or not.
so the smoke monster, who is shown to have been, a normal, curious and not necessarily evil person, falls down the whole and suddenly is very bad and he must not leave the island. why? is he going to destroy the world? maybe, we never knew what he would do. as much as i love Terry O Quinn, and could clearly see the difference between Locke and MIB, i never felt he was threatening enough... i just didnt buy it, maybe it isnt his fault, some of his dialogue, specially on the finale was borderline cartoonish. since he couldnt kill the candidates, i never really feared him, and there he was, easily killed in the end.
then the island.... oh the island is a cork! a cork for what? the magic white liquid light! what does it do? is it life? we are not sure, never. Mother looked crazy, should we believe her? i felt like i was desmond pushing the button, not knowing if it was really worth it.
and then right at the end, they sorta re-wrote the show, and the point wasnt the island anymore, or even all of the characters, the point was just jack. and the magic light church! that just about ruined everything for me
hole
"What’s the deal with the pool that brings people back to life?
The island always had healing properties, so maybe bathing in the light was like that wax bath from Wanted."
The pool idea is directly taken from Batman comic book villain Ra's Al Ghul. He has minions resurrect him whenever he is near death in a pool called a Lazarus Pit. They also become a bit unhinged after being taken out of the water, but it subsides shortly after.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_Pit
The Food Drops were sent in 1977 but got caught up in a time problem like Faraday's rocket.
"You're Next" could mean exactly the person he said it to. Locke. Who was, indeed, next.
Ben's dead mother was the smoke monster, wasn't she?
My question is where did Ajira Airways get a Boeing 737 that could back up under its own power??? Planes don't have a "reverse" gear--the engines only point in one direction. To back up, a plane has to be pushed by another vehicle (a push-back tug). After all the time-travel, monsters, miraculous healings, etc...this is definitely the most unrealistic thing ever on the show. 😉
What I want to know is this:
1) Did Hurley use his newfound powers of the island and create some wookies and ewoks to hang around with?
2) Did he send Ben off the island to acquire a DVD of The Dark Knight, only to gasp in shock at something called Avatar?
3) Why didn't the show end with a picture of Jeff Fahey smiling, winking, and shooting his fingers at us, like Gopher on Love Boat?
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