...ten Lost mysteries in need a-solvingLost is one Pandora's Box that doesn't look like it's ever gonna shut. The mysteries unleashed by the series are hardly in short supply, and they are well cataloged online.
In an attempt to not appear entirely redundant, I've decided to focus on the 10 mysteries that I think even the writers can't solve. These are the mysteries that I doubt we'll ever get a truly satisfying conclusion to because, frankly, I'm not sure the writers always know what they're doing. Even if they do, the chances that Lost's eventual payoff could ever equal the energies fans have poured into decoding the show are slim. A false lead here. An obscure reference there. Lost's loose ends are going nowhere.
10. The numbers - 4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. The show's creators have outright admitted that they don't really know what the significance of Hurley's numbers are. The Lost Experience reveals that they're the core numerical values of the Valenzetti Equation - a formula created to predict the world's end. Does this explain why they make an excellent Lotto choice, or why they mystically appear everywhere in the show? Nope.
9. The outside world. If the Others are so well-informed of what is going on in the outside world and know how to reach it, than why is Ben at the mercy of Jack to remove his spinal tumor?
8. The Island's healing powers. They work for Locke and Rose, but not Ben? Is it because he's lived on the Island all his life? Do the "healing powers" discriminate? Were they effected by the Hatch blast?
7. The black smoke. I've heard the theory that the cloud is a collection of thousands of nanomachines, but I'm not buying it. I know that the actor wanted off the show to make movies, but seriously, smoke, why kill the second season's most compelling and seemingly most repentant character?
6. Jacob's list. Who's been naughty and who's been nice? Who's on the list, and why are the Others so freaking judgmental anyway?
5. Charlie's religious visions. Readers, you'll have to remind me. Did we ever get a satisfying reason for why Charlie had a fit of religious dreams and tried to baptize Aaron?
4. Artificial limbs and glass eye. This one was a toss up between Bad Twin and the limbs, but I decided to go with the limbs. When the orientation film was first shown, the show's creators told fans to take note of the doctor's fake arm. We also know that there's a one-eyed man running around the Island. We saw him on the Pearl Station monitor. Why all the fake parts? Is the eye thing even connected to the arm thing? Did the writer's forget about the fake limb clue?
3. Walt's powers. What happened to Walt? Where is he now? How could the Others let go of someone who seemed so precious in exchange for Jack, Sawyer and Kate. We were asked to invest so much emotionally in Walt - particularly at the end of the first season. Seeing someone's son ripped away from him was cruel. Not telling us the full story about his experience and the nature of his powers was even crueler.
2.Goodness. The Others' concept of being the "good" guys is pretty f-ed up. What's frustrating to me every week is that Jack, Sawyer or Kate just don't ask - "Why are you doing this to us?" As far as they know, they are innocents who didn't ask to crash and burn onto the Others' precious Island. Why make with the killing, forced labor, kidnapping? Are the Others victimized lab rats or trying to save the world? Help us out here because Ben and company aren't engendering any sympathy from this viewer.
1. How long can this keep going on? Lost's ratings are starting to slip. While I would certainly hate for the show to be forced into an Alias or Veronica Mars strategy, simplifying the episodes for newcomers, it seems like giving Lost an end date would make sense - don't let it end prematurely, but don't let it play past its prime for the sake of advertising dollars. There's obviously a whole lot of story to be told, but what a little television miracle it would be to let that story unfold organically for as long a time or as short a time as it needed to.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-06-2006 @ 8:29PM
Dusty T said...
"What's frustrating to me every week is that Jack, Sawyer or Kate just don't ask - "Why are you doing this to us?" As far as they know, they are innocents who didn't ask to crash and burn onto the Others' precious Island. Why make with the killing, forced labor, kidnapping?"
Bingo -- I mean it is one thing to have people interact with each other week to week where none of them have the answers...But how long can we have "our heroes" interacting with the people who do know the answers on a day to day basis without one of them saying WHAT IN THE HECK IS GOING ON AROUND HERE! If I have to see one more scene with Jack, Sawyer or Kate in a room with "the others" -- and not have a one of them ask the obvious question....I think I will start pulling my hair out.
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12-06-2006 @ 6:01PM
TomB said...
I've put so much time and energy into this show so far; and it just isn't paying off.
Yes Smiley, I watch the show closely enough but I just don't get it half the time. This season has been such a disappointment.
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12-06-2006 @ 6:13PM
Akbar Fazil said...
I agree smiley. Bitching about Lost has become the new favorite past time.
As to #9, we actually don't know exactly the extent of the healing powers. My money is on that the healing powers just stop the badness but dont actually cure. If Locke left the island, his legs wouldn't work again. The island is only keeping Ben's tumor from killing him.
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12-06-2006 @ 8:57PM
chestermcjester said...
Hey Smiley,
I know the number of a great anger management specialist: 481-516-2342.
Good luck with that.
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12-06-2006 @ 6:24PM
Charles said...
5 - I kind of figured that those were like most of the other visions/hallucinations that can now be attributed to the smoke monster.
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12-06-2006 @ 8:01PM
erroneous_nick said...
I'm going to predict that when the show comes back from its overly long and annoying break that it'll dazzle us with answers, be more compelling than it's been in a long time and just plain-old blow us away!
I certainly hope that's not just the drugs talking.
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12-06-2006 @ 8:13PM
Keith McDuffee said...
Akbar, you're usually a good commenter around here, but agree with someone who ends things with "Fuck off?" And people wonder why we delete comments. There's no need to be a total asshole.
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12-06-2006 @ 10:01PM
Jamie said...
For # 9, Jack has a reputation that extendsall the way to Italy. ("The Hunting Party.") I am not so sure Ben is at Jack's mercy as much as he just wants the best surgeon he knows. He also seems to think it is fate that Jack showed up to "save" him. Then again, why didn't he just ask?
For # 8,, I have assumed the healing works for "good" people. It does not explain how Sawyer recovered from a bullet wound in a week, though, so who knows.
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12-06-2006 @ 11:25PM
silk said...
I am at the point that the next 3 episodes of the rest of this season will tell me if I continue to watch Lost or not. If I don't get at least one hard answers to a question raised from season 1 or 2, I am done with this show.
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12-07-2006 @ 12:25AM
Joe said...
There's a problem with Lost, and that is that there will only be answers when the show comes to an end. There will only be an end when people stop watching and it gets cancelled. There will only be viewers when answers start coming. Basically, they need to solve a whole lot of the mysteries on the show, else they're going to be solving them ALL pretty soon.
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12-07-2006 @ 12:23AM
Tucker said...
I can't go back and re-read the "smiley" post, but I agree with the overall sentiment, and I think that's what akbar was getting at - there seems to be an overall "it's cool to complain about Lost" feeling out there, and it seems like there are two categories of people who are still sticking with the show. There are those who "get it" and realize we're in it for the long haul hoping to be rewarded in their patience, and then there are those people who "don't get it" and seem to be under the impression they're watching 24 or something.
Leaving that argument for another day, I agree with Keith that the comment was a bit ridiculously over the top, not to mention most of the point-by-point arguments were off-base or misdirected. For example, I believe the counter-argument to #8 was "watch the fucking Rose episode." But that's not a valid point, with or without vulgarity. Yeah, watch the episode and you'll learn that the island is a "special place" and that it has "special healing powers." Cool, great, checkmark - but why? to what end/extent? I believe that's what Julia was getting at.
I don't agree with all of these, and I certainly don't think most of them will go forever unanswered - but I do, like Akbar and (dare I say it) Smiley, get frustrated when people who seem to just not enjoy the show at all hop on and complain endlessly week to week. If it's really become that painful to watch for you, we're all very sorry, but being so continuously bitter is bad for your health and annoying for us. Reading the Lost reviews here have turned into sifting through 50 whiney comments to read the five insightful ones that are peppered through the bunch. (well, that and the other 20 comments yelling at Jonathan... I think the Lost and Heroes commenters need to spend some time with Jonathan Toomey and Michael Canfield to just cry it all out - I promise you'll all feel better).
And that will satisfy my Lost rant quota for this week.
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12-07-2006 @ 12:39AM
Akbar Fazil said...
Keith, I totally appologize. I didn't even pay attention to that part. I was just agreeing with the not happy with people complaining about Lost endlessly.
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12-07-2006 @ 6:07AM
Eric Blade said...
9) They don't want to leave, that's been said
8) It seems fairly safe to say that the island is no longer healing, otherwise Eko wouldn't have been so farked up, and it's also fairly safe to say that it only seems to work when on the Losties side of the island.
5) Charlie was a devout Catholic either before or after DriveShaft, I don't remember when.
Pay more attention.
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12-07-2006 @ 9:31AM
Katie said...
That's not fair, Eric.
Everything you mentioned, that's all well and good. But those aren't real answers. As you say it, "They don't want to leave, that's been said" But that's not the reason it's on this list. Why don't they want to leave? Why are innocent plane crash victims living on an isolated island if the Others have access to the outside world? Why would they help Michael and Walt get away, but no one else? Is there some big, over-arching reason the Others are there and apparently want to stay, living in an aquarium and forcing people to break rocks under threat of being tasered? Those are the actual questions Eric... Would you be so kind as to share the answers?
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12-07-2006 @ 9:43AM
Gordy said...
Trying to make sense of it all makes my head hurt. The show has proven to me (with the X-ray from an earlier season) that I can no longer rely on specific events being part of the story, or bad directing. Therefore, I watch it to be entertained.
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12-13-2006 @ 9:17PM
Mel said...
Actually, they talked about the fact that the healing powers are discriminating in the Rose episode. She went to the healing spot in Australia, but it would work for her because her energies weren't in sync with it, or something. Basically, certain spots only work for certain people, which is why Rose was healed here, but maybe only the Australia spot would work for Ben.
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