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Lost - The Unknown

Posted by The TV Critic on 20 June 2010 | 6 Comments

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Hey everyone,

Below is the list of remaining Lost mysteries or unanswered questions. A while ago I went through "The Unknown" section of all my reviews and compiled a list. Now I have removed all the questions which I think the show reasonably answered. So the smoke monster, the whispers and the Others speaking Latin have all gone. But what is left is still a significant list.

I recommend you check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luXl7AnGpKw if you have a few minutes. I don't "agree" with a lot of its questions but I think it captures the essence of how many questions remain in a fun way.

I would love your comments on whether some of these mysteries have been solved or whether I have missed anything. I will record this as a podcast on Sunday 27th June. There may not be much call for voicemails on this one but you are very welcome to (001) 206-338-7832. Or send me an audio file or a tweet,  facebook or email.

Next week will be a chance to pick out your best moments (and best seasons, episodes, characters etc) and then we will have a final wrap up. You can find the podcast for "The Bad" under the second episode of season one of Lost (http://www.thetvcritic.org/casts/Lost_The_Bad.mp3). At this stage I can only add a new podcast if it is connected to a review which is slightly annoying, but never mind. 

Robin (The TV Critic)

101 - Pilot (1)       

How exactly did any of them survive the impact of a plane crashing into a beach?

110 - Raised by Another   

Did Richard Malkin really have a psychic experience?
Did he really know what would happen to Claire?
Was there significance to her dream where Locke's eyes were black and white?

114 - Special

What are Walt's powers? Where do they come from?

118 - Numbers

What are the numbers?
Why are they on the hatch?
Who broadcast them from the island and why?
Do they really have the power to curse, how and why?

122 - Born to Run

What is it Walt sees or feels about the hatch?

125 - Exodus (3) 

Why does the monster try to drag Locke away?
Why does Locke now look afraid of the "monster" (In 104 he seemed happy to see it)?

201 - Man of Science, Man of Faith

What are the injections for?
How did Walt appear in the jungle and why is he talking backwards?

207 - The Other 48 Days

Why is there a quarantine sign on the Arrow station?
How do the Others judge who good people are?

209 - What Kate Did

Sawyer suddenly grabbing Kate and asking why she killed him is a very weird moment. It is implied that he was "possessed" somehow by Wayne or indeed that Kate somehow imagined the whole thing.
But if that was the case then how did Sawyer fall on the floor?
What is the black horse?                                   

212 - Fire + Water

Did Charlie's dreams mean anything?

215 - Maternity Leave

What does the vaccine do?
Why does the vaccine have the numbers on it?

217 - Lockdown

The blast door map in general. Why did Radzinski make it? Why make it invisible? Who came up with the name Cerberus?

218 - Dave

Why was Libby in Santa Rosa? Did she know Hurley back then?

220 - Two For The Road

Was Ben really coming to get Locke?
What is the nature of the Other's morality?

223 - Live Together, Die Alone (1)              

The bird who says Hurley

224 - Live Together, Die Alone (2)

What happened when the sky went purple?
Was the Pearl station a complete waste of time for its inhabitants? Did no one ever read their work or was there once something or someone where the tube is?

306 - I Do

 

Jack wasn't on Jacob's list. Who was?
We saw Ethan and Goodwin instructed to make lists (301). What is the difference between their lists and Jacob's?

307 - Not In Portland

Why does the island destroy women's wombs?

311 - Enter 77

Klugh is willing to die in order to avoid being captured and Mikhail seems to want to die before giving anything away. What are they protecting? What is the ultimate purpose of the Others on the island?

313 - The Man From Tallahassee          

What is the magic box Ben refers to?
How did "it" bring Cooper to the island and why?

315 - Left Behind

How did the Dharma Initiative learn what kind of fence would guard against the smoke monster?

316 - One Of Us

 

How can Ben cure cancer? We had assumed the island itself healed people (219), is that not the whole picture?
Why should Juliet have faith in Jacob and does she?

319 - The Brig

Why does Richard claim that fertility projects are a novelty? What is the work he thinks the Others ought to be doing?

320 - The Man Behind The Curtain

What is the grey powder which is in a line on the ground near Jacob's cabin?

322 - Through the Looking Glass (1)

Why has Ben been blocking communications from the island? 

401 - The Beginning of the End        

Why can Jacob's cabin suddenly move around the island?

402 - Confirmed Dead

Where does Miles get his ability from?

403 - The Economist

Ben's secret room full of money and passports raises questions about what he has been doing off the island and what for.

405 - The Constant

Why is Desmond Daniel's constant and when did he write that?

406 - The Other Woman

Who does Juliet "look just like"?
Why do the Others want Juliet to kill Daniel and not want to do it themselves?What is powering all the Dharma stations?

408 - Meet Kevin Johnson               

What are the origins of the Temple?

409 - The Shape of Things to Come               

Who was really responsible for Nadia's death?
What are the rules?

411 - Cabin Fever

How did Matthew Abaddon know what to tell Locke to get him to the island?

413 - There's No Place Like Home (2)

Why does the Orientation video rewind when Locke is trying to watch it?

414 - There's No Place Like Home (3)     

How exactly did Ben know to blow a hole in the Orchid chamber?

501 - Because You Left

Why aren't the Others moving through time?
Why is Sun trying to kill Ben? We know that he was partly responsible for Jin's death (414), but how could she know that? She was on the helicopter and had no way of knowing that Ben stabbed Keamy to death without trying to save the freighter.                                

502 - The Lie       

What is the origin of Hawking's underground lab?
Who is attacking Hurley and Sayid?

505 - This Place is Death

What happened to Rousseau's crew when they went down that tunnel?
Why was the donkey wheel "broken"? Was it because Ben wasn't supposed to activate it?

506 - 316              

Why did some of the survivors go to 1977 and not others?
Miss Hawking claims the island is always moving, yet Widmore's boat found the island seemingly static. Did the hatch implosion (224) somehow fix the island's location? Is that why Jacob wanted the island to move again (411)?

508 - LaFleur

What is the nature of the truce the two sides made?

511 - Whatever Happened, Happened

Amongst Cassidy's Sawyer bashing she doesn't mention the money Sawyer set aside for Clementine (in 304). Does she not become eligible to receive it until she turns sixteen or something like that?
What exactly does young Ben remember?
How will his innocence be gone? Why does that make him an Other?

512 - Dead is Dead

Was the temple-like passage which Ben uses to summon smokey present before the barracks were built? Or did he build it? How does pulling the plug summon the monster?
What are the specific rules which Charles broke and who arranged his banishment?

513 - Some Like it Hoth    

Who faked the plane crash?
Who are the "Shadow of the Statue" guys?

516 - The Incident (1)

Did Jacob resurrect Locke when he hit the ground or was he just waking him up?

602 - LA X (2)

Why was the Temple water dirty? How does it heal people? Was it dirty when they healed Ben?
What is Sayid now?

604 - The Substitute

What makes someone a candidate? Why do they get assigned a number?
Why did Jacob never tell Richard about the candidates?
How does Ilana know so much?

605 - Lighthouse 

Who is "Wallace" the name at 108 on the dial?
How did the Lighthouse get created and how did it work?

607 - Dr. Linus

Ilana seems to have been given a "Who's Who" of the island before she arrived. The way she addresses Miles is as if she read his biography on the back of a baseball card, which makes you wonder where she got her information from. She describes Jacob as being like a father to her which will need to be explained too.

608 - Recon

Who did kill the Ajeera passengers?

617 - The End (1)

Now MIB can finally leave the island would he still take evil with him? Or is that evil released because the light has gone out?

618 - The End (2)               

Who \ how was the flashsideways created? A mystery I don't need answered.

 


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Comments

  • Lying - I'm so sorry about that. I have no idea what happened! Especially as the beginning and end sound fine. I really apologise, I will check back and see what I can do.

    Keith - yeah I've been up and down on it. Going through those mysteries was a bit depressing. But then this week going through the best moments made me miss the show a lot.

    I don't think the producers ever realised how intriguing some of the things they created were. In many cases I don't think they intended for us to speculate so much about certain stories. But there are also chunks of things where they clearly dropped the ball.

    I hope in the future you can look back and enjoy the things about the show that were so good. I certainly hope I can :-)

    Posted by The TV Critic, 29/06/2010 11:02pm (2 years ago)

  • Hi Robin,

    I just listened to the podcast. Thanks a lot for your thorough job of going through all the unknown. I'm afraid that when I think back on the show, I just want to throw the baby out with the bath water. It seems like a waste of time to expend too much effort exploring the unsolved mysteries — they mostly exist because the producers never intended to create a coherent story. The plan, I think, was to get away with as much as possible, leaving loose ends lying around, but counting on the audience's love for the characters to excuse all. The service that you've done is to enable me to look at the unknown stuff a bit more calmly. The striking thing is that in so many cases, resolving unknowns would have taken very little time or effort. Just a couple of lines of dialog would have done a lot. What else to conclude but that the producers liked leaving things unresolved, just for the thrill of getting away with it?

    Thanks,
    Keith

    Posted by Keith, 29/06/2010 9:39pm (2 years ago)

  • Not that I need to hear my own voice, but it appears that a large chunk of my voicemail got cut out and was left with dead air during your podcast. Just wanted to point it out in case it was an unintended technical glitch.

    Posted by Lying in the Statue's Shadow, 29/06/2010 7:41pm (2 years ago)

  • Don't know if I'll get this in before you do your podcast Robin and haven't had time to read everything yet...still I thought of a few questions which nag me and wanted to get them out there to see if they bothered anyone else. Maybe someone can "answer" them. Anyway, here goes:

    1. S3, 20 and S4, 1
    Who was the other person in the cabin with (presumably) the Man in Black. In S3, 20 we saw someone in the rocking chair but it also looked like there was someone was a dark eye, and this same person with the dark eye appears in S4, 1 in the cabin with "Christian Shephard" who is in the rocking chair. In fact, we get a better look at him when he peeks at Hurley.

    2. S6, 15--Why was MIB turned into the smoke monster and not anyone else--such as the people who built the structures within the cave, or the skeletons there, or Jack (S6, 17-18)?

    3. Would the world really end if they failed to push the button in the Swan station akin to pulling the plug in the cave in S6, 17-18? Or just dire consequences in general (like crashing planes)? Why were the Others or Jacob not more concerned about this important job?

    4. Why didn't the Losties take Desmond's boat off the island instead of trying to patch up the plane? MIB was going to. Were they not aware that they could (i.e. the same coordinates to escape the island by plane/chopper could be used?)

    5. 6, 17-18 Won't Kate go back to jail for violating her parole? How then will she be able to help raise Aaron?

    I have loads other questions, esp. questions regarding character motivations, but I've already touched upon those in "The bad". I have some theories about why The Others were the way they were, but I'll have to save that for later.

    Posted by KC, 27/06/2010 7:23pm (2 years ago)

  • Hi Robin,

    This is Skippy from Boston, Massachusetts.

    Because of my in-ability to "let go" of Lost I have found and enjoy your podcast which has removed the splinter from my mind. I really enjoyed the finale, I may even say I loved it. I felt I was watching a cross between the Friends finale where everyone gets a happy ending and the Robin Williams movie 'What Dreams May Come' where you make your own after life. If you think you should be in heaven you are. If you think you should be in hell you are. I haven't seen it in years to know how it holds up but I do recommend it.

    With Lost being over something still didn't feel right until I listened to your Lost - The Bad podcast. You and the other listeners put words to the splinter in my mind. Lost was a great show and not a perfect show - though I wanted it to be. I am not as hung up by the unknown as I am the missed character opportunites you mentioned in the Bad: the emotions, the questioning and developing the Others.

    I didn't start listening to Lost podcasts until the beginning of season 6 so someone else may have said this but I haven't heard it. There is a book of answers out there. Well it is not a book, it is Daniel Faraday's journal that travelled through time into the past. The last time we see the journal it is in his mother's hands - Eloise Hawking. I am looking forward to re-watching Lost knowing that at least both Charles Widmore and Eloise Hawking have a script as to how the next 30 years will unfold due to that journal.

    Here are some things I think the journal answers:
    The Dharma drops were done by Widmore because he knew the Losties will be there and need food. Widmore also knew he was going to send the freighter. The Others knew great details about the Losties because their names were in the journal. Desmond's name was in the journal - what other information about Desmond was in there. Was Penny Widmore's name in there too?
    Wait, even more questions!!!

    As if this post wasn't long enough I would like to answer your unknown: 506 - Why did some of the survivors go to 1977 and not others?

    First you're asking the wrong question - why did the "candidates" go to 1977? Sun was not the Kwon candidate. As seen in the season 6 episode Across the Sea, the Man In Black invented the donkey wheel and had around 2000 years to learn how it works. The loophole the Man in Black found was that if all the candidates were gone he could have someone kill Jacob. So he set things in motion by manipulating Locke to get the wheel turned and end up sending the Losties back in time away from Jacob.

    Did the Man in Black read Daniel Faraday's mind in 1977 to know what was going to happen?

    Posted by Skippy, 26/06/2010 3:34am (2 years ago)

  • Thank you Robin for helping us end our LOST discussion with your series podcasts. I have really enjoyed the posts on the blog and your excellent podcast editing.

    Today I listened to a 2007 podcast with J.J. Abrams about why mystery is at the heart of storytelling. Here is the URL link to the TED podcast series:
    http://feeds.feedburner.com/TEDTalks_audio

    In that speech J.J. Abrahms discusses a mystery box he bought at a magic store with his grandfather. A box he has never opened. It made me feel a bit guilty for wanting to open so many of the boxes in LOST.

    But not THAT guilty.

    I would like to know more about the link to Tunisia (both Ben and Locke are transported there and it is where we see Charlotte inspect a polar bear skeleton). Why heiroglyphics on the Dharma counter, on walls in the temple, in the walls of the Lighthouse?

    Where does Widmore get his vast empire and capital?

    Why would the Others use Room 23 to brainwash people? Was anyone but Carl subjected to the process?

    Why couldn't the Man In Black change human form after he took the form of Locke? He could change to his Smoke form but not any other human form?

    What were Widmore and Zoe Dharam home? Assuming Widmore was helping Jacob, why didn't Widmore share more of his motivation with the Lost Survivors as soon as he arrived on the island?

    Why was the toy airplane so important to Kate that she was willing to kill people and rob a bank? Why did toy airplane's show up in the room Ethan had prepared for Aaron in the medical station?

    Looking forward to hearing others mysteries and theories if they are willing to share.

    Lenni





    Posted by Lenni, 26/06/2010 3:23am (2 years ago)

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