LOST transcended the medium of television and became a cultural phenomenon. Even now, six years after its run ended, it’s as polarizing as it was when it debuted in 2004. You either loved it because of its creative writing or hated it because it was too crazy. It paired outlandish events with a thru-line bordering on the religious. But sprinkled in the middle of these seemingly random happenings were things that were never addressed; items that provided the fan base no closure. These are ten things in the show that left the audience…
Were these “oversights” on purpose?
When writing anything for an audience, it’s important to understand that the audience wants to come away with closure. Everything has to be planned, reviewed and planned again in such a manner that everything is given proper closure. Professional writers, leaving things open ended seems far-fetched. However, in the Nerdist Writers Panel Podcast Nick Santora was interviewed and stated that “a friend” that had written for the show would “literally just think of the weirdest…thing and write it and…never going to pay it off.”
Did the island do it?
When it was first envisioned by the Brass at ABC, the island was simply a setting. JJ Abrams wanted more. He wanted the island to interact with the characters. This made the island a character itself. It stands to reason that because it is a character it should have it’s own motivations and reasonings for acting if indeed it acted at all. We are led to believe that Jacob is the manipulating everything on the island as he is it’s protector. Or could it be the Man In Black who attempts to convince the castaways to do harm to Jacob? Even still, there are incidents that occur that arent within the power of either man but this evidence is circumstantial at best.
The Sickness
Where did it come from? Who had it? In season six, we get to see the sickness take hold. Was it Rosseau that had it or her crew? Sayid had the sickness, or so we presume. Is the contraction point the temple. Questions still swirl around this hotly debated topic. One thing is for sure. The writers gave the audience something to talk about.
Who killed the remaining passengers on Flight 316?
Hurley buys all 78 remaining seats on the flight as a way to spare the lives of the people uninvolved in the drama. His gut feeling is right. As Sawyer gets to the runway he discovers that all the passengers have been killed. It’s never revealed why, or how this happens nor is it of great consequence to the storyline. The later being the prevailing reason why it was never addressed again.
Why all the blood samples?
Throughout the series there are moments where blood tests are specifically mentioned and others where they are simply alluded to. Claire’s test during her pregnancy is the only time when such a test would have been validated as necessary. The fact that everyone may have been monitoring the spread of The Sickness is purely speculative.
Where is Christian’s body?
The coffin is empty after the crash. There are multiple theories as to how this happened. The prevalent theories are that it was ejected during the crash or that it wasn’t ever there in the first place despite his body being identified by Jack in the morgue.
What’s in the locked room in the submarine?
Among many LOST theorists this question is a favorite. No one really knows for sure and it’s never directly addressed again, but the overriding majority are betting that Desmond is in that room. As nice as it would be to believe that, if the writers of LOST have taught us anything, it’s that anything can happen and what you’re banking on probably wont.
When was the Temple made?
There is conjecture about a fair amount of topics dealing with the Temple, but first thing’s first. How old is it? It’s not directly addressed nor answered so all the audience has are faint hints and allusions. The easy answer is it was made the same time as the Statue of Taweret, but no one knows the date of its building either. Add that the Temple looks to have had some Asian influences in its architecture, and that really throws us for a loop. Oh, and it has hieroglyphics to boot.
The Black Rock
This is truly a mystery built in the Writers Room. There is no function for this element of the story. The fact that it’s a ship from the Colonial era that is resting on top of a statue presumably from ancient Egypt can do nothing but confuse the audience. It is used for a jail and to collect dynamite from. In the scope of the story there would have been other ways to achieve the same effect and not include this mysterious ship. The writers may have simply wanted to give the audience another visual element as a red herring.
What is the island?
The biggest question for any fan of LOST is just that. The internet exploded with conspiracy theories as well as literal ones. LOST was able to take a Sherwood Schwartz concept from the mid 60’s and turn it into a very high concept drama, and do it successfully. If the writers, led by JJ Abrams, can do that, what cant they do? Is the island an allegory for spiritual enlightenment? Is it Heaven? Purgatory? Or is it just an actual place. Writers on the show have come out and said it’s not this, or its not that, but the island was so many things, how could it be just one.
What are some other mysteries from LOST that have kept you pondering since its debut in 2014? Let us know in the comments!