Thursday, May 27, 2010

Categorizing Lost's 'mysteries'

This is a cute post from BuzzFeed mocking people who are frustrated that Lost didn't answer many of its questions. It has a point, of sorts - not all mysteries are worth solving, nor are all answers satisfying - but I think that it's worthwhile to separate out the legitimately frustrating questions from those that either don't require a solution or would simply be better off without one.

So here they are - split into 3 larger groups and 6 smaller categories, 2 categories of which are within each group:


GROUP ONE: Questions that don't need to be answered, and may not have answers anyway

1) Questions that shouldn't be answered because we might as well ask why bad things happen to good people:
* Where did The Island come from? What is The Light? Who created it?
* Where did the Island Guardian powers - like hiding the island or granting Richard immortality - come from? And why, if these powers are so wide-ranging, are they also limited - why couldn't Jacob raise the dead? And, for that matter, why and how was Man in Black able to resurrect Sayid when Jacob couldn't?
* Why is Desmond special?
* Why does the Island heal some things - like Rose's cancer and Locke's spine - and not others - like Ben's cancer?
* How does the donkey wheel work to move the island?
* Why do the sonic fences work against Smokey? How was the ash able to keep him at bay?

2) Questions that shouldn't be answered because it really doesn't matter, does it?:
* Did the bomb go off?
* Was it really Desmond's delay in entering the numbers that caused the plane to crash?
* Was the sideways-universe created by The Incident or the bomb?
* What's the origin of the Ben/Charles feud?
* Was Sayid really turned evil, or, as Hurley said, did he simply become what people expected of him?
* Did the psychic know that Claire had to get on the plane? How?


GROUP TWO: Questions that could use answers, and might have answers, but don't require them

3) Questions that don't need to be answered because the answer seems to already be implied:
* Why can't babies be born on the island, and why was there no such problem in the 70s?
* Was Christian always Christian? Was Smokey sometimes impersonating him? Was he always impersonating him?
* Why wasn't Sun transported back in time?
* Why did Juliet's husband die after she wished it?
* What's the deal with the four-toed, Egyptian statue?
* Was the Dharma Initiative a force of good or bad?

4) Questions that probably don't have a good answer, but whose answers probably aren't important, would be contradictory or needlessly confusing, or simply wouldn't be very illuminating:
* Who was shooting at Sawyer and company's boat when they were being chased across the water during all the time-flashes?
* How was Juliet's sister's cancer cured if Ben's cancer couldn't be?
* Was there really a box that granted wishes? And what is it, really?
* What is the Temple, where do its occupants sit in the Others' hierarchy, and what sort of magical powers does Dogen have that could repel Smokey?
* Why does Sayid, who killed dozens of people as a torturer and then as Ben's lackey, get to go into the Light when Michael, who killed two people - one out of desperation and one accidentally, and only to save his son - but also seemingly redeemed himself, get stuck on the Island?


GROUP THREE: Questions that should be answered (even if they can't be answered)

5) Questions that can't possibly have a good answer, and are probably just evidence of bad planning/writing:
* Why would Chang - or whoever else built The Swan - include Egyptian hieroglyphics in the timer, which are displayed only after it reaches zero?
* If Smokey can only appear as dead people, how did he appear to Locke and Shannon as Walt?
* Why was Richard surprised that Ben could see him when they first met? And why was Harper, who was bringing orders from Ben, able to sneak up on Juliet and disappear just as quickly? Were we meant to understand that the Others could become invisible or travel magically?
* Who was asking Locke to 'help me' in the cabin? And why wasn't he asking Ben, who admitted that no one - Jacob, or someone trying to pass himself off as Jacob - ever spoke to him?

6) Questions that have been dangling for so long or were made to seem so important that we deserved an answer, dammit!:
* Why did small animals die when Walt got angry, and what was so wrong with him that even The Others wanted to get rid of him?
* And relatedly - why are the kids so important? Why do we want to kidnap Walt and Aaron? Why did we kidnap those other children? (It can't just be that they can't procreate on the island, right? And it's not like they knew about Candidates at that point...)
* What's the deal with Eloise and her seeming omniscience, in both the living-day present and in the afterlife?
* What's the deal with the Hanso family, who were the financiers behind both The Black Rock and Dharma and were featured prominently in the Lost Alternate Reality Game?
* What's the Man in Black's name? And if he doesn't have one, why? (Because deliberately not mentioning it seemed significant, at first, and just annoying, later.)
* Do The Numbers refer to the Valenzetti Equation or the final six Candidates? Or both? And how are they related? Is it mere coincidence (?!) or fate that the final six Candidates are assigned the same numbers that appear in the Valenzetti Equation? And if it's the latter, how does that compromise Jacob's whole 'i want you to have a choice' speech, or diminish the centuries-long process of finding a suitable replacement and watching most of the Candidates die in the process?

There are probably other categories that we could invent, and some people can probably take issue with where I've slotted particular questions. Let me know.

8 comments:

James said...

Hope it's okay if I have a stab at some answers, the quality of which may or may not reinforce how you've categorised the questions.

2) Questions that shouldn't be answered because it really doesn't matter, does it?:
* Did the bomb go off?
-Yes! (I actually think this does matter.) I mentioned why at Geoff's, but in addition to the explosion we heard: "What happened, happened" is not a good enough point to justify Season 5's story. "What happened, happened; and it happened because you tried to stop it happening HA!" is a good enough point, and a sci-fi classic. To me, at least.

* Was it really Desmond's delay in entering the numbers that caused the plane to crash?
-Similar to the above, I'd say yes.

* Was the sideways-universe created by The Incident or the bomb?
-After Doc Jensen's EW piece, I'm going with the straightforwardly spiritual reading that it was neither, but rather it was a Bardo created by the Castaways on death. I agree that this is a nice one to leave open to interpretation, though.

* Did the psychic know that Claire had to get on the plane? How?
-Hmmm, because he was psychic? (NB: That's not sarcasm - I'm genuinely unsure.) We know there is some crazy shit in the Lost universe beyond the Island, but it is convenient that he became psychic in time to impart that information, which suggests it might have been Jacob's influence. Anyway, just want to establish that Crazy Shit Abounds because it's gonna fit into a later answer.

4) Questions that probably don't have a good answer, but whose answers probably aren't important, would be contradictory or needlessly confusing, or simply wouldn't be very illuminating:
* Who was shooting at Sawyer and company's boat when they were being chased across the water during all the time-flashes?
-I think this is going to be answered on the DVD.

* Why does Sayid, who killed dozens of people as a torturer and then as Ben's lackey, get to go into the Light when Michael, who killed two people - one out of desperation and one accidentally, and only to save his son - but also seemingly redeemed himself, get stuck on the Island?
- I like Ping's answer to this, but I'm also not convinced that Michael mightn't be just plain Fucked when it comes to Enlightenment. (They seem to suggest that the Whispers are in a very peculiar predicament - but because of Crazy Magic and Science rather than any moral comparison, which, as you say, Sayid surely loses.) On the other hand, maybe Lost 2.0 involves Walt going back to the Island to Save his dad.

James said...

5) Questions that can't possibly have a good answer, and are probably just evidence of bad planning/writing:
* Why would Chang - or whoever else built The Swan - include Egyptian hieroglyphics in the timer, which are displayed only after it reaches zero?
-I think this could have a good answer, and might even have one in the minds of the writers! (Certainly the questions in the section are evidence of poor/insufficient planning, but in some cases I think because they don't get answered more than because they can't.) Anyway, I think it's very possible that every group of "explorers" that came to the Island, from the group MiB lives with on up, are on the Dharma family tree. (I'm dumb about History and so still unclear if the Egyptians are pre- or post-MiB's group, but I'm including them either way.) So whoever built the Swan may have been cognizant of their connection to the Island's Egyptian visitors. ALSO: Lostpedia tells me that the hieroglyphics on the timer are part of some incarnations of the Valenzetti equation, so there's that.

* If Smokey can only appear as dead people, how did he appear to Locke and Shannon as Walt?
-I'm not sure he did. Walt may have been astrally projecting (Crazy Shit Abounds!), but (there's that poor planning again) the Walt story-branch got lopped off. (Either that or it was Smokey, and just another example of Oops We Changed The Rules. As seen in Buffy, Quantum Leap, etc. etc.)

* Who was asking Locke to 'help me' in the cabin? And why wasn't he asking Ben, who admitted that no one - Jacob, or someone trying to pass himself off as Jacob - ever spoke to him?
-Gotta be Smokey, but the whole Cabin thing seems to have been excised/truncated/discarded. As for why not Ben, who knows? Maybe even back then he had certain things in mind for Locke and others for Ben.

6) Questions that have been dangling for so long or were made to seem so important that we deserved an answer, dammit!:
* What's the deal with the Hanso family, who were the financiers behind both The Black Rock and Dharma and were featured prominently in the Lost Alternate Reality Game?
- I didn't see any of the ARG, but my guess (as above) is that the knew about the Island, because they have ties to every group that's been there, going back to the Egyptians and earlier. I might just like this because it's neat.

* Do The Numbers refer to the Valenzetti Equation or the final six Candidates? Or both? And how are they related? Is it mere coincidence (?!) or fate that the final six Candidates are assigned the same numbers that appear in the Valenzetti Equation? And if it's the latter, how does that compromise Jacob's whole 'i want you to have a choice' speech, or diminish the centuries-long process of finding a suitable replacement and watching most of the Candidates die in the process?
-Both, but it's not coincidence or fate - Valenzetti was just a sensitive, or a psychic, or a genius mathematician or thought he was predicting the date of the end of the world, but was actually predicting those who would save it! Crazy Shit Abounds. Though, maybe he got the date right too - anyone know if it coincides with the Island-events of the finale?

Shlomo said...

I said it on Geoff's blog, but i'll say it again: my number one unresolved issue is the cabin. It was so random at the time, and never really was dealt with. I didnt expect an explanantion--just a call back.

2 - Walt - got no callback

3 - Eloise - she did get a callback. but she never got tied ot anyhting...

neilshyminsky said...

James:

I think that the questions which i put in category 2 - the bomb, Desmond missing the numbers, etc. - probably COULD be answered, but that any answer would be spoil the fun a bit. (Just as we don't NEED to know what, say, Bill Murray says to Scarlett Johansson at the end of Lost in Translation.) Which isn't to say that we shouldn't try to guess - we should, and that's the whole fun of these particular questions. And spelling out a single, authoritative answer would ruin that fun.

Also? I think it's indicative of the larger problem we're working against when you have to resort to 'Crazy Shit Abounds!' so often. Which is not to say that it's an invalid response, but that, ideally, 'Crazy Shit Abounds!' should only be an acceptable response to, say, the first two categories of questions. :)

And what's this about the boat firing on Sawyer's boat being explained on the DVD? Are you speculating, or has this actually been said?

Shlomo:

I'm tempted to move the cabin into the last, and most important, category for this reason. It was made to seem super-important, but then was never heard from again aside from Horace's ghost(?) claiming to be building it. And you're right - we didn't need an explanation, just a call-back.

But if it was just going to get a call-back like Eloise got - one that clarifies nothing, that prompts more and bigger questions even as the series is ending - then maybe we're better off.

James said...

Neil: In the official podcasts for this season, Damon and Carlton said that some details would be explained in DVD extras if they didn't find a way to fit them into the remaining episodes. I think the only one they specifically name-checked was the continuing Dharma Drops, but they promised Alan Sepinwall that they knew who was in the attacking outrigger, so I think there's a good chance they'll address that too.

Crazy Shit Abounds is my way of allowing for supernatural elements not directly related to the Island. There's an argument against that, for sure, but personally I would have been happy if there was never a suggestion as to the origin of Miles's abilities. (For example. Not that I didn't like the suggestion we got.)

Re: The cabin, I don't know if you guys mean you wanted a callback in the finale specifically, but Jacob's Enforcers burned it down at the start of this season*, right? Not particularly illuminating, but if nothing else it would seem to confirm the connection to Smokey.

*Oh god, last season. It really is over. Tear.

neilshyminsky said...

You're right - there was a call-back to the cabin when Ilana's group clearly identified it as being bad. So I guess that's something of an answer, then - the cabin probably belonged to the Man in Black. I'm not sure that it really hangs together, on the whole collection of evidence, but that's something, I guess.

The Dharma Drops should probably be noted, somewhere in my list, too.

What was the explanation for Miles' abilities? I don't even remember. I guess I found it so unnecessary to explain that it hadn't even occurred to me to ask.

James said...

No explanation at such, but the reveal that he spent time on the Island as a baby seemed to point in the direction of that maybe being a cause.

The cabin stuff doesn't hang together at all, really. Illana and co. say it was Jacob's cabin but that someone else had been using it, we saw Christian in there and it was surrounded by ash - Smokey, Smokey, Smokey, right? Only: Smokey never seems to have been trapped anywhere, and Ben said the occupant hated technology (which is borne out by the reaction to Locke's torch). And he sure didn't hate technology in Across the Sea. Though that's further confused by the fact that Ben said/thought he was describing Jacob...

neilshyminsky said...

Yeah, what the hell were they planning with the whole 'he hates technology' thing? That wasn't paid off at all.