I've got a theory!

[joiedecombat]

It doesn't involve bunnies. At least not directly.

I've become a Lost fan. It's all ahumblepen's fault. This is my first experience in a twisty complicated backstory fandom, so those of you who've covered this kind of ground already with other fandoms don't get to point and laugh. Too much.

So, I have a theory. Or, well, the beginnings of a theory. It doesn't lead much of anywhere yet, but I have hopes.

Spoilers and a lot of disjointed text beneath the cut.


Italics denote something which may be coincidental, intended only for purposes of character development, unconfirmed second-hand information, or otherwise lacking any further significance to the Big Picture.

1) Suggestions of conspiracy:
- every episode has a number of flashbacks showing the characters before the crash, which suggests that where and what they came from and how they ended up on the flight is as important as what they do on the island.
- the flashbacks establish various degrees of overlap from one character's backstory to another.
- the degree to which odd coincidences played a part in causing the main characters to be on flight 815, and the idea that so many people with such complicated and interconnected backstories, approaches the level of contrivance, which in turn suggests that they were brought together on the flight on purpose somehow.
- repeated instances of psychic phenomena occur in the characters' histories and/or take place on the island after the crash. More on that in a bit.
- the numbers are also repeated all over the characters' backstories. A bit more on that later too.
- at least five vessels purportedly wrecked onto the island (Flight 815, Desmond's vessel, Rousseau's ship, the smugglers' plane, and the Black Rock). I say "purportedly" because I'm willing to consider the possibility that the smugglers' plane and the Black Rock were deliberately placed. In any case, flight 815's radio went out during their flight, prompting them to change course; Rousseau says that her ship's instruments also went out and contributed to their crash.
- interception and destruction of Michael's raft, and the fact that the current then brought Michael, Sawyer, and Jin right back to the island (although the latter could have been more coincidental).
- presence of the Dharma Initiative's stations on the island, and the fact that Dharma's areas of study include meteorology, psychology, parapsychology, zoology and electromagnetism, and the fact that B. F. Skinner is counted as an influence on Dharma's founders. Dharma logos appear on the shark which Sawyer and Michael encounter, and on the Mega Lotto Jackpot site.
- a whole bunch of numbers also appear, unsurprisingly, on the Mega Lotto Jackpot site, including 108 and 815.
- the appearance of the numbers and a Sekrit Message on the Oceanic Airlines website. The upper part of the sekrit message - the bit of text that's visible poking out from under the closing notice panel - reads, "If anyone should find this message, please get word I'm alive and stranded on an island somewhere in the South Pacific. Please send help soon. Things are bad. And they're getting worse... Sally."
- the "quarantine" printed on the inside of the hatch to keep Desmond inside Swan Station, and Desmond's assumption that people not quarantined would start getting sick; the lack of information from Dharma regarding what will happen if the sequence isn't executed every 108 minutes, and the fact that in spite of the lack of info Desmond felt it important enough that he drove himself batty keeping up with the sequence until he assumed the computer was broken and fled in a panic.
- the Others seem to be abducting children.
- the unusual changing of the tide submerging the plane wreckage and forcing the Lostaways to move up the beach, which I'm told isn't necessarily unnatural for Hawaii in winter, so maybe it's not part of the conspiracy after all.
- polar bears on a tropical island? Polar bears also appear in the comic which Hurley brought on the plane and which Walt later found, and when Walt was a child, Michael gave him a stuffed polar bear.
- Lostzilla sounds mechanical or partly mechanical, and Rousseau calls it a "security system."

1b) May or may not be connected to Dharma/the conspiracy:
- Mr. Paik, Sun's father. He sent Jin to deliver watches to his associates in Sydney and LA. ahumblepen thinks this is a euphemism for assassinating them, but there definitely is an actual watch, which has been a plot point once or twice.
- Nadia, who according to the CIA people Sayid worked with is currently working as a lab technician in a medical testing facility in Irvine, CA.
- the original Sawyer.
- Hibbs, the guy who sent Sawyer to Australia to kill Frank Duckett by convincing him that Duckett was the original Sawyer.
- the psychic who convinced Claire to fly to LA.

2) General weird science:
- all that paranormal/psychic stuff
- the Dharma Institute and its stations, particularly Swan Station and its connection to...
- the magnetic/electromagnetic anomaly on the island which causes Locke's compass to read incorrectly and makes Desmond's "fillings hurt." Which could just be a big damn electromagnet put in there to help convince the poor schucks in Swan Station that not entering the code every 108 minutes would be Really Bad.
- the polar bears and the shark
- Lostzilla. Rose, from the Bronx, claims the noise Lostzilla makes sounds familiar "I know that sound. From home," but that she can't place it. (Pilot, and thanks to ahumblepen for pointing that out to me.)
- the "sickness" mentioned by Rousseau and Desmond


3) Breakdown by character.

Jack Shephard:
Chose to work on Sarah rather than Adam Rutherford, who was pronounced dead at 8:15. (Man of Science, Man of Faith)
Married Sarah, whose ability to walk he "miraculously" saved after her car wreck. They are no longer married, but we do not yet know how the marriage ended. (All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues; Man of Science, Man of Faith)
Met Desmond while Desmond was training for "a race around the world." Desmond demonstrated possible psychic ability ("You have to lift it up.") (Man of Science, Man of Faith)
Saw visions of his dead father while under the influence of exhaustion and possibly dehydration; those visions led him to some of the plane's wreckage, including his father's empty casket, and then to the caves with the fresh water he was looking for. (Walkabout; White Rabbit)
"Miraculously" resuscitated Rose (Pilot) and Charlie (All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues)
Shephard -> shepherd -> leader/caretaker.
Went to Australia looking for his father, who he learned had died, supposedly of a heart attack brought on by excessive drinking. Was bringing his father's body back to the US. Nearly not allowed on flight 815 due to issues regarding transporting the body, but he convinced the airline staff to allow him on. (White Rabbit; Exodus)
4: on Sarah's shirt (Do No Harm), Jack plays key B4 on the piano (Do No Harm)
16: four fours on Sarah's shirt (Do No Harm)
23: Christian's watch (All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues), Jack's seat 23B (Exodus)

Kate Austen:
On the tape in the time capsule she and Tom made she refers obliquely to something which makes her want to run away as soon as she can drive. (Born to Run)
The time capsule included a toy airplane of Tom's which strongly resembles an Oceanic airliner. Although Kate left it behind when Tom was injured, she's repeatedly gone to great lengths to get it back. (Born to Run; Whatever the Case May Be)
Already a fugitive before Tom's death; he helped her visit her mother, Diane Jansen, who was dying of cancer, but Diane seemed afraid of Kate. (Born to Run)
On the plane after her capture, being brought back to the US by Marshal Shrapnel (ha ha. His name's actually Edward Mars). (Tabula Rasa; Exodus)
15: years the time capsule was buried (Born to Run), 1:50 on the clock in tom's kitchen (Born to Run)
23: $23,000 reward for her capture (Tabula Rasa)
815: time capsule buried 8/15 (Born to Run), on a bat next to the plane in Tom's car (Born to Run), safe deposit box the plane was in (Tabula Rasa), on boots she took from plane crash victim (Pilot)

James "Sawyer" Ford:
Met Jack's father in a bar in Australia; Christian talked about the situation between himself and Jack and encouraged Sawyer to complete the "business" that brought him to Australia, prompting him to go back and shoot Frank Duckett. (Outlaws)
Second main character to hear the "whispers," after Sayid; he hears them say, "It'll come back around," Frank Duckett's last words. (Outlaws)
Dreams about his mother's murder and his father's suicide; in the dream, his father becomes the boar he believes is out to get him, and he again hears "It'll come back around."
His voice is the only thing that will make Aaron stop crying when Claire's not around, but that could have just been meant for comedy.
On the plane due to being deported because he head-butted the Australian Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries in a bar fight; he'd traveled to Australia in pursuit of the real Sawyer, having been misdirected toward Frank Duckett by Hibbs. (Outlaws, Exodus)
15: on the whiskey bottle he and Christian Shephard share (Outlaws)
16: $160,000 mentioned as part of his con; June 16 on poster in pool hall (Confidence Man)
23: May 23 on poster in pool hall (Confidence Man)
42: the numbers on the balls on the pool table add up to 42 (Confidence Man)

John Locke:
Often associated with games - backgammon (Pilot, et al), Risk (Walkabout), Mousetrap (Deus Ex Machina), and Operation (Exodus), and has worked in a toy store (Deus Ex Machina)
His mother claimed that he was part of a greater plan and that he was immaculately conceived, but later claimed it was part of a plan on the part of Anthony Cooper, Locke's real father, to manipulate Locke into donating a kidney to Cooper. (Deus Ex Machina)
Miraculously cured of his paraplegia after the crash. (Walkabout)
Has had at least one prophetic dream, involving the smugglers' plane and Boone's death. (Deus Ex Machina)
Convinced that he has a destiny and that the island is miraculous, and therefore most willing to go along with what's happening on the island rather than struggling against it. He ascribes mystical powers and perhaps even a consciousness to the island, and believes this to be a positive thing.
John Locke -> social contract philosopher who dealt with the relationship between nature and civilization, and believed that all men were born with a "tabula rasa" or "clean slate."
Traveled to Australia to take part in a walkabout but was denied participation when the company staging the walkabout learned of his paraplegia; the company arranged for him to fly back to the US. (Walkabout; Exodus)
4: years spent paralyzed (Walkabout); times Boone says "Theresa falls up the stairs, Theresa falls down the stairs" in Locke's dream (Deus Ex Machina); number on machine he was hooked to after kidney operation (Deus Ex Machina); on his watch (White Rabbit)
15: his mother born Oct. 15 (Deus Ex Machina)
815: says footballs are in aisles 8 and 15 in the toy store (Deus Ex Machina

Charlie Pace:
It's awfully convenient that after the heroin addict goes cold turkey, they find a plane full of heroin on the island. Especially iven that Charlie is (or was) Catholic and the heroin was being smuggled in figurines of the Virgin Mary. Just sayin'.
Miraculously resuscitated by Jack (All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues)
Went to Australia to ask his brother Liam to join him for a comeback tour for Drive Shaft. Liam refused, so Charlie headed for LA. (The Moth)
8: weeks Drive Shaft was going to tour (The Moth)
23: his watch after Aaron was kidnapped (Exodus)
815: model of the copier Charlie was supposed to sell (Homecoming), tattoo quotes "Strawberry Fields Forever," track 8 of the Beatles' 15th US album

Sayid Jarrah:
First to hear the "whispers" after escaping Rousseau. (Solitary)
Went to Australia to infiltrate a terrorist cell and recover stolen C4 in return for information on Nadia's whereabouts from the CIA. They arranged for his flight to LA, but he asked them to delay it a day in order for him to arrange for a proper Muslim burial for Essam, whose death he inadvertently brought about. (The Greater Good)
4: C4 (The Greater Good)
15: 10:15 on his watch when he gives Michael the radar (Exodus)
42: on his watch (Pilot)
815: on the door of a building he walks past (The Greater Good)

Claire Littleton:
Used to be into astrology, and offered to do a chart for Kate early on. (White Rabbit)
Met Richard Malkin, a psychic, after she became pregnant; he had a strong premonition and insisted that Claire must be directly involved in raising her child, that her goodness would be necessary for the child and that danger would surround him. Malkin likely knew that the plane was going to crash, but did not indicate this to Claire. (Raised By Another)
Correctly intuited, in the midst of her great relief that the baby was okay, that the baby was a boy. (Pilot)
Had at least one unusual/prophetic dream involving her child; wrote in her diary of a recurring dream she was having. (Raised By Another, Special)
Was attacked in the night, or dreamed she was being attacked, involving something being injected into her unborn child (Raised By Another)
Didn't name her baby until, while shouting at Charlie and Sayid about his kidnapping, she spontaneously called him Aaron. (Exodus)
Wears a pendant in the shape of the Japanese kanji for "ai," "love."
Flying from Australia to LA at the request of Malkin, who told her a couple there would adopt her baby. (Raised By Another)
4: months Malkin hounded her about not giving up her baby (Raised By Another), planes on the mobile in her dream (Raised By Another)
8: months pregnant when the plane first crashed (Pilot), days missing after she was kidnapped (Raised By Another)

Walt Lloyd:
In flashback, talks about birds and grows angry when his mother and stepfather aren't listening, at which point a bird (possibly the bronze cuckoo he says he "picked") flies into a window and is killed. (Special)
His mother died of an unspecified "blood disorder" and was only sick for about a week. (Special)
When Michael tells Walt he will find the dog as soon as it stops raining, the rain immediately stops. (Tabula Rasa)
Demonstrates uncanny accuracy with either predicting dice rolls or causing the dice to fall the way he wants, and is generally really good at backgammon.
Tells Locke "don't open it!" and grows distressed about it before anyone but Locke and Boone knew about the hatch or Locke's plans to open it. ahumblepen reminded me that this happens after Walt and Locke made skin to skin contact for the first time since Locke's discovery of the hatch. (Born to Run)
His stepfather tells Michael that "things happen" around Walt, and seems unnerved by him. (Special)
Attacked by a polar bear shortly after Michael burned the comic which depicted a polar bear prominently on one of the pages. (Special) Shortly before Susan took Walt to Rome, Michael gave him a stuffed polar bear. (Adrift)
Burned the first raft because he didn't want to leave the island, but when Michael later told him "we don't have to leave," Walt replied, "Yes we do."
Kidnapped by four people on a boat who intercepted and destroyed the raft - his kidnapping was predicted by Rousseau, who heard the "whispers" say they were "coming for the boy." (Exodus)
Appeared to Shannon after his kidnapping, and says "Don't push the button, the button is bad," in reversed audio. (Man of Science, Man of Faith)
Lived in Australia with his mother and adopted father; was flying back to the US with Michael following his mother's death and Michael's regaining of custody. (Special; Exodus)
8: born in August (?)
23: his row on the plane (Exodus)

Michael Dawson:
No real wackiness yet, but he is Walt's father.
8: years since he was hit by the car (Special)
23: Jin's watch when Michael gives it back (House of the Rising Sun), 5:23 on the clock in his hotel room (Exodus), sitting in row 23 on the flight (Exodus), Flatiron Building on 23rd St. inspired him to take up art (?)
42: nurse's watch in hospital (Special)

Hugo "Hurley" Reyes:
People around him began experiencing improbable bad luck after he won the lottery using the numbers 4 8 15 16 23 42.
- his grandfather suddenly died during an interview with news crews
- lightning struck the priest at his grandfather's funeral
- his brother lost his wife to another woman
- his mother broke her ankle when he took her to see her new house
- the house caught on fire immediately afterward
- Hurley was mistakenly arrested for drug dealing while the house burned
- his previous place of employment, Mr. Cluck's Chicken Shack, was smashed by a meteorite.
- sneaker company he owned burned and 80 people died.
Events such as the false arrest and the burning of the factory resulted in financial ain for Hurley, but he believes the numbers are cursed. (However, we don't see this bad luck in action all the time... mostly just in his flashbacks.) (Numbers)
Now owns the company Locke worked for. (?)
Improbable luck nearly caused him to miss the flight from Australia to LA - a fuse blew in his hotel room & caused him to miss the alarm, his car died, etc. (Exodus) Considering that Hurley's "jinx" is shown to be bad luck for everyone but him... hm.
Went to Australia to find out the origin of the numbers & speak to Sam Toomey; was flying back to LA for his mother's birthday, which made it important for him to catch flight 815. (Exodus)
8: 8:23 on his watch (Pilot), news station at the TV interview (Numbers)
16: weeks since the lottery had last been won (Numbers), leaves his mother $160,000,000 (Exodus), pays $1600 for a scooter to get to the plane on time (Exodus)
23: 8:23 on his watch (Pilot), his hotel room is on floor 23 (Exodus)
42: hotel room number 2342 (Exodus), wins $114,000,000 & is now worth $156,000,000, a gain of $42,000,000 (Numbers)
In addition to these, when Hurley's car dies en route to the airport, the dash display shows 16 kph drop to 15 kph to 8 kph to 4 kph, and also displays 42 km and 23 degrees C. (Exodus)

Jin & Sun Kwon:
Nothing too abnormal yet, aside from their association with Mr. Paik and Jin's instructions to deliver the watch in LA. Unless, of course, "deliver the watch" means "kill him," as ahumblepen thinks.
Jin's getting pretty good at understanding English, though? Maybe just total immersion at work.
Sun's skills with herbalism and as a medical assistant to Jack have also been extremely handy...
Flew to Sydney to deliver one watch & presumably did so; were then flying to LA to deliver the other. And why would you send two people who don't speak English to Australia and America on business? Um. (...In Translation; Exodus)
4: on paper Jin's friend is reading (...And Found)
8: on paper Jin's friend is reading (...And Found)
15: Sun was supposed to run away from the airport at 11:15 (...In Translation), 11:15 on Sun's watch at the (other) airport (Exodus), 11:15 on Sun's watch when she gives Jin the English guide (Exodus) Either 11:15 is particularly significant to Sun or the prop watch doesn't actually work.
16: on paper Jin's friend is reading (...And Found)
23: Mr. Paik's watch (...In Translation)

Boone Carlyle:
His drug-induced vision was probably not prophetic/psychic, but worth a mention. (Hearts & Minds)
Crossed paths with Sawyer in the Australian police station. (Hearts & Minds)
Says he took out his frustrations about his mother's absence on his nanny, Theresa, who died falling down the stairs while coming to answer his summons. (Deus Ex Machina)
Flew to Australia to "rescue" Shannon from an "abusive" boyfriend, a situation cooked up by shannon to get attention from him and money from his mother. (Hearts & Minds)
Boone is now, of course, really most sincerely dead, after Locke's vision led them to the smugglers' plane and the plane fell from the tree canopy while Boone was trying to radio for help. (His transmission probably actually reached the tail-section survivors.)
4: aces on his shirt, times he says "Theresa falls..." etc in Locke's dream (Deus Ex Machina), in Chinese on another of his shirts
8: in Chinese (with the number 4) on his shirt

Shannon Rutherford:
Having visions of Walt since his kidnapping. (Man of Science, Man of Faith; ?)
Her father may have been the other driver in the accident which nearly crippled Jack's future wife (Man of Science, Man of Faith) - he is confirmed to be dead (Hearts and Minds)
Walt entrusted Vincent the dog to her when he left on the raft (Exodus)
Flying back to the US with Boone after her schemes in Australia fell apart. (Hearts and Minds)
No numbers that I know of, except that Adam Rutherford died at 8:15.

Rose:
Is correctly certain that her husband, Bernard, is alive (he turns out to be with the tail-section survivors) against all odds.

Danielle Rousseau:
Has been hearing the "whispers" for years (Solitary), and hears them say they are "coming for the boy" shortly before Walt's kidnapping. (Exodus)
Killed her husband and at least four other members of her expedition because she believed they was sick - apparently sabotaged Robert's rifle to keep him from killing her first.
Her daughter(?) Alex was born on the island and stolen by the Others, according to Rousseau.
Wrote the numbers repeatedly on her notes, along with repetitions of the lyrics to "La Mer" Haven't yet determined if the music box Sayid repairs for her also plays "La Mer" - if it does, that might explain the lyrics.
15: members of her expedition
16: years she's been on the island
42: number of numbers on her papers (seven rows of six)

Desmond:
Met Jack around the time Jack was first operating on Sarah. Demonstrated potential clairvoyance with his "lift it up" comment.
Has twice told Jack, "See you in another life."
Crashed on the island during his race around the world. Taken in by Kelvin, who at that time occupied Swan Station, and assisted there until Kelvin died and left him to maintain the counter alone.
Stranded on the island for three years.

Mr. Eko:
Mr. Eko -> Mr. Echo -> Mr. E -> Mystery. Ha ha ha.


4) More numbers! God, I hate these numbers.
4 8 15 16 23 42
The sum of that string is 108, the number of minutes used in the counter in Swan Station.
4:00 on the clock in the cockpit (Pilot)
48 original survivors, not including the pilot, Turbine Man, or Ethan Rom
44 survivors at the end of season 1 (including Aaron Littleton)
8 deaths in season 1 (Turbine Man, the pilot, Marshal Shrapnel, Joanna, Scott Jackson, Ethan Rom, Boone, and Leslie Arzt)
23 original tail-section survivors. We see five later on, and it's implied that possibly all 16 of the other tailaways are now dead.
either 40, 44, or 48 days from the pilot episode to the season 1 finale. I forget which. Something like that.
Flight 815 left from gate 23 at 2:15 and was scheduled to arrive in LA at 10:42
42 rows on the plane
8 + 15 = 23
And lots more at The LOST Numbers that I'm not even bothering with, because most of them seem to be too much of a stretch.

5) Other themes, points of interest, and/or sources of amusement:

Black and White. Explaining backgammon to Walt, Locke says, "Two players, two sides - one is light, one is dark," and holds up a white and a black piece from the backgammon set. Later, when Jack discovers the caves and the two bodies laid to rest there, he finds a pouch with one white and one black stone, which he hides from Locke. In Claire's nightmare in Raised By Another, she sees Locke with one eye solid white and the other solid black. If Locke's speech and the echoing of that theme are meant to suggest that two "sides" are in action on the island, are the Lostaways the "light" side or are they caught between two sides? If the former, we can only assume that the Others are directly connected with the Dharma Initiative... if the latter, it may mean that Dharma and the Others are separate groups, or that there's someone else exerting some influence on the island.

Eyes. The first shot of the series is a close-up of Jack's eye, and similar shots are used to open other episodes. In addition to Locke's eyes appearing strangely in Claire's nightmare, Locke also has a scar over his face crossing his right eye, and in Locke's dream Boone's eyes appear milky when he's shown covered in blood (which could just be meant to indicate the cloudiness of a corpse's eyes). Charlie's tattoo reads, "Living is easy with eyes closed," and the rest of that lyric is "misunderstanding all you see."
Eyes -> sight -> clairvoyance?
Probably not relevant, but amusing anyhow: Jack diagnoses Sawyer with "hyperopia," and reading glasses are improvised for him. Nowhere are the other definitions of "farsighted" particularly indicated as being applicable to Sawyer and he hasn't displayed any kind of psychic ability, but he has made comments about "the big picture" on a few occasions, and was one of the first people to look at the situation on the island with an eye towards having to be there a while... (He also wore a pair of girly orange sunglasses with rhinetones on at one point, which I mention not because it's related but because it amuses me deeply.)

All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues. ...and so, apparently, does everyone else on this show. Jack's relationship with his father is given quite a bit of screen time. Sawyer's father murdered his mother and committed suicide in the room where Sawyer was hiding under the bed. Locke's father conned him into donating a kidney, then betrayed him. Michael is struggling to be a good father after being absent from Walt's life for the past eight years at least. Sun's father is a criminal and destructive force. Jin's father was loving and supportive, but Jin's shame over his humble origins caused him to claim that his father was dead. The father of Claire's baby left her in the first trimester because he couldn't deal with the responsibility. Hurley's father is nonpresent. Boone's father is not mentioned but presumably either dead or otherwise separated from his mother. Shannon's father is dead. Kate claims her father was in the military and taught her to track, but who believes anything Kate says? In any case, he's yet to appear in any flashbacks. And Rousseau killed the father of her child.

Redemption. The original main characters of the show include two bona fide criminals, a former soldier/former torturer who unintentionally provoked a friend to suicide, a heroin addict, a man dragged unwillingly into playing a part in organized crime, a girl with a penchant for conning her stepbrother, a guy who lusts after and recently slept with his stepsister, and at least two other people packing some major guilt. Some of their issues have been resolved, and some haven't, but... yeah.

Resuscitation. I dunno, it just seems like there's been a whole lot of resuscitating going on, what with Jack resuscitating Rose and Charlie, and Sawyer resuscitating Michael, and Sun working her herbalist mojo to help Shannon get over her asthma.

Watership Down. Hell of a book. It's about bunnies! ...more specifically, a group of rabbits who must find and establish a new home, by way of a lot of innovating. A primary motivating force in the book and one of the main protagonists is Fiver, a young and physically weak rabbit with clairvoyant abilities. The protagonists run afoul of two other societies of rabbits - one group being farmed and exploited by humans, the other oppressively militaristic.
The book (I have a copy from the same printing, hee) was originally in Boone's luggage, but like so many other objects it ended up in Sawyer's possession after the crash, and he was shown reading it on several occasions.

A Wrinkle In Time. And speaking of Sawyer's reading material, after he got done with Watership Down he switched to A Wrinkle In Time, because my TV boyfriend has good taste in books. Or something. In any case, A Wrinkle In Time also has paranormal/psychic abilities as part of its plot, in addition to weird science and so understated religion mixed in. The story follows a clairvoyant and startlingly emotionally mature boy genius, his math genius of a sister, and a nice kid with a really dysfunctional home life as they get themselves lost playing around with the laws of time and space in search of the geniuses' father, who got himself lost by playing around with the laws of time and space as part of an official experiment years ago. The major antagonist is a giant hateful disembodied brain named IT, and IT rules a planet where everything is all totalitarian and strictly controlled and hay guys, I think I'm seeing a theme here, are you?

6) Dangling threads:
- What happened to Jack's marriage?
- What was Kate's original crime? What happened as a kid that made her talk about running away on the time capsule tape?
- Who's the real Sawyer? (Dollars to donuts he turns up on the island.)
- How'd Locke get paralyzed?
- Where'd the dead bodies in the caves come from? And while we're at it, what about the doll that was in the water in the caves? Not to mention the white and black stones in the pouch in the caves with the dead bodies.
- What's the "sickness" that Rousseau and Desmond are on about? (Judging from the way Rousseau talks, I'm guessing it's less an ebola kind of sickness and more of a crazy kind of sickness.)
- What's up with the watches Jin was supposed to deliver? (Unless, of course, "deliver this watch" is Korean for "kill this guy.")


Ever get the feeling you're putting way more thought into a work of fiction than its actual creative team? Yeah. But it's fun.

And ingenius, you have to admit. Scatter weirdassed clues, sketch in enough connections to make it seem like There's A Plan, work in some mathematics, and watch the fans go apeshit trying to figure out the Deeper Significance of every last little thing. It's like a jigsaw puzzle, but one of those zillion-piece puzzles where they put extra pieces into the box just to be jerks. And no edge pieces.

Also, Sawyer is totally my new TV boyfriend. Absolutely nobody is surprised.

Comments

[ahumblepen.livejournal.com]

And no edge pieces.

Seems I've heard this phrase before. Only... in character.

Ah, how Seravina's plots have conditioned me to want to see SOMETHING IN EVERYTHING.

[funwithrage.livejournal.com]

I need to see this.


Amusingly enough, the *first* reccomendation I got for this show came from someone here, who said it was "...Aralis the TV show," Aralis being the soul-sucking boffer LARP in which a group of disparate individuals crashed on a weird island of weird weirdness.


We ended up being in the prison of the evil god, where our surffering was supposed to strengthen the guardian of said prison, which was a creepy undead spider demon thing. I don't so much predict that this parallel will continue. ;)