A show like Lost is not merely as good as the questions it poses, but in the answers it delivers. As I mentioned last week, having 48 final episodes gives the show ample time and structure in which to slowly answer the dozens (if not more) of lingering questions that it's posed during the first three seasons. Not only can the creative staff of Lost effectively answer these questions, but they can effectively plan exactly WHEN to answer these questions as well.

Structurally, this is key, since the show can now plot out its narrative signposts with incredible efficiency. By "signposts," I mean seminal events such as the discovery of the hatch, the kidnapping of Walt, the clock in the Pearl going to zero...major narrative points that mark a large step towards to ultimate end game of the show. A lot of Season 2's meandering-in-place (the first five episodes covered something like 12 hours of island time, seemingly, and threatened to turn the show into a sci-fi version of 24) showed just how much this show suffered with an open-ended series run. While answered have been plenty (and plenty satisfying) in the episodes since, I am optimistic that the show's recent series of mind-blowing reveals will continue in Season 4.

That being said, it's naïve to expect the BIG answers this season. Questions which answer the true nature of the island, the true nature of Smokey, the true identity of Jacob: these will be slow-burning mysteries that will last from the very first shot of Jack Shepard's eye to the series finale. So let's put those aside and pose four mysteries could be potentially solved during next season's 16-episode run.

Who are the Island's "natives"?

We long thought of The Others as natives on the island. (OK, I did. Maybe you were much smarter than I.) Slowly we learned that The Others were an amalgam of ex-members of the Dharma Initiative and scientists seemingly sympathetic to/entrapped by the whims of Benjamin Linus. But then, in "The Man Behind the Curtain," a ten-year Benjamin Linus encounters Richard Alpert, who for all intents and purposes looked EXACTLY THE SAME AGE as he does today. He's not a member of the Dharma Initiative, he's not been recruited by the Island by Ben: he just...is. And while Ben has aged in the time since that fateful encounter, Richard's essentially gotten a hair cut and called it an infinity. Why hasn't he aged? How long has he been on the Island? Is he a citizen of the people who built the four-toed statue? And why do Ben and Locke's communions with the island hold so much sway with them?

What does it mean to hold "communion" with the island?

Ben Linus uses the word "communion" to describe Locke's relationship to the Island, a relationship that dissolved as Locke holed himself inside the Pearl during Season 2 and grew ever stronger during Season 3, a relationship so strong that Locke essentially had room for no one in his life but the Island itself. How does the island "speak" to Locke? And moreover, how can Walt seemingly use the island to communicate with people on it? While the Walt we saw at the end of Season 3 may in fact be the real, flesh-and-blood Walt, he appeared several times to Shannon (and at least once to Sayid). Does this communion that these two share have anything to do with the whispering voices that often appear at moments of crisis? (Check out this British promotional video for Season 1, and see how Walt and Locke are portrayed. Very eeeenteresting.)

Why was Desmond sent to the Island?

It's my firm believe that Charles Widmore, father of Penelope Widmore, sent Desmond to the Island as a way to kill two birds with one stone: he could temporarily separate a man he loathed from the daughter he loved, and also plant someone on the Island who could eventually effect a way to achieve Widmore's endgame: control of the Island. (I dare you to look at the painting in Widmore's office and tell me he doesn't know what's going on on the Island. I double dare you. I Vincent double dare you.)

Widmore thus hired Libby, in my theory, to "accidentally" run into Desmond, sell him the boat for the around-the-world race, and essentially manufactured the storm which blew Desmond off course, and directly into the "black hole," for lack of a better term, of the Island. Widmore knows approximately where the Island is, thanks to his relationship to the Hanso Foundation, but knows how difficult it is to get on and off the island (information essentially lost after "The Purge"). Is Desmond bait? What purpose does he serve in the overall narrative? And did turning the failsafe key play into Widmore's hands or in fact counter every plan he had made?

How can someone manufacture a storm?

Darn good question, and one I hope you all asked yourself when I posed in in the previous paragraph. Do me a favor: think back at all the times it suddenly and violently rained on the Island, and how these moments almost always seem to punctuate extreme emotion on the part of the people in the vicinity. Then please consider how meteorology is one of the branches studied by The Dharma Initiative as part of their interdisciplinary approach to saving the world from the Valenzetti Equation. Then please consider that a freak storm just happened to affect only one participant in an around-the-world race. Then please tell me if you still think Desmond arrived on the Island by chance. And then tell me: who or what makes it rain on the Island? 

Those are my four burning questions I believe will be answered this year. But Lord knows there are dozens more to be answered. So, drop your burning questions below. The best will get full treatment in future entries on this blog!

Ryan also posts every 108 minutes over at Boob Tube Dude.

Comments

I think your Desmond question(s) will likely be a major storyline this year. It could in fact be the biggest line of the year - well, I'm including everything like who is on the ship off shore as part of this line. I think that it will be the dominant storyline of the year and could in fact be answered this year.

Rishi | Oct 22, 2007 6:54:00 PM | #

---

Hey lol I noticed that a year back when I saw that thier orchestrating the thing? are at least a a higer power... are somthing like that Man I love this show.. this blog and many others that are going to get me though the colder nights untill Febuary I cant wait for December season 3..

Tyson | Oct 22, 2007 11:36:11 PM | #

---

I also Think LIBBY will be revealed this season and what her character is about. Also Most defently the Frech Woman Danielle now that shes in the forefront I think she will get a flashback and shes still much of a mystery. now that her child has returned to her she will start to open up.

Tyson | Oct 22, 2007 11:39:34 PM | #

---

i would love to find out more about Desmonds "flashes." i wonder if we will find out that something got changed when he flashed back to to jewelery store and didn't play by the script.

mri | Oct 23, 2007 7:50:56 AM | #

---

I definately agree with your island and desmond theory! And thinking about it, widmore and the monks (were desmond was) have some sort of relationship, and desmonds photo is on the monks desk, is penny bait, but falls for him? Could the monks be something to do with the island? Maybe funding the dharma group?? Oooh! I love a mystery!

jo | Nov 6, 2007 4:36:02 AM | #

---

One thing that did stand out upon re-watching the La Chappelle promo: Why is Boone dancing with Claire and not Charlie? Can you imagine the way things might have turned out if they went in that direction? Dominic Monaghan could now be the one baring it all on "Tell Me You Love Me". I know that not everybody loved Charlie but I believe we have been spared......

D | Nov 6, 2007 5:00:49 AM | #

---

Post a comment

Name:
Email Address:	optional
URL:	optional
Comments: