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Twitter'Lost': Break on through to the other side
We're just 72 hours away from brand spankin' new Lost. If you're like me, you've been making the usual preparations. Turning off the cellphones. Stocking up on Cheetos and Red Bull. Saying goodbye to loved ones. They'll understand, and if they won't, I'm sure their lawyers will. I asked my wife to verify this theory, but she's too busy packing and cursing my existence at the current moment.
(Actually, I lucked out: she's as into the show as I am, thank God. She's even working with me on a special project that I hope to unleash sooner rather than later for you all, based on recent comment craziness provided by you all.)
I've stayed spoiler-free during the interim, as I hope you have. And if you haven't, for the love of all that's Dharma do NOT drop spoilers on the unsuspecting masses below. We're all about spoiler-free enjoyment of the show here. If you can't keep a secret, make like Bastian in The Neverending Story and scream and and all spoilers into a driving rainstorm from atop the rickety roof of a nearby bookstore. You'll get it off your chest, and none of us will be able to understand a single word you say. We good? Good.
The only thing I've seen pertaining to new Lost is the official, ABC-produced trailer for this week's episode, "The Shape of Things to Come." So it's not spoiler-tastic so much as "OMIGOD THURSDAY NEEDS TO BE HERE NOW!" And the thing that tickled my fancy isn't all the explode-y action, nor the shout-y Jack, but the creep-y door that Ben pushes about sixteen seconds into the promo, embedded below.
Well, slap my face and walk like an Egyptian: those look like some hieroglyphics, people! Last time we saw those on Lost, the Swan was imploding much like Nomar Garciaparra's joint tissue. Those five hieroglyphics spelled out "underworld," and hinted at a larger mythology/history to the Island that preceded even the arrival of the Black Rock. And now, we're seeing Ben Linus pushing what looks to be a heavy door just brimming with similar symbols.
Now, what could this possibly mean? Where does this door lead? Why is Ben opening it? Three excellent questions, people. Glad you asked. Because I don't exactly know, but I have a few theories. Four, in fact. I was going to spout out five, but five isn't one of The Numbers. (That, and I got stuck coming up with a fifth theory.) On with the possibilities!
#1) It leads to a place 32 miles outside of Portland, Oregon.
Theory: While the specific location may be off, this is simply a larger version of the pneumatic tubes in the Pearl, leading a person swiftly from the Island to a location in the real world.
Why this could be it: We've long wondered just how The Others go to and from the Island so mysteriously and efficiently. We've also wondered just how ancient civilizations accessed the Island in the days before submarines. This door could be the answer, accessed sporadically throughout time and currently exploited by Ben.
Why this is absolutely impossible: If so, there wouldn't be an Oceanic 6, there would be an Oceanic 38 Plus a Whole Host of Others. This is both unlikely make for less effective marketing. Swag for Oceanic 38 Plus a Whole Host of Others would be IMPOSSIBLE to design.
#2) It leads to the underground vents mentioned in the Dharma manuals.
Theory: Per Zap2It reader Jeff, this door could be an entry point into the vast underground passages that pervade the Island, leading Team Locke not off the Island but simply to another part of the Island undetected.
Why this could be it: We've seen the use of subterfuge by The Others in the past. (I'm looking at you, Fake Hatch from the End of Season 2.) While the door looks authentically ancient, it easily could be recently made, meant to simply look authentic as well as keep the mechanism for opening it hidden.
Why this is absolutely impossible: Given the surrounding elements (trenchcoats, artificial lighting), it seems odd that the fake wall meant to hide access to these underground vents would look...so...conspicuous. And if it's in fact a real door dating back thousands of years, the Dharma Initiative would not use it in its plans for a vast subterranean tunnel system.
3) This door leads to the oft-mentioned, yet-to-be-seen Temple.
Theory: The door looks authentic and creepy because it's in fact authentic and creepy, leading to an edifice built in the time of the four-toed statue.
Why this could be it: While I have a hard time buying a real door as part of the underground tunnel system, I have an easier time buying that someone built an edifice around the Temple in order to hide it. Why hide it? Maybe it houses the spirits we know as whispers. Maybe it houses Smokey. Maybe it houses Carrot Top. Lots of scary things could be down there, people.
Why this is absolutely impossible: We've seen a Dharma logo next to the "Temple" on Ben's map, which indicates what we thought of as an ancient house of worship is simply the most fortified hatch left. (Meaning, in other words, that Orchid=Temple.) We've learned that it's three floors tall, meaning it's either an underground bunker not unlike the White House, or a 30' edifice used to hurl insults at those below, not unlike the French in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. In either case, even if Dharma itself did not call this station The Temple, it's nonetheless a recently constructed building, not an antique burial ground.
#4) It leads not only to a different place, but a different time.
Theory: This door is the physical embodiment of the promise made once a character named Charlotte Staples Lewis entered the show, providing a conduit not only across space but time as well.
Why this could be it: The aforementioned connection, coupled with the fact that the surrounding elements look like a freaking closet, makes a strong case for this theory. This door could send one through time much in the way that passing through the anomaly surrounding the Island does, while tossing in a little physical teleportation as well. As such, the Orchid Station can be seen as a place to replicate this door in a more controlled and repeatable fashion.
Why this is absolutely impossible: Avril Lavigne might go up to Darlton and ask why they had to go and make things so complicated, and she'd have a good point. Introducing the "Chronic-(what?)-cles of Dharmia" might send the masses away. Even if handled deftly, it's still a crazy out there theory that moved past hard sci-fi into "they're just making this all up, aren't they" territory.
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But hey, I'm only one man. And these are only four theories. So now it's your turn. Which one seems most likely? Least likely? Mix and match them to your liking, or produce original ones yourself below!
Ryan also posts every 108 minutes over at Boob Tube Dude.
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Zap2it Twitter Talk 
Although as a sci-fi junky I'd love for it to be option 4, I'm willing to concede that it is option 2. It seems like the more logical way to hide, at least for now. It seems the method by which the O6 leave may be by way of the Orchid, which may actually have an escape door or gateway of some sort. For now, it seems, they stay on the Island so they are most likely hiding out underground.
Second first comment in a row! YES!
I might be a bad example, but I would like to see Lost exploring the whole time travelling thing. But you're probably right Ryan, that would scare the m***es away. So I have to say that the door leading to the temple is the most likely theory, altough I'd love if it lead to the Orchid ( I know it's impossible, but let me dream).
How could there be an ancient door leading to a temple in the closet of a Dharma built home? Where did Dharma get the door? Was a house built around something else, something originally there before Dharma built New Otherton?
I think Jeff may be right and that the door leads to underground tunnels or "subterrainnean conduits" that the Others used to creep back and forth between stations or that Dharma may have used to escape the hostiles. One of those stations may, indeed, be the Orchid in all it's 3 level glory. I won't deny that the Orchid has something to do with time travel since I've seen the video with Candle, Holowax or whatever parafin related name he goes by.
Ryan, are you saying we've learned the Temple has three floors, or are you implying that the Temple is in fact the Orchid?
Jeff: In my mind, I connected them for that particular theory, but amended the article to explicitly make that connection. Thx for pointing that out.
Well, like I said. It's either
1) The underground conduit system that leads Ben and Locke safely out of the barracks (to me the most logical option if this is the last time we'll be seeing the barracks - might as well reveal all its secrets)
2) Some kind of panic room (boring)
and then there's possibility #3, that no one has mentioned and frankly just popped into my head...
3) What if inside this room is the means to summon and possibly even control (to a degree) the Monster?
Both of the official trailers and the podcast hint that the smoke monster will make it's return in episode 9, and there are a few quick shots of lots of flashes of lightning happening at night (which is the same time we see Ben looking out the window and hearing the sounds of the Monster).
So, what if after a long standoff against the freighter commandos, Ben opens the door to the control room, toggles some switches and we start to hear the unmistakable roar of the Monster. Against the terror of the 815ers, Ben leads them outside to witness the pure carnage Smokie wreaks on the commandos. This also gives them time to make their escape.
All choices are valid, but if I suddenly hear a soft, girlish voice start muttering, "There's somebody at the door," over and over again (American Gothic reference, for those who remember that great, yet very weird, show from about 12 years back), I'm outta there. Then again, it might just lead to a large Dharma-built supply closet, filled to the rafters with Mrs. Butterworth refills, with Jason Isaacs on a speaker going, "One day soon, you are going to meet the same...sticky...end..." Yep, I'm ready for Lost to come back!
I'm in agreement that the Temple is most likely the Orchid. However, in looking at Ben's map then watching the orientation video, the logos don't match up. It's hard to clearly make out either one, but they do not look the same. Though I'm not positive that we've actually seen the Orchid logo, as it may have just been a generic Dharma logo since it wasn't a standard orientation video anyways.
Shaggysteve-
I thought the logo on the collar from the Tunisian polar bear was the Orchid video, no?
No, it was the logo of the Hydra, the off-shore research facility where Dharma kept all their animals and the place Jack, Kate and Sawyer were kept captive for just under half of Season 3. The polar bears were apparently kept in a cage at the Hydra, and one managed to get off the Island and end up in Tunisia.
And this brings me to the essence of what the door is. The door itself may end up being nothing special; just a door that leads into an underground tunnel or something far from mystical. But we know that somehow, the Others are able to leave the Island and somehow, a polar bear escaped and ended up in a desert and somehow, Locke's father came to the Island through what Ben calls "a magic box."
Personally, I'm hoping the door is a magical portal across time and space (Charlotte Staples Lewis, who found the damn bear in that desert, is too much of a coincidence). I could also buy that whatever the Event is that sends the Oceanic 6 back to the real world, its powerful enough to shut down the "magic" that keeps the door/gateway active.
Or maybe Ben just sends them home in Henry Gale's balloon /shrug.