So for those of you joining late, we're looking at "Those Left Behind" this week on the Lost blog. We know six passengers of Oceanic 815 leave at some point, and we know that Ben is out and about, but what about everyone else? What happened/will happen to them? How did only six of our Lostaways leave, and at what cost? And how many sentences can I produce in the interrogative form before it becomes tiresome?

The present and future are rapidly approaching each other as Season 4 winds down, and we'll all know soon enough just how incorrectly I'll predict events to come. But since complete inaccuracy has never stopped me before, let's look at the first of three possible scenarios in which "Those Left Behind" end up that way. (If you need a primer on all three scenarios, but sure to check out yesterday's entry.) In this scenario, "Those Left Behind" are dead. Not Mikhail-dead, not Wesley from The Princess Bride mostly-dead, but actual, shuffled off their mortal coil dead.

Now, that's insanely gruesome, to be sure, and a scenario I find hard to imagine, but that doesn't mean it's not POSSIBLE, and over the past five months or so here, I've learned to get over my own opinions and explore every option short of "The Island's made of delicious pudding!" so long as it falls under a parameter of possibility I find hard to utterly dismiss.

Such a scenario hinges on one key element in order to rescue the show from the brink of genocidal angst: time travel as a method to undo the actions that caused the deaths of so many. A situation in which only the Oceanic 6 and Benjamin Linus survive the events to come suggest a cataclysmic event that swallows every living entity into its clutches. While we're pretty much guaranteed to see a few deaths between now and The Event (not to be confused with The Incident), it's The Event that will render all life on the Island null and void.

The Event can take one of a few possible forms. Here are three to mull:

1. Smokey Gone Wild. Something fundamentally changes how Smokey works, and the monster attacks everyone like my godson attacks my shins after having one too many pieces of cake.
2. Y2Dharma. Something in the Dharma technology goes boom, and then the Island goes boom.
3. Magma-nificent. Those dormant volcanos are somehow activated again, flooding the Island with (cue Dr. Evil voice) liquid hot MAGMA. Much like Trogdor, this volcano would burninate the countryside, burninate the peasants, and burninate the heck out of Rose. Which is way sad.

Since Jack can't so much as make a ham sandwich without screwing it up, I'm going to go out on a limb and say Ben leads those six via an "escape hatch," for a lack of a better term, off the Island. Perhaps the one he uses for his worldwide business escapades, for instance. Perhaps the not-as-exploded-as-we-thought-submarine. Then again, I'm assuming these seven people leave at the same time from the same place. There's nothing to suggest they can't exit the Island and end up at a common external locale. But none of that stresses me out right now. I'll leave the Boston Red Sox bullpen to do that for the time being, thank you.

So Ben leads them out, undoubtedly with four hundred and seventeen strings attached. And in this configuration, the Island's essentially uninhabitable, and everyone's as dead as Justin Guarini's career. So why would Jack want to go back? Why is the Island seemingly calling Hurley back? And what does "back" even mean? As I hinted at earlier, the answer is time travel, and the key to any theory involving time travel is the Orchid Station.

You remember the Orchid, right? It hasn't appeared in the show yet, although Darlton have blessed it with The Sceptre of Continuity, a blessing not given to...well, just about everything else. (I wish my life could work that way. Every time I got caught in a lie, I'd just say my previous version wasn't in continuity. But I digress.) If you don't remember the Orchid, here's the canon-tastic orientation video for it.

We've already seen Desmond's mind, not body, travel through time, but in this video, we seem to see a rabbit one-up our favorite Scotsman. Least, that's what I see. According to Entertainment Weekly's Jeff Jensen (link has decent spoilers, go at your own risk), we learn a bit about this station in the near future, including this tidbit which isn't really spoilery but is insanely interesting to yours truly:

Fans will also see a new Dharma station called the Orchid — all three levels of it — that might shed more light on the Island's time-warping properties.

Three levels? That's not a hatch; that's a veritable high-rise. And the fact that it's three levels has my Lost senses all tingly. After all, three is a magic number. (Yes, it is. It's a magic number.) Since nothing was designed without careful forethought, the mind reels when trying to conceive of why a three-level structure was needed. And more importantly: what do these levels signify?

If we're talking time travel here, the levels fall conveniently into place: past, present, and future. Watch the terrified look on notCandle's face up there. Clearly these rabbits are not meant to inhabit the same physical space. The various levels, and the physical barriers between them, were constructed in order to create the safest possible experimental environment for those working in the Orchid station. Course, precautions only get you so far when working in such a volatile field. Sometimes a bunny ends up in the same room as himself twenty minutes in the future. Sometimes a polar bear accidentally ends up in Tunisia. Stuff happens.

In any case, the Orchid could be this escape hatch for the Oceanic 6 Plus One to get the heck out of Dodge, but in the heat of The Event, it turned out to be a one-way trip. So not only do the Oceanic 6 have to find a way back to the Island, but they have to do so at a time before The Event. You could look at their friends as dead. But the Oceanic 6 see those left behind as merely lost.

What would you add to this particular scenario? What rings false about it? How do you think the Orchid will function? Leave your thoughts and comments below!

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

Comments

The blog starts with "what will happen to those left behind?" I'm wondering how long until they all show up on "Bones"? Tonight, Mr. Friendly was there as a lawyer, and the preview for next week shows Ardzt as a basketball coach.

Mary | Apr 14, 2008 8:08:37 PM | #

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I've already said my piece about your scenario (in that I agree with most of it, with some additions and take-aways, but close enough), so I'll add this non sequitur. Ryan, your first paragraph reminded me of that scene in The Naked Gun where Drebbin is walking by himself at night, pondering the case. Eventually, after asking about a dozen different questions to himself, he ends up overlooking Los Angeles in a rural-ish area and asks, "And where the hell was I?" I watch waaaaaaay too many movies.

Dark Disciple | Apr 14, 2008 8:11:52 PM | #

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I hope you didn't spend too much time on this first scenario because I think the odds of this playing out is somewhere between 0 and -10.
I like your blogs Ryan, but I think you and some posters are too sci-fi oriented. I, like most Lost fans, are not big into sci-fi. So far the show has been fairly mainstream with some sci-fi elements. For this scenario to be played out, the show would have to make a dramatic change to become this huge time travel show and I think that's a lot to ask in the last 40 episodes.
I'm not sure about how time works on the show. There's the reference to Walt being bigger, but then there's Desmond calling Penny in 2004. So, while I definitely believe the island is at least 31 minutes in the past, I'm holding off on judgement of how much further back it can possibly be.
But teleportation, time travel; these are things you will find on the Sci-Fi channel, not on Lost. And 'back' definitely means 'back to the island', not 'back in time', in case you were wondering.

Dean | Apr 14, 2008 9:58:49 PM | #

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Although time travel is fun and exciting (for me, at least), it's also one of the biggest frackin headaches in science fiction and quantam physics.

I mean, if the Oceanic 6 did go back to the Island (and conceivably, through time), then how would they prevent The Event without running into their other selves? It's like in Back to the Future at the end of the movie, when Marty arrives just in time to see himself go back to 1950. But the letter he gave Doc in the past is what kept Doc alive and, basically, changed history. So do the Oceanic 6 send a message to their other selves, a warning to prevent The Event?

Now here's another one. What if they pull a Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban? In that story, Harry saw what he thought was his father come to his rescue, and it wasn't until he travelled back in time, experienced all the events from the previous afternoon, and realized that he was the one who rescued his other self. But what if the Oceanic 6 trying to prevent The Event is actually what ends up causing it?

See, this is why people were up in arms about time travel earlier in the season on this blog. It's a big, ugly hassle and there are so many theories and directions to take time travel, that if taken too far the show would no longer be Lost but something too far out there.

Don't get me wrong, if they end up using time travel to that extent in these next five episodes, I'll still watch and maybe enjoy it a little too. But I think a more down-to-earth approach fits the style of the show better.

Other Sean | Apr 14, 2008 11:26:57 PM | #

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Dean,
I admire your conviction, but I think there is already a lot more sci-fi in the show than you care to admit. Since when have the writers shied away because something is a lot to handle? And just because "going back" being "going back in time" isn't likely, if this show has taught me anything, its that nothing is definite.

Ryan,
Why stress over the bullpen when you have Manny to bail you out in the 9th?

Morgan | Apr 15, 2008 5:04:52 AM | #

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Dean,
So a misterious monster made of smoke, an island with special properties, an invisible man in a disapearing cabin, an imortal russian and a chinese psychic don't sound strange, but time travel (wich I qualify as more plausible than all these things) is going way out on the sci-fi limb?

I agree that time travel could create a lot of confusion in the storytelling of Lost, but I also think that if the writers managed to incorporate all the elements above on the show and still keep the story interesting, putting time travel in there should be pretty easy (even tough I agrre that Jack wants to back to the island not in time, because I simply don't think that there could be such an event that would wipeouut everyone on the island).

sin laden | Apr 15, 2008 5:27:07 AM | #

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As far as the "going back" to the island debate is concerned, I thought Jack was taking weekend flights across the ocean waiting for the plane to crash. That was idea for getting back. I'm not one who subscribes to the theory that all 7 people somehow jump into the Orchid Station and beam themselves home. I think it will be more based in reality and The Orchid Station will have certain limitations.

Mike in RI | Apr 15, 2008 5:50:19 AM | #

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Mike: True about Jack, but that still fits in with the "one way ticket" theory listed above. An airplane crash is a much less efficient manner of "going back," but it's the only option available to Jack. (At least in this version of the theory.)

Ryan | Apr 15, 2008 6:14:44 AM | #

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That being said I am very excited to see exactly what The Orchid Station is and what it does. The 3 levels does make sense for the purposes of past, present, & future but I'm still a little iffy with the teleportation angle of it. Is that what we are thinking as to how the Dharma bear ended up in Tunisia?

Mike in RI | Apr 15, 2008 6:25:04 AM | #

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ok, wild speculation for the day:

so we have been led to believe that Aaron is some type of special kid who must, must, must be raised by Claire. i will speculate, that is WAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLT is Jacob 2.0, maybe Aaron is Jacob 3.0. maybe Claire got killed by Frieghter-Others-Ben-type folk and this unleashed something in Aaron's psyche which opened a can of whup-ass on the Island.

just a thought i had in the middle of the night...

mri | Apr 15, 2008 6:31:20 AM | #

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Mike: All we know about the Orchid is in the video. I can't explain two identical bunnies any other way than physically transporting matter from one place to another, with the whole "shift" dialogue suggesting an element of time in play as well. That doesn't mean something else isn't at work: I just can't figure out what it would be. (The whole Tunisia thing is complete speculation on my part.)

mri: I wonder if Charlotte's asking Claire if she had Aaron on the island in "Confirmed Dead" was more than idle chat. Maybe it was an intel-gathering question.

Ryan | Apr 15, 2008 6:46:34 AM | #

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Once again you have failed to mention or discuss the subliminals in the Orchid station video.

Ray | Apr 15, 2008 6:48:04 AM | #

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Not trying to get the last word here (Ryan!), but the "we've got to go back" statement has got to be both time and place. It's the only way the story can make any sense. I don't think Jack has to go back because he misses his peeps. There is a specific strategic purpose for his desire to make it back to the island. If there was an "event", then there'd be no reason to go back at the current time-line. BTW, Ryan, I've got $10 that says we end the series with the close-up of Jacks perty eyeball.

Brian of the North | Apr 15, 2008 7:05:26 AM | #

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Mike, I'm right there with you.

My theory is that the three levels of the Orchid station are different levels of security, rather than being linked specifically to past, present and future.

Level One could be the botanical research station facade. You have a few plants, maybe a greenhouse, some beakers and test tubes and voila, there's your fake facility.

Level Two could be the staging and research area. I think this is where Candle is during the film. Here is where the scientists would analyze their findings and prepare specimens for various tests that take place on...

Level Three, the testing level, and the one with the highest level of failsafes and security. This place is known only to the most in-the-know DHARMA employees. This is where the mechanism for the time travel tests is located and where the specimens are delivered to the testing area. This level is also used for observation of the tests, but is mostly focused on the tests themselves.

What is the purpose of the Orchid station in the grand scheme of the DHARMA Initiative? Well, I'm thinking maybe while all the other stations were dedicated to changing the core values of the Valenzetti equation, the secret Orchid station existed as an attempt to fight the deadline the scientists had. If the date for the end of the world is set, maybe they had this station as a last resort to go back in time and start the project over again, taking with them all the knowledge they've gained throughout the course of the initiative.

On a side note, I really really really hope there is at least one surviving member of the DHARMA Initiative that wasn't subsumed into the Others. I'd love him or her to appear mysteriously from a hidden place and tell the story of the Purge or something.

Jeff | Apr 15, 2008 7:11:07 AM | #

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By the way, I think the three levels go down, into the ground, not up like an office tower.

Jeff | Apr 15, 2008 7:17:42 AM | #

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ryan-

i'm sure that was intel and not chat. as sure as i am about anything else on Lost, so i'll give it 50/50.

also, that puts a whole new twist on why Jack doesn't want to see Aaron after the trial. instead of guilt, Aaron might jest scare the be-jeebers out of him.

mri | Apr 15, 2008 7:34:04 AM | #

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If the island wants them back so badly, why isn't it making the return trip a little easier for those it is calling back? Just sayin.
The Orchid Station definately dabbles in time travel experiments. We do not know how sophisticated the technology is, considering most of the other equipment and computers on the island seem to be pretty dated. Just how would teleportation and time travel be possible unless Ben, in his seemingly infinite power, managed to get more updated technology to the island since he wiped out the Dharma Initiative. I'm sure that even Benjamin Linus has his limitations.

It sure does not explain the poloar bear in Tunisia, though...................How did that big fur ball get all the way over there with a Dharma collar on his neck? Gotta be a sci-fi exlanation because logic just doesn't cover it for me in that case.

Chris | Apr 15, 2008 7:40:23 AM | #

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Jeff: until the Valenzetti Equation appears in the show, I think we have to pretend it doesn't exist. This annoys me to no end, since so much of my theories on the show were based on things in "The Lost Experience," but thanks to Darlton, that's where we are right now.

*weeps softly in the corner*

Ray: since you seem to want to talk about the subliminals, go for it! Let us know what you're talking about, specifically, and what you derive from them.

Ryan | Apr 15, 2008 7:43:37 AM | #

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Fair enough, Ryan. I feel your pain. Valenzetti Equation aside, that's my take on the three levels.

Jeff | Apr 15, 2008 8:02:33 AM | #

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The producers have explicitly said this will never happen on the show.

Sure, it's possible that everyone but the O6 dies. But that's pretty unimaginable, and I'm sure they know that doing that would alienate a huge chunk of the audience.

But there's no way they'll use time travel to bring back dead characters. They've gone on the record as saying they consider this a cheat and that it would negate the impact of ANY deaths on the show. There just isn't any consequence to death if time travel can be used as an "undo", just look at the last season of Heroes.

Coming back from the dead via time travel simply isn't an option to consider.

I think it's pretty obvious that most of the people remain alive on the island, but the time/space properties of the island make it extremely hard to return to save them (and season six will be overcoming that to return to the island and save them). It's interesting to hear all these theories, but I think people are way overthinking this one.

milo | Apr 15, 2008 8:22:21 AM | #

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I am in the firmly "not dead" camp. However, I'm not ruling out the possibility of some casualties in the violence we all know is to come. I don't think everyone died in some violent fashion or another.

And volcanos? What a freakin' let-down that would be if the producers just suddenly decided that all this sci-fi and mystery and political positioning just went suddently out the window in favor of the natural disaster angle. I don't see it happening.

I do see some people getting shot, maybe a few blown up, that sort of thing. I do not, however, see people being obliterated by any of the options listed above. Well, maybe a smokey attack or two.

I wonder what happens when smokey meets the freighters? That might be an episode of must-see Dharma-TV.

No, my feet remain solidly on the ground of "still alive but lost" so I will refrain from all my stellar, intellectual commentary until that blog post. Until then, "beer bad, coffee good" is about all you get from me.

AdSlinger | Apr 15, 2008 8:27:12 AM | #

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Jeff: My pain is huge, believe you me. Because I'm pretty much in agreement with you, and then have to slap myself and remember to only use canon material only.

Milo: The producers have said a LOT of things they later recanted, and have recently all but said, "Don't listen to anything we say, we either have to lie or don't always know ourselves." I think this scenario is the least likely of the ones I'll put out today, but can I flat out dismiss it? Absolutely not.

Adslinger: there's gonna be something to do with the volcano at some point. It wouldn't be brought up in "Man Behind the Curtain" without having a payoff down the line. I simply brought it up in this case since there are only so many cataclysmic events I could come up with. A pallet drop of "According to Jim" DVDs was considered but ultimately deemed "catastrophic," not "cataclysmic."

Ryan | Apr 15, 2008 8:36:19 AM | #

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"I wonder what happens when smokey meets the freighters?"

I think that'll happen sooner than you think.

Jeff | Apr 15, 2008 8:40:48 AM | #

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What have the producers recanted? I can't think of anything major, certainly nothing as big as saying that characters can't come back from the dead, then using time travel to bring them back from the dead.

Sure, it's possible they're lying about this one, but if it ends up happening, it would completely kill the show. They might as well just go with "it was all a dream", purgatory, or all happening in Hurley's brain.

It's interesting to talk about the possibility for fun, but there's no way it can be taken seriously as a possible outcome.

milo | Apr 15, 2008 9:01:37 AM | #

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I refuse to believe the producers will kill everyone on the island, because that would mean that desmond and penny would never have the final reunion we all hope for.

And That would be just cruel.

sin laden | Apr 15, 2008 11:06:12 AM | #

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Speaking of Penny, I really hope she's not the reason the O6 get off the Island. I always thought she'd be an endgame piece. It would seem premature to have her save the day this season.

Jeff | Apr 15, 2008 11:33:31 AM | #

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About Penny, if she found the location of the island at the end of season 2, and talked to Charlie at the end of season 3, why is she sitting at home, and why isn't she trying to get to the island, or at least sending a team there?

She knows the location, she knows Des is there, and she's a millionaire. What is she waiting for?

And good news, ABC has officially announced that the season finale will be two hours on May 29.

milo | Apr 15, 2008 12:02:10 PM | #

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From what I've heard, it's a 3 hour season finale, with part 1 on May 15 and parts 2 & 3 on May 29.

Jeff | Apr 15, 2008 12:34:35 PM | #

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Aaaah, I smell marketing. I'm surprised ABC isn't calling Season 4 a 13-part season finale at this point. Heh.

Ryan | Apr 15, 2008 1:21:26 PM | #

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Nope, the rumor sites were wrong on that. ABC calls it a two hour finale.

http://www.abcmedianet.com/DNR/2008/pdf/dnr041408.pdf

ABC ANNOUNCES SPECIAL TWO-HOUR FINALES OF
“GREY’S ANATOMY” AND “LOST”

ABC Entertainment announces special two-hour finales of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Lost.” The
“Grey’s Anatomy” finale airs Thursday, May 22 (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET), and the “Lost” finale airs
Thursday, May 29 (9:00-11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. This marks an additional hour
for each show this season, for a total of 17 hours for “Grey’s Anatomy” and 14 hours for “Lost.”
(*Editor’s note: “Lost” will be pre-empted on May 22 due to the “Grey’s Anatomy” finale.)

“Grey’s Anatomy” returns with original episodes on Thursday, April 24 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET), and
“Lost” returns with originals that night as well, when it moves to its new 10:00 p.m. time slot.

milo | Apr 15, 2008 2:32:21 PM | #

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I also believe they are 'not dead'. I tend to think they will leave by way of Ben's Magical Doorway to the mainland. However, why wouldn't they be able to simply go back through it if they wanted? Unless, the event renders the door useless.

Jeff-

You said you wish there were someone left from Dharma who either didn't die or didn't become part of the Others. The more I think about it, that person may be Danielle. The story she told Sayid way back in Season 1 just doesn't add up now. Whether she is alive or dead, I think we are still owed her backstory.

Shaggysteve | Apr 15, 2008 2:34:44 PM | #

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Shaggy - I am so with you on the suspicions of Danielle's back story. It is just "off" and bugs me. I didn't buy it back in S1 and I still don't.

And count me firmly in the camp of those that don't believe all are dead ... just "lost." Thus I don't have much to say about today's scenario for discussion.

The O6 have to get off the island in some way that the world is in on their rescue. They can't just show up in Europe or be discovered partying in NYC. But I don't think the rescue --from the world's view-- happens on the Island. Maybe they somehow get on an island that is nearer the faked plane wreck. Maybe they use Ben's Magical Doorway but a condition of use is that they are unconscious (ala Juliet's arrival) or using it renders them knocked out so they don't remember or know where they "exited" thus they can't get back.

Oh but I'm off-topic in my speculations, so I'll be quiet now. It's just been bugging me as I've been reading the comments this past week or so.

djc | Apr 15, 2008 2:51:03 PM | #

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