Well, it finally happened last night: the first series of Lost came to an end with not one but TWO bangs, and left the majority of the viewers … err … I guess confused is the right word to use here?

In any good series finale, there needs to be some closure. A cliff-hanger (or two) is not a bad thing – and in fact, if you know you’re returning for another series, a cliff-hanger is almost a must. But nevertheless there does need to be some closure on certain issues.

The viewers’ main problem with the finale of Lost is that there was no closure. The final episode of the series finished the same way every other episode of the series finished: more questions than answers, lots of mystery, and lots of confused viewers hanging out for the next weeks’ episode to get an explanation.

Except this time the next episode is next year.

2006.

(That’s almost 6 monthes away, just so you know)

This isn’t really a problem, except for the fact that the average viewer doesn’t really know what’s going on, since you needed to pay some special attention throughout the series, and in particular the last 5 or 6 episodes. The average viewer doesn’t keep track of the little details, or notice the little things, the way a Star Trek fan, or an X Files fan might. The average viewer wants entertainment now.

Hence, the average viewer is annoyed because they have to wait 6 monthes to get any semblance of some answers.

Since I understand this, I feel like I need to clarify a few things to do with Lost, and try and help you, the average viewer, understand some of what is going on.

Before we start, has any show had such a complex storyline as Lost? Creators Damon Lindelof and JJ Abrams have shown that a TV show can provide moments of action, drama, love, comedy, mystery, and bizarreness all in the same series, and the complexity of the multiple mysterious storylines in Lost only add to that.

So without further ado, here are my explanations, theories and thoughts about the top 10 questions remaining at the end of the series. I call it ‘Lost Without You’, just because it’s the name of a song, and has the word Lost in it. Any questions or complaints, please direct them at my email: chris@fleastyle.co.nz. (If you haven’t yet seen the last episode of Lost, but plan to, read no further, for this may spoil the ending for you …)

01. What is inside the hatch?

At this point we only know 6 things about the hatch:

1. It was buried, which means it wasn’t meant to be found.

2. It was ridiculously hard to open, which means it probably wasn’t meant to be opened.

3. There was no handle on the outside, meaning if it is opened, its only meant to be opened from the inside.

4. There is something in there, since we saw a light come on at the end of episode 19 as Locke is yelling at it after the accident with Boone.

5. Its somehow connected to Hurley’ numbers, which were etched on the outside, as seen in the season finale, before they blow up the hatch.

6. It contains a ladder, which is broken, and has a long chute going downward.

The contents of the hatch are a big talking point with fans, but really no-one has a clue. Theories range from the monster, to a civilisation, to a shelter of some kind, to all kinds of things. When Hurley and Locke were discussing what they thought was inside, Hurley said he thought it would be Twinkies and other junk stuff, while Locke said he thought it would be hope. My guess is that the hatch is a series of tunnels under the island and contains the storyline for series 2, and is somehow linked to “the others” living on the island. Furthermore, I think Rousseau knows more about the hatch, and the island, than she is letting on.

(As an interesting point, the Greek myth of Pandora’s Box is often mentioned in relation to the hatch. The myth goes something like this: “The gods presented Pandora with a box into which each had put something harmful, and forbade her ever to open it. Then they sent her to Epimetheus, who took her gladly although Prometheus had warned him never to accept anything from Zeus. He took her, and afterward when that dangerous thing, a woman, was his, he understood how good his brother’s advice had been. For Pandora, like all women, was possessed of a lively curiosity. She had to know what was in the box. One day she lifted the lid ¬and out flew plagues innumerable, sorrow and mischief for mankind. In terror Pandora clapped the lid down, but too late. One good thing, however, was there: Hope. It was the only good the casket had held among the many evils, and it remains to this day mankind’s sole comfort in misfortune.” Could the hatch be a Pandora’s box of sorts, and Locke its Pandora? Only time will tell.)

02. What is the meaning of the numbers, and why were they on the hatch?

The history of Hurley’s numbers (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) looks something like this:

1. The numbers are picked up by 2 Navy cadets named Lenny and Sam during a listening mission in the Pacific

2. The numbers are used by Sam to win a near-impossibly bean counting competition, which wins Sam $50,000. From then on, Sam’s life becomes one unfortunate incident after another, until he moves to the outback of Australia to try and escape, which eventually causes him to take his own life.

3. The numbers are passed on to Hurley by Lenny, who is now living in a mental institute in Santa Rosa.

4. The numbers are used by Hurley as Lottery numbers, and Hurley wins $160,000,000. From there, a series of unfortunate events unfurl, including the death of Hurley’s grandfather, his mother breaking her ankle, their new house burning down, the suicide of one of Hurley’s employees, the accidental arrest of Hurley, and even the fate of Oceanic flight 815, the plane the survivors were on, that crashed.

5. The transmission of the numbers is what led Rousseau and her team to the island, which we discover after Hurley finds the numbers on a piece of paper with the map Sayid takes from Rousseau’s hideout.

6. The numbers are etched on the hatch, which we see in the season finale.

Personally, I think the numbers are the best mystery in Lost, with so many possibilities as to their explanation that its impossible to even speculate. Some theories popping up on the internet include the numbers being co-ordinates to a location on the island, the co-ordinates to the gateway to Hell, the code for something inside the hatch, or the code for something else, a password of some kind, the project number of some kind of government experiment, or even the serial numbers of a plane or ship that crashed on the island.

The main problem with these theories is that there would be no reason to transmit the numbers from the island in any of these situations. For example, if they were the serial number of a crashed plane, then why transmit them?

The other main problem is that the numbers appeared on the outside of the hatch, which appears to be some kind of tunnel system under the island. I guess we just won’t know the meaning of the numbers till the next season.

Aside from that, another thing to look out for in repeats is the amount of times the numbers show up – for example, 2 of the numbers (8, 15) make up the flight number of the plane (815); a clock in one episode showed two of the numbers (4:23); and there are many, many more references to the numbers (and that’s not even to mention the fact that 42 is the answer to life, the universe, and everything, according to Douglas Adams classic book series ‘The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’).

03. What the heck was that monster thing?

Is it a robot? Is it a cloud? I think it might be a little bit of both.

While it’s true, the monster did sound a bit like a machine of some kind (with some of the sounds it made sounding like cogs turning, or pistons firing), but it also made some other random sounds. As far as how it looked, there was no evidence of any parts of a machine, just the black vapour which followed the noises around.

Rousseau describes the monster as a security system, which would lead us to believe it is man made, and put in for a very specific purpose, probably to protect something from being found.

So, my short answer is: I don’t know.

04. Why did Rousseau kidnap Claire’s baby?

By Rousseau’s own admission she heard ‘the others’ say that they were “coming for the boy”. After hearing this, Rousseau assumed that they were talking about Claire’s baby boy, newly named Aaron, so she kidnapped Aaron and took him to ‘the others’ so that she could potentially do a trade with them for her daughter, Alex.

When she got to ‘the others’ camp, she found that she had been mistaken about this and returned the baby to Sayid and Charlie who had been tracking her all along.

The main purpose for this little storyline is good, old-fashioned misdirection.

05. Who kidnapped Walt, and why?

As Rousseau mentioned, she overheard ‘the others’ saying that they were coming for the boy, and by this they were evidently coming for Walt – when Walt went on the raft, they saw their opportunity and cruised out to sea to find the raft and take Walt by force. If we take Rousseau at her word, then these people have to be ‘the others’.

Besides, even if these people aren’t ‘the others’ that Rousseau talks about, they have to be living on the island, because there’s no way they would be on a boat that small, and come from somewhere else. It would also be safe to assume they aren’t the only people in the group – the age range of the four people on the boats, and the fact that there was a woman on board, implies some kind of a civilisation.

It should be mentioned that the boat that sailed out to the raft did have four people on board: the old man who was standing by the light and doing all the talking, the two guys who were sitting behind him and to his right, one of whom shot Sawyer (incidentally, these guys were identical twins, which could mean either cloning is happening on the island, and by implication human experiments, or it could mean nothing)(also, how did they know Sawyer was the one with the gun? He didn’t seem to make that much commotion about grabbing it, and the twins never saw it), and a woman who was inside the small cabin area of the boat, and threw the grenade onto the raft.

As for why, my guess is that Walt’s supernatural powers will benefit them in some way.

05b. Wait a second – what supernatural powers?

If you’ve watched every episode of Lost (which my parents almost have), and been paying attention (which my parents haven’t) you would’ve noticed that Walt seems to have some kind of manifestation gift (which my parents didn’t notice). Consider the following incidents:

– In episode 2, Walt is reading a comic book with a polar bear on it. Suddenly a polar bear attacks Kate, Charlie, Shannon, Boone, Sayid and Sawyer as they go in search of a transmission site.

– In early episodes, Locke teaches Walt to play backgammon, but every time Walt rolls the dice he gets a 6.

– In episode 16, Walt is reading a book about birds then gets angry – then a bird flies into the window of his house.

– Also in episode 16, Michael throws Walt’s comic book on the fire, which makes Walt angry, causing the re-appearance of the polar bear, which then proceeds to attack Walt.

We could speculate for days about whether this actually means anything, because it easily could just be a planned coincidence in the story. My own feeling is that these events have some meaning, and Walt’s gift is the reason ‘the others’ kidnapped him.

06. Who is Ana Lucia?

Ana Lucia actually appeared in episode 23 – she’s the lady who approached Jack in the bar at the airport before their flight took off, and announced she was in the tail end of the plane, seat 42F (incidentally, another of Hurley’s numbers).

This important for 2 reasons: firstly, Ana Lucia was played by semi-famous actress Michelle Rodriquez (you may have seen her in such movies as Resident Evil and S.W.A.T), and secondly, it has been made known that she will be a regular character in series 2.

Now, what does all this mean? Well, when you consider that the front and middle of the plane (which was carrying Jack and co.)(incidentally Jack was in row 23, another one of Hurley’s numbers) crashed in a separate place than the tail (which broke off, causing the accident), this could potentially mean that the survivors from the back-end of the plane have survived and are living in a different area of the island.

Further proof of this is found in episode 19, when Boone is inside the drug plane, and gets a hold of someone on the radio. He says “Hello, we’re the survivors of oceanic flight 815”, and the reply comes back “Hello, we’re the survivors of Oceanic flight 815”. Its been suggested that this was just a bounce back of Boone’s voice, but if that’s true, then why was it a different tone and voice than Boone’s original transmission?!

The reply sounds more like an argument than an echo anyways. For this reason, I believe there are 2 groups of survivors on the island, and that is who Boone raised on the radio.

This is purely speculation, but I believe the survivors of the tail of the plane will meet up with the survivors of the front and middle of the plane in series 2, of which one is Ana Lucia, and another will be Bernard, Rose’s husband (Rose was the black woman from early in the series who believed her husband was still alive – she was sitting on her own out on the beach. If you remember, she suggested trying to find them, and Jack said something like ‘there is no-one alive from the back of the plane’ to which she replied ‘they’re probably saying the same about us.’)

07. What did it mean by ‘they’re not the survivors they thought they were’?

This is all pure speculation, but this comment implies several things:

1. It could mean that they aren’t the only survivors like they thought they were, implying that they will meet up with survivors from the tail of the plane.

2. It could mean that they aren’t the only people on the island, implying that ‘the others’ are going to start being a lot more active in the show.

3. It could mean that they aren’t on the island totally by chance in the accident, implying that their survival is completely planned, and part of something bigger.

4. It could mean all of the above.

5. It could mean none of the above.

Either way, this was a teaser ad for the next series. I guess we’ll have to wait till then.

(incidentally, the clips they showed in the teaser were all clips from series 1)

08. Why did Charlie have a statue of Mary in his bag at the end?

As we all know by now, Charlie got rid of his addiction to heroin about half way through the series, thanks to a need to get rid of that junk, and thanks (in part) to Locke basically forcing him. However, in episode 19, the plane where Boone heard the radio transmission contained crates which were filled with statues of the virgin Mary, all of which were filled up with little bags of heroin.

Honestly, what are the chances?!

About halfway through the chase after Rousseau, Sayid makes Charlie stop running due to exhaustion, and they just happen to come across the plane with all the heroin.

Towards the end of the finale, after Charlie and Sayid returned baby Aaron to his mother, a shot of Charlie’s bag reveals that he is in possession of one (or more) statues. What we want to know is this: is Charlie strong enough to get by without getting back on the drugs? That is, is the end of his addiction due to his own will, or was it simply due to the fact that he thought he would have to do without?

Of course, this is assuming that there are actually drugs in the statue – if you remember back, Charlie and Rose got to talking about God, and it sounded like Charlie had found God. It could simply be that Charlie took one of the statues without any heroin so that he had some kind of reminder of his faith.

As with everything else, I guess we won’t know till series 2.

09. Status of the Main Survivors

Jack – alive; last seen peering into the now-opened hatch with Locke – although, I wonder what Jack meant when he said “we’re going to have a Locke problem” to Kate. Personally, I think Locke is the most riveting character on this show, and so much like Jack that its not funny. Maybe Jack feels threatened?

Kate – alive; last seen standing back as Jack and Locke check out the opened hatch. The thing that gets me about Kate is that she is so against the decisions Jack makes sometimes, and yet when he makes those decision it turns out he was right to do so. For example, last night there was meant to put dynamite in Kate and Locke’s backpacks, but Jack put the dynamite in his and Locke’s backpacks. When the monster came, Kate just ran instead of taking off the backpack carefully, then running. Hence, Jack’s decision saved her life.

Locke – alive; last seen at the hatch with Jack. Locke is by far the most riveting character on the island. Driven by his faith that the Island is a lot more than what they think it is, Locke is doing the things which he believes are best for the people – much like Jack is doing. That’s why they’re so similar (right down to the father problems, and the scars in their right kidney area).

Hurley – alive; last seen with Kate, while Jack and Locke look into the hatch. I thought it was great how Hurley’s numbers (4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42) showed up on the outside of the hatch. In fact, of all the mysteries, I feel like the numbers mystery might be the best.

Sawyer – unknown; last seen falling off the raft after being shot by ‘the others’. Sawyer showed his compassionate side when he started to try and defend Walt from ‘the others’.

Jin – alive; last seen jumping off the raft to try and save Sawyer who had just been shot. After starting to learn English, I’m pretty sure Jin will be a major player next season.

Sun – alive; last seen at the caves.

Michael – alive; last seen screaming after his son Walt was kidnapped. My money is on the “Michael looking dejected and missing his son” being the main storyline for the first half of season 2.

Walt – alive; last seen been taken away on the boat with ‘the others’. See above explanation of this.

Claire – alive; last seen with her baby, Aaron, at the caves. After the tidy little wrap-up of the story with Rousseau, I think its fair to assume the baby is now safe.

Charlie – alive; last seen at the caves, returning Claire’s baby, and in possession of a statue of Mary. See above explanation.

Sayid – alive; last seen making out with Shannon at the caves.

Shannon – alive; last seen making out with Sayid at the caves.

Boone – deceased.

Dr Arzt – deceased. Arzt was a nice little comedic filler for the finale, and provided a couple of the best scenes, for example when he was getting carried away about how the main group get all the best stuff, or the scene where he blows up. Classic television.

Rousseau – alive; last seen at the beach where she returned baby Aaron to Sayid and Charlie.

10. When does the new season start?

September 2005 in the USA. January 2006 in New Zealand.