Category: Pop Culture

This is a guest post written by Zac Parsons.

As someone who is laughably prone to hyperbole, it may may seem inconsequential that I laud it as the greatest television show of all time. You may be asking yourself: “What is so great about it?” or “How can a modern show compare to TV classics from other eras?” or “What kind of a weirdo, fanatical, booger eating, sci-fi dork would care so much about a TV show?” These are all fair questions. I am not sure if I will be able to suitably answer any of them for you (but I do not eat my boogers, I’ll have you know).

It is my hope that this article piques your interest enough to watch the first episode for free online on abc.com.

If you are not engrossed in the tale of Flight 815 after a handful of episodes, then I will ask your forgiveness for presuming your interest in the fields of philosophy, psychology, and sociology.  This is not a show designed merely to titillate and help to escape from “reality”.

If you find your mind and heart constantly returning to the question of “What is the meaning of life?”, then prepare yourself for a vivid, elaborate, amplified discussion of that very question that IS the show: LOST.

It is a show that gives color, clarity, and context to the questions of your conscience.

If something on the show leads you to believe what you are watching is “unrealistic”, take comfort in the fact that you are experiencing a vivid, detailed, highly personal metaphor. The line between fiction and science fiction is fine, but don’t let crossing it ruin the truth that is being illustrated for you within the framework of the show.  What the uninitiated know or (don’t know) about the show will vary, of course. That framework simply is….

A group of people are stranded on a remote island in the South Pacific.

You’ve heard the hypothetical questions:  “What book would you read if you were stranded on a deserted island?” or “What would you do if you could start your life over in a new place?” or even “Would you sleep with _________ if he/she was the last person on earth?”  LOST tries to answer these questions (and more) by putting characters of the ilk of classic historical archetypes on the island:

• A doctor with a knack for leadership and mind built up in the world of science, logic, and reason, Jack Shephard believes that all problems are solvable, and that he can help to solve them.  (His father’s name, Christian Shephard, may remind you of a certain religious metaphor)
• Beautiful and innocent on the surface, Kate Austen struggles to define herself apart from the men in her life.  Her relationships with men are as varied and different as the characters in a book like…. hmmm I don’t know…. Sense And Sensibility?
• As carefree man, with plenty of reasons to be bitter about life, John Locke believes that his past has made up his present and future.  He let’s destiny and fate drive him forward in life with little fear or trepidation.
• With a name like “Sawyer”, you may immediately recognize the connection between this southern con man who lives by his own rules and the characters of Mark Twain’s stories.

It’s fun to have a new character introduced and to guess what argument or theory that person might represent.  LOST is a teleological journey to an end point that was decided before the show was even picked up.  Instead of sitting around a table and wondering where to take the story next, the writers are simply giving depth and detail to each episode, each of which is a tile to be placed on the board for the mosaic.

What the final picture looks like, only the creators know, which is a lovely metaphor in itself.

If you still don’t get LOST, then I won’t encourage you to get any further lost with me.  But if your interest is piqued, please join in the conversation and get LOST with the rest of us.

The Mirror Matter Moon theory is one of the most prominent theories on LOST to explain what the island is and why it might behave like it does. Essentially, the island is a moon made of mirror matter. There are two types of matter, the matter we know and love, and the opposite. We can exist in either habitat, but one can not see the other. This is why the island can not be seen until you cross into area around the island – into the mirror matter moon.

LOST might be a multi-layered homage to yin-yang duality (where one side can’t exist without the other). The universe that we live in may have two sides, each invisible (or “dark”) to each the other. Matter operates in the same way on each side, but they are two different universes so stars and planets formed in two different ways. The sides are different according to “mirror reflection symmetry,” meaning that left and right are reversed on the very small scale of particle physics. The particles on our side (Portland) have “left-handed” interactions, and the particles on the other side (Starboardland) have “right-handed” interactions. This right-handed dark matter is known as mirror matter. In the words of Locke in Episode 1: “… Two sides… One is light… One is dark.” Note which hand each stone is in.

Imagine a small, invisible world developed on a dark mirror matter asteroid that crashed into Earth long ago. The island would be a continent on a world “on the other side of Earth,” as the producers have hinted. But this chunk of dark matter also contains exotic material that allows the natural formation of wormholes between the two sides. Thus this dark island connects the two sides of the universe and is a place of epic duality. Mimicking the ebb and flow of yin and yang, dominance over the island continuously shifts between light, faith-based (see Manichaeism), and dark, science-based, factions. When one side becomes too dominant, its power wanes and the other gains strength. Furthermore, the conflict incorporates the yin-yang-like struggle for power between Jacob and Esau. As they can’t exist without each other, for the conflict to end, both sides must perish or the sides must merge.

The light side faction is headed by someone who is born on Earth, moves to the island, and loses his or her father; and the dark side is led by someone who is born on the island and moves to Earth (e.g., Hanso, Aaron). These representatives are symbolic of the dots in the yin-yang. There also seems to be a supernatural force that ensures the balance between factions. That force achieves its ends by communicating through ghosts and ensuring the movement of certain people, like Aaron, back and forth. It’s probably meaningful that 815, the US Army, Juliet [thanks Christine], and possibly Desmond, may have all arrived on an equinox, when light and dark are most balanced.

Shannon has found her belongings and retrieved a bikini to take advantage of the sun. Boone arrives to tell her that he and the other survivors are going through the wreckage and salvaging everything they can. She makes it clear that she has no intention of helping. What’s the point, they’re going to be rescued any minute, right?

Jin wades through the tide pools gathering sea urchin. Sun is watching from the beach when Michael arrives to ask her if she has seen his son, Walt. Jin overhears the conversation and chastises Sun for having the top button of her sweater open.

While searching the woods for Vincent, Walt stumbles across something lying on the ground. Michael catches up with him and scolds him for running off without telling him. Walt shows his father, Michael, the handcuffs he found. Sawyer attacks Sayid, who he believes is an Iraqi terrorist who blew up the plane. They are soon stopped by Michael and the now returned Jack.

Jack, Kate, and Charlie head back to the beach. Kate asks Charlie what he was doing in the bathroom, and he says he was sick, but in a flashback, it is revealed that Charlie had been doing drugs in the bathroom, and attempted to flush his stash but had been prevented by the sudden onset of turbulence.

Elsewhere, Boone lays into Shannon for being incredibly selfish. She lashes back at him and tells her brother that she is going on the hike to find high ground with the others. Knowing she won’t change her mind, Boone goes along to look after his sister. Charlie and Sawyer decide to join the group at the last minute.

Sayid manages to repair the transceiver, but it does not have a signal or much battery life. While working on it, he reveals to Hurley that he was a communications officer with the Iraqi Republican Guard in the Gulf War. While reading a letter sadly, Sawyer decides to go with Sayid and the group (Kate, Charlie, Shannon and Boone) to bring the transceiver inland in an attempt to reach higher ground and get a better signal.

Along the way, they are attacked by a charging polar bear, which Sawyer shoots and kills. He then explains that he got the gun from the body of a dead U.S. marshal. Sayid accuses Sawyer of being the marshal’s prisoner. Kate takes the gun from Sawyer, and Sayid instructs her on how to dismantle it. At this point, Sawyer becomes relatively disliked by the other survivors.

Shannon attempts to understand the signal. A flashback shows the final moments of the flight. Kate is talking to the marshal, the same injured man to whom Jack had been tending, on the beach. On the plane, it can be seen that Kate is wearing the handcuffs that Walt found in the jungle. As the turbulence hits, the marshal is knocked unconscious by a falling suitcase. Kate uncuffs herself, and puts the marshal’s oxygen mask on him before attaching her own, at which point the tail end of the plane suddenly breaks off and falls away.

Back at the beach, the marshal wakes up during the operation and asks Jack, “Where is she?”. Inland, Sayid turns on the transceiver and it has a signal. However, it is being blocked by a transmission in French that has been repeating for over sixteen years. Shannon translates it: “I’m alone now, on the island alone. Please someone come. The others are dead. It killed them. It killed them all.” The group gives each other meaningful looks before Charlie says “Guys, where are we?”.

My wife has decided to start watching LOST again from the very beginning. She’s seen all of the episodes once already and I’m not sure what started her on this quest, but she has been noticing a lot more this time around and delights in the character development that happens early on in the show. This is an example of the last email she sent me:

Michael: “How does a huge place like this never get discovered?”

Apparently, she thought this was either important, hilarious, or both. She commented to me about the compass scene in the first season where Sayid borrows Locke’s compass only to realize that something is not right. Sayid just figures the compass is not functioning correctly, but we now know that there is massive magnetic disturbances on this island (and that the sun’s position may be skewed if you believe the Mirror Matter Moon Theory).

My wife also sent me the picture of the little girl watching Hurley on the screen. I don’t remember if I noticed this the first time or not, but it made me wonder (and we have no way of knowing at the time) what people or things do we see that later on in our life become very important parts of our life? It also shows the creativity of LOST’s producers in weaving the characters story lines so deeply into each other.

So last season we found out that Locke may really be dead and that his impersonator is probably the Smoke Monster, who is in a good versus evil battle with Jacob. This battle is similar to the other ying yangs we find on the island, such as Jack the healer and John the hunter in the first three seasons. Then of course there is Hurley, who sees dead people and Miles who can hear them. They now have teamed up to form a kind of dynamic-duo regarding dead people. This is far from the original Hurley, seen here relaxing on the beach in this humorous comparison between him and a pregnant Claire.

My wife sent me that picture too. She thought the picture was funny. There is a similar picture of her and I sitting on the couch. It’s not always funny, especially when you’re part of the comparison.

Long live LOST and bring on 2010!