Let’s be honest — if you haven’t been watching “Lost,” you’re not going to start now. No hourlong recap special is going to make sense of the hatches and exotic matter and time travel. And if you are a fan, there’s nothing we can tell you about the new season, mostly because the producers admirably have kept a lid on the whole thing, not even showing scenes in the previews.
(Theory? Flight 815 lands safely in Los Angeles with everyone from the first season. Except the group involved with the bomb — Kate, Jack, Sawyer, etc. — sense something is not right).
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Sure, John Locke is a philosopher, and all the scientists have scientist names (Faraday, Hawking). But here are a few references and anagrams you may not have caught.
Richard Alpert — The ageless Other is named after a spiritual teacher who worked with Timothy Leary at Harvard in the 1960s. The real Alpert was given the name “Ram Dass” by an Indian guru, which means “servant of God.” On the show, Alpert is the only one who seemingly speaks to (and gets instructions from) the mysterious Jacob.
Benjamin Linus — Linus was the second pope after Peter. Or in this case, the first after Richard.
Miles — Though the ghost whisperer’s last name is only mentioned in the credits, it’s worth noting that it’s Straume — so that together, it sounds like “maelstrom.”
Hoffs/Drawler funeral home — Where the body of Locke is kept in the Season 3 finale “Through the Looking Glass,” the name is an anagram for “flash forward,” which was, of course, the twist of the episode.
Canton Rainier — The name of a carpet cleaning company, imprinted on the side of a van Ben uses to transport the body of John Locke. The name is an anagram for “reincarnation.”
WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND
Though critics of the show say “Lost” never answers anything, there have been a number of things — big and small — referenced in early seasons that are later explained.
Polar bear — In the very first episode of “Lost,” a polar bear comes charging out of the jungle. How did it get there? When Jack and Sawyer are imprisoned by the Others, they’re put in bear cages left by the Dharma Initiative, which was using animals to test things like time travel and teleportation. Later, we see Charlotte finding a polar bear skeleton with a Dharma logo on it in the Tunisian desert, likely an early experiment on the “exit” that Ben and Locke later used to get off the island. After the Dharma purge by Ben, likely some of the animals — including that wild polar bear — got free.
The runway — During their capture by the Others in Season 3, Kate and Sawyer are put to work building something. “A runway,” Juliet tells them, though she doesn’t know for what. In Season 5, the Ajira Airways flight uses that runway to safely land. It seems logical that Jacob knew the runway would be needed and ordered it built.
Dr. Pierre Chang’s arm — The Dharma scientist appears in numerous orientation films (often with pseudonyms all related to candles — Halliwax, Wickmund, etc.), often with an immobile or even fake left arm. While this was first seen in Season 2, it was only in last season’s finale that we see Chang having his arm crushed by metal in 1977.
The compass — Richard Alpert shows up to test a young John Locke, asking him to identify items that were “already” his, a reference to real-life tests to find the Dalai Lama. We find out later that Locke, traveling through time, tells Richard when and where he’ll be born, setting himself up for a life of being monitored. The items presented included a compass, which Alpert had given Locke in 2007, saying that he should use it to convince Richard in the past that he was traveling through time.
SCIENTIFIC GLOSSARY
The “Lost” island is based on actual scientific theories, though often with fictional applications.
Casimir Effect — Dr. Chang says the island has a natural one of these. The effect was proposed by Dutch physicist Hendrik Casimir in 1948, the (very simplified) idea of which is that a field of negative energy could be created between two uncharged metallic plates.
Negative energy particles — also called exotic matter — are repelled by gravity rather than attracted by it.
Wormhole — A shortcut through space and time. Theoretically (particularly in science fiction), exotic matter can stabilize a wormhole. That would explain how the island moves. It is a “ship” on one end of a wormhole. When the end of the wormhole is moved, the island moves as well. The other side of the wormhole could be Tunisia, where those who turn the wheel end up.
DID YOU KNOW?
Dodging the smoke monster — Creators originally wanted Michael Keaton to play Jack, and be killed at the end of the two-hour pilot by the smoke monster. They figured it would throw viewers a curveball — they killed the movie star! But cooler heads prevailed, Jack was spared (and recast) and the monster killed the pilot instead.
Casting comedy — Dominic Monaghan as Sawyer? Yunjin Kim as Kate? It didn’t almost happen — but those were the parts for which they originally tried out. Luckily, Dominic was cast as Charlie, and the part of Sun was created for Yunjin.
Drive Shaft’s music — Puzzled by Charlie’s band’s one big hit, “You All Everybody”? Turns out it’s an in-joke, off an Internet meme. There’s a clip from an old Phil Donahue show were a lady in the audience said, “You all everybody, acting like you’re stupid people, and wearing expensive clothes.” Popular on YouTube, the writers used the words verbatim for the lyrics.
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