Some Questions About Lost

Where there was once a show about plane crash survivors living on an island together, facing the problems of food, shelter, and heroin addiction, there arose a show about people who would rather not be on an island, but were alright with it because of underground facilities that emulated the outside world. Then that show became one about people who really, really, really didn't want to be on an island... despite a never-ending food supply and the recent discovery of a suburban village. Then that show became one about people who leave an island and have to go baaaaaack. Then that show became one about a group of people who time travel.

This logical progression has a fault, though: the newly adopted series synopsis is a breeding ground for plot holes and Timecop-esque moments that suggest certain people watched way too much Back to the Future Part II and fell asleep when their physics professor discussed the theoretical possibility of time travel. This is not to say that the writers of Lost have achieved Timecop status (since two objects can't occupy the same space at the same time, that must mean you can't come in physical contact with yourself at any point in time!), but more to point out that the ice here is very thin, and they have 29 episodes left to stop themselves from falling in.

The following are cracks in that ice, as I've observed from the first three episodes of Season 5. Being that this is a show where plot direction comes slightly before establishing in-universe rules and way before following them, it's possible that all of these riddles will be solved in no time. As they are now, though, they are not mysteries, but plot holes.


1) When Faraday finds Desmond in the Swan Station, it pinpoints their temporal location within sixteen days. We come to this conclusion by keeping in mind that Desmond was not alone on the island for three years, but exactly forty days. It's irrefutably revealed in "Live Together, Die Alone" that, after nearly three years of living with Kelvin, it was September 22, 2004 (the day of the crash) that Desmond began paying both halves of the rent, so to speak. Not only does Kelvin's death coincide with the plane crash, but it is actually indirectly responsible for it.

"Does this mean I get back his half of the security deposit, brotha?"

From that day, until the day Jack, Locke, Kate and Hurley blow the containment hatch off the Swan Station, Desmond is alone. That gives us a window of forty days in which Faraday could have visited Desmond. Someone may ask, "Hey, who says he was alone when Faraday visited him?", and to that I respond, "The writers of the show, when they had him answer the door by himself and ask Faraday if he was Desmond's replacement." If this ends up being a plot hole, claiming that Kelvin was away on a walkabout or something would be an implausible explanation.

We trim forty days down to sixteen by remembering that Locke and Boone discovered the containment hatch sixteen days after arriving on the island (October 7, 2004). Based on the burial conditions when Juliette finds it, it's clear the Locke and Boone have not begun their work. This pits Juliette, Faraday, and the rest of the Doctor Who Crew between September 22 and October 7, 2004.

In that two-week period, a rather large group of people occupied the area of the island in which they were traversing- the crash survivors. So, there is an island beach camp, a shit ton of plane wreckage (the majority of it was taken away by the tide on day 21- October 12, 2004), and possibly a bunch of people living in nearby caves. The chances of the Marty McFly Bunch finding somebody along their journey to the beach would have been very good, but much worse would have been their chances of not finding someone when they got there.

"They're obviously busy, Charlotte. Lets move down the beach a little bit."

Rose, Bernard, Frogurt and the lot make their way to the camp while Faraday has a heart-to-heart with Desmondo. Conveniently, the crash survivors have all disappeared, along with their makeshift shelters and supplies. Why?

Possible Solution: This event does not take place between the times deduced above; it takes place before the plane crash, and the writers completely forgot that Desmond was doing the Bert and Ernie thing at that time. Refute it all you'd like, it seemed pretty clear that Desmond was alone in that station, so either way there seems to be a rather large plot hole.


2) Desmond's magical mind has a unique way of synching with the main storyline. Through Lost's fractured, post-modern storytelling techniques, they've obscured the actual way in which events have unfolded. Whether you subscribe to 12 Monkeys or Back to the Future (fatalist time-travel vs. conditional), there's no discernible reason why Desmond would remember his and Faraday's Swan Station meeting three years later.

Even if your concept of time travel is, as I mentioned above, that in which the past, present and future can be changed, the result of the meeting would be that Desmond- stranded on a life raft with a fat man, spinal surgeon, well-manicured fugitive, Iraqi, recently widowed Asian, invincible baby and the purveyor of Lapidus Home-Grown Ganja- would suddenly remember. If you believe, as Faraday apparently does, that time cannot be changed, then Desmond had always met Faraday, and should never have forgotten at all.

"I've got the best weed in the Southfarthing."

Whatever the case, Desmond conveniently remembers the encounter three years later, which seems to be the exact time that Ben and Co. are rounding up the Oceanic Six. So not only is Desmond's brain so special that it forgets meeting Faraday altogether, but it has the power of concurrent storyline behind it. Hmm... thinking about that special power, it seems more like something you'd find in a writer. If Desmond weren't a real person, and some master wizard were writing his entire life out, as well as the lives of Jack, Kate, Ben and the others... yes, that would make a lot of sense. What's that, you say? Desmond isn't real? Someone is writing out his and everyone else's entire lives? Oh. Well, darn. At least we can all take comfort in the fact that Lost would never, ever attribute to a character the supernatural power of plot device... right?


3) Wrong. Guyliner (a.k.a Richard Alpert) is affected by Locke's Bill and Ted journey to the point where he takes him up on his offer to visit him as a small baby. At least that much makes sense. But why doesn't the Magistrate of Maybelline remember Locke in the future? Why does no one remember anyone in the future? Mental time-travel was one thing, and it was working, but physical time-travel is too problematic for anyone to handle (except Terry Gilliam and all but the last five minutes of the Denzel Washington movie Deja Vu).

While we're on the subject of St. Sephora, let's talk about his variable fashion sense. Here he is in 1954:

"Mr. Locke, what I wouldn't give to take a pencil to those eyelids!"

Here he is circa 1972:

"I think we should construct a box, Ben. It should be like, this big, and have like, anything you want in it."

And here he is in 2001:

"Juliette, my duplicitous nature should be evident from the hard light in this otherwise well-lit morgue."

Clearly, he was going through an experimental phase in the 70s. The Robinson Crusoe look was a really great way to blow the viewer's mind in "The Man Behind the Curtain", but since then it's been dropped, in favor of not ever giving a proper explanation. It's a good thing Lost doesn't do that a lot.


Bonus - Juliette is so hot.

I would romance her.

I would shag her.

Goddamn! The dirtier she gets, the more I want to have sex with her. Now if only she were to mud wrestle with Kate...


Oh, come on!