LOST Solved
By: Alex Sandell

The fact that 2 of these 13 primary cast members have been
killed off in season 3 alone, shows that LOST isn't your
"typical" program. And for that, TV fans should all be grateful.

Last night's season finale (Through the Looking Glass) left a lot of questions unanswered and opened up more cans of worms than a bait shop on Mother's Day. And I think I've solved nearly all of them. Impossible, you say? Hear me out. Even if I haven't solved everything, I've come close enough to make the people behind the show sweat. Of course this is filled with spoilers, so if you haven't kept up with the show, I'd stop reading now.

"Jack to the Future"

Remember Jack (the Jack in the future, who had gotten off the island) told the new head surgeon that he could fire Jack if Jack's dad wasn't drunker than Jack was? Well, on the show it's already been established that Jack's dad died. So how could this be the future and the dad is still alive?

It is the future, but not the one Jack belongs to. This can be explained by string theory. Being that ABC probably isn't going to keep a show on the air that turns into Nova and explains complex theories to its audience, it will more than likely be "String Theory for Dummies," but the string theory will be used as a springboard to jump off of.

As Jack and Kate are not meant to be there, they have secrets to keep. Jack says, toward the end of the episode, that he's tired of lying. So what did they lie about? How did they pull this sleight of hand? How will the show reveal this to us in the next three seasons? Read on ...

"Flashbacks are so 2006!"

And that's why LOST will be divided into two halves. Seasons 1-3 were filled with flashbacks explain where the various characters came from. Seasons 4-6 will feature "flash-forwards," explaining where the characters are going.

Hints were already dropped. Who was in the casket? It could have been Ben, as Jack said he wasn't a friend or a relative. But didn't that seem like an awfully small coffin? Nearly child sized. Could it be Claire's baby inside? And could that explain how far in the future the "flash-forward" actually was (8-10 years)? Technically, Jack isn't a friend or a relative in that situation, either.

If Kate's back, how could she be free? She did say to Jack something along the lines of, "He'll be wondering where I am". Was she referring to the agent who took her in and died on the island? In this reality, is he still alive? Was Kate put on some sort of parole, rather than sentenced to jail due to her ordeal? Or hadn't Kate killed her stepfather yet in this reality and the Kate who killed her stepfather isn't in trouble at all, because, as it stands, the event never happened (one of the "lies" Jack's referring to)?

Am I losing you yet?

"Where's Walter?"

Last we saw Walt, he was sailing off the island with his dad. Now he's back and telling Locke to get up and get himself out of that pile of rotted corpses. Huh? Maybe Walt and dad found out that they couldn't leave. Or that they shouldn't. Has Walt become a part of Jacob? Who/what the fuck is Jacob? I think he's the secondhand smoke monster, myself.

Locke, along with Ben, tried warning Jack that making the call was the wrong thing to do. That it isn't what he was meant to do. I think both of them were trying to stop him from completely fucking with the other dimensions around him. Maybe they knew/know that the island is stuck somewhere between times and places and that death would (or should) come to them all if they ever left or were discovered. Or maybe they know the show is filmed in Hawaii and the island has turned into a tourist trap.

I know you're asking, "But if they're in an alternate dimension, how did they leave and pick up Juliet?" Well, the others were pretty damn secretive about the whole thing and they did drug her to get her to the island. Could they have found a way to transport between dimensions in their funky submarine? Maybe they needed Juliet because there was no one else left on the island to save them. If the Beatles were still together and half of the band hadn't already died, they could write the theme song for this inquiry.

"Further Evidence"

- Jack faking dad's signature on the refill order is further proof the father in that time is alive, as no matter how messed up Jack was he would know that the pharmacy who knows him as a doctor would also know his father and would immediately know the father was dead. Knowing that, it's doubtful they'd try to phone him (as they did in the episode). Trust me, pharmacies keep up with things such as a doctor dying. And Jack would be well aware of this, as well.

- The show's title, Through the Looking Glass is clearly taken from the second Alice in Wonderland book, Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There.  That book dealt with the world in opposite, time running in reverse, etc. While I wouldn't heartily recommend the book, I would suggest checking it out if you need further indicators as to where the program is headed (The Dark Tower series is a better read and explores similar themes).

- Hurley and Libby in the psyche unit. People (including me) kept asking how that happened and they didn't remember it happening. That's now been answered. It hadn't happened. It is still to come. That also means Hurley makes it off the island. Either that, or the flashback was to an alternate past that Hurley had never lived (doubtful).

"What makes you think you know everything?"

Of course this is all theory and speculation, but the show is following a trajectory similar to The Dark Tower series, written by Stephen King. The series of books has been named by the shows creators as an influence on the show. If it keeps following that trajectory, this is going to be an alternate timeline/dimension and Jack with "dead dad" is meant to be in one version of time and Jack with "alive dad" is meant to be in another (or not meant to be alive at all).

"Of course they could pull a fast one"

LOST writers are notorious for the stunts they pull and the rugs they yank out from right under our feet. So Naomi could very much be a bad guy and the Losties and the Others could team up to fight a common enemy, leading the rescue 'copter to crash, making everything that happened at the end of Through the Looking Glass irrelevant -- turning it into a, "What if?" type thing. But somehow I doubt it. See above for what I really believe.

Anyway, it was an excellent season finale and through 3 seasons LOST has managed to be the best fiction on television. Hopefully they can keep this up for 3 more years. If they don't, they'll have the wrath of a lot of very devoted fans to deal with.

What do you think? Email your theories now.

©2007 Alex Sandell/Cerebellum Inc. [All Rights Reserved]. Copy this without my permission and my fake lawyers will make sure you're as LOST as Jimmy Hoffa.