Lost Questions [Spoilers if you have not caught up] [updated slightly]

As the new season of Lost approaches, the questions start to pile up.  EW asks to which mysteries folks most want answers.  Given that the show has been an endless mind@#$$, the question remains--will this last season answer more questions than it raise?  My guess is that it will be a close call.  That is, some mysteries will be revealed, while some long-standing questions will be ignored, yet additional questions will arise.  The first episode of the season will answer the first question--what was the effect of the big bomb at the end of last season?

Scifiwire.com has a list of one hundred big questions (update: and for some suggested answers, see EW's Doc Jensen; and for some clues as to how committed the Lost guys are to answering every question, see here).  Here is a subset of their list--the ones most interesting to me and with some comments along the way:
1. Who is Jacob?
4. What's up with the Loophole Guy?
These two questions are obviously tied together (as are the questions in between): this is not a longstanding mystery. Well, Jacob is, but not the other guy.  More than one direction to take here.  If this season does not answer any of the Jacob questions, loyal fans could consider this a FAIL to use the current hot word.

9. Is Juliet dead?
Depends on which time continuum we are in.

11. Why would the other survivors follow Jack's crackpot plan anyway?
12. Seriously, who says yes to blowing up the island to restart time anyway?
Same question--they are stretching to hit 100 apparently.  Not going to be answered.  The show is going to be doing enough moving in time without exploring the "geez, these guys were kind of dumb or crazy?" question.

13. If so, did time reset and keep the Oceanic 815 from crashing?
Answered soon, me thinks.

18. What's the deal with the four-toed statue?
I think that was answered already, more or less by the Jacob and other dude's endless rivalry.

23. Why does Dr. Pierre Chang use aliases?
Dude's a pathological liar.


24. What's the smoke monster?
Has this already been answered?  Perhaps not to our satisfaction, but to that of the Lost writers?  Probably.

25. Why does it have a taste for some people and not others?
Not sure this is going to be answered.

30. Why did the Oceanic Six have to go back?
To push the plot forward.  Because Jacob wanted it or the other dude did?

32. What's up with the blast door map?
One of my favorite military phrases--Overcome By Events--OBE.  Not getting back to that.


33. What happened to Claire?
She died, but what happens now?

34. Why did psychic Richard Malkin insist Claire raise Aaron?
This is a first season mystery that should be answered, but they may not--either to mess with us or because it does not matter for the plots they developed after the first season.

36. Who is Richard Alpert really, and why doesn't he age?
More hints to be sure, but a real answer?  I am not sure.

37. How or why does the island heal people?
This gets to the really big question that they should answer--what is the Island?  If they don't, one could consider that to be a betrayal of the loyal watchers.

39. What's the deal with Christian?
Ditto.  The longest significant mysteries should be addressed.  I care less about Jacob than about the Island, less about the other dude and more about Smokey, etc.

41. Who are Adam and Eve, the skeletons found in the caves?
42. What did the black and white stones on their bodies mean?

Re 41, 42--pick your battles.  These ain't them.

43. Why did DHARMA and the Others allow Rousseau's distress signal to continue to be transmitted?

Plot hole not to be answered..

44. Are Hurley's numbers really cursed?

No.  I think we will quickly see what life for him might be like, post-lottery but sans crash.

45. Why is Walt special?
Yes, he taught writers not to put into plots kids just about to puber, especially if there is time travel involved or if something that takes months in fictional time takes years in real time to shoot..

54. How much did it suck that Libby was killed before Hurley could get lucky?
We already know the answer--it sucked a lot.


55. Where does the donkey wheel come from?
Good one.

59. How did Penelope know to look for a magnetic anomaly?
Interesting plot hole unlikely to be explored, especially since she is busy with Flashforward.  (As is Charlie)

62. Why did Jacob diss Ben by not communicating with him while he was leader?
Good question since it led to Jake's downfall.

66. Was the ship that Jacob and Loophole Guy see sailing the Black Rock?
Yes, it was. Again, more list-fluffing to get it to 100.

68. What happened to the crew?
They died.  A while ago or become Others.  Or both.

69. Why is the ship's log important to Charles Widmore?
Boring.  To find the island.  Duh.


70. What are Widmore's plans for the island?

Ah, this is an important one.

76. What happened to the people the Others kidnapped?
Helsinki syndrome, baby.

77. What's up with the whispers?
This would be a good one--perhaps the time traveling voices of the castaways?

82. What is Ilana's connection to Jacob?
Ilana?  Oh, the new castaway.  Not sure they are going to exist or be relevant in the post-bomb world.  Much of this stuff may be OBE.

87. Why did the supply drops continued after the Purge?
Plot hole to be ignored.

88. How do they find the island to make those drops?
Ditto.

91. Why isn't the island done with Desmond yet?
Scottish accents rock! There can be only one!

95. What are the Rules?
You cannot fight on holy ground. No talking about Fight Club.

96. How did the death of Alex change the Rules?

No murdering of relatives, now you can.  So, Ben tries to hit Penny and/or her kid.

97. Will Sun and Jin ever get a chance to live happily ever after?
Hmmm.
98. Will any of the survivors get a chance to live happily ever after?
Hmmm times seven.
99. Will the smoke monster get a chance to live happily ever after?
Yes.


100. Will we be satisfied with the way Lost ends?
 We who?  Some will, some will not.  If Vegas were to set an over/under on this at fifty-five percent, I would bet the over.  If they set it at 65%, I would not bet.  If they set it at 80%, I would bet the under.


Which of course leads to another blog post before Feb 2nd: what prop (proposition) bets should we set for the season?  For instance, for the Super Bowl, folks will bet on which player scores first, whether the first play is a pass or run, etc.  For another day.