# What one "Lost" mystery do you most care about getting an explanation for? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 28, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808 "2010-01-28T20:57:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/61 "2010-01-30T05:28:05Z")
> [@BMada](#): > > lost in space That would be cool if Robot showed up on the island. WARNING! WARNING! SMOKE MONSTER APPROACHING! ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/62 "2010-01-30T07:00:39Z")
_ **why is hurley called hurley?!?!?!** _ ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/63 "2010-01-30T07:14:17Z")
> [@Indistinguishable](#): > > Right in the OP: > > And yet: > C’mon, guys… Well, there’s a genuine curiosity as to what draws people to the show. Seriously. I remember when it first came out, and within 3 or 4 episodes I had a bad feeling that it was going to be a neverending puzzle with no real answers. Now, I really hate that kind of thing, but even with my own tastes aside…why? Are people going to be upset if they don’t get the answers they want after umpteen years of waiting for the punchline? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/64 "2010-01-30T07:58:17Z")
Why does God need a starship? ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/65 "2010-01-30T08:05:27Z")
It’s not so much that I want an answer to a specific mystery, but I mainly want to know how everything that happened is going to be explained away without the answers of “it’s supernatural powers”, “they’re in purgatory” or “it’s all happening inside Hurley’s head”, which are three reasons that the powers that be keep stating is NOT what is going on. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/66 "2010-01-30T09:19:19Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > I promised a friend that I would watch LOST. So I’m actually somewhat invested in the show right now. I say this because I don’t want this to seem like threadshitting, when I say that for me the biggest mystery is how anyone can watch this tripe without being forced to promise to do so by a friend? (A _friend_?!?! Maybe not.) I think quite a lot of Lost is tripe too. But you know what? It’s still threadshitting to say so here, especially in a post with no other substance. That’s not what this thread is about. > [@Taomist](#): > > Well, there’s a genuine curiosity as to what draws people to the show. Seriously. I remember when it first came out, and within 3 or 4 episodes I had a bad feeling that it was going to be a neverending puzzle with no real answers. Now, I really hate that kind of thing, but even with my own tastes aside…why? Are people going to be upset if they don’t get the answers they want after umpteen years of waiting for the punchline? Yeah, sure, some people will be upset if the show lacks a satisfying conclusion. Is that so hard to understand? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 9:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/67 "2010-01-30T09:19:23Z")
> [@fusoya](#): > > It’s not so much that I want an answer to a specific mystery, but I mainly want to know how everything that happened is going to be explained away without the answers of “it’s supernatural powers”, “they’re in purgatory” or “it’s all happening inside Hurley’s head”, which are three reasons that the powers that be keep stating is NOT what is going on. I hate to keep bringing this up, but the people holding out hope for a non-supernatural ending astound me. There was an _ **invisible tree crushing monster** _ in the pilot. The show used supernatural elements to explain its mysteries from the very beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/68 "2010-01-30T16:34:23Z")
> [@medstar](#): > > I want to know the story behind the wooden ship found on the island in the first season. I don’t recall it being explained later on. The “Black Rock” was seen on the horizon at the beginning of the Season 5 finale. I am also curious to find out how it got from there to the middle of the island. > [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > I want to know how that plane in Nigeria carrying Eko’s brother wound up on the Island, and why when Ben left the Island he wound up in Saharan Africa. The Beechcraft buzzed John Locke during the episodes in Season 5 when the island was time-hopping, and presumably location-hopping as well. I assume the island must have just popped up under it out of nowhere and caused it to crash. The location in the desert where Ben wound up seems to be a fixed exit point for the island. I believe Locke also wound up there after he fixed the dislocated donkey wheel. Widmore apparently has video cameras set up to monitor the location. Something that I’ve never understood is why the Dharma Initiative is still making food drops on the island long after the Others took over Dharmaville. Did Dharma know that one of their people was still living in the hatch? Did the Others NOT know about the hatch or that someone from Dharma was still living in it? This may be one of those minor mysteries that never get resolved, but it’s been bugging me since Season 3. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/69 "2010-01-30T16:52:38Z")
I’m guessing the Black Rock happened to be in the sea when the island appeared in the same spot, thus the Black Rock became land-based. ---
**Author:** ![4everkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/76d3ee/32.png) [@4everkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/4everkid)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/70 "2010-01-30T18:00:47Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > The “Black Rock” was seen on the horizon at the beginning of the Season 5 finale. I am also curious to find out how it got from there to the middle of the island. > > The Beechcraft buzzed John Locke during the episodes in Season 5 when the island was time-hopping, and presumably location-hopping as well. I assume the island must have just popped up under it out of nowhere and caused it to crash. > > The location in the desert where Ben wound up seems to be a fixed exit point for the island. I believe Locke also wound up there after he fixed the dislocated donkey wheel. Widmore apparently has video cameras set up to monitor the location. > > Something that I’ve never understood is why the Dharma Initiative is still making food drops on the island long after the Others took over Dharmaville. Did Dharma know that one of their people was still living in the hatch? Did the Others NOT know about the hatch or that someone from Dharma was still living in it? This may be one of those minor mysteries that never get resolved, but it’s been bugging me since Season 3. It is still a mystery who exactly is making the food drops. I am curious about that too. Ben and the other Others were NOT aware of the Swan and its inhabitants until the 815 survivors discovered it. Except for a select few DI involved in the project, the Swan was a closely guarded secret. It was located in Hostile territory, where drilling was forbidden according to “the truce.” [Lostpedia - Swan](http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/Swan) Ben was never aware that Desmond was in the Swan. Plus Ben and Desmond never spoke to each other until they met off-island at the Lamppost. [In the trivia section](http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/This_Place_Is_Death) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/71 "2010-01-30T19:07:58Z")
> [@Taomist](#): > > . Now, I really hate that kind of thing, but even with my own tastes aside…why? Are people going to be upset if they don’t get the answers they want after umpteen years of waiting for the punchline? No. No one said we’d be upset. That’s not the point of my thread at all. We are just having fun and are curious. The journey has been great and the producers have told us we won’t get all the answers. It’d be cheesy if we did, actually. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/72 "2010-01-30T19:26:51Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > The journey has been great I think that’s what I was looking for, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/73 "2010-01-30T19:31:29Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > No one said we’d be upset. Uh-oh. [I kinda did](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=12056263&postcount=66)… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/74 "2010-01-30T19:55:07Z")
Quick sort-of-but-not-entirely-OT-question (we don’t have a working TV and get all our “Lost” online, and I’m leery of trying to look up this info online for fear of spoilers): When exactly is the first non-rerun/non-recap episode airing, and what’s the schedule for the remaining episodes? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/75 "2010-01-30T20:01:09Z")
> [@emmaliminal](#): > > Quick sort-of-but-not-entirely-OT-question (we don’t have a working TV and get all our “Lost” online, and I’m leery of trying to look up this info online for fear of spoilers): When exactly is the first non-rerun/non-recap episode airing, and what’s the schedule for the remaining episodes? The season premiere is Tuesday, February 2. A solid schedule for the rest of season six has not been laid out, but the finale will air sometime in May. ---
**Author:** ![Monstre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@Monstre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstre)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/76 "2010-01-30T20:19:09Z")
> [@4everkid](#): > > It is still a mystery who exactly is making the food drops. I am curious about that too. If you recall the episode “Enter 77”, when Locke was screwing around with the computer at the Flame station (Mikhail’s shack in the woods"), which happened to be the station controlling communication to the outside world… Locke triggered what was more or less a video menu, with options spoken by Dr. Pierre Chang (nee Wickman nee Marvin Candle, etc.) One of those options was “to schedule a food drop…” Of course, the option John chose was 77 (“if the hostiles have taken over”), blowing up the place. So it would seem to me that Mikhail had been remotely calling for regular food drops via that system. Of course, this would seem to imply that Dharma still exists on the mainland, and somebody in Dharma still thinks they are in control of the island? To me, that’s the real mystery here – does Dharma still have a world presence in the current day? (because they don’t exist on the island any more). ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/77 "2010-01-31T01:34:01Z")
OK, a few more episodes in, still committed to finishing this. My main problem with LOST as compared to other shows that I consider great: it’s just so dang misanthropic and depressing. It’s all about how much people CAN’T get along. Everybody hates everybody else. Depressing. Although, I’m beginning to get a vibe from it that I kind of like. It’s kind of Gilligan’s Island meets Twin Peaks meets . . . Seinfeld. So many of the developments seem just utterly random, total nonsequiturs. As if the writers are just lobbing random fish at the audience to see which ones they’ll swallow. The prankster in me kind of likes that; that for all the complex plotting and elaborate settings and intertwining timelines, the show is ultimately–and intentionally–about exactly fuck all. That I can get behind. In other words, wanting this or that mystery solved runs counter to the essence of the show. Like the season enders of Kingdom Hospital; prank endings that were more a parody of a cliffhanger than an actual cliffhanger. Watching LOST as a \*parody \*of serial dramatic television makes it much more enjoyable. ---
**Author:** ![borschevsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@borschevsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/borschevsky)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/78 "2010-01-31T04:33:12Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Something that I’ve never understood is why the Dharma Initiative is still making food drops on the island long after the Others took over Dharmaville. Did Dharma know that one of their people was still living in the hatch? Did the Others NOT know about the hatch or that someone from Dharma was still living in it? This may be one of those minor mysteries that never get resolved, but it’s been bugging me since Season 3. An explanation that I would buy is that they made all the food drops at the same time in the 70s. We’ve seen that approaching the island causes weird time effects, and that the angle at which you approach the island has some effect. So maybe they flew a single supply plane and did drops in such a way that the drops arrive on the island at separate times. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/79 "2010-01-31T21:43:06Z")
> [@Monstre](#): > > …Of course, this would seem to imply that Dharma still exists on the mainland, and somebody in Dharma still thinks they are in control of the island? To me, that’s the real mystery here – does Dharma still have a world presence in the current day? (because they don’t exist on the island any more). According to web-based games and scavenger hunts that the producers have set up (which I haven’t followed, although I’ve read a bit in Lostpedia), the Hanso foundation cut off funding for the Dharma Initiative in 1987, and the Initiative lost much of its personnel in the Purge in 1992. The Hanso foundation itself is still out there doing its mysterious thing, saying that it’s trying to save the world while doing ominous, secretive, and sometimes fatal human experiments. Lostpedia has a good [summary](http://lostpedia.wikia.com/wiki/The_Hanso_Foundation). ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808/80 "2010-01-31T23:02:50Z")
Did we ever find out why those capsules with some data that somebody was collecting for some reason were sent by tube to a place on the island where they were just piling up? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-one-lost-mystery-do-you-most-care-about-getting-an-explanation-for/526808.md?page=5)