'Lost': 48 pending questions

After eight months of waiting -- nearly twice the length of time the survivors of oceanic Flight 815 have been marooned on that darn island -- "Lost" will finally, finally, finally return to TV on Thursday night. Actually, for the hard core out there, it returns Wednesday night with a rerun of May's game-changing season finale. If you're reading this, then I'm sure you've already seen it, either on TV or on DVD, but that shouldn't stop you from watching it again.

In fact, you owe it to yourself to see it again. Because "Lost" is the kind of show that rewards the obsessive tracking of bits of dialogue, the careful scrutiny of prop details and the kind of endless speculation that would cause a lesser show to quickly disintegrate beneath the weight of expectations.

So to help ease your transition back into the feverish world of flashback parsing and narrative puzzle-solving, we've assembled a list of 48 unanswered questions we hope -- no, DEMAND -- will be answered in the series' 48 remaining episodes.

48. Will the WGA strike permanently disrupt the original plan to end the series with three seasons of 16 episodes apiece?

47. What is Charles Widmore's association with the Dharma Initiative?

46. Who were those guys in the icebound monitoring station at the end of Season 2?

45. What is the significance of Claire's baby?

44. Will Rose's cancer return?

43. Will Sun survive her pregnancy?

42. What's the meaning behind that crazy mural painted inside the Swan Station?

41. Where exactly is the island located?

40. What gets worshipped at the temple Ben mentions near the end of the third season?

39. Who are the people on the rescue ship?

38. If Penny Widmore didn't send the ship, then where is her rescue crew?

37. Can Juliet really be trusted?

36. How did the Black Rock get on the island?

35. How many more Dharma stations are left to be found?

34. Will we learn more about Libby's connection to Hurley?

33. Are Nikki and Paulo gone for good?

32. What did Jack mean in the flash-forward when he made a reference to his supposedly dead father being upstairs?

31. Will the rest of the survivors learn about Hurley's fortune?

30. Will Jin learn about Sun's affair?

29. How did Locke's father get on the island?

28. Why do all pregnancies result in death on the island?

27. Is Alvar Hanso still involved with the island?

26. What is the sickness Rousseau talked about her crew getting in the first season?

25. How was Walt able to appear to Locke and Shannon?

24. What do the numbers -- 4 8 15 16 23 42 -- mean?

23. Why does the doctor in the Dharma Initiative-orientation films have different names in different films?

22. Who are the bodies dubbed Adam and Eve that were found in the caves?

21. What do the hieroglyphics on the machine inside Swan Station mean?

20. How did the Others get all the names of the survivors?

19. What are the whispers people hear in the jungle?

18. Will we see more of the Other known as Isabel (Diana Scarwid)?

17. Where have the children that the Others took been hiding?

16. Why do so many episodes start with the close-up of an eye?

15. Were the Others really having Sawyer and Kate help to build a runway?

14. What did the psychic that read Claire's future see?

13. Did Jack's dad really come back to life or is that an illusion?

12. Will Desmond retain his ability to see the future?

11. Who besides Kate and Jack got off the island?

10. Who is Kate's unseen mate in the post-island flash-forward?

9. What's the deal with that four-toed statue from the Season 2 finale?

8. In Jack's post-island flash-forward, who was in the coffin?

7. What happened to Michael and Walt after they left the island?

6. What is Walt's power?

5. How did Mikhail (the eye-patch guy) appear to come back from the dead?

4. Why doesn't Richard Alpert age?

3. What is Jacob?

2. What is the smoke monster?

1. What is that island?

PHOTO GALLERY: 'Lost' pop culture references
PHOTO GALLERY: 'Lost' cast cheat sheet

-- Patrick Day

(Photo courtesy ABC)

Comments

[Erin Anne]

What about the huge 3-toed statue that was seen when Sayid and the others took the boat to surprise The Others?

[brad]

20. How did the Others get all the names of the survivors?

we already know this one. in the first episode last year ben had ethan and goodwin pretend to be survivors and gather information on the people.

[Liz]

33. Are Nikki and Paulo gone for good?
God I hope so!

30. Will Jin learn about Sun's affair?
He already knew about it. Remember that he went to see him and then the guy got tossed out the window.

12. Will Desmond retain his ability to see the future?
His "future" was seeing Charlie die, so maybe since Charlie is dead he won't see the "future" anymore.

[Dantheman]

Clever Dissapearing Act has a great point. The unanswered questions are a gimmick. If this was real, would YOU get all the answers as a person directly involved? Probably not so why expect it from the show.
JJ Abram's show, Alias, also created many questions and never delivered answers. Sounds like a pattern.

[MC]

I'd like to know how the Others knew such personal information belonging to the Survivors such as Locke's paralysis, Jack's former marriage, etc.

[Elias]

#8 The dead man in the coffin: At first I thought the dead man in the coffin was just somone that died in a similar fashion to Jacks father, thus reminding jack of his father, but now ive figured it out!! Its Ben Linus (Henry Gale) , hes neither friend nor family (of course) but he and Kate know who he is and thats why jack says to kate at the end of the episode that he "hoped hed see her there...."

[darkshines]

What happened to Jack's father's body?

[Helo]

Yea anyone who watched Abrams' Alias should know were not going to get any answers. How many years has it been since Alias ended and I still have almost no idea what was up with Rambaldi.

[Donna]

I think the one in the coffin was Sawyer, that is why Jack said neither friend nor family, but mainly he said the reason he went to the wake was cause he thought Kate would go.
Also , Sawyer wasn't known for making many friends. Hence, no one in attendance.

[Kim]

46. Who were those guys in the icebound monitoring station at the end of Season 2?
Those guys work for Penelope "Penny" and were traying to locate the Island, you see them call her at one point in season 3 to tell her they believe they located it.

35. How many more Dharma stations are left to be found? I believe the glowing map behind the falling door in the hatch said there were 5, including the looking glass.

20. How did the Others get all the names of the survivors? They have a contact in the outside world that sends them their files, they showed this in season three. They also planted fake "survivors" for more information.

17. Where have the children that the Others took been hiding? The children are with the others from Ben's group, they show them during the episode when Sawyer is int he bear cage, they are with the stewardess from the plane.

2. What is the smoke monster? Ben said it was some kind of messed up security system.

[Anon]

One more question -

Is this all Hurley's psychotic dream?

[eve]

Dantheman | January 31, 2008 at 09:46 AM
"JJ Abram's show, Alias, also created many questions and never delivered answers. Sounds like a pattern."

I`m so happy others see that as well. Not so much unanswered questions though, but straight irrational behaviour by many lead characters. If you watch 3 seasons within a short period of time you really wonder if the people who wrote the latter seasons havent watched the earlier ones at all. totally ridiculous...

[Lost sucks...]

THE BIGGEST MYSTERY OF THEM ALL:

WHY DO PEOPLE NEVER ASK EACH OTHER: "WHAT DO YOU MEAN???" after getting another one of those idiotic answers when they ask a regular question!!!

example: locke kills naomi.
Jack: "What did you do?"
Locke: "What I had to."

(ok, I`m Jack now, thinkin: "Ah, ok, you had to. I`m not gonna ask why you think you had to, because....., er....., well, the dumb-azz writers dont want me to behave like a human being and ask"

Shortly after: Jack attempts using the phone.

Locke: "you are not supposed to do this..."

WHAT??? WHY??? ASK HIM JACK, YOU IDIOT, IF YOU HAD ATTEMPTED TO HAVE A REGULAR CONVERSATION JUST ONCE, YOU PROBABLY WOULDNT BE SITTING ON THIS FKKIN ISLAND FOR 4 SEASONS NOW!!!

You`ll find millions of this kind of retarded "pseudo-deep" dialogue and I`m screaming every time: "ASK [ xxx ] WHAT HE MEANS!!! YOU ARE STUCK ON THAT ISLAND FOR AGES NOW AND OTHER PEOPLE SEEEM TO TALK ABOUT STUFF YOU HAVE NO CLUE OF!!! PLEASE JUST BE HUMAN AND ASK: "WHY?"

the islanders never try to ask totally logical follow-up questions, and that`s what pisses me off.

[James]

48.NO
47.Clearly,a very powerful man and obviously has some part in the Dharma Initiative but as of yet connection is hidden.
46.Working for Penny Widmore,trying to find Desmond.I believe Desmond has actually broken the Fourth Dimension(TIME).He can't warn Penny that He will be on the island but tells her to look out for the Fall-out from the failure to release the discharge.
45.Important as all other babies,apart from Alex,died on the island.
44.Don't Know.
43.I'm guessing yes considering what Daniel Dae Kim said about episode seven on his MySpace account.
42.Desmond,I think painted that.Painted in an expressionist style.Open to many interpretations.
41.Realist answer:South Pacific.Fantasy answer:Anywhere.
40.Unsure.Four toed statue may tie in with this.
39.More important question,who is Matthew Abbadon WHO HIRED the four now on the island.
38.May not be a rescue from penny coming.
37.I think so,yes.She badly wants to get off the island maybe more than any one else,but i'll await judgement until episode six where she has a centric episode.
36.Don't know.
35.Very few.maybe none after the Orchid which has yet to be seen in the series itself.
34.Yes.
33.Hopefully.
32.Producers are being annoyingly vague about Jack's father Christian status.Considering Hurley saw him in Jacob's cabin,rest assured that we will see a lot more of him.
31.Don't know about the rest of the survives but the others,Bernard know and the rest of the Oceanic Six will know due to the media coverage.
30.Don't know.
29.Don't know.
28.Island treats babies as foriegn invaders to the mothers.As to why, don't have a clue.
27.Doubtful due to the Dharma Initiative destruction.Perharps he's hired Matthew Abbadon.
26.Clearly there was some virus on he island some time in the past due to the Swan's bio gear.The ''rescuers'' protective suits are also pretty conclusive evidence.
25.He's ''Special''.
24.See Valenzetti Equation.
23.Don't know.
22.See above.
21.She/Rises to the sky/in Flames//He/Dies.Could be reference to Charlie and Claire.
20.Mikhail.The Flame.
19.Don't know.
18.No.Producers said she died.
17.Don't know.
16.Don't know.
15.No.
14.Don't know.
13.Don't know.
12.Probably.
11.Hurley,Sayid,Jin,Sun.As for the last person,could be Claire,Sawyer.Anyone.
10.Obvious choice is Sawyer.
9.Will be resolved this season.
8.Will be either Ben,Sawyer,Locke or Michael.Personally I think it will be Michael.
7.Episode Eight ''Meet Kevin Johnson.'' will answer this question.
6.Don't know.
5.Heling powers of the island?.
4.Good moisturiser.
3.Don't know.
2.Will not be answered until Season six,probably late season six.
1.Same as question Two.

[David]

Still enjoy the show but always frustrated by the lack of resolution. We will never know
about the black-smoke monster, what empowers the island, what happened to the body of Jack's father, how invisible Jacob is possible and what's his story, how Locke's father got to the island, why Oceanic 815 was drawn to the island, why Libby was written off after being seen in the treatment center that Hurley was in, why Locke is "special," why the pilot and others had to be killed, why Michael would choose to murder Anna Lucia rather than simply tell her about the "Others" blackmail plot, Walt's powers, Desmond's visions, Kate's black horse, etc. etc. etc. Incredible imagination and intriguing detail, but the writers apparently have no ability to see the forest for the trees. Fun to watch, but more frustrating than it's worth.

[Lost- The pain you like]

After stealing Claire's baby, one of the others appears again, wanting to take her back (the spy other).
It was said and demonstrated that he had beyond human strength, then he was shot and killed by Charlie. Since then I have not seen the Others show any beyond human abilities. WTF, did they just dismiss that whole scene of him just tossing around the other survivors like they were dolls?

I haven't watched season 4 yet, so if they cleared this up, I apologize.

[amanda]

are the suriviors in fact dead?
how did lockes father, and kates horse appear on the island?
what is the black smoke monster? and why isnt it spoken of after occurances?
why is everyone somehow connected in their previous lives off the island?( so they didnt have to hire hire new characters?..just a thought)
what the hell is jacob?
and will sun have enough respect to inform jin of her previous affairs..
will she survive the pregnancy?
and will they resolve any of our questoins in season 5?..or is this just a difficult mind game in which they keep adding more conflict to keep the seasons going in order to make more money
i love the whole idea of the series Lost, but honestly its a bit overwhelming..i mean way to much going on constantly