The Tail Section

Readers Theorize about “Confirmed Dead”

Lost Theories — February 11, 2008 at 1:34 pm by Matt

You know you’ve just watched a great episode of Lost when the questions and theories come flying out of your brain right as the credits roll.  This was the reaction that our readers had to last week’s "Confirmed Dead," which brought a lot of strange possibilities into the Lost mythology.  People theorized about such things as a familial connection between the freighter people and the DHARMA Initiative, how time travel may explain many events on the island, and what special powers the freighter foursome might hold.  Read on for more of their thoughts.


Starting with the freighter people, JonJon thinks that nervous physicist Daniel Faraday may have some sort of special ability.  "Has anyone thought that Dan may be an empath, with a unique ability to take on the emotions of others when they are intense enough?" he asked.  "Think about his reaction to the TV story, the helicopter when it was out of control, and his reaction when Miles pulled the gun, every time his reaction was unexpected and irrational."

Considering that this is Lost, Faraday being an empath is certainly not out of the realm of possibility.  Our reader Imelda has a different idea regarding the secret behind the freighter crew.  "My fiancé and I believe that the Freighter Four (Oooooh. I like that… I think I’ll get it registered… LOL) are all children of the people living on the island when the Dharma people first came to experiment," she wrote.  "What this means is that all fours’ parents were killed by Ben when he gassed everyone, while wearing a gas mask, himself!  If Ben murdered their parents (and everyone else), en masse, that would explain their motivation to find the island, and most importantly, find Ben.  I think this is a revenge mission, fully intact with gas masks and all.  They plan to do to Ben what he did to their parents/families."

KellieH also thinks that the Freighter Four have a definite connection to the DHARMA Initiative.  "They want Ben because they are Dharma and he killed the original Dharma with gas *thus the gas masks*," she points out.  "Dharma wants the island back.  Dharma knows the islands secrets.  They sent people there that specialize in some of the mysteries of the island."

A few other people analyzed the events in "Confirmed Dead" and came up with theories that may explain what’s happening behind the entire series.  lovelost33 said, "It seems to me now that [the castaways] are either dead or have been brought back to life by the island.  Miles use a vacuum type thing to talk to the lady’s grandson, so if this is an electromagnetic device that allows him to see the dead, then imagine what the electromagnetic power of the island can do.  Maybe the Losties get back home and realize they were supposed to die in that crash, or they are dead but people can see them (ala Charlie).  Obviously some people have certain powers related to this, such as Ben, Locke, Hurley, Walt, as does Miles."

If the castaways aren’t actually dead, is it possible that they’re stuck in a time loop?  BK thinks so, and also thinks that such a thing could explain why there’s a polar bear skeleton in the middle of the desert.  "They are essentially in some kind of time loophole.  This would explain why Walt off the island has grown at a more rapid pace.  It would explain why no one’s hair has grown significantly on the island.  It would explain why Faraday says the light isn’t reflecting properly.  It would explain why (in what’s supposed to be 90 days, Frank Lapidus was a seasoned pilot and now opened up a shop in some place in Bermuda).  Also, it could also explain why Charlie had to turn off the signal for anyone to find the island.  As time and the odd physical properties of the island were altered, it made it detectable.  This would also explain why Dharma was trying all different kinds of experiments.  To try and see how people react in an environment with bizarre man-made physical properties.  Could also explain the polar bear if the time properties were altered at a more rapid pace previously on the island.  Could be the same polar bears that were on the island.  A huge space/time experiment.  Who knows!??!?  My brain hurts!"

Mine does too, BK, believe me, but it’s still a very convincing theory.  However, perhaps the most popular theory on The Tail Section was brought up by Thiger.  "What if Dharma figured out how to use the island’s natural phenomena to attempt time travel?" he asked.  "Then something goes wrong and they open a nexus of space/time flux where Jacob gets stuck in.  Kinda like a chronosynclastic infindibulum.  To keep the universe from ceasing to be, they do a quick fix of the computer which needed to be vented.  When Desmond screws up and the plane is hit, they create a nexus where time starts splitting into two possible chain of events.  Maybe then blowing up the hatch made it worse.  Some people are aware of this, like Hurley (who sees Ghosts/Dave etc who aren’t delusions but crossovers from the other timeline).  I believe the new Asian guy can see both timelines and that’s why Desmond had his visions.  In one timeline I believe that everyone died, and in the other the 6 leave the island but to be haunted by the rifts in timespace."

With theories involving alternate timelines, desert bred polar bears, guys with empath powers, ghost whisperers, and the dead appearing from beyond the grave, you really do have to love Lost.

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