Your Voice: What Really Happened to Michael?
Submitted by Andrew
Warning! Spoilers for the ending of the Lost: Via Domus video game are ahead!
On several different web pages I have read complaints on the episode entitled "Meet Kevin Johnson." Some fans seemed to think that it wasn’t a very good episode, and that some of the material was inconsistent and simply not very plausible.
This is where my idea comes in.
I was wondering if anyone saw the ending of the Lost video game: Via Domus. While the game itself was not the best I’ve every played, the ending of the game was quite shocking. During the ending, the main character departs the island on bearing 325 after being promised by Ben and Juliet that it would bring him home. Instead of returning home, he actually seems to go back in time. This might explain what really happens when you go on bearing 325 from the island, because, as mentioned by Faraday, you need to go on an exact heading when leaving to actually escape the grasp of the island. This makes it hard to believe that Michael easily returned home if he did in fact leave on bearing 325.
I would definitely recommend watching the ending to the game, which you can view on YouTube. I’m pretty sure that the ending was actually written by Damon Lindelof, and while I know nothing is canon other than material from the show itself, I hardly believe he would write an ending to the game that would so blatantly contradict what could happen on the show itself. Nothing is stopping them from actually showing what really happened to Michael. The producers even coined an event in the upcoming finale the "Frozen Donkey Wheel," which could translate to Michael being frozen in time, and being forced to relive his time on the island in a loop (wheel) every time he departs on bearing 325. "Donkey" is just a funny name, but maybe they felt "Groundhog" would have been too obvious. After all, the movie Groundhog Day is about the exact same thing.
I guess this is where my observation/theory starts:
Michael’s flashback in "Meet Kevin Johnson" was unlike any other flashback in the series. That is to say, while all the other flashbacks have been internalized, this flashback was Michael actually telling somebody what happened to him. We know it was told because Sayid reacted to Michael’s ’story’ when it was all over. What I’m trying to get at is the fact that since it was Michael telling somebody else what happened to him, what is preventing him from lying? The answer: Nothing.
It just gives us another idea as to what happened to Michael, and possibly an explanation of what happened to Walt. After Ben was done playing with Michael, (i.e. sending him back and forth in time) he eventually brought him to the Orchid station, which could possibly teleport him off the island. Ben also might have held Walt hostage, saying the only way Michael will get back to this island is on the freighter. That might be a better explanation of why Michael would actually want to get back to the island, and would also explain how Locke saw Walt, because Walt is still on the island. It would also explain how Walt grew older, because every time they tried to get off the island on 325 it would take them about 45 days. If Michael and Walt tried this numerous times, eventually Walt would get older.
What do you think? Could Michael be stuck in a Groundhog Day time loop?
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"Your Voice" is a new TTS series in which Tail Section fans submit their articles, theories or reviews to be published on The Tail Section for all their fellow fans to read. Have you spent far too much time pondering the origins of the DHARMA Initiative? Have you alienated your co-workers by rambling about Daniel Faraday’s wacky time anomaly experiment? If so, we want to hear from you. Send your own Lost theories, reviews, or general thoughts to Editor(at)TheTailSection.com. Please keep all submissions between 300 and 1,000 words. We will read through all submissions and contact you if we publish your entry. You will also receive byline credit on our site.
Interesting theory but I don’t think they would do something as drastic as show what is presented as a flashback turn out to be a lie. Doing that would bring all of the other flashbacks and maybe even the flashforwards into question and I don’t think that would be something anyone wants to do.
The back-in-time part is definitely possible but the time loop is a bit out there, even for Lost.
Comment by Eric — April 17, 2008 @ 7:18 am
I don’t think so. In Meet Kevin Johnson they made a point to show Walt briefly, looking down from the window of Michael’s mother’s house. He was younger non-ghost Walt, younger than the Walt we saw in Through the Looking Glass. So they haven’t aged substantially by that point, indicating to me that taller ghost Walt was from some future time.
That said, Darlton have stated that they haven’t told us the whole story of Michael and Walt’s return.
Comment by Ed Holden — April 17, 2008 @ 7:20 am
Michael’s mother indicates he’s only been gone a couple of months. So whenever ever the flashback takes place (for when Michael tries to take his life, meets Tom, etc) happened about when we thought he should get back to the real world.
Via Domus is not canon. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20179125_4,00.html last part of the page’s interview.
I think something hinky happened, but it’s not why Walt is older. I am in favor of Walt is projecting from the future.
Comment by Bobba Booee — April 17, 2008 @ 8:32 am
Why would Michael want to blow up the ship if he was trying to get back to Walt?
Comment by Noor — April 17, 2008 @ 9:23 am
The producers have said that they will explain what happened to Michael during this time period… that is before his FB picks up but after he left the island. My prediction is that bearing 325 warps him into the Bermuda Triangle off Miami (which is where Juliet drank the knock out potion before she got on the sub…). Then it’s only 2 days up 95 to NYC, with fake ID papers Ben left in the boat. I think the fake name he uses is going to be the same name that Jack read in the coffin-person’s obituary.
It’s just too much to believe that the FB was a lie and didn’t really happen.
Comment by BobW — April 17, 2008 @ 9:45 am
I guess what I would like to stress about this idea is that this Flashback was unlike all other flashbacks. (I’m really in the Passover spirit)
All other flashbacks have been internalized. That is to say the characters have actually though about what happened to them in the past.
The flashback in “Meet Kevin Johnson” was not internalized, rather it was a story that Michael told to Sayid, when he was cornered and asked the question, “Where have you been?” What stops someone him from telling a lie or fudging the details? Nothing. More importantly would Michael be willing to lie to get something he wants? Yes!
Could Michael have it in him to lie to a fellow castaway? Let me think…(Sarcasm is hard to express in words, but in actuality I really don’t need to think. But in case someone is thinking, here are some things that Michael has done in the past.)
1) He killed two people in cold blood to let Ben out
2) He shot himself to let Ben out
Michael probably did lie, and all that would need to happen to prove that his story was fabricated is during a future episode where Michael eventually reaches the island, Ben would just need to say, “did you tell them the cover story I told you,” and then cue the beginning of an internalized flashback of what really happened to Michael.
In conclusion, all we know for sure is that Michael departed on bearing 325, and he eventually winds up on the freighter. The actual reason he is on the freighter I believe is still unknown to the viewer, and what really happened to him during his time from 325 to the freighter I also believe is unknown to the viewer.
I feel like this would help explain some of the inconsistencies in the episode because if someone was making up a story as to how he got somewhere, he might have neglected to calculate exactly how long something took, which is something the writers of the show probably didn’t. It would also give more merit to the end of the videogame. (I know, I know, it is not cannon, but why make up a complete bull@#$! ending?)
Note: As seen in my theory I really don’t have a good grasp of what the ending of the videogame could mean for the future of Lost and what might have actually happened to Michael, but I feel like it would be much more in tune with Lost for something like that to really have happened.
Comment by Andrew — April 18, 2008 @ 7:25 pm
Not to mention the lost writers have already tried to “trick” the viewer on a much smaller scale, with the Jin/Sun Flashforward/Flashback. They even did it with the Flashforward in the finale of season 3, so i see know reason why the writers were unwilling to lie here. It would set up a more shocking twist in the finale.
Also we don’t need to re-disect every episode if Michael was lying because as I mentioned this was the only the flashback that was told. Internalized might not be the right word, but all other flashbacks simply happened during the episodes. When they just happen, you can assume they are true because it is as though there is an omnicous (spelling?) narrator showing us the flashback (the narrator are the writers). However, when Michael tells the story, he in essence becomes that narrator, and is therefore able to make up details.
Comment by Andrew — April 18, 2008 @ 7:32 pm
Why would Michael lie, especially in such a way that he would know Sayid would become enraged (that he was working for Ben)?
Also, the traditional flashbacks are not to be interpreted as if the character is ACTUALLY remembering the events. It’s merely a narrative device, in the same way the FFs are. And FFs certainly are not “remembered”.
Comment by BobW — April 19, 2008 @ 1:39 pm
Yes, I agree. The word internalized is not the correct word. Flashbacks just happen as a way to see the characters past.
Comment by Andrew — April 19, 2008 @ 7:10 pm
I’ve got a theory, there is a split in time and space, the plane did crash into the sea, and also crashed on the island. Those who survived the crash into the sea cannot be killed on the island or off it while they are still alive in the sea crash senario -Michael, Sawyer last night in The shape of things to Come, Ben. Those who died in the sea crash can be killed on the island,Charlie, Boon etc. Alex was killed because she had no existance off the island.
Comment by Elaine — April 29, 2008 @ 4:36 am