What's Hot: What's Next?: Time
Hello everyone. Today we start a series of articles that some of you may have seen on Lostaholics.com, but I thought that they were so good that I got permission to re-post them here so more folks could read them. Here begins the first in the series of "What's Next?" articles and many thanks to the author Nancy Drew. Enjoy.
The dedicated Lost viewer in all of us is no stranger to the reference of "TIME" in an episode. In fact, when re-watching earlier episodes from Seasons 1 and 2, one can see many mentions or displays of time that, otherwise, would go unnoticed. The true question is: What counts as a reference to this theme and what doesn't?
If we go back to Season 1, we'll see that it doesn't take a "Timeologist" to see the references, but some are so subtle that they are easily overlooked, as well. Some examples of the TIME theme in Season 1 are:
Locke tells Walt: "Backgammon's the oldest game in the world. Archeologists found sets when they excavated the ancient ruins of Mesopotamia -- 5,000 years old. That's older than Jesus Christ." ("Pilot, Part 2")
Sayid tells the group that the distress signal has been repeating for "16 years and 5 months, that's the count." ("Pilot, Part 2")
Charlie says, "Really, last I heard we were positively made of time." ("Walkabout")
Charlie tells Locke that he hasn't played his guitar in "Uh, 8 days, 11 hours, give or take." ("House of the Rising Sun")
Jack remarks about Adam and Eve's tattered clothing: "It takes 40 or 50 years for clothing to degrade like this." ("House of the Rising Sun")
When giving the Rolex Watch back to Jin, Michael says: "...since time doesn't matter on a damn island." ("House of the Rising Sun")
Charlie plans an 8-week tour for Drive Shaft. ("The Moth") Michael claims to have worked in construction for 8 years. ("The Moth") Boone asks Locke whether they will be working on the hatch for 4 months like Michelangelo on the Statue of David. ("Hearts and Minds") Boone tells Shannon his flight to Sydney took 15 hours. ("Hearts and Minds") Jin was asked to deliver watches for Mr. Paik. ("...In Translation") Jin tells Sun on their wedding day that their honeymoon will have to wait 6 months until his management training is finished. ("...In Translation") Locke remarks about the clothing on the skeleton in the jungle: "Normally clothing would completely decompose within 2 years, but this is high quality polyester -- could be 2 years, could be 10." ("Deus Ex Machina") Sawyer is seen reading A Wrinkle in Time. ("Deus Ex Machina") Kate's time capsule is her driving purpose in several of her actions as a fugitive. ("Born to Run") The time in the hotel room when Walt wakes Michael up is 5:23. ("Exodus, Part 1") Hurley says, "Twinkies keep for, like, 8000 years, man." ("Exodus, Part 2") Hurley nearly missed the plane, because the alarm clock in his hotel room stopped working. ("Exodus, Part 2") In Season 2, we have the addition of more crash survivors from the tail end section of the plane. The story is then retold from their perspective on the other side of the island. Although there aren't as many references to time in the second season, the subtle hints we were given in Season 1 are being "bumped up a notch" and becoming strong hints toward this being a reoccurring theme. Some of the TIME hints are: Jack says, "I've got time." ("Man of Science, Man of Faith") The countdown timer repeatedly counts down, indicating when the Numbers need to be typed in. ("Adrift") Locke organizes shifts of 6 hours to stay in the Swan. ("Everybody Hates Hugo") The lottery announcer says it is the 16th week without a winner. ("Everybody Hates Hugo") The title of episode 7 is "The Other 48 Days". Ana-Lucia tells Goodwin: "This knife's probably 20 years old. You don't see these anymore, yet here it is, on this island. Weird, huh?" ("The Other 48 Days") After Eko kills some of the Others, he waits 40 days to talk. ("The Other 48 Days") Sam Austen gives Kate an hour before he calls the authorities. ("What Kate Did") Referring to a source of a radio transmission that consists of a Big Band recording from the 1940's, Sayid says, "It could be coming from anywhere." Hurley responds, "Or any time. Just kidding, dude." ("The Long Con") When Ana-Lucia wakes up, her alarm clock reads 3:51. ("Two for the Road") Michael was given three minutes with Walt; this was also the title of the episode. ("Three Minutes") Desmond tells Claire: "You're wasting your time, sister. I shot myself with that stuff every 9 days for 3 years." ("Live Together, Die Alone") Desmond realizes the system failure occurred at 16:16, according to the Pearl's printout, on the day of the crash. ("Live Together, Die Alone") Picking up in Season 3, we are given another recap of the story so far, but this time it's told from the view of the Others. In this season, we get confirmation that Ben is leading the Others and manipulating the lives of everyone on the island. This is also the season when we first get a glimpse of the remnants of the destroyed Swan hatch and how it has affected Desmond to be exposed to the electromagnetism. Season 3 Time references are: Ben told Jack what happened off-the-island during the given timeline: "Your flight crashed on September 22nd, 2004. Today is November 29th. That means you've been on our island for 69 days. Yes, we do have contact with the outside world, Jack. That's how we know that during those 69 days your fellow Americans re-elected George W. Bush; Christopher Reeve has passed away; the Boston Red Sox won the World Series." ("The Glass Ballerina") Jack looked for a clock to announce the time of death for Colleen, but he couldn't find one. ("Every Man for Himself") Aldo was reading A Brief History of Time when he was guarding the building holding Karl. ("Not in Portland") Ben asked Jack for "3 minutes" since he had only "27 minutes to live". ("Not in Portland") Diana confirmed with Juliet that her appointment was at 2 o'clock. ("Not in Portland") Dr. Alpert showed Juliet a scan that according to her seems to be the womb lining of a 70 year old but is in fact a 20 year old. ("Not in Portland") Dr. Alpert asked Juliet to work for him for six months. ("Not in Portland") Juliet gives the exact length of her stay on the island: 3 years, 2 months and 28 days. ("Not in Portland") The company name Mittelos is an anagram for "lost time". ("Not in Portland") This was confirmed as being the plot-significant anagram to look out for in the 2/12/07 podcast. The voice of a woman repeating "Only fools are enslaved by time and space" can be heard in the reversed version of the Room 23 brainwashing video. This hidden clue may be another Buddhist reference: "The wise know how to use time and space perfectly; they lead free and harmonious lives. Fools are enslaved by time and space; they are busy running around all day. Wise or foolish, the difference is obvious." ("Not in Portland") Desmond relives events that have happened in his past in his "Déjà vu" after being knocked out, and has a number of issues with time continuity until he is knocked out again. ("Flashes Before Your Eyes") The company that made the red paint that Desmond was using to paint the walls of his flat with was called "FUTURE" paint. ("Flashes Before Your Eyes") Desmond fixes his tie and glances at the clock, which reads 108. ("Flashes Before Your Eyes") Ms. Hawking is surrounded by a huge number of clocks in her jewelry store. ("Flashes Before Your Eyes") Kronos is a fictional company shown in an Easter Egg as an ad in the TV soccer game Desmond is watching. Kronos is a titan in Greek mythology, generally regarded as the god of time. ("Flashes Before Your Eyes") Richard Alpert tells Juliet, "You're gonna be amazed at how time flies once you're there", referring to the Island. ("One of Us") Richard Alpert doesn't seem to age. Ben asks him if he even remembers what a birthday is. ("The Man Behind the Curtain") When Ben is in the van with Roger, he looks at his watch and it displays the time 4:00:15 and 4:00:16. He says goodbye to his father, puts on a gas mask, and the Purge occurs. ("The Man Behind the Curtain") Ben orders the deaths of Sayid, Jin and Bernard giving Jack a countdown before hand. ("Through the Looking Glass") In the season finale, "Through the Looking Glass", Jack's off-island events occur in the future, as a flash-forward, rather than flashback. ("Through the Looking Glass")Which then leads us to Season 4........which has been a great season for Time, so far. With this season, viewers are given a look at time travel possibilities, clues to what causes side effects and sicknesses on the island, and a look at how time differs on the island as opposed to the outside world. The time references for Season 4 are: Daniel, a physicist, ordered Regina to fire a rocket from the freighter. A digital clock was planted inside the rocket as its payload. The payload arrived at Daniel's position 31 minutes after Regina said it reached the target. Daniel confirmed this by comparing the time on the clock inside the rocket with the time clock he had on the island. ("The Economist") The helicopter appears to take over a day to reach the freighter according to the island timeline, however when seen from the helicopter perspective off the island, it only takes a matter of minutes. ("The Constant") Desmond, Minkowski, Brandon and a lab rat all experience time-travel. ("The Constant") In The Constant, Faraday demonstrates that he can transport a mouse's consciousness forward in time using radiation at a certain frequency. Desmond's consciousness travels back in time (or forward) between day 96 on the island and 1996 where he is a soldier in the UK. Faraday stresses that for the human mind (or animal) mind to survive the continued transportation, it needs a "constant" that it can focus on, something that means a great deal to the person and is present in both time periods. For this, Desmond chooses Penny. In his journal, Daniel notes that if things "go wrong," he should use Desmond as his constant. Minkowski does not survive this time travel (presumably because he lacked constant), and goes into convulsions and dies. ("The Constant") Since Lost never consists of just the TV show that airs once weekly, we also have to consider other avenues of the story when looking at time references. We were given a Mobisode that was titled, "The Watch" where Christian Shepard gives his soon-to-be wed son the watch that was given to him on his wedding day. We were also given time hints in The Lost Experience and Find815.com where the quest for answers about the island, the Black Rock, The Hanso Foundation, and many other questions were brought up. So, what's next for our show and theme of time? Many have speculated about time travel. We were shown a filmstrip to the Orchid station at Comic Con and have yet to see that hatch appear in an episode, but what's next if it does? We saw two number 15 bunnies appear in the same room when only one was there to begin with. Is that telling us something about a person on the island and any abilities they may have because of this process? The fact that Ben has a secret room with clothing, money, and passports tells me that he has use for a hatch that can send a life form to another time. And if so, was the polar bear found in the dessert by Charlotte a key player in deciding if the Orchid could transfer something of that size? Many questions still exist for this show, and the time or time travel theories are at an all-time high with this new season. Hopefully, we'll get some answers soon.
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Thank you, Nancy Drew for this comprehensive list of references to time. You really brought into focus how obsessed with time the story is. I can't WAIT to see what is going on with Minkowski-itis and who is going to have to deal with it.
Great article. Here's another reference for your list. Desmond telling Charlie, "sooner or later, you're going to die Charlie..."
Well, we you have that much "time" on your hands. I know where you are going, and this is not a slam, believe me. BUT we all mention time in our daily lives. What time is lunch, when will you place your order? What time is our meeting.
I will meet you at ...
I believe that when you throw the audience into this there had to be an established "time line".
We all wanted to know how long the signal was going on. If it was recent then would the show last this long, which is not long in island time.
Yes, there is an underlying issue with time, what it is with the island versus the outside world......and here comes my big BUT......it all has to do with the island!
Keep 'em coming I have, (cough cough) time