Lost Season 5’s Top 10 Mysteries

There are dozens — possibly hundreds — of unanswered questions from the show’s past 4 seasons, and the show’s writers have promised to only reveal the biggest mysteries in Season 6, which is still more than a year away. So instead of wasting space with stuff we know they’re not going to answer this season anyway (“What is the smoke monster?” “Who is Jacob?”), here’s my list of the…

10 most-likely-to-be-answered-this-year mysteries of Season 5

1. Where (and when) did the island go? Now that time travel has been introduced into the show, the big speculation is that the island was moved through time, as well as space. Rumors are running wild that the island was relocated somewhere in the 1970s, which would tie in nicely with the heyday of the Dharma Initiative. But this seems to be contradicted by the fact that Locke didn’t look any older than we remember him, when he was in that coffin. Shouldn’t he be thirty-some years older by the time he (and the island) caught back up with us in the present?
2. What happened when the Oceanic Six left the island that warrants their return? According to “Jeremy Bentham,” some very bad things happened on the island after Jack and the others left. What sorts of bad things? Might it have something to do with our characters getting caught up in the Purge of the Dharma Initiative in the ’70s? And why did these six specific people leaving trigger the bad things that happened? Which leads us to…
3. How will the return of the Oceanic Six make things better on the island? I mean, seriously. Beyond a pseudo-mystical “because the island wants them back” explanation, why would the return of these six, seemingly random individuals make any difference at all? The only one of them who’s ever been hinted to have any sort of predestined connection to the island is Aaron. Why would Jack, Kate, Hurley, Sayid, or Sun’s return possibly matter? On the plus side, this seems to be the primary thrust of Season 5, which is said to be about “why they have to go back.” The first episode is even titled “Because You Left,” so maybe they’ll jump right on to this one.
4. Is Jin really dead? Man, I hope not. I’ve been a sucker for the Sun/Jin relationship since Season 1. Recent spoiler reports reveal that actor Daniel Dae Kim has been seen filming in Hawaii for the new season. But this is Lost, so that may not mean anything beyond flashbacks. Or does it? He was on the deck when the bomb blew. Could he have jumped at the last second? It would certainly give Sun’s quest for revenge poetic irony if the reason for her quest was false. And speaking of Sun…
5. Who is the second person Sun blames for Jin’s death? She told her father that two people were responsible for her husband’s death, and he was one of them. So who’s the other? Jack? Could be. Jack told Ben that Sun blames him for… well, something. He never actually finished his thought about Sun when he was listing out for Ben the difficulties in getting the other five to go back to the island with him. But I think it’s much more likely the second person is Ben, since Sun is willing to ally herself with Ben’s archnemesis, Charles Widmore. She even told him they have “common interests.”
6. Who killed John Locke, aka Jeremy Bentham? Now this one’s a real doozy. I haven’t got a clue, beyond someone associated with Widmore, but that’s just a wild guess. All we know for sure is that Locke somehow left the island three years after the Oceanic Six did, tracked them down using a pseudonym, and asked them to return to the island because things had gone bad after they left. Jack found his obituary in a newspaper, and was extremely distraught over it. None of the others expressed similar emotions, though Sayid quickly found out about it as well (probably from his employer, Ben), and knew that despite the newspaper’s claims, Locke’s death was not a suicide.
7. Why are the Oceanic Six in danger? Sayid clearly believed that Locke’s death spelled imminent danger for everyone else who’d left the island, going so far as to protect Hurley from said danger by moving him away from his mental hospital to “someplace safe.” Why? What does Sayid know about Locke’s death that the others don’t? And who’s watching the movements of the Oceanic Six, aka who hired that guy in the car that Sayid shot? Widmore? Ben, as part of some new Machiavellian scheme? Someone else?
8. Why does Locke’s body need to be returned to the island? He’s dead, right? What difference does it make for him to return if he’s dead? Can the island restore him somehow? Whatever the case, I’m guessing that lugging Locke’s dead body around all season while trying to convince the others to return to the island with him is going to make things more than a little complicated for Jack and his new BFF, Ben.
9. Does “all of you” include anyone outside the Oceanic Six? Ben told Jack that “the island won’t let you come alone. All of you have to go, together.” He then said that “all of you” included Locke’s dead body. Does that mean others who have left the island must return with them, too? Like Frank Lapidus? Or Walt? Sun’s daugher Ji Yeon? And what about Desmond? (And if he has to go back, please God let him be able to take Penny with him.) Which leads us to the final burning question…
10. Where, oh where, have Desmond and Penny gone? It goes without saying that they had to go into hiding, because of their connection to the Oceanic Six. What they don’t yet realize is that it’s in their best interests to stay well hidden because a certain Benjamin Linus has sworn to find and kill Penny in revenge against her father, Charles Widmore. (I can’t help wondering if Ben comes to help Jack get back to the island solely because Jack is his best bet at tracking down Desmond, and therefore Penny.) Where could they go that Ben — and the rest of the world — couldn’t find them? Somehow I don’t think “a secluded island” will be their first choice. Here’s hoping they stay out of Ben’s crosshairs.

Did I miss anything? Sound off in the Comments if you have additional questions likely to be answered in Season 5!

Photo: Copyright 2008 ©American Broadcasting Companies, Inc./ MARIO PEREZ.