REVIEW: THEORIES PART 1

For the next few posts, we will review the popular theories that the LOST community thought were important as the final season was about to begin for our island castaways.

The first, and probably least popular theory was Purgatory.

The barrier to acceptance of the theory by a vast majority of viewers was a) the people looked alive and so they survived the plane crash; b) they were alive because people "died" on the island; and c) viewers wanted to vicariously "live" through their favorite characters.

This fourth wall in television may have led to some viewer confusion and bitterness when the series ended in the sideways world church.

The purgatory theme was what many people immediately thought of when the pilot episode ended. It was based upon several critical observations. First, it was highly unlikely that the passengers would have survived a plane break up at 35,000 feet. Second, there were inconsistent injury patterns such as the lack of broken bones on impact. Third, the plane's engine which was disconnected from its wing (and fuel) source continued to run. Fourth, John Locke miraculously could walk again. Fifth, Rose's cancer pain was cured. One can only release the physical pain and constrictions of injury or disease in the after life.

Further clues include the dramatic demise of passenger Gary Troup who was sucked into the mysterious still active jet turbine. His name was an anagram for "purgatory."

Throughout the series, there were many clues that the main characters were actually dead. When Naomi arrived on the island and was told that the survivors of Flight 815 were present, she was in shock. She told them they found the plane wreckage, and they were "all dead."

Purgatory, which is a different realm than life on earth, would explain why women cannot give birth to children conceived on the island.

Further, the appearance of the smoke monster, a dark nebulous mass of evil, is a statement on where the characters are located, in an after life state.

Also in the episode “The Brig” when Sawyer asks John’s father, Anthony Cooper, how he got to the island, he explains that he was in a car accident and the next thing he knew, he was tied to a chair and gagged and looking at his “dead son," John Locke. Sawyer asks if he thought Locke was dead because he threw him out of a window and Cooper replies: “He’s dead because a plane he was flying on crashed in the Pacific.” Sawyer doesn’t believe him, then Cooper says: “If this isn’t hell, friend…then where are we?”

In “A Man Behind The Curtain”, there are a few things that support the purgatory theory. One is when Young Ben sees his mother, who died when he was born, on the island. Another is that when we see Richard in Ben’s flashbacks, he appears to be the same age. We would learn that Richard crashed on the island, was attacked by the smoke monster and became "immortal" which could be a synonym for "dead."  Also, Jack sees his dead father and Kate sees her dead horse on the island.

Many people do not believe that the sideways world was "confirmation" of the island purgatory. They point to the position that people left the island and returned to their old pre-crash lives. However, as the clue in the marina stated, all the post-island events could have been illusions. Besides, it is clear that the sideways world ALL of the characters were dead. When they all died is open to interpretation.

In the the purgatory theory, everyone on the island is actually dead and their actions on the “island” determine where they end up: heaven or hell. In order to help in the "soul sorting" process, people on the island have a serious set of common issues in which they have to figure out both alone and in the group dynamic. The island gives the souls a proving ground for redemption.  Now, some religious students disagree that the island would function as a purgatory since teachings indicate souls in leave Purgatory will leave for  heaven - no one in Purgatory goes to hell it is a period of purgation of sin before facing God not an in between place with an option for heaven or hell.

But in the context that the sideways church represents all facets of religions, there is a hybrid or literary reasoning behind the purgatory theory.

In Dante Alighieri's, The Divine Comedy, the author describes heaven (paradiso), hell (the inferno), and purgatory (purgatorio). He provides a diagram of purgatory. The first thing you enter when you come to purgatory is called "The Island." Perhaps this is where the survivors are. The ones who have died (Boone, Shannon, etc.) have moved on to the other levels of purgatory after being "purified" on the Island. Dante had to wash the stains of hell from his face and the film of hell's vapors form his eyes. This could be all of the bad things that the survivors have done. It seemed that whenever a character had redeemed themselves, they "died." This could have been because they had cleansed themselves and were moving on to the next level.

For example, according to Dante, greedy people go to the fifth terrace of purgatory where they are forced to lay face down on the ground and are unable to move. Nikki & Paulo (done in by their own greed) end up being buried alive while paralyzed.

So it is possible to view the Island has a series of hellish levels of post-life existence for the main characters to traverse (which is similar to the ancient Egyptian ritual writings that a soul must pass through a dangerous journey in the underworld in order to be judged then reach paradise.)

Many people, including the writers and producers of the show, are adamant that the show was not set in purgatory. But where did the show actually end up in the Finale?  There is nothing to say that when the characters "died" on the island, they were "created" in the sideways holding realm until their souls could work out their moral issues and "remember" their own demise and judgment.

There is also no rule against having a show about souls running the gauntlet of the underworld seeking personal salvation. See, Dante's master work above. But since TPTB said this was not purgatory after Season 1, people believed them. But the entire show was about lies, deceit, betrayal, misdirection and mistrust. Why believe the TPTB who had a vested interest in keeping the audience for Season 2?

Based upon the show's ending, the purgatory theory continues to be the most plausible explanation for the supernatural elements of the island events and location.