LEFTOVERS

The new television series The Leftovers had a morbid advertising display of the show at San Diego Comic Con. It showed realistic mannequins representing the missing 2 percent of the population who suddenly vanished in a Rapture type event. The show deals with the after math of the event, with a focus on the people left behind.

Since there is a LOST connection to this show, and one very old Hollywood adage is that "nothing is new in Hollywood," can we apply a rapture premise to LOST?

Yes, we can.

The Rapture is the religious belief that followers will be transported to heaven upon the Second Coming of Christ. In certain viewpoints, the Second Coming will be a purge of all evil on Earth. And only true believers will be saved from the rath.

First, Flight 815 suddenly disappeared for no apparent reason. People off the island believed that the plane crashed with no survivors, but on the island we were shown that was not true. The "survivors" were saved by the island.

This leads to the first point of contention. Was the electromagnetic discharge from the Swan because Desmond did not push the button down Flight 815, or was it Jacob's magical powers that delivered his candidates to the island? Science v. Faith. A major theme in the series.

This leads to a second point of contention. Was Jacob good or evil? Jacob appeared to be a benevolent leader who had many island followers. However, it was his intervention through Richard Alpert that sowed the seed for young Ben to "purge" the Dharma community in an act of mass murder. Further, Jacob's own game of finding candidates and bringing them to the island is a form of kidnapping that usually lead to their deaths. Good v. Evil. Another major theme of the series.

Second, Flight 815 safely landed in the sideways LAX. People on this plane found nothing had changed in their "lives" so they went on with the business. However, this sideways world was completely different than the island flash back stories.

This leads to a third point of contention. Which world was actually the "real" world? Since viewers first saw the island and the flashbacks, they assume those images are from the real character world. But if the survivors had been "teleported" to a different realm, than that reality is not their true past lives. But apparently at the same time, all of the passengers landed in the sideways world (which we would learn is the afterlife.) The intellectual paradox is how can one be both dead and alive at the same time?

This leads to a fourth point of contention: time. LOST was a series that used time like flour in a bakery; a commodity and utility to make different things happen despite WTF? reasoning. Is time linear as science and human experience shows? Or is time a circular motion like several ancient cultures who believe time follows the cycles of nature? Since the writers did not fashion set rules for time in their stories, we are left to drift in the quicksand of poor plot execution.

This leads to a fifth point of contention. Which came first, the flashbacks or the sideways reality? This is really a classic which came first puzzle, the chicken or the egg? Because the sideways character lives were so different than the flashbacks (Sawyer is a cop not a con man; Jack was married to Juliet and not Sarah; Jack had a son and not childless; Desmond was a successful businessman not a tramp loser; Hurley was a respected community leader and not a timid cursed crazy person; etc.) If you believe the flashbacks were the characters true past life experiences, then the sideways afterlife events are merely a dream, a fantasy until it is shattered by remembering the past. If you believe that the sideways world was the true (and at times boring aspects) of the characters real past lives, then the island events are taken either as a dream-fantasy or the characters going through Hell. It is not a simple answer because of one very troublesome point: in both realms, Aaron and Sun's child were born. If the children were born in the actual real life time line of the island, then they could not be born in the afterlife since they were already having their own Earth lives to lead. If the children were the heavenly reward for their parents to experience joy in heaven, then the island time frame births were a mere illusion, a deception or a trick by the devil.

Third, if the Flight 815 survivors were "snatched" from their lives by a god-like force, what was the purpose for their rapture event?  Some of the characters seemed to be good people (Rose, Bernard, Jack), some had done some terrible things (Kate, Sawyer, Sayid) and some had crazy mental problems (Hurley, Claire). We were told that only Jacob could bring people to the island, to be its next guardian. But that reason has been hollow without substance. Why would an island need protection if its life force creates life, death and rebirth? One smoke monster sentry guard could take care of any intruders. So this island mystery, quasi-religious "savior" theme really makes little sense in the context of asking why the island needed people.

This leads to a sixth point of contention. If the main characters were taken to the island, or even the sideways realm, to be "judged" for their lives sins, did that actually happen? The sideways world was more Happy Days than Hellboy. Certainly Jack's sideways life of being married to Juliet and having a son is not extreme punishment for his past issues disobeying his father. And the people who "died" on the island did not find any true redemption. And the ones who escaped, did not leave as changed individuals.

This leads to a seventh point. Was LOST's main concern like throwing a bunch of cats and dogs into one closed room just to see what would happen? The randomness of the characters, the forced missions, and faux dangers coupled with lies and manipulations does not seem to fit a classic tale of a journey by a character from his past, through trials that changes him or her, to a moment where his wish or dream is fulfilled in a meaningful way. It seems like all the character backstories and island stories seemed to intersect like a pile of leftovers after a big Sunday buffet.

Could LOST's mythology be cloaked in a rapture theme premise? Maybe. But it does not fit into normal views of such a major event. If the LOST characters were the people "left behind" and had to struggle to get to their heaven, the events leading up their their ultimate deaths are too inconsistent to determine whether that truly was the case.