Lost, Season 2

Hey, I'm still alive!

Anyhow, having finished season 2 of Lost, I thought I'd revisit my questions post from season 1, and see how we're doing on resolving things.

• The Island

1. What's inside the hatch? resolved
   
2. What is the monster? unresolved
   
3. Why are there Polar Bears in the Tropics? [maybe under Walt rather than The Island] unresolved
   
4. Where is it on a map? unresolved
   
5. Why is it undiscovered? unresolved
   
6. What is the power source for the transmission? resolved
   
7. Who are the Others, and what is their agenda? unresolved
   
8. Why is the tide coming in so high and fast? unresolved
   

• The Plane

1. Why did it crash? resolved
   
2. How did so many survive? unresolved
   
3. Where are the other survivors Boone contacted on the radio? resolved
   

• Jack

1. How did his marriage end? resolved
   
2. How does he keep a constant level of stubble without ever being either clean-shaven or developing a full beard? unresolved
   
3. What's up with the tattoo? unresolved
   
4. Where did his dad's body go? unresolved
   

• Kate

1. What was her initial crime all about? resolved
   
2. What was the reason she ran away from home in the first place? resolved
   
3. To whom was she married? unresolved
   
4. How did that turn out? unresolved
   
5. Why was she calling the Marshall at home? unresolved
   

• Locke

1. How did he become crippled? unresolved
   
2. How was he cured? quasi-resolved
   
3. When did he acquire his mad skillz at hunting and survival? quasi-resolved
   
4. Ditto his encyclopedic knowledge of trivia such as instantly identifying Nigerian Currency? unresolved
   
5. What happened after he stared at the beast? unresolved
   
6. What happened after the vault light turned on? resolved
   

• Sawyer

1. What was the fiasco in Miami? quasi-resolved? (possibly the flashbacks in 'the long con'?)
   
2. Why isn't he having nicotine withdrawl problems? unresolved
   
3. Why didn't anyone blame his headaches on above? unresolved
   

• Sayid

1. When and why did he leave Iraq? (Probably trailing Nadia, but how did he get that trail?) unresolved
   

• Charlie (No current mysteries with Charlie I can recall.)
  
• Claire

1. Why is Aaron's being raised by Claire so important? unresolved
   

• Hurley

1. What do the numbers mean? unresolved
   
2. Why was he in the mental institution? resolved
   
3. How did he get the nickname? unresolved
   

• Jin and Sun

1. How did Sun's father find out Jin was planning to flee? unresolved
   

• Shannon and Boone (Nothing much here, either.)
  

1. Michael and Walt
2. Does Walt have the ability to control random events [Backgammon vs Hurley scene]? unresolved
   
3. Does Walt control the weather? unresolved
   
4. Does Walt have the ability to summon wildlife? unresolved
   
5. If so, is he responsible for the Polar Bears? unresolved
   
6. If so, when Rouseau mentioned 'Bears', was she thinking of more normal tropic-friendly species? unresolved
   
7. If he can do all these things, as well as perfectly throw a knife with positive visualization, is there anything he can't do? Is Walt, in fact, some kind of demigod? unresolved
   
8. Why do the Others want him? unresolved
   

• Rousseau

1. Who was Alix's father? unresolved
   
2. What happened to Alix after he was taken? resolved
   
3. Is she crazy/how crazy is she, or were the rest of her crew actuall infected by something? unresolved
   
4. Why does she, living alone on a deserted island and coming from a culture comfortable with female body hair, shave her armpits smooth? unresolved

All right, and now for the new questions.

• The Island

1. Why did the shark have the Dharma logo on it?
2. Where'd the horse come from?
3. Why did the parrot know Hurley's name?
4. If the Island cured Jin, Locke, and Rose, why not Shannon?
5. Why are the castawas such an incurious bunch?
6. Is the food drugged? Why doesn't anyone consider that possibility?
7. Is space-time warped in a Snow-globe-like manner around the Island, or is Desmond just a bad navigator?
8. Who built the leg statue? Why?
   
9. Who broke it? Why?
10. Why four toes?
    

• Desmond and The Vault

1. Why require periodic human input at the terminal?
2. Who is the "Him" that Desmond was waiting for?
3. Where are the missing stations?
4. What exactly is behind the concrete?
5. What do the glyphs mean?
6. What is in the 'vaccine'?
7. What was written on the blast door map?

• Jack

1. Who is his sister?
   

• Kate
• Locke
• Sawyer

• Hurley

1. Can we really exclude the Dave theory of everything?
2. Why was Libby in the institution?
3. Why was Libby in Sydney/on that flights? (Hurley inherits Libby's questions.)
   

• Charlie

1. What caused his hallucinations?
   

• Claire
• Jin & Sun

1. Did the island cure Jin, did Sun sleep around, or was she implanted in some sinister manner?
   

• Sayid
• Michael&Walt
• Eko

1. Why did the smoke monster retreate from him?
   

• The Others

1. How does their indocrination work?
2. How do they choose who to take?
3. Who is their leader?
4. Where's the real hatch that goes with their fake entrance?

So, questions are multiplying, but with some progress. The ending of season two, though, makes any kind of resolution to any of the various issues surrounding Walt seem extremely difficult, which could be bad since they certainly seemed central in season one. Also, nice trick with the numbers--making them so central to the world of the vault throughout the season that one doesn't notice the utter lack of progress in explaining any of the mystery surrounding them. Well played, Lost producers...