Over at the official site of the creative team for Lost, The Fuselage, comes The Ten Commandments of Lost, and which ones this episode broke, be sure to head over there and check out the full post. Meanwhile, I’ll give you the Commandments themselves, but you’ll miss out on the explanation until you read the full post.
1. Thou shalt not share information, lest answers be had.
- Examples of enforcement: no one discussing the whispers, Hurley not telling anyone about the numbers, Jack seeing his father, Locke seeing ‘the monster’, Locke and Boone not mentioning the hatch, Sayid’s failure to mention the cable, Michael, Jin, and Sawyer’s complete failure to tell anyone about the Others on the boat
- Examples of this law being broken: Shannon telling Sayid that she saw Walt, Sayid revealing that he saw Walt
2. Thou shalt not investigate strange findings on the island, lest answers be had.
- Examples of enforcement: No one cares about the cable on the beach (partly because not many people know about it, thanks to commandment 1), No one investigating the computer in the hatch, no one has investigated the source of the radio broadcast.
- Examples of this law being broken: Sayid following the cable on the beach, Hurley investigating the numbers, Locke digging up the hatch
3. Thou shalt not seriously interrogate anyone who could possibly have answers, lest answers be had.
- Examples of enforcement: Complete failure to glean any useful information from Danielle, Ethan
- Examples of this law being broken: questioning of Desmond & Goodwin, however this was very, very basic questioning.
4. Thou shalt not question seemingly unexplainable things, lest answers be had.
- Examples of enforcement: No one questions how the Black Rock got where it is, Jack and Kate shrugging off the black smoke, exploding trees, Locke being dragged into the ground without a second mention
- Examples of this law being broken: Discussions of the ‘Monster’ (rare)
5. Thou shalt not explore the island, lest answers be had.
- Examples of enforcement: Episode after episode, there has been extremely limited exploration
- Examples of this law being broken: Sayid venturing off to map the island
6. Thou shalt kill anyone who is about to reveal answers about the island.
- Examples of enforcement: Ethan, Goodwin
- Examples of this law being broken: Desmond, Danielle
7. Thou shalt conveniently forget to follow up on anything curious about the island.
- Examples of enforcement: Black Rock, Black Smoke, Quarantine sign, Radio signal, tides which washed away fuselage, Adam & Eve
- Examples of this law being broken: Locke’s interest in the hatch, repeated viewings of the Orientation film
8. If thou dost have answers, thou shalt speak either vaguely or not at all.
- Examples of enforcement: Danielle, Ethan, Goodwin
- Examples of this law being broken: Desmond (albeit he could have been lying)
9. Thou shalt not ever reveal any details of your past, lest answers be had.
- Examples of enforcement: Kate, Jack, Locke
- Examples of this law being broken: Hurley, Charlie
10. Thou shalt not use that radio.
- Examples of enforcement: Ana-Lucia turning off the radio, Sayid giving up on the radio, Danielle giving up on the radio
- Examples of this law being broken: Boone using the radio (immediately punished for breaking this law! Heh)
