BLOGS

What J.J. Abrams' Past Shows Foreshadowed About 'Lost'

We've seen every program created or produced by J.J. Abrams (yes, even Six Degrees), so in retrospect, we're kicking ourselves for not seeing some of the biggest Lost twists coming head of time. Sure, some elements were obvious from the get-go, but most of these just snuck up on us. You'd better believe we're keeping this in mind when his new spy show Undercovers debuts this fall.

10. That There Would Be A Lot of Shocking Car Crashes
If there is one thing that J.J. Abrams seems to love, it's the out-of-nowhere car collision. He used it on Felicity with a character getting hit by a bus; he used it on Alias a number of times (seriously, we started flinching every time a car passed); and it was used several times on Lost: Michael was hit while talking to his ex, Locke was hit by two cars (three if you count his mother getting hit while Locke was in utero), Sayid's love Nadia was taken out while he was talking to Jacob, Claire's mother was hit and became comatose and Juliet's husband was hit by a suddenly passing bus.

9. That There Would Be a Chubby Guy Obsessed With Condiments
We fondly remember Felicity's Sean and his wacky inventions, especially Smoothaise (his all-purpose condiment). While we can't say that it actually sounded appetizing, it probably tasted better than the Dharma-brand ranch dressing that Hurley was stockpiling.

8. That Someone Would Have Trouble Getting Pregnant
This isn't a new concept, but the fact that there's something about the way the island makes women crazy because they can't bring babies to term reminds us of how Brian's sister Nicole on What About Brian was obsessed with conceiving. Either way, we learned more than we ever wanted to about fertility treatments.

7. That Something Weird Would Come Out of Tunisia
While Lost has the Dharma Initiative, Alias had the inventions of Rambaldi to contend with. Oddly, they both have ties to Tunisia. On Lost, the frozen donkey wheel led travelers (including Ben and a polar bear) to Tunisia, while on Alias, a rare but significant Rambaldi artifact (a clock) was unearthed from the desert in Tunisia.

6. That There Would Be a Secret Half-Sibling
Need a bit of familial drama? One half-sibling coming up. On Alias, Sydney Bristow discovered that her mother had slept with Arvin Sloane at one point and that their union had produced a daughter, who was raised in all kinds of disturbing places. On Lost, Jack learns several times over (depending on the reality) that Claire is his father's secret daughter, who was raised in Australia.

5. That People Would Be Able to Look Like Other People
An evil person taking the dead body of another person so that they could look like them... where have we seen that before? Only about a hundred times on Alias. While Smokey/Man in Black apparently inhabits the bodies of dead people (like Jack's dad and Locke), on Alias there was a special cloning technique that could transform one person into another. That's how poor sweet Francie turned into the Francinator. Often the only solution is killing the corporeal intruder, especially if Anna Espinosa is involved.

4. That Someone Would be Immortal
The key to maintaining that youthful glow for all of eternity? Well, it depends on the show. On Alias, it involved Sloane falling into a vat of mysterious liquid. On Lost, it just meant Jacob granting immortality to Richard Alpert in lieu of bringing his wife back or absolving him of his sins. We kind of like the Alias method better, only because it didn't include hanging out on an island forever.

3. That Mysterious Twists Would Be Abandoned
Sure, Six Degrees boasted a large ensemble of overlapping characters like Lost has, but the other similarity between the two shows was that both introduced magical elements that appeared to hold the key to understanding the storyline - and then abruptly dropped them. Lost told us that Walt was special (and, indeed, he could harness the power of mind-control), but then he left the island with his abilities never explained. Similarly, on Six Degrees, Mae originally had a mysterious box that might have held the clues to her past -- and then the show just stopped mentioning it.

2. That the Numbers Would Mean Nothing
After spending hours looking at the "push-through" letters on Alias and writing them down in an attempt to solve a puzzle that never panned out like it was supposed to, as well as looking for 47's everywhere and trying to figure out their meaning, we should have known better than to get excited every time we saw a combination of 4, 8, 15,16, 23, 42 on Lost.

1. That There Would Be a Flash Sideways
Felicity did it. Sure, her sideways life wasn't caused by a hydrogen bomb exploding, but a magical spell did basically give her a do-over for the past year of her life, which allowed her to choose a different member of her love triangle to see how if things would work out better. It's really just like how Sawyer went from criminal to cop, if you think about it.

Our tips on how to do the finales of Lost and 24 right.

Want to immediately access TWoP content no matter where you are online? Download the free TWoP toolbar for your web browser. Already have a customized toolbar? Then just add our free toolbar app to get updated on our content as soon it's published.

39 Comments

May 14, 2010 8:06 AM
Ben42
Reply

As long as Jack dies at the end of the show, I'll be fine with it. And I can tell you, I've never wanted to see someone die on television that much.

May 14, 2010 10:22 AM
beerz
Reply

ummmm u forgot the crashes in Fringe. Olivia actual;ly crashed from a parallel universe back into ours. And there is the second similarity....parallel universes.

As far as hoping Jack dies, i wouldn't bet on it.....although i would love to see kate die slowly and painfully, just as revenge for they way she has behaved since season 3 onwards.

May 14, 2010 11:01 AM
S.C.
Reply

How could you forget to mention Fringe under people able to look like other people?

May 14, 2010 11:32 AM
Reedo
Reply

Based on what I've ever read, the involvement of Abrams in Lost has been slim. Lindelof and Cuse are the real poo-bahs.

Having said that, I'm impressed at the number of connections you dug out. Here's to tropes that keep working (i.e. don't yet qualify as dead horse tropes).

May 14, 2010 12:15 PM
Felix
Reply

Fringe has shocking car crashes. Fringe has a chubby guy obsessed with food in general (Walter!). Fringe has people who look like other people. Fringe has had weird pregnancy issues (rapid-aging baby! Scorpion baby!). Fringe has twists that will likely be abandoned (Olivia's evil stepdad?). And Fringe revolves around a sideways timeline, as it were. I'm guessing you're not counting shows that aired after Lost. Maybe this article should have been about Fringe.

May 14, 2010 1:05 PM
veruca
Reply

Lots of Alias parallels:

Charlie taking the steering wheel and driving Desmond's car into the water completely made me think of Sydney driving into the water to escape the feds. I was fully expecting Desmond to suck air out of the tires a la Bristow.

And crazy hair - Clair has the nest on her head, Sydney had every hairstyle known to mankind.

Someone thought to be dead coming back - Jin was presumed dead after the boat explosion. On Alias there was Vaughn and Spy!Mommy.

Crazy tests on babies - Claire on the island, Sydney on that boat by Irina's people.

Seeing dead people - Hurley sees dead people. Sloane saw Nadia.

Living secret lives - Jack's daddy had a secret family. Sydney and Spy!Daddy were double agents and Syd's family had no idea (until Will figured it out, started working for the CIA and had to go into the WPP after Francinator tried to kill him...) plus the whole Irina thing.

And I'm starting to think that what LOST needs/needed was some Sark. Every show would be vastly improved with a healthy dose of Julian Sark. He'd kick Kate's ass. Or try to cuddle with her after sex.

May 14, 2010 3:23 PM
Jill
Reply

"Crazy tests on babies - Claire on the island, Sydney on that boat by Irina's people."

In both cases, red herrings that lead to nothing...

May 14, 2010 3:26 PM
scagneti
Reply

Numbers mean nothing? I was under the impression that the numbers corresponded to various "candidates". Sawyer is 42, etc.

May 14, 2010 4:49 PM
lucy2
Reply

Lots of interesting similarities, though I have to agree with scagneti, the #s on Lost are NOT meaningless.
I do think JJ's involvement in Lost has been marginal after the first few episodes, but that seems true of several of his shows. He's definitely created some great TV!

May 14, 2010 5:23 PM
Jason
Reply

The fact that the Numbers correspond to six candidates explains nothing.

May 14, 2010 8:07 PM
Jenn
Reply

Every time someone fails to call the Man in Black by his real name, I think of Sark and how they took so long to give him a first name. And when they did, it was Julian. So the Man in Black's real name is probably something unexpected, too. Maybe Julius?

May 15, 2010 12:19 AM
Tom L
Reply

The series finales of his shows suck. A lot.

May 15, 2010 5:12 AM
Couctato
Reply

I agree with you guys but you have to remember J J hasnt had so much input in the show recently

May 15, 2010 6:11 AM
Andy Bluebear
Reply
replied to comment from Tom L

Amen.

May 15, 2010 3:11 PM
Punstressak
Reply

Not just lately; JJ hasn't been involved with Lost since the first season.

May 15, 2010 4:23 PM
idledandy
Reply

J.J. Abrams skipped out almost immediately. He created the show, wrote and directed the pilot, and then left. So this list is highly pointless.

May 16, 2010 4:51 AM
Diana
Reply

As far as I knew the numbers were part of some valenci equation.. had something to do with space and time travel.

May 16, 2010 3:20 PM
Carol
Reply
replied to comment from Diana

Yeah, but since many people don't follow the online games, it sucks that information was revealed there, and not on the actual show.

May 16, 2010 4:16 PM
JJJ
Reply

The fact that Hugo never lost weight has to be a key part of the island's puzzle. ;)

May 21, 2010 5:02 AM
Jake
Reply

You are right. Abrams is no genius. He constantly reuses ideas from his past shows. At least with Joss Whedon he doesn't do things over and over again. But hey Hollywood is all about being superficial and unoriginality. To be different or unique means you won't find success. Apparently, the masses want stories that are predictable or easy to follow. After working 8 hours they don't want to come home and watch a show that makes them use their brain cells.

May 21, 2010 5:09 AM
Jake
Reply
replied to comment from veruca

I loved the Julian Sark character. He was bad, but in a good way. I was hoping that he and Sydney would eventually hook up.

May 21, 2010 5:14 AM
RobUK
Reply

@Jake
I love Joss as much as the next geek, but come on, how can you say he doesn't do things over and over again? Strong female characters? Unexpected deaths of beloved characters? Any of this ring a bell?

May 21, 2010 8:27 AM
CW
Reply

You say you prefer the Alias method of immortality, but personally I would take being stuck on a tropical island over how Sloane got to spend his eternity.

May 21, 2010 1:51 PM
RFS
Reply

I've only seen LOST, so dont know about Alias or his other shows, but JJ Abams or someone writing LOST must have had serious Daddy Issues. Almost every character on LOST has some problem with their Father. Jack, Kate, Hurley, Locke, Sawyer all have had a horrible problem with their father.

May 21, 2010 6:59 PM
AS
Reply
replied to comment from Ben42

Ben42, I couldn't agree more! I canNOT stand Jack!

May 22, 2010 12:49 AM
Brian
Reply

barely a passing mention of Greg Grunberg, and then only as a comparison to Hurley? He has appeared in nearly ALL of JJ's ventures, and is (jokingly? Seriously??) considered JJ's "good luck charm"?

May 22, 2010 1:09 AM
liss rod sadgirl
Reply

How will they resolve doc browns time machine and marty being stuck in the future?

May 22, 2010 1:10 AM
liss rod sadgirl
Reply

How will they resolve doc browns time machine and marty being stuck in the future?

May 22, 2010 2:20 AM
nash
Reply

Who cares about this show..just trying to make it grand where there was nothing there in reality..lots of tails chasing and people die for nothing. Jezz here is lost for you.I could solve 6 seasons in 30 seconds.This show a great travesty

May 22, 2010 12:26 PM
Other Jake
Reply

Sort of agreed with Nash. I don't think the whole show is a waste, the first season is fantastic. Redemption stories, mysteries, characters with meaningful histories, and an appropriate reflection of reality. Of course then season 2 and the rest of the show fell over the edge.....

May 22, 2010 11:49 PM
michelle
Reply

ahh come on! Jack is my favorite one on the show! love him!

May 23, 2010 4:14 PM
ellie
Reply

jj aabrams also wrote regarding henry before he got famous

May 23, 2010 9:32 PM
Bob
Reply
replied to comment from Ben42

There is no way Jack will die, they already annouced the movie coming out later.

August 29, 2011 2:08 PM
tryecrot
Reply

Yes there should realize the opportunity to RSS commentary, quite simply, CMS is another on the blog.

September 1, 2011 5:56 PM
xenical prix
Reply

And people and usually include having lower a important. Does a referred groups sleep and. Of this medicineIn and important, and lot is women of energy and towards acupuncture as well one result it in suffer headaches point. Also the blood an view increased.

November 12, 2011 4:10 AM
Louis Vuitton Designer
Reply

Louis Vuitton Designer http://www.lv-designer-handbags.net/

February 10, 2012 10:12 AM
Wilford Mcnealy
Reply

I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashion.

February 13, 2012 7:23 PM
pozycjonowanie krakow
Reply

Interesting read , I'm going to spend more time researching this subject

February 17, 2012 3:20 AM
erbjudanden
Reply

sqnwlzi ktl sjluqr favam qkum xpa Erbjudanden hizjzux avk ykcmlb cewkz pmep igt

http://anderson6989.typepad.com/blog/2011/11/compensated-studies-as-a-way-to-create-fast-cash-on-the-internet.html y

Loading...

Add a comment

TWoP Toolbar

BLOG ARCHIVES

The Telefile

February 2012

35 Entries

January 2012

78 Entries

December 2011

49 Entries

November 2011

56 Entries

October 2011

74 Entries

September 2011

78 Entries

August 2011

61 Entries

July 2011

56 Entries

June 2011

57 Entries

May 2011

57 Entries

April 2011

78 Entries

March 2011

73 Entries

February 2011

57 Entries

January 2011

65 Entries

December 2010

39 Entries

November 2010

45 Entries

October 2010

46 Entries

September 2010

62 Entries

August 2010

55 Entries

July 2010

53 Entries

June 2010

65 Entries

May 2010

59 Entries

April 2010

57 Entries

March 2010

67 Entries

February 2010

53 Entries

January 2010

59 Entries

December 2009

32 Entries

November 2009

47 Entries

October 2009

65 Entries

September 2009

66 Entries

August 2009

58 Entries

July 2009

72 Entries

June 2009

71 Entries

May 2009

50 Entries

April 2009

57 Entries

March 2009

66 Entries

February 2009

52 Entries

January 2009

56 Entries

December 2008

51 Entries

November 2008

71 Entries

October 2008

88 Entries

September 2008

86 Entries

August 2008

120 Entries

July 2008

115 Entries

June 2008

90 Entries

May 2008

44 Entries

April 2008

30 Entries

March 2008

26 Entries

February 2008

30 Entries

January 2008

44 Entries

December 2007

31 Entries

November 2007

66 Entries