Continuity Hounds

Interesting article today about Perception on Lost, from DarkUFO. A lot of people are caught up in continuity conspiracy theories regarding Lost, on everything from Richard Alpert's hair and "guyliner" to the invention of dynamite in 1866 - 21 years after the Black Rock supposedly crashed on the Island carrying crates of the stuff. A Season One theory that pointed to a Golden Pontiac involved in accidents with Locke, Kate, Michael, and Hurley was debunked by Producer Damon Lindelof in 2005.

Now a big continuity error has lots of people talking. In the cliffhanger ending to Season Five's "He's Our You" Sayid shoots Ben in the heart. In this week's ""Whatever Happened, Happened" Jin turned Ben over and the wound was clearly on the right side of the chest. What's more, when Sawyer carries Little Ben to the Others, the wound is very low on the side.












DarkUFO suggests that the possible blooper may actually tie into "one big huge crazy no-fucking-way reveal". Meanwhile, a few on Lostpedia have called for a "grand unified blooper theory". Personally, I think the continuity hounds are barking up the wrong tree (You knew that was coming, right?) Little Ben getting shot was classic "serial TV cliffhanger" writing. There was never really any chance Ben would die, but the wound made for a great moment on TV. The next episode called for Ben to be kept in stable condition long enough to recover, so was produced with a wound to the side.

These episodes are being produced all out of order, with hundreds of different crew members and a dozen different directors. Most of the bloopers and continuity errors are simple mistakes that are inevitable with a show as complicated as Lost. Not to mention a show that's rewatched and dissected by millions of detail oriented fans.

As far as perception on Lost, I had a theory for a while that the flashbacks might be revealed as more than just a story device for the writers. Desmond's experiences often made me think he was noticing the flashbacks, the same ones that were happening to the rest of the survivors. Then, several of the encounters with the Smoke Monster seemed to reference the flashback structure, especially Eko's, where he is "scanned" by the Monster in "The 23rd Psalm" and elements of his flashback are physically manifested by the Monster in "The Cost of Living". In the end, much like the Continuity Conspiracists, I think I was looking a little to hard, but I love that Lost is a show that can reward that kind of thought.