FAQ

1. Aren't the castaways all in purgatory?

No. The show's cast and creators have repeatedly said that that's not what's going on. Sorry, you and 3,000 other people just aren't that clever.

2. How come all the women are clean-shaven and well-groomed? They're on an island!

200 passengers can bring a heck of a lot of toiletries and grooming implements in their luggage for a trans-pacific trip. With only 48 47 46 45 castaways to share all that, it should last for quite a while. Razors can be re-sharpened, natural products can extend the life of bottled ones, etc. There are also individual factors involved-- different people have different hair growth rates, some skin tones/ethnicities have finer or less body hair than others. Some people might develop a full underarm forest in a week, others might not have any visible hair there at all for a month.

3. Okay, genius, so why are the guys all scruffy, then?

Have you ever known a straight guy who wouldn't avoid shaving if he had an excuse? Some may be also be choosing to simply shave less often, to save resources.

4. Hey, I know what the Gargantubeast is! It's a dinosaur!

Thank you, Ian Malcom. But no. That was denied aaaages ago.

5. Why is Claire still pregnant? Hasn't it been nine months?

In the pilot, Claire says she's almost eight months. As of Episode 15, it had been a month on the island. HOWEVER, pregnancies aren't 9 months! They're actually closer to 10, as human gestation is about 40 weeks. So her little sprog should arrive just in time for the season finale.

6. How come no-one on the island has had sex yet?

Some of the extras and existing couples probably have, we just haven't heard about it. Besides, wasn't the spoiler Boone/Shannon pre-flight sex enough for ya?

7. Why has Charlie's withdrawal been so perky?

A couple of reasons. First, because since he snorted heroin, instead of shooting it, he has less of the stuff in his system to begin with, and therefore will have a shorter detox cycle. Second because ABC doesn't want to show a hobbit that much of a mess.

There's also a chance that there's something about the island itself that has healing properties.

8. Why is Hurley still so big? Shouldn't he have lost a bunch of weight by now?

No. They've only been there a month. You don't get to be his size overnight, and the weight won't come off overnight, either. Chances are good, also, that everyone's metabolism has gone into self-preservation mode due to shock, stress and lack of food, which means that burning calories is less efficient (this is why starvation diets are a bad idea, kids!) Also, on someone his size, small amounts of weight loss aren't as readily apparent as they are on someone small. 10 lbs on a 5'4" 110 lb woman is a great deal. 10 lbs for a 6'2", 300 lb man isn't. In fact, you're far more likely to see Shannon have visible, dangerous weight loss than Hurley.

9. Fuck this show's slowness! I want action! I want answers to all of the mysteries! And I want them now!

Patience, grasshopper. The show is character-driven. The plot is an ongoing, twisty sort of thing. And remember that, even though we've been watching the show for five months, they've only been there for just over a month. Some of the mysteries are being answered, slowly. We know who made the French transmission, we know there are others on the island, we know what Kate's crime was, etc. The genius of the show is that they're giving us a few answers, and then posing a few more questions as they go, and in the meantime, we're getting some juicy backstory on each of the characters, which, IMHO, is what sets the show apart from episodic, short-plot shows. Take your Ritalin and calm down, or go play Halo for a while if you want something faster.

10. Wait. I'm confused. How did they get there in the first place? Where are they?

If you didn't see or pay attention to the pilot episodes, here's what happened:

Oceanic flight 815 from Sydney to LA lost radio contact about 6 hours into their flight. The pilot decided to turn around and land in Fiji. Due to the curvature of the earth, this means he probably made a left turn to come back around to aim for Fiji. It takes a while to get back on a straight course when you're at cruising altitude, so they would not have only been backtracking on their original flight path, but would have deviated from that curved line by several hundred miles. At some point, the plane encountered severe turbulence (or was it something else?!) and broke up in-air. The tail section broke off, first, and then as they came crashing down to earth, the cockpit and first class broke off and landed on a different part of the island. The middle, wing section then cartwheeled for a while and eventually came to rest on the beach, flinging some of its passengers around as it impacted. And there's where the pilot episode opens.

11. How did Charlie survive the crash if he was toking up in the first class bathroom?

This is an editing problem. In the original version of the pilot, there were a couple more shots of Charlie rushing back down the aisle as the plane started breaking up, thus putting him back in at least business class by the time he sat down.